It's A Thirsty Thursday At SEC Media Day!

Mike "Hardball" Hardge and The World's Strongest Man Mark Henry share the latest from SEC Media Day in Tampa. It's all here on The Morning Kickoff!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for tuning in to the podcast of The
Morning Kickoff with myself, Mike Harbo Harts and the world's
Strongest man in WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Guys, we really would like it if you would advertise
with us, because we only go as far as you
let us.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
That's right, Folks, tune in and make sure you tell
five friends to tell five friends. The Morning Kickoff seven
to nine am Monday through Friday, right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Good morning, Austin, k Town, Flugerville, Leander, Htown, Paarlam,
Mos City, El Pasa, Tampa.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
San Antonio, and Sills Been, Texas.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Or wherever you may be listening.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
This is a throwback Thursday edition of The Morning Kickoff
right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone
and always free.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
On the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Texasas football is forty four days away from the start
of the season and we are live from SEC Media
days as the Texas Longhorns are here and ready to roll.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Florida and o Miss have their guys.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
We've got Eric Henry of Horns two four seven joining
us at seven thirty four and we will have Danny
Davis of the Austin American Statesman, joining us at seven
forty seven to talk all things Texas Longhorns as they
will be here in Tampa, Florida a little bit later today.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
I am your host, Mike Harball.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Haares, my co host is a WWE Hall of Famer
and recognized as the world's strongest man.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
He is the Mark Henry.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Good Morning Austin, And of course we've got Ronald back
in the studio and we got Cam Parker working very
very hard to make sure everything sounds good and is
ready to row. But if you want to be a
part of the show, all you got to do is
text the word Texas followed by your message to eight
one five three zero.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Standard data and message rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
That's the word Texas followed by your message to eight
one one five three zero. Standard data and message rates
may apply. Also, if you want to voice your opinion,
all you got to do is use that talkback feature
on the new and improved and always free iHeartRadio app.
If it's good enough, you might hear it on air,
but if not, it'll go to that graveyard that we

(02:17):
like to call the lost messages. That's right, that's right, Mark,
the Lost messages, Good morning man, how you doing. What's
happening in the at.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah? I did, I did, I did. I like that though,
the Lost Graveyard.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
And the Lost Graveyard of voicemails.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
I want to get into this because yesterday, obviously SEC
Media Days has been rolling and will continue to roll on.
Today is the final day of SEC Media Days here
in beautiful Tampa, Florida. It has been very humid, by
the way, as soon as we got here that we
got hit in the face with the humidity.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
But it was part of it. That's what it's all about.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I played I played minor league baseball down here, so
I know a lot about this area. I know a
lot about the things around here. But we went out
to dinner last night, got to go hang out with
Cam Parker and Craig Way, the voice of the Longhorns,
which you'll hear this afternoon from two to five, And
we went to this restaurant Mark and it was called Burns.

(03:19):
I don't know if you've ever been to Burns. I
know you're you. You are food kind of sore. So
we went to a steakhouse and let me just tell you,
it was one of the most interesting steakhouses that I've
ever been to.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yeah, let's just say it was pretty. It was pretty snaby.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
When you say different sometimes that that's uh, that's code
word for not good. Is that is that?

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Oh? No, no, no, no, no, oh no, oh no.
This was outstanding. This was I mean, it was everything
you would ever want in a steakhouse, especially you big fella.
But it was outstanding. It was a good good fellowship,
as you do like to say. And let's just say
we were there for a long time though, it was

(04:07):
it was way past my bedtime.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
It was real to kick you all out.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
I was hopeful that they would kick us out because
we were in there for quite some time. So it's
been an interesting few days or twenty four hours since
being here.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
But you know why we're here.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
We're here to enjoy Texas football, the conversation SEC Media Days.
As I told somebody earlier, they talk about the season starting,
and we opened the show forty four days out from
the season starting. But the realization of it all is
it starts now. And for the University of Texas being
here for SEC Media Days, it's it's all now.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Let's get to work.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Don't have a few days off when they get back,
but then we're getting right back into it.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Man, I'm gonna tell you something. Listening to a lot
of the sound from the weekend on from the week
that is a lot of the coaches were very transparent,
and that's refreshing to me because we always get the
coach speak, well, we're going to do this, We're going

(05:12):
to do that. You know, everything's honky, door is, life
is good. No, these coaches are like, no, stuff ain't right. Like,
we don't like the way the system is being run.
We don't like the fact that we got people not
doing what they're supposed to do. We don't like the
fact that the rules are not iron clad. Like it's

(05:34):
been some really really good sound for radio.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, that's perfect.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
That's a perfect segue for what is about to be played.
Somebody yesterday their phone went off. I've been at press conferences.
It happens a lot. It happens more than you think.
But people try to be a little bit more careful
and silence their phones. But the new coach for the
Florida Gators, John Summerol, was the podium yesterday and somebody's

(06:02):
phone went off, and let's just say He was not
very happy about it, how things were gonna unfold and
you'd be kicked out of our team meeting. I swear, like,
you're lucky. I'm not gonna throw this freaking podium right now,
like dressing me crazy. I would say, who is that?

(06:25):
But I'm not gonna embarrass you might but yeah, yeah, Mark,
he wanted to embarrass him, Yes, he did, for sure.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
For sure he wanted to embarrass him.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
He wanted to let him know that, hey, you got
to be more of a professional. If you were in
our team meeting, I have thrown you out. I mean,
he's fired up. And he went on a little bit later.
They were asking him questions and he said, this is
the one part of the job that he really doesn't
really like doing, and that's doing interviews.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
He didn't like it. He doesn't.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
He wants to be focused, he wants to be with
the kids. He wants to be coaching. But when you
wear this type of hat, man, this is what it's
all about. You have to be ready to go. And
this goes with the responsibility of being a head coach.
Here at Florida, we learned that from Mac Brown.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Like Mac Brown used to always say I'm a coach
and a husband first, but I'm a CEO. I gotta
run everything. I gotta make sure because it all's gonna
fall on me. Right, And that's just one of the
roles you have to assume as a high end, high

(07:34):
Division one football coach.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Right, And that's what it's all about. I mean, this
is a big program for him. This is gonna be
a huge year for the Florida Gators. I think they're
gonna be a lot better than maybe some people look
at them and think because the talent. I mean, Florida
always has talent. It's like LSU. I'm sitting right next
to a couple of guys from LSU and you can

(07:58):
see Wix the linebacker. I mean, this kid has been
here for a while, but you could tell that he's
ready to go, and he's locked in and he knows
this may be his last hurrah.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
I mean, you never know.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
What the eligibility deal that's going on. Speaking of eligibility,
I don't know if we touched on it yesterday, but
now it's become official. Cole Hudson is eligible with the
temporary injunction. Now they're going to try to suit for
him to get that extra year. I'm sure coach Sark
will be asked about that. But also Texas plays Ole

(08:30):
Miss this year. And Pete Golden, who is now the
head coach, who was the defensive coordinator. He has relationships
with Langkiff, and he has relationships with Coach Sark and
all of the people that are involved in it. So
I just you sit back and you think about these
guys and what the expectations are. Well, I want you
to hear from Pete Golden as he talked about after

