Its a Wayback Wednesday on The Morning Kickoff!

We're just 45 days away from kickoff, and SEC Media Days are rolling on. Day 2 featured Alabama's Kalen DeBoer, Florida's Jon Sumrall, Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding, and Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko, with plenty of headlines coming out of Atlanta.
We'll break down the biggest storylines from Day 2, then dive into Bill Connolly's analysis of whether Texas has what it takes to win the national championship—and what's standing in the Longhorns' way.
We'll also cover Texas Baseball's newly announced team awards, recap what SEC coaches had to say during their media sessions, and shift to the NFL as Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys enter what many believe is a make-or-break season.
To close the show, we'll hit the final notes, including Texas Basketball scheduling Baylor for a matchup in San Antonio, before looking ahead to tomorrow, when Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns take center stage at SEC Media Days.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good Morning Austin, Ktown, Fluteville, Leander, Htown, Parlamo City, Hell,
pass As.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
San Antonio, and Sills, Texas or.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Wherever you may be listening. This is a wind down
Wednesday edition of The Morning Kickoff right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred. The zone been always free on
the iHeartRadio app. Texas football is forty five days away
from the start of the season, but they are one
day away from taking the stand at SEC Media Days

(00:33):
in Tampa. And also Kirby Smart did take the stand
yesterday and what's testifying if you really know what's going on.
ESPN's Bill Connley on Texas winning and losing, how they
will get there and the awards continue to roll in
for Texas baseball. Excuse me, I am your host, Mike Harball.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hart.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
My co host is a WWE Hall of Famer and
recognized as the world's strongest man. He is d Mark Henry.
Good Morning Austin, and of course we got our guy
Cole behind the boards. And if you want to be
a part of the show, all you got to do
is text the word Texas follow by your message to
eight one five three zero. Standard data and message rates
may apply. That's the word Texas, follow by your message

(01:17):
to eight one five three zero. Standard data and message
rates may apply. Also, if you want to leave a
talk voicemail, all you got to do is use that
talkback feature on a new and improvement always free iHeartRadio app.
It's good enough you will hear it on air. Good
but if not, we'll just talk about how bad it was.
All right, let's get into this conversation. SEC Media days

(01:41):
continues to roll. Yesterday was a big day when you
sit back and you look at Kirby Smart taking the
stage and given the state of the Union on his
side for the Georgia Bulldogs. You had Clark Lee taking
the stamp stand I keep on the hall at the
stand like they in court. Yeah, Clark Lee talking about

(02:03):
what's life gonna be like after Diego Pavia Shane Beemer.
Is he on the hottest seat of hot seats? And
of course you have so much more to get into today.
Texas A and M will be the feature. They will
be taking the stage later in the day. Old Miss
with Pete Golden will be there. Florida with John Summer

(02:27):
who came from Coastal Carolina to now take over the
Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson's Tide Kaylin de boor
all he does is win, and it seems like the
folks in Alabama think that he's supposed to walk on
water and change some things around. But it's taken some time,

(02:48):
and people are honestly saying that he may be on
the hot seat in Alabama and that dude.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Can't change light bulbs without using his hands. Like they
need to cut it out, they really need to stop. Well.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
I remember that one lady was talking about if she
won the lottery, she was gonna pay his buyout at
one time. And then he goes out and he wins,
and then yeah, and everybody loves him again. I mean,
it's just funny to me when you start to look
at the sec and coaches that can be on the
hot seat, one of them should be Shane Beamer. Shane

(03:24):
Beamer is he'd lost a lead to Texas A and
M last year or was it like a thirty point
lead or twenty seven points going into halftime and they
end up getting blown out in the second half and
people wanted him fired then because they thought that he
has lost his luster in South Carolina. So it'll be

(03:44):
interesting to see what is going on with the SEC
we'll have. We'll hear a lot this week, but we
also will be able to talk about Texas Longhorns and
the expectations coming into the season and now we're gonna
get closer and closer to have and Coach Shark addressed
the media talk about all things, but I want you
to hear from Kirby Smart as he talked a little

(04:06):
bit about what it's like the pros and cons of
having teams like Texas and Oklahoma in the conference in
what they each bring.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
I can't think of any cons.

