3 Days Texas vs Ohio State Countdown: Sarkisian on Arch Manning, Buckeyes’ Mindset, NFL Roster Cuts & Mariners MVP Talk

We are three days away from the battle on the gridiron as the #1-ranked Texas Longhorns travel to Columbus, Ohio, to play against the #3-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. We have more sound from Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian as he discusses the differences in the roster since last year’s playoff game, his confidence in the defense, and what to expect from starting quarterback Arch Manning. What are the Buckeyes thinking coming into the game? Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is setting benchmarks; should he be in the discussion for the Most Valuable Player? Teams have made their cuts to 53 men. What Longhorns made NFL rosters? Mark addresses the recent TMZ controversy in his “World Strongest Take!” Plus, we talk to Danny Davis of the “Austin American-Statesman,” and we speak to Patrick Murphy of “BuckNuts 24/7. You can hear it all here on “The Morning Kickoff Show!”

Episode Transcript

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Or wherever you may be listening. This is a way
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(01:01):
Davis of the Austin American Statesman joins us at seven
thirty four. We'll hear more from coach Sark and the players.
We've got Patrick Murphy of Buck Nuts joining us at
eight seventeen to talk all things Ohio State and I
am your host, Mike Harball Haart. My co host is

(01:23):
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that as number too. Mark A lot is going on

(02:26):
in the world of sports. But all eyes are on
the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes as they
have an epic matchup that is coming up this Saturday
eleven am on Fox. But make sure you tuned into
the pregame show that will start at eight am. That's right,

(02:47):
Mark is on the road, so it's gonna be myself
and Cam Parker leading you up to Network where Craigway,
Roger Wallace, and Will Matthews will bring it home as well.
Right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone,
we also have the post game where our new partners
Third and Longhorn. That's right, Third and Longhorn are now

(03:09):
part of the iHeartRadio family and AM thirteen hundred The Zone,
so you can listen to their post game right after that.
But Mark, there's a lot of people talking about this game.
No talking heads are saying that this is the biggest
game that is out there. But coach Sark told everybody, hey,

(03:30):
this is a different roster. We both got new quarterbacks,
so let's just pump the brakes. But it is a
highly contested matchup.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Yeah, I mean, I think you know, we both lost
some really good veteran players off of last year's teams.
You know, I think about a couple of guys in
our secondary, Macouba and John A at the front, Alfred
and Vernon obviously, Matt Golden, you know, some really good players.
Some guys on our own line, Kelvin. They lost some
good players too, you know, and the two backs were
great players. The receiver, you know, Julian Wings a really

(04:00):
good player as a natural passer.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
You know, he's got a quick release.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
He's a better athlete than you think he can run,
so he definitely need to be an alert to that
and ready for that.

Speaker 5 (04:08):
But you know, at the.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
End of the day, you know, this is gonna be
one of those when you go into the ring with somebody,
what's the plan, and then you get you know, as
the rounds go on, you got to have to be
able to adjust. And we'll have a plan, they'll have
a plan, but I think we're gonna have to be
ready to adjust to maybe some of the new things.
They've got a new defensive coordinator, they've got a new
offensive coordinator. You know, uh, you know, coach Day obviously

(04:30):
he's gonna have his fingerprints all over the offense. He
kind of hired, in my opinion, a head coach for
the defense and Matt Patricia. He's a guy's been an
NFL head coach, bim with Bill Belichick and the idea
that that he can really be a head coach on
the defensive side of the ball, where coach Day can
really focus on the offense. And I think it was
a great addition for them. But but ultimately there's so

(04:50):
much new as much as what was old. Uh, it's
I think we got to focus on what we need
to do and then be adjustable as.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
The game goes on. Are you feeling how you feeling
about that, big fella?

Speaker 2 (05:04):
I think that you know, some of it is coach speak,
but there's a lot of truth to what he said. Uh,
there are new elements in the game. But let's not
get it twisted hards. We both know that both of
these rosters are as good as you're gonna find in
college football. Everybody's excited because they know they're gonna get

(05:25):
good football. There's gonna be good players, there's gonna be
good coaching, and you hopefully the weather permits that it's
not a sloppy game. If you get anything outside of
what I think we're gonna get I still think that
it's gonna be pretty during entertainment.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, I think the weather's gonna be just fine. I
think it's gonna be like seventy three to uh to
eighty during that game.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
So you got to it's gonna be like playing in
air conditioning for Texas. You're gonna make sure that things
are looking real good for the Texas Longhorn as they
prepare for Ohio State. But one of the biggest things
that is out there for this Texas football team is
we've been talking about Arch and we'll get into Arch
in the next segment, but the most important thing is

(06:12):
this Texas defense. And Texas defense has the confidence of
this staff because of the fact that there's some experience
on the back end with Michael taff there's some experience
in the middle with Anthony Hill Jr. And of course
you got the young buck Colin Simmons. But you brought
in some guys into transfer portal that have a lot

(06:35):
of experience too. So the Texas staff has a lot
of confidence in that defense.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well it's helpful, you know, And I said before throughout
training camp, we've got a lot of talented players on
the defensive side of the ball. We've got a lot
of continuity on the defensive staff PK obviously year five.
You know, all the players here know him, know how
he likes to call it. We've evolved over the years.
But the fact we can go play quality defense on

(07:02):
the road against a high quality opponent, it's going to
be critical because you know, I don't know how the
game's gonna go. I'd love to fast start, really fast
on offense and be clicking on all cylinder cylinders. We
may not, you know, And so if that's the case,
you need your defense. You know, we may be clicking
on all cylinders on offense and then you might have
some turnovers that happens, then the defense has got to respond.

(07:24):
And so to have veterans on the defensive side of
the ball that are quality players with that coaching staff,
I think is important in a game like this on
the road to start the season.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Gotta love it. Gotta love it that defense is on
point and ready to go.

Speaker 6 (07:40):
Well.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Part of the thing that I like that he said
was if things aren't running smoothly, you you're gonna have
to be able to.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Rely on your defense.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
But they don't expect that that's the case. I think
that a lot of teams want to impose their wheel,
and Sarkisian's offense is not one that's haphazard.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
He's an attacking offense.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
He wants to get the ball up the field, and
you think that he's not giving you like, oh, well,
we may not be clicking on all cylinders. But I
feel like that that's not the case. That they are
really just saying that because you know, as a coach,
you don't want to give anybody bulletin board material and say, hey, look,

(08:27):
we feel inconfident about our offense. We think that we
could score with anybody in college football. That sounds arrogant,
so of course you're going to play down to that.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Well, sometimes you know as well, as you were saying that,
you got to be able to stand on business too.
And it's not like this is the first time they
recognize the University of Texas, not the first time that
they recognize that Ohio State, who is the defending national champion.
They got their business too. And one of the things
that Michael Taff said was, Hey, I'm glad that the

(09:00):
staff has the confidence in us because we are out
there to play at that level. Well, it's helpful, you know.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
And I said before throughout training camp, we we've got
a lot of talented players on the defense.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, it means a lot.

Speaker 7 (09:16):
It means a lot that the coaches trust us to
bring the juice. But what is cool this year is
we got a quarterback that has the most juice I've
ever been around, not just a quarterback but a player.
Whenever he scores, he's gonna let it be known that
he scored. And that's really cool because that fires everybody up.

(09:38):
So yes, I mean, yeah, you can trust him in
the defense.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
For sure. We're gonna We're gonna do our job.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
I promise you that.

Speaker 7 (09:45):
But it's cool that, you know, if something that bad
goes with the defense, our offense, I trust them them
just as much as.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
They trust in us. So that's really cool.

Speaker 6 (09:54):
Quick.

Speaker 4 (09:54):
Probably love just as the Longhorn fan growing up.

Speaker 5 (09:57):
What's it like to have this program now?

Speaker 4 (09:59):
Probably Themsel defense. Yeah, it's really cool. The Texas defense.

