Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
It's the Craig Wave Show with the voice of the
Texas Longhorns and Hall of Fame Broadcasting Craig.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Thursday afternoon edition of the program.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Glad to have you with us up until five o'clock
this afternoon, and of course we'll close out the week
tomorrow and get you ready for this huge weekend for.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
The Texas Georgia game. It's an F one race weekend.
High school football is turning toward the real crunch time
and district play with District Gift. You've got a pretty
big game tomorrow night that you're calling, don't you back.
I'll be at the field like you'll be tonight, So
maybe leave some leftovers for me. Trouble try to trash
(00:58):
out the too much. Since you have Liberty Flugerville tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It'll be fun.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
A pair of five and one teams Liberty Hill of course,
three straight appearances to at least the state semi finals
under coach Kent Walker in a Flugerville team five and
one under coach to Darles Taylor, who was building off
of last year's playoff birth and this year on an
upward trajectory.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So should be a fun game. I know, Liberty Hill
is favor.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Their offense has been fantastic this season, but they have
given up some points on defense as well. So should
be fun race tomorrow. Yeah, it should be, indeed.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
And it'll be a lot of fun on Saturday night,
Texas and Georgia. This was Longhorn's head coach Steve Sarkisian's
final weekly media availability. Of course, last night we recorded
Long Worn Weekly with coach sark Ale at Pluckers the
West Campus location, and you'll hear that program tonight at
seven o'clock. We recorded on Wednesdays and it airs on
(01:56):
Thursdays at seven, so you will hear that program tonight
at seven o'clock. But in terms of the media availability today,
let's hear some of the thoughts from long Orn's head
coach Steve Sarkasian.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Starting with sarks opening comments, And you know, exciting week
here on the forty Acres.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
You think about all that's happening in Austin this weekend
with the F one race, with college game Day coming
to down coming to town, with Sports Center coming to Austin.
You know, shooting from from the forty Acres is also
shooting from the races back and then and then ultimately
the ballgame Saturday night, which I know that all of
(02:35):
Longhorn Nation is excited about.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I know our team is excited about.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
But the one thing I learned a lot about our
team again this week, has been.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Their appreciation for preparation.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
And when I say that, it's it's their belief in
the blueprint and the formula for success and coming to
work every day with a workman like mentality to to
understand the plan to practice away. We expect them to
practice to that standard and put themselves in a position
to perform. And I feel like that's what we've done
this week, and now we got to go find out
(03:07):
here Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah. He didn't mention, by the way, that was another
thing I did not.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Mention that ESPN is bringing Sports Center sports Center Enter,
not just college game Day. I think it's Kevin the
Gandhi and El Duncan who are anchoring from the UT
campus on Friday tomorrow on Sports Center, and then the
Cole Risco, you know, certainly one of their motorsports authorities,
(03:34):
and I forgot who's with her, but she's out at
CODA to do Sports Center as well. So yeah, it's
kind of the center of the universe a little bit.
Sark was also asked in getting ready for this matchup
about the season that Vernon Broughton is having. Remember when
(03:54):
we were going into the season and it was coming
off a year where To and Andre Sweat and Byron
Murphy had really big seasons, and they were talking about
continuing that defense, interior, defensive line, high quality play that
had been that had been like that, and you know,
(04:17):
would it continue like that?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And I said, well, it was said.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
It wasn't just me, it was several people had said, well,
the two guys would really kind of have to fill
in the gap would be Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton.
And Vernon Broughton's having a marvelous season. He's forced a
couple of fumbles, covered the funnel, and he's just really
plugged the gap. So Sark was asked about this season
that brought is having.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I'm really proud of Vernon.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
You know, the guys come into our program and they develop,
you know, over time, and for him to put put
in the work, and you think about when care Coburn
was here in Moro Ojamo, To and Andre Sweat, Byron
Murphy and he continued to stay the course, and I'm
just very proud of him that that he's, you know,
continue to mature in his time here. He's developed into
(04:58):
a really good leader on our team. And then his play,
his play is showing and he's become every down player
for us. He's not just a specialty pass rusher. He's
playing well against the run. He's still very effective against
the against the pass, and his effort is at an
all time high where you know, you're just seeing the
thumble recoveries again and just the way he's playing the game.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So I couldn't be more proud of him.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I guess marriage must be agreeing with him as well,
since he's a newlywed that's worked out for Vernon broad
Sark has made no bones about the fact that he's
a fan of boxing, and as such, he was asked
about does he construct his game plan similar to a
boxing match up? For that matter, who has been his
(05:42):
all time favorite boxer?
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Sugar Ray Leonard has always been a favorite boxer of mine.
That was one of my first fights I can remember
was Sugar Ray versus Roberto Duran, So I remember that fight.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I was a huge.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Fan of that era of boxers with Marvin Hagler and
Tom Hearns, and those guys also became a fan of
the heavyweights when Mike Tyson was a heavyweight and Evander
Holyfield was a heavyweight. But I think I think just
like in boxing, in football, like you have to have
a game plan and then you try to guys try
to go out and execute that game plan, and then
(06:18):
you have to be willing to adjust, right. I mean,
it's like anything. You go into a boxing match and
coming out in the opening round and a guy starts
fighting a south paw, you better be ready to adjust.
And I think football is very similar to that. We
have to have a game plan and then we have
to have the willingness to adjust. But we got to
make sure that we throw our best punches too, that
we can't always just react to the opponent. That we've
(06:39):
got to throw our best punch punches as well.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
I don't think I've ever told this story on the
air before, and I'm going to tell it right now,
and then I'll go back to the cuts bit. My
own half crossing was Sugar Ray Leonard. Sugar Ray Leonard
was like in the case of Sark, he was one
of the boxers I really, really liked he won the
middle championship. I guess it was on my twenty first birthday.