(08:53):
this all is over and when you start playing real games,
how this is all going to go down, and you.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
Start getting your press clippings and you start pouting yourself
on the back.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
You're gonna be it on one pattern and you're gonna
look up.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
Your feeling's gonna be hurt after you're playing Louisville, you know,
And how many times is it's gonna take you to
get hit in the face before you're recognized.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Now, I gotta work hard, just like everybody else does. Not.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
If I gotta work.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Harder, and we got to have good plans, we gotta
practice really well, or all the little campaigns and all
the feelings ain't gonna be shure, you're gonna have hurt
feelings after you get your.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Mark.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's a ball coach right there, buddy.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
That is somebody that understands what it's about to be
ahead football coach.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
He knows what it's like to be in the SEC.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
And that is that is letting you know right off
the rip, you better lock in and be ready to go.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Hey when you when you a coach that also is
under fire too, Like, no, the pressure feels it feels
more on you. And eight and four is not gonna
get it done. You know, seventy five is not gonna
get it done. That's good at a lot of places.
But if you win, are you lose more than three games,

(10:10):
you subject to get fired. And that's winning. I mean,
think about all the coaches that have been fired for
winning for losing two games to the same team that
won the conference and they had great seasons.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, it's definitely one of those things that is going
The pressure is on and it's time for it all
to start happening. Exciting times College football is here. We're
live at SEC Media Days in Tampa, Florida.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
Not going on down there.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, last day of SEC Media Media Days. And of
course the show begins a little bit. As a matter
of fact, it should be happening here shortly as Lane
Kiffin will be taking the micro and you know, you
never know what that's gonna look like. I want to
hear them react to that a donna's comment as well.
But when we come back, we're gonna continue the conversations.

(11:09):
We're gonna hear a little more from the coaches from yesterday,
Mike Elko. Mike Elko made some news and this is
up that Texas fans have been saying for a long time,
but now it has been put out by the head
coach of the Aggies. Right here live from SEC Media Days.
This is the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app.

(11:33):
Welcome back to the Morning Kickoff right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone and always free on
the iHeart Radio app. Mike Harball Harg And of course
we got the world's strongest man WWE Hall of Famer,
my guy, Mark Henry. I had to post just a
second ago. I had to post, in the words of
Mark Henry, it's time. It's time for Texas to get

(11:56):
on the podium and be able to talk to everyone
on here at SEC Media Days. We are here on
radio Row, as they like to call it, and it
is packed and everybody is suited and booted and ready
to go. I can see Greg Sank to my right
talking to some folks at another radio station, so we

(12:17):
know that what's up. I'll be sure to do that.
I'll be sure to tell them, he said, what's up.
But I wanted to get into this conversation, Mark, because
as you know, SEC Media Days has been going on
all week. Yesterday you had Kaylin de Bor, you had
John Sumram, you also had Ole Miss Pete Golden, which

(12:38):
we heard just a little bit ago, but you also
had Texas A and M and Mike Elko. Mike Elko
is someone who's had a lot of success since his
time at Texas A and M. It was he's the
right guy for that program. He believes in the program.
He's done a lot of good things. But the conversation
yesterday kind of varied so many different ways and the

(13:01):
expectations of the Texas A and M aki Aggie's and
one of the questions was asked to him on the
New nine Game schedule for all the teams in the SEC,
it's a little bit different. Obviously, talent continues to play
against talent. This is a tough, tough it's almost NFL
like if you would. But here's Mike Elko on the

(13:23):
new nine game SEC schedule.

Speaker 5 (13:26):
I mean, I've wrapped around my head around the fact
that we've got to play nine. You know, I don't
think anybody really knows what it's going to feel like.
You know, maybe some of the guys who you know,
you could ask Kirby who's consistently done it over the
last few years with the championship.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
But no, I mean it's going to be a gauntlet.
There's no doubt about it.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
And you know when people talk about, you know, what's
the season going to go? Like, I think you see
this in the NFL a lot. It's the only thing
you can always draw to. But like, when you're playing
weekend and week out consistently against teams that are similar
talent to you, there's a lot that's going to have
to go right for you to have a successful he said.
You know, the margins just aren't nearly as big as
they used to be. Now you're adding a ninth game

(14:05):
to it, and so you know it's going to be
it's going to be a long, long season, and then
we have to figure out a way to get through it.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
You know, I wanted to ask your opinion on that
mark because this is something that we have not really
discussed and and we we've mentioned it, we've talked through it,
but we really hadn't dove into the fact of the
SEC adding that ninth game, which is why a lot
of folks are looking at the non SEC schedule and

(14:32):
truly trying to find out what it brings to the table.
So I wanted to get your thoughts on that a
little bit.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Well, that's that's where the depth comes into play. You
want to have guys that you can you know that
it's a battle of attrition, so you want to be
able to, you know, make sure that your guys have
a regimented amount of carries, a regiment amount of reps.

(15:05):
You know, if you got an offensive line that you've
had two or three drives, and the best thing to
do cards is to score early and score often. So
if you get a lead, you don't have to grain
your all your your starting players. You can get repped
from your second units. And a lot of these coaches,

(15:27):
including our guy coach Start said that our second unit
is as good as a lot of first units. Well
let's find out.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Well don't he don't. Don't get people fired up with that.
You know, Joey MacGuire was ready to fight, you know,
spot the ball, let's go see it, Let's go see
how good they're back.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
And we ended up sitting right next to each other.
Everything fine.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
That did smooth everything out.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
But I want to get to this too, because you know,
as well as I do, the conversation about Texas A
and M is they can't finish. They're not the team
to get things done. And Mike Elko was asked about
the narrative of making sure that you're never satisfied. What
is it that you keep driving through your guys to

(16:13):
make sure that they're not satisfied?

Speaker 3 (16:15):
And I think you'll like this answer.

Speaker 6 (16:17):
After last year's playoff run, how do you keep this
team from becoming satisfied?

Speaker 5 (16:24):
I show them our trophy case and it's empty, and
I think they're all very aware of that, and so
you know, I think you know, listen, we live in
a lot of worlds, and so we're obviously happy with
the things that we accomplished. We're happy with the direction
of our program, but it's also not lost on us
that we haven't won the hardware that we're searching for.
And so you know, that gets us into a mindset

(16:46):
of growth and getting back to work to go finish
this thing a little bit better than we did last
year and put ourselves in a better position maybe to
compete for some trophies.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Okay, wow, No, now here's the deal. And I'm not
trying to poke fun, not at all, I promise you that.
And most of the time when people say that, they
normally come back and try to poke fun. But I'm
not trying to poke fund real talk. Why is it
that the head coach can go out there and explain
that to Texas a and m fans into the world,

(17:20):
but the Aggis still want to try to put up
something and want to fight about the argument about the
fact that they don't have any trophies.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
I don't know about them, you know, wanting to fight
about not having them. I think that a lot of
it is the fact that their fan base, just like Oklahoma's,
they rely on the hate of Texas. They're more worried about, Oh,
I hate Texas. They would rather beat us than win

(17:50):
the national championship. And you see that whenever you see it.
Don't even have to be Texas playing A and M
if A and M scored touchdown against LSU, they do
the horns down. If Oklahoma scores a touchdown, returns a punt,

(18:12):
they're doing the horns down. They priorities have got to change.
They gotta think about, hey, what do we have to
do to win the national championship. It's the same Texas
has moved on from that. We want to beat our rivals,
but Texas wants to win the national championship, So the
focus is different.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
It's definitely different for for a lot of reasons. But
I think him being able to verbalize that to his
fan base kind of tells them, chill out, let's let's
my team has got to be motivated because they want
to win a championship. They don't have the pedigree as
of right now, and they want to do everything they

(18:54):
can to get to that point. So I'm just glad
it was verbalized by somebody inside, as opposed to the
fans going back and forth the entire time and getting
after each other. That's the beautiful part of what I
keep looking at and why it continues to happen. So
there's a lot to digest when you look at the