Speaker 7 (10:04):
That's something when you go back in history and you
talk about, you know, how it is Texas made up.
It's all about the Texas defense. Dereck Johnson, Michael Huff
a Bunch of those guys. But what happened was they
always won the turnover margin. They always would reset the
line of scrimmage and nobody could run the ball on them.
If they did run the ball, it was eleven hats
to the ball. And that's what I want to be

(10:25):
known as.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Gotta love Gotta love it. Man.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
I'm feeling more confident about the second. Let's just let it.
Let's just let Mookie talk, man, because he got me
feeling very confident.

Speaker 5 (10:38):
Hard.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
What do you think, Yeah, Well, to think about what
he said about sixteen. He said, when that guy scores,
everybody's gonna know that they scored. He's got that energy.
He brings it every day and the battle against ones
and ones in practice and you know, iron Sharpen's iron,
and we say that in this cliche, but it also
is factual that when you're playing against elite competition, you're

(11:02):
either gonna sink or you're gonna swim. And what they've
been able to do is swim. And they've been swimming together.
It's called synchronizing. You know what I'm saying. They've been
doing synchronized swimming. And now you'll get a chance to
go to the big horseshoe up in Columbus and deliver
in front of everyone. I'm excited for this game. We're

(11:23):
gonna continue these conversations at eight seventeen. We'll have it
from Columbus, Ohio as our guy Patrick Murphy joins us
and talks a lot about this game, because let's not
forget they are the defending national champions. But coming up next,
we're gonna hear about Arch manning his leadership, and we're

(11:44):
gonna hear from coach Flood talking about how good of
a leader Arch has shown to be. Right here on
a way back Wednesday edition of the Morning Kickoff on
Sports Radio and thirteen hundred. This all coming up in
the next segment, We've got our Danny Davis of the
Austin America Statesman talking all things Texas Longhorse as we

(12:05):
prepare for the first game of the year. You heard
Cam Parker talking about the game and where he will
be at Pluckers. I will be at Cover three on
Anderson Lane for the ball game and enjoying some ice
cold bud Lights. That's right, that's right. It's football season

(12:26):
here and you know the official domestic beer of Texas Athletics.
I wanted to get into this conversation about arch Manning
because arch Manning is obviously the height. We just heard
Michael Taff talking about arch and what the energy that
he is going to bring to this football game, and

(12:48):
a lot of people still look at it as and
even I, even I have looked at it as kind
of saying, Okay, let's pump the brakes. Let's let him
get out there and get an opportunity to play, and
we will see what happens after that. But he is
one of those guys that he changes the dynamic of
the football game. We can talk about his passing ability,

(13:10):
big play. We can also talk about the ability that
he has to run. But the biggest question was what
about his leadership expectations as the season gets ready to start.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
He's just prepared well, he's practiced well, and he's had
to go against our defense every day.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
He's been in these environments.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
You know, it's not like we didn't put him in
the game in the semi final game last year. We
put him in the game at Texas A and m
He's had to go in. Now he just gets to
play more snaps, which I know he's excited about.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
And the fact that he gets to play more STAPs
continues to help with his growth, gross his growth and
his personality that continues to change over time.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Arch is a great kid man. Now he's an awesome
young man. He's bought into every aspect of our program.
He's been a great teammate, He's worked extremely hard. I
think he's enjoyed college and he should. But at the
end of the day, I just feel like he's normal,
And that's what I love about him. It's not some

(14:13):
guy who feels like he's untouchable. He's better than everybody else.
He doesn't go about he doesn't do life like that,
never mind football like that. And to me, that probably
the best part of his evolution is that he hasn't
changed on that aspect of who he is, Like he
stayed true to who he is the way he was raised.
And I think that that's really garnered a lot of

(14:35):
respect from his teammates and the coaches by the way
he conducts him conducts himself on a daily basis and
the way he represents all of us. Because you know,
as much as I get up here and talk to y'all,
you know I can't you can't go with the day
without seeing somebody talking about Arch Manning. And so he's
a direct representation of our football program in this university.
And the way that he conducts himself is one that

(14:57):
I think, you know, we're all proud of and one
that we respect him for the way that he does it.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yeah, I'm.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
I'm blown away at the fact that he wants to
be a normal guy. But he's not a normal guy, right,
He's gonna have to be protected sometimes from himself. And
I'm sure that with him being Arch and he can
afford it that there is some kind of security in
place to look out for him. But the thing that

(15:31):
that that where you don't have to be looked out
for is the fact that your coach, your teammates, the
people the staff around you, they all respect you and
they give you credit for trying to be as normal
and common place as anybody else on the team. Hard
that goes so such a long way with anybody that's

(15:54):
on the team.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Right, I mean, he tries to blend in as best
he can. As you would say, you know, yes, he
lost his ID early in his tenure. He's a normal person.
He's a kid. I mean, he was somebody that was
coming to school and going to the University of Texas
and oh yes, last name is Manning. But he still

(16:16):
has to be a guy in the locker room. You're
you can be a Manning and people not like you
if you're a bad person, if you're not good and
not come in to put the work in like everybody else.
You've heard it. He's the one that's leading everybody in
these drills. He's leading them in the breakdown of the team.

(16:37):
He's keeping them after practice to walk through some things
that he thought that they could have done better. But
I think this right here from coach Flood. He was
talking to my guy, Aaron Taylor. He was talking about
Arch and his ability to do things that we expect

(16:58):
of him, but more importantly be the quarterback and the
leader that this team is looking for coming into this season.

Speaker 8 (17:07):
He's going into his third year.

Speaker 9 (17:08):
So I think, you know, for us from a protection standpoint,
there's nothing we did last year with Quinn that we
don't think we can do with Arch. You know, that
part is a real blessing for us to have a
quarterback who who's been in our system now for three
years and he's really bright and he's the only quarterback
that I've ever been involved with in the recruiting process

(17:29):
that has asked to have a protection meeting. And I
remember we had a full protection meeting with Arch and
Coop when he was on our campus one time, and
I thought that was really insightful that he understood. Now,
I'm sure his uncles and his family, his grandfather had
something to do with that. Like he's got he's got
an appreciation for protection that is at a higher level

(17:50):
than I think most of the guys that I've worked
with in college, certainly at a young at a young age,
they figured out pretty quick that it's important.

Speaker 8 (17:58):
But I think that part's going to be a certainly
in that positive force.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
What type of dude is he? What type of relationship
does he have with your room?

Speaker 9 (18:05):
Oh, he's great, He's he's just I know, he's dark Manning, right,
So he's got the name and all that stuff, but
he's really a great teammate.

Speaker 8 (18:13):
You know, it's it's you know, Yesked about sark superpower.

Speaker 9 (18:16):
That's his superpower is he's he's as down to earth
and as good a teammates as we have in that
locker room. And the guys love him. So he's got
a great relationship with those guys. They go to dinner
and so he's he's phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
That's what you do. You go to teammates and you
go and hang out with them. You go and kick
it with the guys that are going to be protecting
you during the ball game. But the insightful part of
that whole conversation was he came in asking about, Hey,
so what are your schemes on the protection on this

(18:51):
play that play? How are y'all going to make sure
that the development of the offensive line, which I've told
you before, I've yet to see a transfer portal guy
come to the University of Texas on the offensive line.
You've seen him come in other positions, but you haven't
seen him come on that offensive line, and I think

(19:13):
that bodes well for the cohesiveness of this football team
as they continue to move forward. The other part of
this is a guy that I expect to make huge
strides this year, and you'll hear it numerous times, is
Ryan Wingo. Ryan Wingo, if you've been following any of

(19:35):
the reporters, and we'll talk to Danny Davis about this
in just a little bit, but if you've been Following
all of this, the upside of Ryan Wingo is about
to get sped up because of the fact that last
year he was dealing with so many playmakers. When you
think about what Matthew Golden, Isaiah Bond and all those