(07:04):
It was the I think that was the It was
either the No Mos fight or was the one with Hagler.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I think it was Hagler. I think it was.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
With Marvelous Marven Hagler. It might have been, but anyway,
he wanted all my twenty first birthday. That very same night,
I was playing in the Lubbock City Championship for Putt
Putt on the Old Style, but of course, and I
finished in second that on that night, So that was
all really nice memorable memories and all that. Six years later,
(07:36):
I'm doing radio showdown at Reunion Arena in Dallas and
it's this big charity auction carnival thing and they had
a lot of a lot of celebrities. Mavericks the Stars
were not in Dallas at that time, but Mavericks Dallas Cowboys,
Texas Rangers had a lot of difference.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
And then they had some other big name stars.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
One of those with Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray
came over and and did an interview with me, and
he was really good. But he didn't stop there because
after I was done, he was really hitting.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
On my wife. Wow.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
It was amazing. So my wife at the time, uh,
you know, God rest her soul. Laurie was there with
me and we'd been married one year and she she
was invited to come down to so she was just
sitting there and Uh, we get done. I saw him
kind of say something to her and chatting with her
a little before we got started.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I didn't think anything of it. So we get done.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
I'm still on the air. He takes the headset off.
I'm looking over there and he's like really engaged at
all that that kind of thing. I was like hitting
on her. We got the break, commercial break, and then
he left and I said, was he hit one? She goes, oh, yeah,
like what do you what do you? What are you
doing after this event? And she's like, well, I'm going
to go home with my husband right there. The guy
(08:49):
just interviewed, Oh well, I mean you know, and he's
like trying to like yeah, yeah. So that was my
brush resher Caray Leonard back then, uh, back in in
the eighties, all right, more from Stark the uh and
she did not go back, and she didn't go with him,
She did not recupercate. She left with me afterwards, and
(09:11):
that was a good thing anyway. Sark was asked about
how the defense makes the offense better and vice versa,
his defense making his offense better, and how his offense
makes his defense better, and how does facing the Texas
defense going up against the offense in practice help prepare
them for Carson Beck and what Georgia is going to
(09:35):
do with its passing attack.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Well, I think it's helpful in that we we do
a lot of good on good, you know, and our
our practices in training camp are very competitive. We do
good on good every week to keep ourselves fresh in
the speed of the game to where it needs to be.
And I do think it's helpful for our guys to
have to guard Isaiah Bond and Matt Golden and DeAndre
(09:57):
Moore and Jonte and Silas.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And Ryan Wingo and all those guys can run.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
All those guys can can stretch the field, and I
think it's really good for our dbs to have to
go against quarterbacks like Quinn and Arch and guys who
can make all those throws.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And because that's what Carson Beck is.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
He's got elite weapons on the outside that can run
and he can make all of the throws, and so
to have to defend all of the field for our
secondary and for our linebackers is going to be critical
here Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Okay, these media availabilities on Thursdays, these zoom media availabilities,
by and large, When you look at the grid, because
you're on it every weekend, you see, you see the grid,
and what would you say would be the ratio or
percentage of local and area media as opposed to outside
(10:50):
you know, regional and national media.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I mean, the only national guys I'll ever see on
those zooms will either be Sam Con from the Athletic
and then maybe in ESPN you.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
See Heather Dinnich sometimes and you'll see some other But
you're right, it's about ninety percent, maybe even more so.
The reason why I bring this up is because the
local media gets into more esoteric questions sometimes. Sure, they'll
ask the nuts and bolts and the injury stuff, and
(11:24):
we'll hear that's coming up, but they will also ask Sark, like,
for example, the boxing thing and some of the other stuff.
And they also asked him kind of a follow up
to what Sark was saying about quinn Ewers. A couple
of weeks back when he was still banged up, and said,
I fully expect Quinn to be fine, to come back
(11:46):
and to be in New York for the Heisman, which
should have served notice to anybody who was trying to
stir the pot in any way, shape or form that
there was a quarterback conundrum or question or dare we
say it controversy all that other kind of stuff, and
Sark was quickly quickly putting all that to bed, saying
I fully expect him to be in New York. So
(12:07):
the follow up about I guess three weeks later question
for Sark is was quhen you were making it to
New York for the Heisman ceremony that he referenced three
weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Is that still a tangible goal? I love it.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
I love all of our head coaches. I love all
of our teams and sports that we have. I think
CDC has done an incredible job of assembling the best
coaching coaching staff in the country. And you know, we
go on a head coach's retreat once a year into
I'm just somewhat in awe of you know this.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well. I think this.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
I think individual accolades, awards, honors are a byproduct a
team's success, and so you know, if he's in New
York in December, it's probably because we won a lot
of games and maybe won every game, and so, you know,
I don't think it's on you know, we should feel
that it's about what quinda. I think, yes, we need
to win, and if we're gonna win, it probably means
(13:04):
that he played pretty well in some really big games.
And I think at the end that's that's a reality.
But there's a lot of work to be done between
now and then. But like I said, we have a
firm belief around here that you know, team's success is
what promotes individual accolades, awards and honors.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And if you ask Quinn yours, you'll pretty much say
the same thing about my team winning and all that.
But Sartin does make a good point. A plus B
will see it would probably follow if they are still unbeaten,
if they are playing really, really well, and if Quinn
is doing his part, good chance he's going to be
mentioned in the conversation of possibly getting that invite to
(13:44):
New York.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Coming up next and.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
We'll hear more from Sark next hour talking about this
matchup with Georgia. Get an injury update from him, and
some other things as well, so we'll do all that
next hour as well, but up next Inconceivable for a
Thursday afternoon on sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone
and the iHeart Radio app