(19:15):
entire sec. I mean, Arkansas was here yesterday and they
got a chance to talk, and then today you've got
no Arkansas be here today. They're right in front of me.
That's why I keep looking at all the inside Arkansas, folks, Alabama, Florida,
O miss and Texas, A and M. Where yesterday today you
get a chance to hear from Arkansas, you get a

(19:35):
chance to hear from Lane Kiffin, Jeff Levy, a team
in Mississippi State that is trying to figure out the
next step for them. You want to see progression, right,
each year they've gotten a little bit better. Is this
the year that Mississippi State surprises folks? And then of
course you got coach Steve Sartisian, who everyone will want

(19:58):
to ask him obviously about the depth of this Texas
football team, the expectations of this Texas football team, the
hiring of Will must Champ, and all the things that
have kind of happened within the Texas program.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
It's going to be a very very.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Busy day for the media here because when Texas shows up,
business picks up. And that's not trying to be braggadocious
or whatever you want to call it. It is the truth.
I've been doing this for quite some time. And when
Texas comes into town, there's people that are going to
be trying to get at Texas. There's gonna be people

(20:35):
the critics are going to be at them. There's so
much that is going to happen.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
Mark. I know you talk about golf every once in
a while.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
If you had to pick a favorite golfer, not just
right now, in history, that's a character that you would.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Want to meet. Who would that be?

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Well?

Speaker 2 (20:52):
I met him, Tom Kayite. Is he a piece of work? Man?
What a funny guy? Really really smart? You know, like
gave a lot to the University of Texas. Is a
is a longhorn? It meant it meant a lot to
be able to meet him.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Well, that's great, But I was talking about John Daily
is standing fifteen feet away from me and full beard
is in effect.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
I'm gonna see if he's got.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
The does he have the funny fans on?

Speaker 1 (21:26):
No, I'm about to see if he's got a couple
of heaters in his pocket though, because you know he'd
be burning them on the on the golf course. Coming
up next, we're gonna talk to our guy, Eric Henry
of Horns two four seven to get the latest, get
his thoughts on the expectations of the Texas Longhorns and
what is he expected to hear today from coach Sark
right here on the Morning Kickoff on sports Radio AM

(21:48):
thirteen hundred zone and live from Tampa, Florida on the
iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Welcome back to the Morning.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Kickoff right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred zone
and always free on the iHeartRadio app. It's Thursday. He's
not in Lago Vista this time. We are in his crib.
We are in Tampa, Florida, and our guy, Eric Henry
of Horns two four seven is joining us here live
at SEC Media Days.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
You've been down here all week.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
You've been well, you've been here longer than that because
you got your vacation time and got a chance to
come and chill with the fam. But the atmosphere changes
a little bit when the University of Texas comes to
these SEC Media Days. You've done P five, I mean
G five, and now you've done the P fives and
now you see what it's all about.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
It's been a couple of years.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
What are some of the things that you're looking forward
to today from the Texas Longhorns, LSU, Mississippi State, I mean,
and Arkansas of course. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
First of all, was good morning. Appreciate y'all having me
on truly in my home in Tampa. Yeah, I appreciate that. No, yes,
as you noted, right. Whenever Texas takes a stage, you know,
in the four four season, covering in Texas was big,
twelve or now three years in the SEC, it's always
a big day.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
And I don't think it's a coincidence. It's funny we're
talking to.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
I don't want to out, so we're talking to someone
in the know about the planning and circumstances here. It's
not a coincidence that Texas and Els were left for
the last day. I think Texas of course, with the
news of yesterday that Cole Hudson, of course, the four
year guard who had a temporary restraining order granted, so
it does appear for the time being that he will
be eligible. I think that will certainly be a talking point,

(23:28):
not just for Steve Sarkisian, but quite frankly for all
of the coaches here, right, because and Harj and Ken
we've had this conversation you know, over the past few weeks.
This is going to be a really interesting thing to navigate, okay,
because a lot of teams have you know, kind of
fulfilled that filled out their rosters and the way they
want them. And let's not you know, act naive about this, right,

(23:50):
This is going to open the floodgates for a lot
of players put their name in the hat and say hey,
I would like another year. So just bring it back
to your question. I think that's gonna be a big
talking point. Of course, Arch Manning gonna be a big
talking point. Lane Kiffin, right, a lot of Lane questions.
Pete Golden got a Lane Kiffin question. It won't shock
me if he gets a Pete Golden question based off
of Pete Golden's answer yesterday. So definitely a big day

(24:12):
here for all four teams.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
And you know, you sit back and you think about
the entirety of the SEC. Mark you get the next question, sir,
when you think about the entirety of the SEC and
everything that goes into it. Obviously, Georgia is still at
the top of the heat Texas, And we had.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
This discussion yesterday.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Is Texas truly behind Georgia or is Texas making that
move to become the number one team in the conference?
On paper?

Speaker 4 (24:42):
The keyword is on paper, right, because I can sit
here and say that, you know, have they made had
they surpassed him?

Speaker 1 (24:47):
The answer is no.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Right.

Speaker 4 (24:48):
I'm a big believer in order to be the man,
you have to beat the man, right, And I think
there are a lot of you know, there was kind
of this narrative earlier in the week, right that, oh,
all the folks at SEC media days are crowning Texas.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
I haven't heard that.

Speaker 4 (25:01):
I've heard a lot of respect for Georgia, quite frankly.
And I will throw out one statistic right just in
terms of a reason too, And this is gonna be
related to Texas. A reason that you need to respect Georgia.
Two years ago, Georgia was one hundred and thirty first
in penalties per game. Right, of course, Texas just struggled
for the last four or five years. Texas one hundred
and thirty fourth. Last year, Georgia cut that to being seventeenth. Okay,

(25:24):
right that if that isn't enough reason to respect the
program that Kirby spart is running because quite frankly, Steve
sarkizually be trying to cut penalties for five years, it hasn't.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Been able to do it right. That's that's indication of
a winner.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
That's what makes you a championship type team. So no,
I think Georgia is still the team to beat. But
of course Texas on paper has improved a roster, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Eric with this injunction, Cole Hudson and other athletes being
able to pick up a fifth year, does it have
to be this year or can they just wait to
the follow one year? Is there a time limit on
the extra year.

Speaker 4 (26:05):
I haven't heard anything that says that they would have
to that they would have to do it this year. However,
it just wouldn't make any sense for Cole Hudson and
theory say Okay, I'm gonna pick up a fifth year
and then red shirt, right because A the what is
good today could change tomorrow right and be the majority
of these players, I would venture to say all of

(26:26):
these players were coming back for an additional year. Are
coming back A to try and enhance their their professional
prospects and B to make money, right, So I mean
in theory, Mark, No, I haven't heard anything because we're
still kind of we're still in the infancy of all
of this right now, right, I haven't heard anything that
says they have to use it this year. But I
couldn't see a reason why any of them wouldn't use

(26:46):
it this year.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
I asked the question because a lot of the teams
have their rosters already, money is allocated, Spaces on the
team for scholarships are already put together, Like, so where
where do you put them? Like? Can they just join
a team that they were with formerly and not have

(27:11):
any any problem or will they have to like re
enroll and all of this everything that comes with it.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (27:21):
Sure, Mark, I'm really glad you asked that question because
I want to make this point really quick. I think
there's some confusion from fans. Right, just because a player
is granted that addition, let's call it a TRO for
right now, right, I don't want to say granted a
fifty year. They are granted t RO doesn't mean the
team has to take them, right. That was the Kendal
Weaver for example. I used a couple of weeks ago
it just because well, kender Weaver hasn't been granted anything,
but if he were doesn't mean that Texas has to

(27:43):
take him there then a free agent and can go
anywhere they want. Right But to a point that you noted, Mark,
like you in theory would have to get into a
graduate program.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
But as we know.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
That that could be worked throughout it a lot of ways. Right.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
But to answer your question, Mark, they don't have to
go to the school they played it before, and the
school they played it before, it doesn't have to take them.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Last thing for me and I wanted to touch base
with you on this is you start to look at
the schedule, You start to look at all the teams
that are coming in and out, and you try to
understand what is going on and the projection of this team.
If you had to give your record right now, what
would your record be for the University of Texas at

(28:26):
the end of this regular season?