(19:56):
that were involved have decided, you know, they became an
integral part of the success and gunner him across the middle.
Ryan Wingo's time is now and I believe that his
development has just taken off.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
I just think it's development, you know, Joe, It's it's
more like these guys come in and we can't get
him ready to do everything, and so you're just trying
to put him in position to do some of the
things that they do well. And Ryan was a great
example that a year ago we ran reverses and and
you know, shots down the field with him, but all
the while we were trying to develop his game to

(20:31):
be a more complete player. And I think that to
his credit, like Anthony, the most important thing in Ryan
Wingo's life as being a great football player, like and
he pours into it every single day and the result
is he's become a better player. And and you know,
I think that now it's our job to try to
put him in more positions to have some success.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
I want to ask Mark real quick, you got a
passport because you keep moving from city to city.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
I've been in three different locations because Harsh, like uh
I get I get thrown out of my room every
day at noon and it's over here is one thirty pm,
So like, uh they they everywhere I go, the music
is too loud. Somebody moves next to me and starts
asking me questions about wrestling them, like listen, I'm.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
Trying to do a show. He enjoy yourself, brother, enjoy yourself.
But before we go to break and get Danny on,
I wanted to get your take on what you thought
about Arch coming in and asking about protection and learning
at their first meeting on how he is going to
be protected.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
That's that's advanced thinking for a young guy. Harsh like
most guys don't come in and want to have a
protection protection meeting with the coaches because he wants to
identify with where is the weak point in the offense
because every offense has a week point and every defense
has a week point.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
He wants to know.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
He don't want the coaches to talk to him like well.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
We just want you to go out and play.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
No, I want to know everything you know exactly. And
for a kid to come in and do that like that,
that's light years. That's senior type stuff.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
And that's why he has been in the program three
years and now he's getting ready to lead this program
for the first time as the starting quarterback. Name starting quarterback.
Coming up next, we're gonna talk to Danny Davis of
the Austin American Statesman and get his take on what
he's heard so far this week right here on the
morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred. Li's all

(22:37):
you just heard it as bud lights count down the
kickoff as we are, Nathan Vasher days away from that kickoff.
Nathan Vasher good friend, one of the best to ever
do it at the university. If he was my brother's good.
Still good, still getting it in too, as we always do.

(23:00):
On Wednesday, we're about to talk to our guy, Danny
Davis of the Austin American Statesman. You can follow him
at Underscore Danny Davis and Danny. We are three days
away from the start of the Texas football season. We
had our first game week press conference on Monday. Sark

(23:22):
seemed like he was locked in and ready to go,
as did the players. But what was one of your
biggest takeaways from coach Sark on Monday.

Speaker 10 (23:34):
First off, I gotta say, I don't know if I
want people following y'all follow me on Twitter because awesome
angry people on your mentions. I know what they but
there what they're crying so much about it's football season.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Well you you'll find out in the second hour after
the strongest faith.

Speaker 10 (23:49):
I don't I don't need those people, so don't follow
me on Twitter. But I mean, it's it's it's football season.
I think Steve and those guys there dialed in.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
They're tuned in. Obviously.

Speaker 10 (24:00):
I knew there's some other announcements, you know, with field
logans and stuff like that, that you know, may may
have garnered a little bit more intention, but they're focused
on Ohio State. I thought Steve had a really good
answer when someone asked him about I think as Terry
asked him about if he knew this was a championship
football team, and he was like, I just need to
have this team that can beat O High State if
that's the only thing I'm focused on. So it seems
like they're just kind of doubting and focused, and you know,

(24:22):
game by game all those cliches, they're ready for for Saturday.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
You know, every time you know Coach Stark goes to
the podium, you're looking for something, right, You're trying to
figure out if he's going to change his tone. But
he's one of the most consistent coaches that we have
seen since I've been covering this and you as well,
I'm sure. But one thing that he stood that stood
out to me was when he talked about I don't

(24:48):
know the identity of this team just yet, and I
thought people were like, what he doesn't know? And I'm like,
it just all depends. The team could be a defensive juggernaut.
This team could be a team that can stretch the
field with what Ryan Wingo, DeAndre Moore and this group
can do. Or it can be a ground and pound
type of team with Trey Weisner in CJ. Baxter. So

(25:11):
I didn't take a fit to or look at it
kind of crazy because he doesn't know the identity of
this team. How about yourself?

Speaker 10 (25:20):
I mean, how could this team has not been punching
enough yet, The team has not you know, want a
gain yet? They've not experiencing highs, they haven't experiencing loves
until you're actually in battle with these guys and see
how they respond to adversity, or see how they respond
to you know, good, good things happening to him. I mean,
you don't really know how last year's team is last
year's team. I feel like I sound like a coach

(25:40):
right now.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
But we don't we don't know.

Speaker 10 (25:43):
We don't know what this identity is. You know, a
lot of those guys are in the league now, the
same thing you said about Ohio State. They don't know
what this team is, and they want until Saturday, and
they may not even know on Saturday. They may not
know until a couple weeks in this season, and there's
some consistency, you know, they kind of get a feel
for what this team is. But it it's August. I'm
sure Steve knows who he wants to lean on, and

(26:04):
you know, kind of has an idea of what this
team is. But you know, there could be some stuff
that happened to the first game that surprises even him.
So I'm not surprised that he doesn't have an idea
of the identity.

Speaker 4 (26:13):
If this is December and he doesn't have.

Speaker 10 (26:15):
An idea of what the identity of this team is,
then you can be concerned if you're a Texas fan.
But yeah, that's not surprising to hear that he's still
figuring that out, because we all are figuring that out,
including the players in this team.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Daddy, don't you think that it's a strength and advantage
to be able to have multiplicity in your offense to
where you don't have to rely on one trait.

Speaker 10 (26:37):
I mean, I think Steve, you know, Steve's an All
American quarterback and he loves to run the football. So
obviously that is something he loves to have. He's never
gonna turn down a good quarterback. He loves to throw
it around, and you know, he does have a good
track record of working with some you know, draft down quarterbacks,
but he loves to run the football, and the Steas

(26:57):
are key's in offense. Whatever the stat is, I think
one year since he's been a head coach, last coordinator,
that was a year he got fired at USC, he
hasn't had a thousand yard rusher, So I mean, obviously
that's that's something he prides himself on. So this Texas team,
you know, Quintravid Weisner, C. J. Baxter, they're going to
get the rock, Ryan Wingo, you know, DeAndre Moore, They're

(27:18):
gonna get thrown to.

Speaker 4 (27:19):
I mean, this is going to be a balanced offense.

Speaker 10 (27:21):
It's not going to be a team that runs the
ball sixty times in games, not gonna begin in the
passes at sixty times in the game. If that, if
either of those things happened, something, probably we're wrong with
wrong with the game strip games script. Although I guess
if you're running the ball sixty times, maybe you get
up really early and just killing the clock.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
But this is a balanced team that they will remain.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
So we're talking to Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman.
You can well, we're not going to tell you to
follow him because he don't want you to follow him
right now. I don't want you on there. I'm good,
he's good with his his base. I get it, bro,
I get it. But I do also want to talk
about Parker Livingston. Living Stones use. A lot of folks

(28:01):
continue to think that he is going to have one
of those breakout seasons. But if you were to pick
a player from your hearing of the meat from us
being able to talk to the players, talk to the coaches.
Is there another person not named Parker that you think
might have a breakout season?

Speaker 10 (28:24):
I mean of the young guys, and the names that
get mentioned are Parker, Livingstone and Livingstone and Grayson Dulton,
and those two teams seem to be the young guys
who are getting all the praise. Grayson's a true freshman.
Parker was here last year. But you know, I don't
may have here to you in some reserve duty, but
you know those are the guys that have gotten a

(28:45):
lot of praise. We'll see that praise turns into something.
You know, Texas is going to need some helping us
defensive backfield, and they're going to need some people who
aren't named Ryan Wingo and DeAndre More to step up
in the receiving course. So there's gonna be opportunities for
both those young men. It's going to be just on
them to cash in.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Have y'all decided? Have y'all given out your predictions yet
for the week? Are y'all waiting over there at the
Austin American States?