Speaker 4 (04:17):
I mean, you'd be selling me to say something negative
about them being I would might say travel, you know,
like we knew that was an ear that was going
to come, and you look at our conference versus many others,
and we're blasd to have the travel we have right,
like going to Austin, I think at night the year
we went over the area, it was like we got
back at three thirty am or something. Put at night
game on the road in a different time zone and stuff. Right,

(04:38):
But outside of that, I don't know, there's conz the Prows.
We're all over the state of Texas now in Oklahoma.
You know, the footprint of recruiting expanded. I think Greg
would tell you that the media part was huge in
terms of the coverage and having a better product to
put out there.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
I mean the number of.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Games we now have on Saturday when we line up
and say, Okay, you got this night flood, you got
this mid day's flood, and now we're twelve o'clock. Game
is about competing the other conference's best game week in
and week out.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
We're putting a better product at the the third reports game.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
So that's what it's creative, is like, hey, we're gonna
play the best teams every week and it's gonna be
elite matchups for television.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
They frum.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
I don't know that we can do that without Oklahoma
and Texas.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
I agree, I agree. I mean that's very well said. Yep,
And he should be more. I don't know if you
would say, like, uh, happy about it, because we've never
heard happy. Kirby's smart, but like it's seem like he

(05:44):
was like, wow, this this is a great thing for
us in the SEC.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
It's just like, you know, amount of tone.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
But that's something to be happy about because there's not
many teams or leagues that if they did decide to separate,
that could carry their own Because we talked about this
forty viewership, and that's because of what he just said. Yeah,

(06:14):
there's a lot of great teams in the SEC. There
are some teams at the bottom where you kind of
you don't know exactly.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
I don't know if I want to watch Vanderbilt right. Well,
I mean you did last year and the year.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Before because popular as much as you liked or hated him,
you liked them too because what he brought to for
the flair for his school.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
True.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
So it was like Johnny Manziel when he was at
A and M. Everybody was like, I hate Johnny, but
what you was watching?

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Johnny? You watching this? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, you were definitely gonna watch it. So the viewership
to this point is very, very key. But some of
the other things that he was talking about is the
keys to winning the SEC. Obviously, uh, we did our
voting yesterday to see wherever the media sees it. Until
you can beat the champ, the champ is always gonna

(07:05):
be that Kirby Smart, the elder statesman of the SEC,
gets his opportunity and he says these are the keys
to what it takes to win the SEC.

Speaker 5 (07:17):
Well, it's every year it's gonna be run the ball
and stop the run. And people want to talk about
nil and transfers and portals and expansions and nine game playoffs,
And at the end of the day, guys, it's about
who plays football the best. And we pride ourselves on
coaching hard, playing physical, and that's how you beat people
in the SEC. You got to go to run the ball,
stop the run.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Where's the lie, where's the line? Hey?

Speaker 1 (07:39):
All that stuff plays out well, but the reality of
it all is, Hey, if you do not run the
ball and stop guys from running the ball, it's gonna
be a long, long.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Night for you.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
It's gonna be tough for you. So you got to
make sure that you are dialed in. One of the
funniest moments that have happened during SEC media days was
Lan Lane Kiffin is the biggest troll. They've got a
friend group with all the coaches that worked at Alabama together.
They're on a thread together, so these guys have spent time,

(08:14):
so they give each other a hard time, and Kirby
was asked about Lane being the biggest troll of the
group troll.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
I don't even know what troll means. People say that
all the time. Can you define what a troll is
for me? Police, I don't really know. I need to
understand that better. A troll just means kind of poking fun.
He likes to stir the pot. Yep, that's him. He
would say, I look like a troll.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
So I wanted to make sure it wasn't defined by appearance,
because certainly he is the Adonis of all college football coaches.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
I mean he's not.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
He's not the most handsome guy, but when it comes
to the NCC coaches, he kind of stands above. Sar
can say different. Yeah, well, Sarka is definitely more different. Yeah,
and more styled.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah. I don't think Mike Elko would put your mind
baseball cap.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
He like billich Bill Belichick. Yeah, he cared less. Let's
go coach some ball and get this thing done. But
you know, you start looking at the SEC as a whole,
and you're you're looking from top to bottom. Obviously a
lot of conversation is going to be around the quarterbacks.
Gunner Stockton talked about his time at the Manning camp.

(09:37):
He actually roomed with Marcel Reid and they have a
great relationship.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
We have already talked to Matier.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Matier has already been to the Manning camp and got
in there and put the work in. But everybody's talking
about Trinidad Chamberlas and what he brings back to the table.
It's gonna be between Trinidad and and Arch Manning on
who will be the SEC preseason top quarterback. I think
it'll be a lot tighter than what people think. But

(10:07):
you look at it. Remember coming into last season with
the quarterback position, nobody was really talking about Gunner Stockton.
Gunner Stockton tough, yes.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
And he leads.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
He defines what Kirby Smart wants his teams to look like.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Out of all of the quarterbacks other than the top three,
you know, Oregon, Texas and Oh Miss, I would pick
gun of Stockton. If I already had a quarterback and
I wanted to develop somebody into my system, it would
be him, right.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Those other three guys they're going to start when they
go to the NFL.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Well, you also, let's not forget about Leonora's Sellers. He
was somebody that was a Heisman candidate at the very
beginning of the year, but the way that South Carolina played,
which is the reason why Shane Biemer will be on
the hot seat this year. He has to play better
as a whole and that team has to finish ball games.
As I said, they were up against Texas A and

(11:08):
M and then let it go.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
And now he's.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Over there trying to figure out if he's gonna have a.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Job next season. So it's gonna be tough.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
We're just getting started on this wind down Wednesday edition
of The Morning Kickoff. When we come back, we'll talk
more from SEC Media Days. Who is everyone talking about
and what is going to happen when the Texas Longhorns
show up at SEC Media Days. They ain't moving, no
furniture or none, but they're gonna be there. We'll talk

(11:37):
about that in more right here on the Morning Kickoff
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to zone and always
free on that iHeartRadio app. Going back to the Morning
Kickoff Radio Sports Radio A thirteen hundred to Zone, Mike Harball, Haard,
World Strongest Man, WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry, and
here Guy Cole holding it down. Coming up in the
next segment, we will talk Texas will or will not win?