Speaker 4 (28:28):
Regular season? Yeah, I'm split. I'm split between eleven and
one and ten and two. Rights, That's where I'm at
right now. I do think this schedule iss too daunting,
as Cam Parkers give me the eyes up, Like, Okay,
I think this schedule is too daunting to not have
a stumble here or there.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
If that's one or two, we'll see.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
I know this has not made a lot of fans
over on Horns twenty four to seven too happy, but
I am higher on Oklahoma than maybe most people I know.
SEC Networks Chris Doring felt that they could be, you know,
a semi final type of team, right, So we'll see
what happens there. But I do think Oklahoma will be
a test. I think LS at the end of the season.
I think that will be a test and we'll see
what happened with Ohio State. I think Texas beats Ohio

(29:07):
State because that game's in Austin. But those will be
three games that I would look at and say, Okay,
they're kind of fifty fifty games in my opinion. But
to answer your question, I would say, right now, I
am torn between eleven and one and ten and two.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
I like it. I like it. That to me is
very fair when you sit back and you look at
all of the games and how they line up.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
I believe that's a fair assessment.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
When we come back, marg said that's fair because it
made him feel good that Texas is winning.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah, my Saturdays are going to be very very fun,
especially at those times. As always, it's always good to
talk to our guy Eric Henry of Horns two four seven.
Make sure you follow them on social at Eric c
Henry Underscore and go check out his articles at Horns
two four seven. Coming up next, we have our guy
Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman. We live, Baby,

(30:02):
we live live from Tampa. Having a good time here
at SEC Media Days. We'll be back right here on
AM thirteen hundred the Zone and always free on the
iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to the morning kickoff right here
on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone and always
free on the iHeartRadio App. We leave one guy, Eric

(30:24):
Henry of Horns two four seven, who's normally on on Thursdays.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yesterday, my man.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Was traveling, but I said, Danny, can you please come
on with us? He said, yes, I'm a busy man,
but I'll make it work for you guys. So we
are joined by Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman.
You can follow him at Underscore. Danny Davis, Danny, we're
here at SEC Media Days. You are old veteran at

(30:49):
this when it comes to following the University of Texas.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
Whether they were in the Big twelve now SEC.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
It never gets old, but a dose let you know
that football season is upon you. Once the media days happened.

Speaker 7 (31:05):
Yeah, I mean, I think we pretty much all have
like one week of vacation to kind of burn next
week and kind of get in because once football season starts,
I guess that first week of August is when practice
is gonna happen. It's a it's a spring. We only
get one bye week this week, so pretty much until December.
And if there's a playoff playoff, you know, run not
until the end of January.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
So it's uh, it's it's busy time.

Speaker 7 (31:27):
No one's gonna no one's gonna feel bad for us
because we're all kind of living the dream. But it's
definitely definitely busy time starting and starting today.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Danny just said veteran. He didn't have to say, oh, ven.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
First off, where you at Mark? What you know?

Speaker 7 (31:41):
Thirteen hundred doesn't want to pay to fly you out here?
What's what's what's going on if the Statesman has money
to send three of us.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
Here, the economy that we're in right now, the.

Speaker 7 (31:53):
Travel I guess Craig's tacking up the entire budget.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Is that is that that that's going on?

Speaker 2 (31:58):
Well, I'm flat first, I got you.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
That is exactly what it is the economy is telling us. Otherwise,
I wanted to ask you to because you know, there's
a lot of conversation. We just heard Eric Henry talking
about the Cole Hudson situation. But there's more to this
Texas football team. Because of Cole Hudson, everybody wants to
talk about the offensive line.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
Where's the depth?

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Do you think coach sark Can is probably going to
give us a Kirby Smart type of answer when it
comes to talking about his offensive line and is it
gonna be much improved?

Speaker 7 (32:41):
I mean, he couldn't get much worse than it was
last year, so you'd hope, maybe hope he improved. But
I mean it's one of those things that on paper
things like a nice blood toe. It happens on September
fifth against Texas State and especially the week after against
excuse me, Ohio State, to see what this line looks like.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
You got you have a good anchor.

Speaker 7 (32:58):
With Trevor Gooseby, and I think a lot of people
are excited for Melvin Sanai.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
What does Brandon Bacon looked like? Was his depth look like?
What are some of these other pizza pieces?

Speaker 7 (33:06):
Nice to have Connor robertson back, since he's a he's
actually a vet. I don't I don't consider myself myself
a that in the journalism business. When Kirkins said kirk
and said running around here, But you know, how do
these new pieces look like? And how how how did
some of these other guys kind of look with another
year in the system, because this this line needed improvement
and there's gonna be questions about it, and those questions

(33:27):
are deserved.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
But let's see in September what things look like, Danny.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
A lot of the s SEC media days is kind
of tedious, you know, listening to interviews and just is
there one part of this week and a week that
you actually look forward to?

Speaker 7 (33:48):
Yeah, tomorrow at six o'clock when I get to leave,
go go go home. But I mean, yeah, I mean,
eighty days is in my in my opinion, kind of necessary.
It's good to kind of have this kickoff and excitement
for the season and kind of it is a reminder
that football is happening. But you know, these press conferences

(34:08):
there's a lot of jokes, jokers that kind of you know,
get the microphones. I think is unfortunate. I think I
said last week that at this point we've heard really
all that Steve has to say, all that Trevor Gooseby
has to say, all that Arch has to say, all.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
That Colin Simmons has to say.

Speaker 7 (34:21):
So I don't think there's gonna be a lot of
breaking news outside of the Cole Hudson stuff.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
So that's that's a little boring on our part.

Speaker 7 (34:27):
But it is good to see friends, is good to
see you know, people you don't necessarily get see all
the time, and it is a reminder that the season
is upon us. But I'm also not the hugest Media
Day fans, and you'll probably see me in the background
the time or two roll in my eyes at some
of these dumb questions I could ask in these press conferences,
because some people do not deserve to have the microphone.
But we got to be all inclusive and everyone everyone

(34:49):
gets credentialed, apparently.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Being a true journalist that that's what I expected to
hear from.

Speaker 7 (34:56):
I'm just kidder. I don't know if I'm a true journalist.
I'm just old and hardened and tired of a lot
of other people's nonsense.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
I do want to ask this too, because we're talking
to Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman. You can
follow them at Underscore. Danny Davis on social being that
you have seen majority of these people and you get
a chance to network a little bit. What is everyone
that you might have spoken to or have spoken through
throughout the weeks. What are they thinking of the Texas

(35:26):
Longhorns and the expectations of this season.

Speaker 7 (35:29):
I think most people are gonna have pretty high expectations
for Texas. I think our media polls are at the
end of today or something like that, so we'll see
in the upcoming days where exactly Texas is ranked the SEC.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
But it's probably gonna be one or two.

Speaker 7 (35:41):
I think most people think this is a Georgia and
in Texas's world and everyone else is kind of living it.
So we'll see exactly how highly thought of the Longhorns
are on the you know, on that poll and also
the preseason team, because I'm sure a bunch of Longhorns
will be on that team. But this is a Texas
team that's had success. Obviously, people were just appointed with
how last season ended, But I don't I don't think

(36:02):
that's going to tamper expectations. I think plenty of people
in the media world are gonna be having pretty uh
lofty expectations for this Texas team this year.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Speaking of the expectations, what are what is your what
is your number for this Texas Longhorn football team? And
will they be able to battle for the SEC championship?