Speaker 4 (29:09):
Well, my predictions are not with weight. No, I'm bicking Texas.
It's not I think Tech.

Speaker 10 (29:15):
I'm just you know, I think both teams are going
to have some growing pans on offense. Arch obviously has
a little bit more experience and than Julian, but this
is still his first big start, So I'm just gonna
you know, both Tians are very good defenseve the Ohio
State defense last year is incredible, but they I think
have some more holes on their defensive phil Texas has
three first team priests and all Americans on that defense,

(29:37):
so obviously has one that one that Ohio State has
maybe the best of that four, but that's still three
over one. So I'm just gonna go with that, go
with that three a defensive battle, and I think both teams,
regardless of the score on Saturday, are gonna be fine.
I think both teams are going to be championship contenders
the rest of the way.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
That's a heavy compliment for Downs to say that he
may be the best of the defensive players.

Speaker 10 (30:03):
He probably would have been won the Throp Award last
ye if it wasn't for John ay You having the
season he had in Texas.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
So obviously, you know, Michael Tass a great player.

Speaker 10 (30:11):
There's nothing against Anthony hill Ar Collins, Simmons, but came
down that that is a specially young man and he's
definitely in the League League next year, so Texas fans
will not you get to see him again, probably after
after Saturday.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, let's get rid of him. And I don't want
to see him no more either.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
Man.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
I saw him at Alabama and now two seasons at
Ohio State, so yeah, get that kid out of there.
As always, we appreciate you, Danny. Same travels to and
make sure you cover up your head as you're walking
into the stadium, don't. We're neutral colors. We're neutral colors.
That's the key to going to Ohio State.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
I'm cute.

Speaker 11 (30:48):
People are going to message smoke Danny as always.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
As long as it's not from a Twitter.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Following up, that's our Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman.
He picks Texas As do a lot of folks. Coming
up next, I've got a question for Mark Henry and
it is about the big Dumpster. Now now, the big dumper,

(31:18):
the big Dumpster, the big Dumber. Who's the MVP. We'll
talk about it right here on the morning kickoff on
sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Great stuff from
our guy Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman. If
you missed any parts of our Number one, make sure
you listen to the podcast. Get over to the podcast
page wherever you get your podcast, but always free on

(31:39):
thee hard radio app. Also make sure you preset us
as the number one on your presets because we are
the home of Texas football. And also make sure you
tune into the Craig Way Show this afternoon, the voice
of the Texas Longhorns from two to five. He and
Cam Parker bring it to you. Like always, we haven't

(32:01):
talked a lot of Major League Baseball and that's on me.
I apologize for that. As a former player. Shame. I
should be given more action. But you know, just like
some of the fans, you get ready for football season
and you forget a lot of things that are out there.
But I want to get into this conversation because Major

(32:22):
League Baseball has a problem. And what do I mean
by that? They have a decision to make because cal
Riley Rally Riley, yeah, is the home run leader in
Major League Baseball. He hit his fiftieth home run and
this is what it sounded like. The three two Flightball

(32:48):
take cover p history March for the first time.

Speaker 12 (33:00):
Remember, on catcher has fifty home runs in a season.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
It has never been done n til right now.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
And tell cal.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
Rolle Colade with parts.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Why is it that catchers are not prolific hitters like that?

Speaker 1 (33:21):
Well, because most of the time you're there for your defense,
so they want you to be able to catch and throw.
There have been some guys that can pop the baseball.
You obviously look at Johnny Bench, Pud Rodriguez, you can
the list goes on of great catchers that have been
able to swing the bat. Well, uh, Sandy Alamar and

(33:41):
one of the Piazza's a guy. You know, you got
guys that can do it. Todd Hutley was one of
those guys. But the consistency in which he's been able
to do it. He won the home run Derby in
Atlanta when we were there. He came got a slow
start in the second half, but then he's back now

(34:02):
and you start to look at what his season is like,
and people keep saying, well, Aaron Judge is gonna be
the MVP. He's got forty home runs, he's got ninety
three RBIs, and he's hitting three twenty one and those
are great numbers, but his team is not that good anymore,
and you start to wonder. It's like, are they gonna

(34:23):
give the award to Aaron Judge just because he's on
the Yankees and the numbers that he put up, But
the Mariners are a game and a half out of
first place in the Al West. Now we still have
behind the Houston Astros Cochtros in the words of Rod Babers,
but you start to understand that this is a different

(34:44):
journey for what he's been able to do. Not only
is he hitting all those home runs, he's also throwing
out base runners at a very high clip. He's controlling
that pitching staff, and he's driving in all the runs.
Now his batting average is two forty five, and that

(35:04):
might be the disgrace against him or I don't even know,
But in Major League Baseball nowadays, I don't think people
care about your average as much anymore. They care about
your productivity. He's got fifty home runs, one hundred and
seven RBIs, and he himself has fourteen stolen bases. As
the catcher, He's gonna go twenty twenty for sure. He's

(35:26):
no little guy either. No, and the cool story about
the All Star Game was he had his dad throwing
to him and his little brother was catching when he
was at the play. So he's become this darling of
Major League Baseball. But the story is gonna be about

(35:47):
is he really a legitimate candidate to be the MVP?
And I say, why not, Hanja, I'm right there with you.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
If he continues to lead in home run regardless of
what his average is with the other things that he's
doing on that team.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Man, I give him the nine. Yep, he's the I'm
a Yankee fan, know you are. His nickname is the
Big Dumper because that's just kind of how he you know,
you know, he's just shaped different. But he's up there
just swinging the bat, driving the ball out of the ballpark.
And he's a switch hitter. He's a switch hitter to

(36:28):
be able to do that. So for for what I've seen,
in my money, I would vote for him to be
the MVP. Now you go over to the National League,
it's a little bit different. Show. Hal Tany's numbers are
through the roof. But guess what, Kyle Schwarber forty five
home runs, Show hal Tani forty five home runs, Kyle

(36:51):
Schwarber one hundred and ten RBIs show Hal Tany eighty five,
two four twenty five verses two seventy eight. I mean,
this is another one of those those runs in the
American League, I mean the National League that's the same
as the American League. And it is going to be

(37:12):
interesting because everybody right now, show hey, show Hey, show hey.
Because he's also pitching. But he struggled the last couple
of starts. But Shortbert has been very, very consistent at
the plate and leading off for the Phillies are with
a name.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Like big Dumper, like they the jovial big.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Guy, that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
I hope that he does not suffer from size discrimination.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Huh. You know, I don't know. You know, it's a
little bit different. It's a little bit different. But I
do agree with you on that he's not gonna be discriminating.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
The popularity contest is real. I think his judge being
at the Yankees, show hey and Tany in at the
Dodgers and their names. With all the money that groups
are spending, and the networks want those guys on the
show because they pop ratings.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
YadA, YadA, YadA.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
There's no way that this guy say he hit sixty
home runs, right, and you know he goes over one
hundred and forty one hundred and fifty RBIs. If he
don't get it, it's gonna be a travesty, y'all.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
I'm with you. I'm with you, and Monica, I see
you out there. You're right, You're right. I know you're
not mad at me for not talking more college football
than baseball. It's all good, but I had to bring
it back. I had to bring it back to baseball.
And I appreciate you listening. When we come back our
number two, we're gonna talk more NFL Texas Longhorns that
made it to the league and some of them that

(38:51):
did not. Right here on the morning kickoff on Sports
Radio and thirteen hundred The Zone. Welcome back to our
number two of the more and kickoff right here on
sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone and our number one.
We got a chance to hear about the differences between
this Texas football team from this year and Ohio State's

(39:13):
football team to the teams that are there now. We
also heard about the development of Arch Manning and what
he's been able to lead on this team. And we
heard from Danny Davis, as he says, don't follow him
because he is not going to be a part of
the madness here at the station. But we will have
this conversation with Patrick Murphy of Buck Nuts of twenty

(39:36):
four to seven Sports. He will be talking all things
Ohio State, getting us up to date on the things
that are happening in Columbus. But we want to talk
about the NFL and some rosters and some roster moves
that were made yesterday. And I can't tell you enough
how excited I am for one. Quen Yours has taken

(40:01):
a lot of beating throughout his time on the forty Acres.
He's seen some things that has been said, some things
against him in a way that is just It's been bad.
But at least he gets an opportunity to play at
the next level. He is now made the team for

(40:22):
the Miami Dolphins. And Mark, you and I talked about
it going in. We all believe that he was going
to make a team. We just didn't know after that
first game if it was gonna happen in Miami.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
You know what hard like you have off games, and
you know, we talked about Quinn's release and his decision making.
Like Quinn is a really good pre snap reader, but
sometimes because of a slow reaction, it doesn't look like
he has a good understanding that can be look that

(40:56):
could be worked out. There's a lot of quarterbacks that
have a slow trigger because they.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Don't want to throw interceptions.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
In the NFL, the coaches are gonna tell you, hey,
you need to take some shots. You need to make
a quicker assessment of what you see, and the faster
you get it out your hand, the better. Like that,
that's just gonna come from time.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
I pray and hope.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
That Quinn doesn't let the naysayers and the people that
doubt him affect his play because I think he's good enough.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Well, he's got an opportunity now, and that's all you
could ask for. That's anybody in the NFL. When you
get a chance to play at the next level and
you understand that your opportunities are just that you start
to take them. Yesterday there were some news out of Dallas.
Jaden Blue has now went back to the number twenty three.

(41:51):
He is back in part of the football team. He's
excited for the new year. But when you bring in
another running back, that means one on the house to go,
and they ended up cutting Deuce vond from ceedar Ridge
and he is now hoping to either clear waivers or
get picked up on waivers and possibly get picked up

(42:12):
by another team. The Cowboys continue to make some questionable moves.
We still don't know what's gonna happen with Michael Parsons.
We firmly believe that he will be in there. But
you know, as well as I do, the longer this
thing drags on, man, the tougher it's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Well. The one thing the Cowboys got right is they
released four defensive tackles. And I said this the other day,
And I hate to be that I told you guys,
but I told you when I told you, like, they
had to get rid of these guys. They're not they

(42:49):
weren't good, right, And there's people that are gonna get
released off other teams that they can go and pick
those guys up.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
So you know, I'm I'm I'm hopeful. Well, there's some
guys that did make the team and have tried to
stay strong and be Jean Robinson obviously, Jatavian Sanders and
Jonathan Brooks are on the Carolina Panthers. Roshan Johnson and
Devin Duverney have made the the Chicago Bears. Joseph Osai

(43:24):
is with the Cincinnati Bengals. Isaiah Bond. Isaiah Bond made
the team for the Cleveland Browns, who, by the way,
we said it was gonna happen there too. Shador Sanders
made the squad. He is the number four or number
three quarterback as of right now. So there's that. Jayden
Blue and Demarvi and Overshawn with the Cowboys. Malcolm Roach,

(43:47):
Jah Day, Bearn PJ Locke and Brandon Jones are part
of the Denver Longhorns, I mean Broncos as the hero
they're the Longhorns. North Zac, Green Bay Packers, Matthew Golden
and Baron Surrem Indianapolis coachs Ad Mitchell, Kansas City a

(44:09):
Mini Hu and Worthy. Cameron Dicker is still the kicker
for the Chargers. Jordan Whittington and Poona Ford. Quinn with
the Rams Miami we talked about. Quinn Brendan Schooler is
still with the Patriots. Kelvin Banks Vernon it has already
been brought in in. Jalen Ford all made the New

(44:30):
Orleans Saints. Andrew Beck is with the Jets. That's your
favorite player. You love you some h back Beck. The
Philadelphia Eagles have Mora Ojamo, Cam Williams and Andrew mccooba.
The Steelers Deshaun Elliott and Calvin Anderson. And I believe

(44:50):
Calvin Anderson was the last offensive lineman transfer portal guy
that was here right before Sark took over, and I
think it he was the last one as well out
Forred Collins on the forty nine Ers. Biron Murphy and
Michael Dixon are with the Seattle Seahawks, Tovandre Sweat Gunner
him and Quandre Diggs all with the Tennessee Longhorns, and

(45:14):
Washington Commanders has Sam Cosme. He is on the injured
reserve list or pup list right now. But some guys
that got cut Bill Norton, Shae Bouchell, Keelan Robinson, Colin Johnson,
Sam Ellinger, which was shocking in Denver that he got
Gott David Benda, Jake Majors, Tariq black Little, Jordan Humphrey,

(45:36):
KeAndre Colburn, and Josh Thompson were all released or waived.
Those are a lot of guys that made the roster
it's as if Texas has a lot of talent. Oh
something happening right there. I think there was fifty one
guys that are on NFL rosters from that list that
I just named.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Wow, that's a lot of players, man. For uh, even
the teams that had successful championship teams in the last
five years, the Alabama's and Clemson's like they you just
expect that Texas will now be in that category when
you see that many.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
In Georgia.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
I know I didn't name I didn't. I didn't slight Georgia.
I just you know, I just okay, I slighted them.
But like the whole point is, now Texas is going
to have to live up.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Like I mean, there's there's pressure.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
People say, oh, well there's no pressure behind there's always pressure,
But when you're good enough, pressure don't matter.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
And I believe that this was good enough. I mean,
you start to look at this team, and if you
were to put a list together right now, you would
understand that there's at least four to seven guys that
you would say will be drafted right now. And I'm
just that's that's on the low end. That's on the
very low end. But you can go all the way

(47:05):
to the top and maybe you have fifteen more guys
that could be drafted within you will definitely have at
least twenty in the next two seasons that will be
able to be drafted because of the talent in the
way that they have these guys balanced out from different
age groups, right, different recruiting classes, And we'll hear about

(47:26):
the recruiting class from twenty three and how special that
class was and how they're all coming into their own
right now, because CJ. Baxter talked about that when he
was talking to Corey mos But you understand that Texas
is now at the point where they're developing at a
level that was back in the five, well, the two thousands, right,

(47:47):
we like cash money records in the ninety nine to
two thousands. Up in here, they're trying to get the
parties started once again, and it is fun. That's why
there's so much excitement about this week. Yes, it's Ohio State,
and we'll talk to Patrick Murphy in just a minute
to get the excitement from that side of it. But

(48:08):
you really have to understand the importance of this matchup,
not just for today, but for the kickoff of what
people are looking at could possibly be a great season
because twenty years ago was when the national championship was
won in five and we are in twenty twenty five.

(48:32):
So I'm not no mathematician, but I know that twenty
years that can get another special moment. You know what
I'm saying, Man, Hard.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
I'm so excited that you know, I wish that that
game was here. Oh man, I wish that game was here, Hard,
but you would not be there. I would have made
some changes.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
We would have figured out teleportation.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Hey, man, I would have came up with a teleportation
device or something.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
You'd have been like, Star Trek just disappeared.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
No, no, don't don't put me on Star Trek because
you know that.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Brother never coming back. He go, what is it? A
guy in the red shirt. You don't even know what.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
His name was, Insign Jones Inston Jones never came back.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
He was just Hey, he was just part of the circus.
He was part of the circus. I love I love it,
but yeah, this is this is what it's all about.
We get excited about football all the time. But now
when you're playing a team that it ended your season
last year and went on to win a National Championship. Yeah,

(49:50):
there's a little bit extra on both sides of the team.
So let's talk to Patrick Murphy of buck Nuts on
twenty four to seven Sports as he he talks a
lot about what's going on up in Columbus, Ohio. Enemy lines.
Right here on the morning kickoff on sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred The Zone, be our Hodges Mitchell. Days away

(50:16):
from the kickoff at the Big Horseshoe in Columbus, but
right now we go behind enemy lines. As we are
joined right now by our guy, Patrick Murphy, be writer
of beat buck Nuts twenty four to seven on twenty
four to seven Sports. We're really excited to talk to you.
Welcome to the morning kickoff right here on Sports Radio

(50:39):
AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
Man, Hey, guys, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
We appreciate you, appreciate you. This is an epic matchup.
Last year it happened in Texas and at the cotton
Ball big play on the goal line changed the entire
thing and Ohio State goes on to win a national championship.
But the faces have changed. A lot of the players
that were part of that game have moved on to

(51:04):
the next level. But the anticipation of this game is
like no other. What's it like in Columbus right now?
As far as getting ready for this big time matchup.