Speaker 7 (36:24):
I mean they'll they'll be in contention. I think it
helps that they don't play Georgia during the but you
probably have to go through Georgia in the championship game.
So I think it's a little district would be a
little disrespectful to not have Georgia number one. This is
Georgia's world and rule because kind of kind of living
in it. And obviously, you know, you have an Alabama,
have an A and M. You have teams that have
had success last year that are looking to kind of

(36:45):
build on that.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
But I'd probably put Texas number two in my poll.

Speaker 7 (36:48):
I don't believe in doing preseason polls, right, I will
not hand mine in but.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Well, whoa wha wha what World War.

Speaker 7 (36:53):
Station for a different day, But I'd imagine Texas is
probably you know, one or two in the pecking order,
which is how I do them.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
What do you mean you're not gonna turn it in?
I think.

Speaker 7 (37:06):
I have an issue with media member. I get paid
to cover the University of Texas. I do not get
paid to cover Vanderbilt University. I don't get paid to
cover Mississippi State. I don't get paid to cover you know,
Ole Miss and stuff like that. I have a basic
understanding of, like, you know, the teams and kind of
their skill sets and stuff like that, but I have
no idea, you know, what a lot of these teams
look like. So you're gonna ask me to rank where
Kentucky falls and the peck you know, or the sixteen

(37:27):
team sec Like, I'm honest with myself enough to know
that I'm not educated enough to make those kinds of
I'm you know, there's probably people watching right now who
don't think I'm educated enough.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
To cover the University of Texas.

Speaker 7 (37:37):
Now you're gonna ask me to talk about you know,
Kentucky and Ole Miss and Mississippi State. I mean, I
think it's a waste of exercise, and I don't really think,
you know, journalist are really honest with themselves when they,
you know, fill out these polls. But because it's something
to talk about in uh you know, Steve said it
best when he was talking about the coaches poll last
year and why he doesn't fill out the coaches pol
I feel the same way about media polls.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Well there he is, Danny. I'm a better. Hey, he
is sharp, folks. He is entitled to this stuff, and
that is why wait to go, Danny. Danny Davis of
the Austin American Statesman, always locked in and be ready
to get back on schedule on Wednesday of next week.
Next week. Yeah, back on Wednesday. Our number one is

(38:20):
in the books. Our number two is just around the corner.
Well here from our guy Cam Parker, get his thoughts,
and we got to talk a lot about the SEC
because we're live from Tampa, Florida. SEC Media Days twenty
twenty six, right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
the Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome

(38:41):
back to our number two of the morning kick off
right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone and
always free on the iHeartRadio App.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
We had a lot of guests in here with us.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
We had Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman just
finished up. We also had our guy Eric Henry of
Horns two four seven breaking it down as everybody getting
excited for the final day of SEC media days. LSU
will be taking the stage, Arkansas will be taking the
stage Mississippi State, and of course Steve Sarkesian will be

(39:16):
taking the stage a little bit later and Mark, you know,
we got a chance to talk to a lot of folks.
We've been walking around seeing people that we normally see
at these SEC media days. Got new people out here,
but the energy is still the same. The conversations continue
to be about this Texas football team, the expectations. Everybody

(39:37):
is excited about it all. But what are your thoughts
after hearing Danny talk about his record, hearing Eric Henry
predict his record as well, what are some of the
things you took away from the conversations.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Well, the number one is that everybody has a consensus
that Texas is in the story. They're in the the
running for who's going to be the best team in
the SEZ based off like what everybody keeps saying, what
you see on paper, but I don't think it's what

(40:12):
was seen on paper. I think it's what we heard
in the spring. And in the spring we heard about
the speed of this Texas team offense and defense. In
the spring we heard about organization through the offensive line,
how much they they were in the right place, which

(40:35):
is over half the battle. Last night they played the
Cowboys and the Eagles on a esp or NFL replay game,
and I got to watch that again. Harje and the
Cowboys had no idea where they where they needed to be,

(40:57):
where the line up, who's responsibility is to do this
and that? And in the spring we heard Texas was
one hundred percent on point. So that's that's I would
rather have that before the real hitting and clanging and
pads clacking starts right here in a week and a

(41:18):
half or two.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
What you saying, what happened the pads clacking?

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Hey, there's not much that sounds better than me than
the sound of pads hitting each other.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
No doubt.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
And I think that every guy that ever played middle
school football, high school football, college football to pro they
will tell you, you know it's August when you hear when
you hear those pads, it's not the helmet helmets don't
really make a lot of sound unless you get a ooh,

(41:52):
we hit. But the clacking of those paths is like music.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
Yeah, I'm excited for it too. And just like we
talked about, when you start to piece together the football season,
the thought process, the expectations, the anticipation for the season happening,
it gets everybody's juices going because we know it. And
you mentioned and the clacking of the pads and the

(42:18):
players coming back in and as Danny mentioned, you know
we got that one last push for vacation before the
players report and all business as usual. And I'm sure
coach Sark is going to address that. Obviously. Arch Manning
is going to have to have the conversation about living
up to the expectations from last year and where he

(42:40):
is now coming off the foot injury. We know he's
going to be healthy. Trevor Gooseby's gonna get questions about
that offensive line. But the person that I'm most interested
to hear from today is one Colin Simmons. Colin Simmons
a freak of nature for so somebody that we talked
about the other day, how people were, oh, he got

(43:01):
off to a slow start, and he still let the
sec in sacks. It wasn't him that was off to
a slow start. It was just the fact that he
had so many expectations for himself that had kind of
put it to a point that they thought he was
having a bad time. He wasn't having a bad time.
My man was getting busy as always.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yeah, I mean, Colin Simmons is gonna be He's gonna
do Colin Simmons things real early this year. And I
think a lot of that is not just because of
his physical talent, but he has a defensive coordinator that
specializes and putting his guys that are the elite guys

(43:43):
in the best position possible. So coach Blood is going
to have he's gonna have Colin Simmons in a spot
where he's not gonna always get double team and that
that that's gonna be more for him to get a sack.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
I wanted to ask our guy, Cam Parker, who's here
on set, been working is behind off all more thing
long to make sure that we're coming through live and.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
See his elbow. That's about all I've seen.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
He makes himself up here every once in a while.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
But I wanted to get his thoughts on SEC media day,
the expectations and of course Texas coming in and how
everybody seems to get excited about the conversation. Let me
make sure the audience working out. Oh yeah, you're good
at it. There, coome on and Mark henriy Man, I
miss you, budd.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Good morning, fee leader.

Speaker 6 (44:40):
Now the reason why you couldn't come on the plane
yesterday because if we flew Southwest, they don't have first class,
so you wouldn't have been able to get on the plane.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Mister Mark.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'm picky.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
I tell you what my heart.

Speaker 6 (44:52):
You know, the SEC media kickoffs kind of remind you like, hey,
we're like thirty five, forty days away, forty four, sir,
forty thirty four or this year is a little bit
different as is you know last year, because it's like, okay,
who's still eligible to play football?

Speaker 1 (45:06):
You know, John Mattier is still playing? What is this year?

Speaker 6 (45:09):
Number seven seems like Trinidad Shambliss.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
I mean he's my age, it's my age, I think, so,
I don't know he's with seven? What is you got
to be like twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Twenty seven?

Speaker 3 (45:21):
How old are you on twenty eight.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
I'm like trying to figure this out. No, I mean,
I'm shoot, do I ebetuately left?

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Can I fire it?

Speaker 1 (45:27):
Can I file.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Shoes? Twenty years old?

Speaker 6 (45:34):
But as we get set for for the football season,
a lot of this course this week, guys is is Georgia,
Texas and a lot of people picking Georgia. Yeah you know,
I've heard some people say everyone's picking Texas.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
I don't see anyone picking Texas.

Speaker 6 (45:51):
And Mark, let me get your thoughts on this, you know,
I think until you can eat them, then they have
the to be pick first, right, and Texas fans may
you know, hey, look this might be the best roster
sarks at right, Mark, but have they beaten Georgia yet?

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Not?

Speaker 6 (46:10):
You have not beaten Georgia yet and told them you
gotta you gotta go with Georgia has to be the favorite, right.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Right, Georgia is the favorite until Texas beats them. They're
they're gonna be the number one to me, uh, even
beating Ohio State. And if they go into that game,
the championship game undefeated, Georgia will still have the edge
for me. Unless we see a Texas team that rivals

(46:42):
what we saw with Indiana last year in the sense
that every game you know that they're gonna do this, this,
and this, and if you can't stop one of them,
or you can't get past that defense, then you're gonna
have a problem. And that's what happened within last year. Yeah,

(47:02):
nobody could get past that defense, and it gave the
offense more opportunities and they capitalize. That's what Texas is
going to have to do. Every extra possession you get,
you need to get at least three.

Speaker 6 (47:16):
That's exactly right in Haarge. Mark love of your thoughts
on this too. I think if you were drafting rosters,
if you're making your own roster, I think you would
take more players from Texas to Georgia. Even last year, Mark,
I think I would have taken more players from Texas
and Georgia.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yet who won an Athens? It was Georgia.

Speaker 6 (47:35):
And to your point, even if Texas, you know, runs
the table, beats a wild State, beats Oklahoma LSU, if
they're playing in Atlanta in the SEC title game against Georgia,
who will be the favorite?

Speaker 1 (47:48):
Probably Georgia. In umber Georgia, and the.

Speaker 6 (47:51):
Texas fan base will probably tell you know what you
know Georgia is probably still the favorite because Sark has
still not figured out how to be Kirby smart yet.
But is this the year it finally happens or are
we going to be talking about this like we talked
about Jim Harball not getting over the Ohio State hump
for what six seven years?

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Yeah, it was. It was definitely one of those thoughts
that for start, you know his team this when I've
said it, and I'm sure everybody else is going to
say it, and I've heard other people bring it up.
This may be his most talented roster since he's been
at the University of Texas. So now now that you
have that, you got your defensive coordinator who's going to

(48:31):
run that side of the ball. Now you get a
chance to get out there and say, all right, here
we go. This is my opportunity and I cannot let
it fail.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
The psychological part of the game is one during the week,
and Texas is going to have to get in the
guys ear and say the mentality of our win is
not going to be based off the physicality that we
I mean, based off what happens on the field, but
what happens the six inches between our ears and what's

(49:07):
in your heart? Like those are like, that's gonna be
an emotional game, and I'm glad it's gonna be the
last one because you need a break.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
After that, we'll be We're here at SEC Media Days
Live from Tampa, Florida. We will continue these conversations. I'm
trying to see if I can get Billy to come
over here, but if not, we're going to continue the
conversations and talk all things Texas Longhorns right here on

(49:37):
sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone and always free on
that iHeartRadio app. More thing Kick right here on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone and always free on
the iHeart Radio app. You know, I'll see people talking
about our bandwidth and how it's been kind of bad
over here just a little bit.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
But we fixed it.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
We got everything rolling and now we're back into the
mix and Mark Lane Kiffin is taking the microphone right now.
A lot of folks have gone out there and really
started to understand what this is all about and getting
to the questions that people are going to be asking
him here in just a little bit. But he was

(50:18):
addressing his team and he talked about the transfers and
how many transfers he had coming in. But he also
talked about the recruiting of the high school athlete and
how things are You still want to build from the
high schools, but you also understand that you've got to
be in a position to win now. And when you
hear things like that and the expectations again of how

(50:43):
people are trying to I'm not going to say beat
the system, Mark, because it's hard to beat the system
because the system is what it is. But you also
have to find a way to play the game to
where you have a good mixture of trying to build
the foundation with the high school student, but you're also
trying to win with a more mature player.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Are they really trying to do that though? I mean,
like you, if you go into the recruiting cycle and
you see an elite player, excuse me, then you you
recruit the elite player exactly. But Harge, everybody knows if
there's a guy that's proven got the job done and

(51:30):
he's willing to pack up to get a bag, then
you gotta go get that guy. You gotta go get him.
Like that's what that's how, That's how the last national
championship was won. Right, elite quarterback, out standing running back,

(51:52):
wide receiver, had the best back shoulder catching ability that
you've seen in a long while. And defensive players all
over the field that did their job, didn't try to
do more than their job, did their job, and worked
as a team. And that comes with good coaching. And Georgia, Texas,

(52:18):
Ohio State, Old miss all these teams LSU, they have
great coaches, so you expect the coaches to get everybody
on board. But we both know that you can expect
one thing but get another.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
Yeah, we definitely understand that. But I do want to
ask you this, Mark because when you sit here and
you look at the lineup for today, because Texas is
sharing the stage with Lane Kiffin. As I spent mentioned
from LSU, you have Arkansas's new head coach, Ryan Silverfield,
who came from Memphis and now he's in the mix.
You got Jeff Levy, a guy who who has had

(53:00):
success in his career as an offensive coordinator. Now he's
trying to build up Mississippi State, which I think can
be a surprise team this season.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
And of course you got coach Stark.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
But my question for you is how quickly do you
feel that his impact can be Lane Kiffin immediate or
is it going to be moderate? We just talked about
all the moves that has made. But is this going
to be a team that folks are going to be
talking about at the end of the year as a
possible SEC champion?

Speaker 2 (53:32):
I think so. I think that they can do what
A and M did last year, jump out to a start,
and you know, have teams kind of going, oh my god, man,
he that's for real because they have the talent now
to do it, and they have a coach that is
very prideful and that's also very aware of how the

(53:53):
other coaches are going to attack him, and they're playing
right into his hands, you know, like as he's a
strategist and as well as a teacher, especially on the
offensive side. So that being said, I think that most
of LSU's problems last year was offensively. I watched them.

(54:18):
I was at the game where LSU played against OU,
and they couldn't convert on third downs. They didn't have
a consistent running game, they had one receiver that was reliable.
I don't think that's gonna be a thing this year.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Well, I know that LSU went out and got a
quarterback and Sam Levitt. Lane Kiffin just said that he
has done everything, done an amazing job since getting to
LSU and digesting the system. But then I want to
take it a little bit farther for you because I
got a couple of questions about, you know, Arkansas, not

(55:00):
even really about Arkansas, because I don't know exactly what
is going to be the end all be all for
Arkansas and what the expectations are. But when you look
at Mississippi State, and as I mentioned, I think that
this is going to be a team that shocks some
people about the way that they go about this. I
think looking at all of this and how it breaks down,

(55:23):
I look at Mississippi State, are they a team that
has to win before Levy to keep his job?