Speaker 4 (51:14):
People are pretty excited. I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 6 (51:17):
It's been a while since Ohio State has opened the
season with a game like this. They did open with
Notre Dame a couple of years ago, but I won't
say this is anywhere near the same type of hype.

Speaker 4 (51:28):
Really.

Speaker 6 (51:28):
The last time I can think of it is it
wasn't a season opener, but they did play USC in
a home and home series like this one in i
want to say eight and nine, and that had a
similar level of anticipation. This was back when USC was
you know, AT's peak with Pete Carroll and the quarterbacks,

(51:50):
that they had all that talent. So for me, this
is this is on par with that, maybe even above that,
given the rankings and as you mentioned that these two
teams just met in the College Ball Playoffs semi final
last year and how that game played out and everything.
So yeah, there's a lot of anticipation. You can't go
many places without getting asked about your thoughts on this game,

(52:10):
just as you might expect, and just as I expect
it'll be next year when these two teams meet in Austin.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Patrick, I had a lot of strong connection with Columbus.
I won my first World Strongest Man there. One of
my favorite things in the world is Jenny's ice Cream.
I know you probably know strongly about it. But do
you think that the fan base of Ohio State still

(52:37):
has got the hangover from last year? Are they looking
at this team through real critical eyes.

Speaker 6 (52:44):
I think we'll find out Saturday and kind of the
environment at the Horseshoe, especially early, like before the game
kicks off, Like how many people are in there. I
know for the Tennessee game, which was obviously the last
game at the Shoe, people were in early, Like the
atmosphere was great. People were so dialed in on that
game coming off of Ohio State's lost to Michigan.

Speaker 4 (53:04):
So I think we'll see what it looks.

Speaker 6 (53:06):
Like on Saturday and really get a good barometer of that.
But I do think there are you know, you talk
to people and some people are like, hey, we just
won a national championship first time in ten years, and
they got the win over Texas. This game, as much
as it matters, both teams are still going to be
very much in the mix, and then I talk to

(53:28):
other people that are like, you can't start the season
zero to one after winning the national championship, right, especially
against the team that you just beat.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
So I think it's sort of a mix. I think
people are.

Speaker 6 (53:39):
Still kind of riding the momentum of the National Championship
while there are other fans.

Speaker 4 (53:43):
Who have completely dialed in.

Speaker 6 (53:46):
I think Saturday, if Texas does leave Ohio Stadium with
the win, people will be very upset. I don't think
that momentum will carry over if the Longhorns walk out
with the victory.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
No do. We're talking to Patrick Murphy. You can follow
him at Underscore pat Underscore Murphy on social media. He
talks all things buck guys. And obviously the big story
at Ohio State is the new quarterback, Julian Saying, a
quarterback that coach Sark recruited here at the University of Texas.
He has some fond memories and some good thoughts about

(54:20):
that young man. What when an announcement was made, was
this who everyone thought was going to be the starting quarterback?

Speaker 6 (54:28):
Yes, I think you can go back as far as
this time a year ago, after Will Howard had been
named the starter, and there were people that thought, you know,
do you give given the talent on that roster, do
you give a five star kid like Julian Saying the
opportunity to sort of lead that team. Obviously, the Buckeyes
went with the more experienced guy, and we all know

(54:49):
how that turned out. Will Howard turned into a pretty
good quarterback, especially in the College Football Playoff.

Speaker 4 (54:54):
But yeah, the expectation has been that Julian Sayan.

Speaker 6 (54:57):
Would be the guy coming in after his very brief
time at Alabama. I think he was there like less
than a month after Nick Saban retires. But you know,
a five star kid, a kid o'hive Saint also recruited
out of high school, stayed in contact with to some
degree after he committed to Alabama, so kept that relationship alive.
The big thing with Julian Saying we saw it last

(55:19):
year during fall camp and then we saw it again
in the spring was some days, some throws perfect, like
exactly what you want to see from a five star kid.
You can tell why he had rankings like he did.
But then there were other times where the consistency just
wasn't there. You know, he's making some bone headed plays.
I remember a play in practice where he throws back

(55:41):
to back plays. I guess throws this great pass down
the middle, finds a guy tight window, and the next
play throws what I could only describe as like this
boneheaded interception. Well, this fall camp, he started to kind
of put it all together, and there were more and
more days of consistency and the type of throws you
want to see, the right decisions, and that what everyone
over at the Ohio State's facility was waiting for is

(56:03):
can he put it together and be the quarterback we
see in flashes? And I think that was the difference
in naming him the starter. But yeah, he was the
guy everyone expected. Lincoln Keenholts, who will be his backup? Certainly,
you know, not a guy who couldn't go out there
and get the job done, but probably just doesn't have
as high as a ceiling once things are all said
and done between the two quarterbacks. So this is the

(56:24):
way most people thought it would go.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
In the end, Patrick we Taugh quarterback, Like Ohio State
lost two explosive running backs.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Like what is the.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Guys look like right now that have come in and
try to fill those spots?

Speaker 6 (56:42):
So you got James Peoples, who was a freshman last year,
played a decent amount as kind of that third running back.
He was actually in in the first game of the
season last year against Akron in a third quarter with
the first team offense, So that tells you kind of
what they thought about him. Now, the game was already
fairly out of hand, but he did get in. He's
actually scored a touchdown on his first touch. So he's

(57:03):
a guy they like. Actually a guy from San Antonio
who talked this week about being earlier this last week
I guess about being recruited by Texas, but grew up
an Ohio State fan because his parents were both Ohio
State fans. But he said Texas was in his final schools.
Really talented kid. They're very excited about him. And then CJ.
Donaldson is a guy that I think a lot of
people are really interested in seeing more from. He went

(57:26):
to or he transferred from West Virginia this offseason.

Speaker 4 (57:29):
Big guy.

Speaker 6 (57:30):
They've dropped some weight in terms of his overall weight,
but they put on more muscle on him. And he's
a guy that was a former receiver tight end in
high school. They want to use some of that catching
ability that maybe he didn't use as much at West Virginia.
So those will kind of be your Quinn Schawn Judkins,
Traveon Henderson replacements.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
It's not a like for like situation at all.

Speaker 6 (57:52):
But Carlos Laughlin, the running the back coach, he is
very much into if I've got guys that I can rotate,
I want to keep guys fresh, I want to keep
them healthy. And so those are the two that we
expect to kind of take those roles. And then freshman
Bo Jackson, a guy from Ohio up in the Cleveland area.
He's a guy who could work his way in. I
don't know how much you'll see of him in this game,

(58:14):
but I think as the season goes on, say these
two meet again in the College Football playoff down the road,
he's a guy who might have a bigger role at
that point.

Speaker 4 (58:21):
I know he's someone they're pretty excited about as well.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Bose Jackson, he'd better be in there. Yeah, right. I
wanted to ask about the defense because obviously there were
some moves that were made there, but the one constant
that is on that side is the guy Caleb Downs,
one of the best players in college football, recognized as
a freak for all the right reasons. How is he
on his leadership on that defense?

Speaker 4 (58:47):
Great?

Speaker 6 (58:47):
I mean from the moment he walked in, there was
just a respect for what Caleb Downs have done in
his freshman year at Alabama. And one of the coaches
talked about it this offseason that they thought he handled
this really well. He came in, you know, he let
his play do the talking. Didn't sort of command respect
from his teammates early on, but as he did make

(59:10):
plays and sort of people recognized, Okay, you're bringing what
you brought from Alabama, you fit in with all these guys.
He quickly became a leader in that room and that's
run into this season when they lost eight starters from
last year's defense. He was voted to captain just a
couple of weeks ago, one of four captains, two on
the defensive side of the ball. It's I still sometimes

(59:33):
watched Caleb play, and you know, there's a couple of
plays that stand out from last season where I'm just wow,
especially for us sophomore. And I remember talking to our
guys in the twenty four seven Sports Network that the
cover Alabama about him when he transferred over, and obviously
I knew what Caleb Downs was. I remembered him from
recruiting and all that I'd seen him play some at

(59:53):
Alabama watching on TV. But they were like, he's just
gonna make plays that you don't think he can make
that most guys can't make.

Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
And he's not the biggest.

Speaker 6 (01:00:01):
Safety, He's not, you know, the most physically intimidating guy.
But he talks about it, his teammates talk about it.
It's just his innate understanding of the game. And then
the way he works, the way he watches film. That
was a big thing that stood out to coaches when
he got on campus was he knew how to do
film study at a level that most sophomores in college don't.

(01:00:22):
And you can see obviously that play out when he's
on the field.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Patrick as always thank you. But before we let you go,
what is the story about Dave portn or not being
able to get into the stadium? Man, I can't let
you go without asking about it.

Speaker 4 (01:00:37):
No, that's fair.

Speaker 6 (01:00:38):
It's funny that you say that, because before Ryan Day
had his press conference yesterday on Tuesday, the SID was
given some updates about stuff at the stadium, and then
he said and we'll only be talking about football stuff
and gave us all a wink just because all the
Dave Portnoy stuff come out that morning. From my understanding,
Ohio State had nothing really to do with this. I

(01:01:00):
know Dave Portnoy's putting out his narrative as well. One
of my colleagues who's a big wrestling fan, was like,
you know, he's it's almost like in WWE, when you know,
you get this narrative and you just run with it, right,
And so I think he's recognized an opportunity to kind
of promote the brand. If you follow Dave Portnoy at all,
this this isn't surprising. And you know, I'm not knocking him.

(01:01:22):
I'm just saying this was this was a chance to
you know, kind of drum up some some more in the.

Speaker 4 (01:01:28):
Rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan.

Speaker 6 (01:01:30):
So I think from what Fox has put out, the
plan was never to have him in the stadiums at
all this year and just have him part of the
sort of the pregame stuff and not the in game
analysis and whatnot.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
But yeah, it's been quite the story.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
Uh So, not something I expected that we'd be talking
about this week, But look, it's it's game week and uh,
you know whatever, whatever news comes out of it, I'm
excited we're back.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
Yeah, no doubt. We're excited to be back too, and
we're excited for this big time matchup. We want to
thank you for joining us and make sure to Buck
Nuts two four seven and check out all the latest
and you can also follow them at Underscore Pat Underscore Murphy,
Thanks buddy, appreciate crunch.

Speaker 4 (01:02:12):
All right, I've got guys, Do Mark appreciate it?

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
There it is coming up next. We've got the world's
strongest man and he's got one hell of a take.
That's right. You do not want to miss it, Marcus,
get the dumb buddy ready right here on the morning
kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone to
be drop. You know what that means, WWE Hall of

(01:02:36):
Famer World's Strongest Men, d Mark Henry brings you his
world's strongest take. Take it away, big fellow, hard what's
up man? You know what time it is the times.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
It's time for the world's strongest man with the world's
strongest take. And sometime you gotta set people straight, bar.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
Marcus. Back then, they didn't know me. Now I'm hot.
They all on me. And when I say they all
on me, I mean they all over me on social media.
Oh yeah, hold hold on, we can't see you, John Well,
I mean, can you hear me though? Oh yeah, there
we go. Okay, I got you, I got you your point.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Okay, because I got I'm I'm going to read my
prepared statement, and then once I read my prepared statement,
I will come on and show my face and give
you what the real business is. I did say that
what happened was excessive with.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
The young man.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
That was yeah Rojah Jackson, and that whole thing was
a mistake. What I said has nothing to do with race.
It has everything to do with ignorance about the wrestling business.

(01:04:13):
And I don't expect everybody to understand how organized pro
wrestling has been for the last hundred years because it's
been kept the secret. I don't like to see anybody
get hurt in the wrestling business. And I feel sorry
for the guys. Psycho see it didn't deserve what he got.
But every action has a reaction, and there's consequences for

(01:04:37):
everything that you put out in this universe.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
And if.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
It was a work, it was a horrible work, and
nobody's gonna remember it. All they're gonna remember is the
fact that Psycho see it got seriously hurt. Now, I'm
gonna explain what a work is. A work is what
you see is not really what you get.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
There's what we've done now with pro wrestling, with.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Unreal and every other exposed the show is we've told
everybody over the last five to ten years that pro
wrestling is entertainment, that pro wrestling is predetermined, that pro
wrestling is storytelling at an elite level with extremely talented people.

(01:05:34):
How you can be an elite pro wrestling and not
when an oscar is beyond me? And I said, the
only reason that you would be able to get an
oscar is if you expose the business totally so people
can understand how incredibly talented the people are that are
doing it. Well, we have that now, so let's see

(01:05:55):
if that happens. But the story is that you wake
up today and Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift getting their
impending nuptials are the number one thing trending.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
Right behind that is Mark Henry. Mark Henry.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
I'm speaking myself as a third person right now because
I'm over here in UK and I'm djaying successfully selling
out every night two thousand, one thousand people. Everything is great.
I experienced zero racism while I've been here, and I

(01:06:40):
look on social media and people are tearing me down
for my take, calling me a racist. Well, first off,
it's impossible for me to be a racist because I
would have to have power over someone and in a
bigoted way.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
I'm not a bigot.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
And I don't have power over people. Now there's people
that work for me and people that I work with.
I don't ever have to defend myself about being a racist.
The people that know me know who I am as
a man and as a person. It's a lot of
ignorant people that sit back behind their computers and they

(01:07:25):
feel like it's okay to verbally bash people.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
What it is is bullying.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
It's just like the situation of Rajah going to wrestling
to try to be a wrestler and not being completely
informed on what wrestling is, and you got guys that
are veterans, are so called veterans that these guys they

(01:07:52):
could have very easily hard smartened him up, which is
another wrestling term where you say I'm gonna tell you everything.
There is to do what I'm gonna say. I'm gonna
tell you what I'm gonna do, so you'll be prepared. Okay,
all right, everybody's on the same page. That didn't happen.

(01:08:14):
You got these veteran guys drinking alcohol before the show,
and then they come out there and you hit one
of the kids up You hit the kid upside the
head with a beer can. He's supposed to understand and
process all this information. No, it's not gonna happen. And

(01:08:36):
then you got other guys inciting the riot. He goes
out there and he lays into this guy and he
beats him like he stole something. And I do not
condone that harge. I'm gonna tell you from experience. Mark
Henry was once upon a time Rajah Jackson. I got

(01:08:59):
banished from wrestling and sent to Canada. And if it
wasn't for the Heart family who took my ass in
and said, Mark, we're gonna you have to be educated.
You don't know wrestling, you're a fan, let us help you.
And they helped me. They educated me. They taught me

(01:09:20):
how to be who I became, which is a Hall
of Fame wrestler, which is somebody that's very well respected,
not only in pro wrestling, but in radio and television
arge and to everybody listening, I have not got one
racist bone in my body.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
I love people.