Speaker 2 (55:32):
Keeping his job is going to be easier than getting
players to compete at the same level as what you
would see Texas, Georgia and the top four SEC teams
like those got those those teams have great coaches, they

(55:53):
have consistent quarterbacks that are coming back. They're not the
same thing, right you have a new coach and new
quarterback and you know, maybe a new defensive coordinated like that, man,
you can't expect them to be on the same plan field.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Yeah, well it's one of those things too. As things
start to break down and understand what things are looking like.
There is a lot of expectations at a lot of
these schools, and now you look at all of these
coaches and the staffs of everything that goes on, you
realize that we have to win. Now every school feels

(56:34):
that way. And we talked about this the other day,
Mark and I wanted to continue this conversation. We this
is a time where every single school believes that they
have the pieces. They have the pieces compete, especially in
the SEC. And the realization is, once you talked about
the paths start cracking and you get into some real situations,

(56:59):
where does your mind?

Speaker 3 (57:00):
I didn't go after that.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
How are you going to feel about the expectations and
the realization of where your team truly is hard?

Speaker 2 (57:11):
I'll tell you is all the time. You can have
your expectations in one hand and you can pee in
the other and see which one fills up first. I'm
gonna tell you the expectation is not gonna meet the
standards that it's gonna take to be a top four

(57:35):
team in the SEC. The SEC was a little bit
behind last year because, like you said, the last couple
of years, maybe three, the championships have all come from
a big ten, right. I think that that's gonna get

(57:56):
broken this year. The SEC has got the teams Georgia, Texas,
they are at the forefront of it. I think that
Texas will be Ohio State, Notre Dame and Oregon or
teams that could possibly have good years in their conference.

(58:19):
But once you get to the playoffs, it's going to
come down to who's who's the dolls.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
Right and and and I totally agree with you. And
you can look at certain rosters and how they were built.
You can tell if they're going to be able to
compete at the elite level and give themselves an opportunity.
But the other part of it is, as I'm as
I've been listening to folks talk around here, this might

(58:46):
be one of the most competitive SEC seasons you've been
in a long time. As we mentioned, nine games are
now SEC games. You play nine SEC games. That means
every single week you got to put it on the line.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
There are no cupcakes.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Yeah, it's rare that you have four teams that you
think can win it, right. Four Normally a Georgia, Alabama. Right,
Texas maybe last year or the year before last. Yeah,

(59:25):
but now it's multiple teams that can get it done large, right,
And that's why a lot of folks look at it
and say, this could be the year for this school,
this could be the year for that school. Obviously, Texas
and Oklahoma at the very I mean Texas and Georgia

(59:45):
at the very top of it.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
But Oklahoma. Cam was talking about them and the expectations
and how people are looking viewing Oklahoma this year. My
tier is going to be better. I know he's older,
but he's going to be better. It is what it
it is. His hand was bad. He understood that things
didn't go his way the entire way. But that is

(01:00:07):
going to be a game that people are going to
be circling on the calendar. Not just because it's Texas,
oh U, It's because that game has the chance to
be a difference, especially after Texas goes to Tennessee on
the road. So it will be fun. We're we're so
excited about it. I'm excited about We're live in Tampa

(01:00:28):
at SEC Media Days coming up next. We got the
world's strongest man telling you it's time for the world's
Strongest take right here on the morning kickoff on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone and always free on the
iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
That's what I know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
That's what I know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
They're going to be dropping. Can only mean one thing.
WWE Hall of Famer and World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry
brings you his world's strongest take. Take it away, big
fella hard, Yes, sir, you know what time it is.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
Time. It's time for the world's Strongest Take by the
world's strongest man. Back then they didn't know me, but
now that I'm hide, they are all on me. Guys,
another edition of the World's Strongest Take, and I laughed hard. Yesterday. Uh,

(01:01:37):
there was a podcaster uh named Brandon Walker who said
some very disparaging, negative, horrible, outrageously off comments about arch
Many and his ability. He wasn't alone. There's been several

(01:02:00):
sports writers that said that arch Man and unless he
ran the ball more, he was never going to win.
That he's got to develop the ability to throw in
an RPO system, He's going to have to be able
to roll out and throw the ball on the run better.

(01:02:21):
All of these things that are negatives, but nobody paints
a picture of the positives. Nobody paints a picture that
arch man is. Eleven last seven games, he looked like
the Heisman favor and yes he started the season off,

(01:02:44):
but he had momentum and when you learn from every
game and you get better every game. More than Art
showing his physical talent or his his arm talent, Art
showed in the last seven games toughness. He was able

(01:03:10):
to shake off bad decisions and make a positive And
I feel like Nick Saban was the one that I'm
gonna listen to. I'm not gonna listen to Brandon Walker.
Who the hell is Brandon Walker? And all the rest
of these guys that are armchair podcasters and not elite coaches.

(01:03:38):
I think you listen to the elite coaches. You listen
to the elite analysts because they have intel and understanding
that your normal guy that's a fan of sports does
not have. Arch Manning is set to have a great season,
and I do not think for one second that he's

(01:04:01):
going to start his season off like he did last season.
I think it'll be his start will be more like
his end. My take is this, I'm going to listen
to coach Saban because coach Saban said that arch Manning
has the ability as a physical athlete as much as

(01:04:24):
a cerebral athlete to make a really high level NFL
quarterback RD.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
What say you, I have no doubt that that he
can and will be one of those guys that will
be in the league and having success. But the numbers
are what the numbers are, and the the r PO
and the ability to get outside the pocket happen a
little something that he has to work on his numbers

(01:04:52):
as far as accuracy outside of the park, pocket stand
in a certain way, and he's got to make sure
that he's making those adjustments. Well, I do understand your
point about how some people will come out and try
to be flat out hate because they don't believe he
is the guy.

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
Well, that's just all that it is.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
It's definitely, hey, he's a very talented quarterback. He's gonna
continue to be one of those guys that everyone is
looking at. He's gonna be the star of today. I mean,
we know what it is. It's what the conversation is
going to be. So I'm not gonna say that they
don't believe in Arch in a way that he is

(01:05:32):
going to be quote unquote not a good quarterback. But
there are areas of concern and there are areas that
are needed in improvement. And Arch will tell you the
same thing. Coach Coach Sark will tell you the same thing. Obviously,
he's not a finished product and he's going to progress
in the right way. You hit the nail on the
head when you talked about the way he played his

(01:05:54):
last seven games. He was outstanding. He was one of
the best players, if not the best player in the
conference by the end of the year. But the reality
of it is people want to live in the past.
This is not about the past. This is about the present.
And he is going to have a lot of pressure
on him. This team is gonna but he's not going
to be by himself, Mark, his whole team is going

(01:06:16):
to have pressure on them. And the expectations are obviously
SEC championship and National championship or busts.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
Yeah. I don't have many worries about Arts performing because
it's not only has he worked on this whole off
season about weaknesses. You know that somebody like him is
not going to go into the off season, Oh these
are my strengths. I'm just gonna stick to this I'm

(01:06:45):
just gonna do with what I've done in the last
seven games. No, You're going to find out where you
were deficient and you're going to try to fix those things,
and coach Saban has to do that. I'm coach Saban.
Coach Sarksian has to do the same thing because this
job depends on it. When you have to develop a guy,

(01:07:07):
you don't just develop the things that are good. You
take their weaknesses and you're enhance them. Otherwise you're gonna
look like, well, why didn't y'all work on that during
the offseason?

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
So, yeah, I look forward to seeing what what Archer
is going to look like. But I think that him
standing upright and having a running game are going to
be more beneficial to him than having Coleman.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
No doubt, no doubt. The ability to run the football
actually does change everything and makes it a lot easier
for him to go out and do his thing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:43):
But I do understand that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
You know, I'm not gonna call it criticism without being
constructive because I look at it and I'll say, just
like you said, there are certain areas of development that
need to get to a high level. And that's not
just ar that's the entire football team, and they're gonna
they got a lot that they are working on as

(01:08:06):
we speak. Good stuff from the world's strongest man. As always,
when we come back, we are going to put the
finishing touches on what is expected to be a very
very busy day here at SEC Media Days live in Tampa, Florida.
We have Lane Kiffin has already taken the microphone Arkansas

(01:08:30):
and Mississippi State.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
But of course we're here.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
For the stars of the show, the Texas Longhords as
they make their way to Tampa, Florida. Live on media
Row at SEC Media Days on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app.