Speaker 2 (01:09:41):
God put me on this earth to be a helper
and to be a watcher. And you read the Bible,
you understand who the watchers are.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
I'm one of them.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
And I just want to go on record as saying
I'm making zero apologies for what I said. I meant
every word, every single word I meant. You have to
be responsible on both sides. The WWE is where they
are because they do great business, because they smarten everybody up.

(01:10:15):
And when people go off script, they get fine, they
get suspended, they get sent away. Until you know better,
you can't be on our program. And I don't work
for them. I just respect the business. So all of
you fans out there that have these racist tendencies and

(01:10:38):
all the vitrioll for me, have at it. You can't
hurt me. I'm bulletproof. I'm the world strongest man, and
that's my statement.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
And there he is, WWE Hall of Famer and the
world's strongest man, the Mark Henry clearing the air on
the trending topic which Mark Henry and I'm not gonna
do it in the third person for you doog you good,
don't do it.

Speaker 11 (01:11:05):
Don't do it, but thanks for the time. That's what
he do. When we come back, we'll close out the
show and send you to Dan Patrick.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
There's a lot going on, but we're gonna hear from
Ryan Day and his thoughts on the Texas Longhorns right
here on the morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone. If you missed any parts of the show,
get over to the podcast page and get up the
latest from all the happenings. If you miss World's Strongest Tech,
make sure you get over there and enjoy that as well,

(01:11:41):
because there was a lot said and covered up and
clear it up. But we want to continue these conversations.
Make sure you turn into The Craig Way Show this afternoon.
Tune in tomorrow as we will have Eric Henry of
Horns two four seven talking about his thoughts on this
football game. And of course we have our legends of

(01:12:03):
the locker room segment, and we will have none other
than Brian A. Rack Pole. That's right, Brian A. Rack
Pole will be joining us tomorrow. We're all all excited
about that. As we continue these conversations, obviously we're we're
counting down three days away from Texas and Ohio State.

(01:12:26):
Quinn yours three days away. Who made the NFL team
for the for the Miami Dolphins. We knew it was
gonna happen and it was just a matter of time.
But I want to get into this conversation because Ryan
Day spoke with Brady Quinn about this matchup. Yes, they
got their rings. He got a chance to show it
to Brady. But it was a good conversation about getting

(01:12:49):
ready to take on the Texas Longhorns. See, we want
to check up.

Speaker 5 (01:12:58):
Coaches the field.

Speaker 10 (01:12:59):
To sit here right now, I see defending national champions
from last year.

Speaker 5 (01:13:02):
It feels good.

Speaker 13 (01:13:03):
But you know, as you know, it doesn't take long
to move on and turn to page.

Speaker 5 (01:13:07):
But there is a certain level of trust in the
building right now based on what we went through last year.

Speaker 3 (01:13:14):
And start off the season with one of the toughest challenges,
maybe one of the best teams this upcoming.

Speaker 5 (01:13:19):
Season in Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
Talk to me about that challenge and then what you
think that.

Speaker 5 (01:13:22):
Atmosphere is going to be, Like, what a great way
to start the season. You know, it just has everybody's attention.

Speaker 13 (01:13:25):
Early on, which is healthy for everybody, especially coming off
a national championship.

Speaker 5 (01:13:29):
They have a very good team.

Speaker 4 (01:13:30):
Stark does a.

Speaker 13 (01:13:30):
Great job and they have a great quarterback in Arch Manning.
So it certainly has our guys attention, and it's going
to be a lot of fun. I think the atmosphere
is going to be wild and.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
So hard.

Speaker 13 (01:13:47):
It's gonna be hard not to find yourself maybe looking
across and watching Texas offense out there at ours just.

Speaker 4 (01:13:53):
To see what he looks like.

Speaker 5 (01:13:53):
I mean that that's what a talent.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
That's sort of lineage.

Speaker 5 (01:13:56):
He's a good player. But but our guys played against him,
and I have a lot of respect for him, think
he's a really good player, and have a lot of
respect for their team.

Speaker 13 (01:14:03):
They're they're a very good team, and he came off
the field with a ton of respect for him.

Speaker 5 (01:14:06):
We will continue to do that. But surely it's always
been about us, and it will be about us.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
Thady, that's what you want to believe. You want it
to be about you. You want it to be about
getting ready for this ball game and locking in. We
all know that Arch is one of the hyped most
hype players in NCAA history right coming into the season
and Paul Feinbaum and his story talking about the fact

(01:14:34):
that he most hyped players, says Tim Tebow. I mean,
this is what it's all about. So we will see
what happens. But that was Ryan Day with Brady Quinn.
This is Ryan Day yesterday with his press conference that
Patrick Murphy was talking about earlier from Buck Nuts Well, first.

Speaker 12 (01:14:52):
Off, I think it's great for college football playing a
game like this opening weekend. And I have a tremendous
amount of respect for Arc, for his coaching staff, for
the players, and we're excited to play these guys.

Speaker 5 (01:15:06):
You know, it's rare that you would, you know, kind.

Speaker 12 (01:15:07):
Of play someone like this towards the end of the
season and start the regular season with them.

Speaker 5 (01:15:11):
But but here we are, and and.

Speaker 12 (01:15:13):
I think it's going to give us a great parameter
coming out of the first game. But for us, as
we've talked about before, the preparation starts really early because
you've got to be on point and we got to
play a clean game. That's very very important. And so
you know, as you you know, get closer and closer
to the game, you know, you just do everything you
can to prepare the guys. I think when you look
at our season, which is unique this year, you know

(01:15:34):
one of your goals should be to win the opener.
I mean, that's that's clear. We did that when we
had big ten games to open the season. Win the opener,
and then you kind of go from there, which allows
us an opportunity to focus on one game at a time,
and and then you know, once this game's over, we'll
figure out what we did well we need to improve on.
The issues will be there, they'll surface, and then we

(01:15:54):
address them. So you know, it's an exciting time of
year because now we get on the field and figure
or we're at figure out where the guys are at
and go from there.

Speaker 5 (01:16:02):
But it's important that we play clean.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
In game one, it's go time, Mark, It's go time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
He said something that that it kind of itched me
a little bit. He said that they have to play
a clean game game. He didn't say we need to,
he said we have to. And there's a difference because
when you need to, all teams need to. But when
you say you have to do something in order for

(01:16:32):
us to win, we have to play perfect. We have
to play clean. We can't make mistakes Texas. If they
can avoid making mistakes, they put them in a very
awful situation, so offensively and defensively they can challenge them.
And that most teams don't have it like that. It's

(01:16:55):
only about eight teams and all of college football.

Speaker 1 (01:16:58):
That have it. That's the thing that we continue to
talk about as this game gets closer and closer. We
talked about it when we came in on Monday, talking
about ball security, eliminating the turnovers, making sure that each
possession it does not end with a turnover because field
position is going to play a huge part. And who

(01:17:20):
wins and loses. You always talk about turnover battle. Who
wins the turnover battle? Well, this is one of those
high stakes poker matches that both of these coaches who
do great jobs, the defending national champion against coach Sark
in his thought process. But the one thing that we
have not talked about, and we will tomorrow, the continuity

(01:17:42):
of the coordinators by this university, Texas continuing to have
the same people calling the plays in Ohio State, dealing
with two new coordinators Brian Hartline, who's been on the staff,
great recruiter, and Matt Patricia new to the college football game,
so we'll talk about it tomorrow. We got Eric Henry

(01:18:04):
of Horns two four seven, and we got Brian A.
Rackpo tomorrow as well. But we want to thank Danny
Davis and Patrick Murphy for joining us today. Thank you
Mark for what you do, thank you Marcus for what
you do, and thank you to people for tuning in.
We'll be better tomorrow, folks. Just remember, don't believe everything
you see, because even salt looks like Chegary.

Speaker 2 (01:18:26):
Peace.