(01:08:55):
Come right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone,
always free on the iHeartRadio app. We are in Tampa, Florida,
Live from Tampa, Florida, and let's just say it is
starting to pick up. Texas will be the main feature
here at SEC Media Days. The final team to come
in and address the media will be Texas. But Lane

(01:09:18):
Kiffin has already riled up some people here at SEC
Media Days. He is the king of trolling. As we
heard from Kirby Smart talking about trolls and what the
what is going on with trolling, But Lane obviously is
going to spark up an interest. He'll be Coach sarkul

(01:09:40):
be asked about Lane Kiffin. But one thing I want
to address Mark is as you start to look at
this season and the Texas Longhorns, we were here for
that throwback. Texas didn't come to Tampa to win media days.
They came to really start carrying the expectation of winning

(01:10:00):
the SEC and winning the national championship. Today we will
hear about that plan and then the fall sark and
the Longhorns have to go out and prove it, and
that to me is what it's all about.

Speaker 2 (01:10:15):
Well, I mean, everybody knows that the hunger for winning
a championship rivals breathing oxygen. When you're a football coach,
you want to win, and Coach Sarcus has been afforded
everything that you could have to get that done. Now

(01:10:37):
it's about going out and having the guys believe and
buy into what you're saying and what you're installing, and
them having a level of comfortability to where they can
go out there, whether it's four o'clock in the morning
of four o'clock in the afternoon and get it done.
And I feel like Texas is working towards that. They

(01:11:00):
got forty four days left. Forty four days is a
little over a month. It's not a lot of time, Harge. Yeah,
it's not.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Forty four days away from silencing the critics or answering
on them all and giving them more the feel yeah,
give the more fuel for that. So it's just one
of those deals where I'm excited to be here. I'm
excited to have these conversations and find out, Hey, this

(01:11:31):
is what they're thinking, this is what they're working to.
But when it's all said and done, we're getting ready
for the season. They're cracking those pads as you talked about.
They are trying to line it up, make sure that
they're the best conditioned football team. They're trying to get
out there and show us week to week improvement, which
is the most important part of this season is getting

(01:11:53):
better every single week, but also putting yourself in a
position to be in the conversation at the end of
the year when it comes to the playoffs and being
in and setting the tone for the rest of the season.

Speaker 2 (01:12:05):
Yeah, you you definitely want to be able to have everything,
all your ducks in a row, so you can set
the tone. You don't want to you don't want to
wait and have to build toward. That's that was the
problem last year. You know, Texas they didn't They jumped
out uh and and did not have what it took

(01:12:28):
in the beginning to get the job done. Now they
have what it takes to get the job done. You
want to see them jump out ahead. Get guys that
on the second and third team some reps, right, so
those those guys can rests for the next week because,
like we said, management of the reps and the expectation

(01:12:52):
is going to come down to you got an extra
game to play, right, So you want to you want
to do some load management, if you will.

Speaker 1 (01:13:01):
Cam, I wanted to get your thoughts on this before
we get out of here. What what what are you
hoping to hear today from coach Sark about his Texas
football team. Oh, that's a good question.

Speaker 6 (01:13:12):
Well, I mean, honestly, you know, I hope to hear
that he feels like this team is ready.

Speaker 3 (01:13:19):
To win a national championship.

Speaker 6 (01:13:22):
And you know, it felt like last year got up
to a really slow start and a lot of that
had to do with, you know, a pretty brand new
offensive line and of course a new quarterback in Arch Manning.
But guys, you know, entering this is what you're six seven.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
Six, it's say six seven, dude, say six seven, it's six.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
You're six.

Speaker 6 (01:13:44):
You guys are child? You got you and Mark Henry
well children old children? How am I the most mature
person on this show right now?

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
That is in question as well, that's questionable. Exactly you're six?

Speaker 3 (01:13:55):
Guys?

Speaker 6 (01:13:56):
Did you guys think by year six that Texas would
not have played in the National Championship game?

Speaker 1 (01:14:01):
Yet?

Speaker 6 (01:14:02):
Like they've gotten close, right, you know, a couple a
couple of plays away, a goal line stand by Ohio
State and an incomplete pass on fourth down from beating
Washington and reaching the Natty, but still have not gotten
there yet. And that's the goal, right, that's the goal,
is to what in credits start for resurrecting this Texas
football program. But is the goal, you know, to make

(01:14:25):
it to the playoffs or is the goal to bring
home a national championship? So you know, I'm curious to see.
Obviously he's going to say today in arts will say
it and the players will say it. Like, you know,
we're here to winnation Championship. But does he feel like
he has a team that can win it?

Speaker 2 (01:14:40):
Guys, I think he does. I think that now only
are they saying it. It's not lip service, it's not
lip service. There's a lot about this Texas team that
was deficient last year that they fixed in the portal
and that they fixed and recruiting. But more in philosophy,

(01:15:00):
the increasing the defense with an attacking defense where you
you're gonna you're gonna take chances at corner. Been playing man.
The man is gonna benefit you or it's gonna hurt you.
You better hope that uh Kylin Simmons can get the
people and Jackson can get the people before in biles,

(01:15:23):
before that ball gets ten yards away from the line
of scrimmage.

Speaker 6 (01:15:28):
And I wonder, guys, with how aggressive we think will
much champill played defensively? And of course you know, let's
see it first happen. What will Sark be okay? If that,
if you know, Kate Phillips does get burned, Mark Phillips
Lilting gets burned. You know Ohio State from playing aggressive?

(01:15:48):
Does Sark say you know what? Okay, let's go back
to that PK. We're gonna play ten fifteen yards off
the line of scrimmage, or we continue that aggressive nature
because you know you may give up a big pass
over the top of the same time Mark Henry. You
know it might lead to more takeaways, more turnovers, more
defensive points, more sacks.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
Well, they also go to umbrella and they played eight
yards off the ball, keep people in front of you
and send middle linebackers right up the middle and force
you to try to get the ball out. Like with
Colin Simmons on one side, I don't think that you're

(01:16:29):
going to have an issue where Texas does not get
pressure consistently and that there aren't some arrant balls thrown
at that defense. Not to mention the running game, let's
not understate how valuable it'll be to be able to
run the ball and run clock and force you to

(01:16:50):
throw and do what you want them to do, rather
than it being the other way around, which we fell
into last year.

Speaker 1 (01:16:58):
Well, we're excited about it all. We are here at
SEC media days. Coach Sark will take the microphone. Hopefully
you'll get a chance to hear that today, depending on
what happens with the round Rock Express, but don't worry.
Craig Way, the voice of the Texas Longhorns. We'll be
here live starting at two o'clock Central Time. And the expectations, folk,

(01:17:22):
I keep using that word is for coach Sark to
have the winning combination this season. I want to thank
Mark Henry. I want to thank Ronald for holding it down.
I want to thank my guy, Cam Parker for lining
us up all day long. Shout out to Eric Henry
of Horns two four seven and Danny Davis. I'm on

(01:17:44):
vacation starting tomorrow, folks, but Cam will be leading us
with Mark Henry. I will be back on Tuesday to
recap everything that is said right here on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred Zone.

Speaker 3 (01:17:57):
Always free on the iHeartRadio Appen.

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
Remember this, folks, don't believe everything you see, because even
salt looks like sugar. Have a good one, peace,