(12:01):
The championship and Bill Conley of the Four Letter Network
wrote an article and I want to get Mark's thoughts
on this, and you the people like, as we said,
if you want to text us, all you got to
do is use that hit us on the text line
eight one five three zero standard data and message rates
may apply. Before we get into the conversation about the

(12:22):
SEC and some more of the conversation about Kirby Smart,
I wanted to ask you this, Mark. Yesterday I found
out listening to the Great Craigway Show craig Way two
to five right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone,
the voice of the Texas Longhorns, which you can hear
all the action right here on sports Radio AM thirteen

(12:44):
hundred zone. Yesterday we're talking about it was National Sandwich Day.
It was National Sandwich Day. And then he got into
this conversation about the day after Turkey sandwich and how
good after Thanksgiving and how good that sandwich can be.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
But it was Turkey.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
So which is your favorite if you had to pick
a sandwich?

Speaker 2 (13:11):
What is your favorite sandwich?

Speaker 3 (13:13):
I like the Thanksgiving sandwich, Like if you're in the
in the Midwest, and like right on the border of
the East, they have something called wah Wah And at
the wah Wah's they have a Thanksgiving sandwich and it's
a little different because it's got mashed potatoes and dressing
and cranberry sauce with ham and turkey.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
But my favorite is right up here. Ikes love sandwich.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
They got the Thanksgiving sandwich and it's got the cranberry sauce,
no dressing, but it's got potato chips and it gives
it a crump.

Speaker 6 (13:52):
Man.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
I love that sandwich.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
For me, it's very simple. One is a simple chili
chili Phillies cheese steak all day, every day. Can get
it anytime, uh Cubano. A lot of people like that,
and a lot of people always talk about the ruben.
A lot of people like, yeah, there you go, there

(14:15):
it is. I was just waiting.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Spicy mustard, baby, I don't need nothing else.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
People put pickles on it or cheese.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
No, yeah, bread, hot mustard, stromy on corn beef, yeah,
the one both. If you're just let us know what
your favorite is. As I said, mine would be the
Philly cheese steak. He Craig even mentioned the lobster roll yesterday.

(14:47):
Poe boys obviously are always good and a pool pork
sandwich is always good too.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
I dig that, especially when you got the right souse
on it.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Uh, but let's get into the sec We will be
at media days tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
We're going out there today is a hot dog sandwich?

Speaker 1 (15:07):
I mean, I really don't want to be part of
this discussion because a lot of people have a what happened?
A lot of people have had this discussion and it.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
Never comes out right. Well, it just there's never an
ending to it, to what the conversation. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
You're not gonna win or lose anybody by saying, oh,
yeah it is, and there's people are gonna say, no,
it's not. We did a show recently on my other show,
and there was no conclusion, just a waste of time.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
So what would you consider it? I would not consider
it a sandwich? Okay, what would you consider it a
hot dog? I would consider the role because it's really
a role. It's not two independent pieces of bread.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
It can be almost said something.

Speaker 7 (15:59):
Really ask.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
But I'm gonna let you make it so I can
keep my job. But stop it, sir, Why is it
hard dogs trying to argue with me?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
I'm just asking you did that? He did that to argue?

Speaker 3 (16:16):
You just want to I don't want to argue, man,
I don't want to argue.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
I just want to know. How do you decide what
is a sandwich and what is not?

Speaker 2 (16:27):
A corn dog is not a sandwich. It's all that's different.
That is breaded, that is fried, that's totally different.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
I still would say that hot dog is not a sandwich.
You know what we can do. We're gonna ask Chat
GPT right, and Chat will not be able to answer
that because he doesn't have a mouth.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Thing is computer? Man?

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Is a Technically yes, a hot dog is a sandwich.
Both the USDA and food historians define the sandwich as
meat or filling. That blood placed between two pieces of bread.
It's bread.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
How do you think you get? Man? Look, you're right.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
We're gonna take this off air because we're gonna be
arguing about this for a long time because in the people.
But listen, if you I'm telling you, this is what
the AI overview gave us from Google, and this is
what they said. Technically, yes, a hot dog is a sandwich.

(17:30):
Both the USDA and food historians define a sandwich as
a as meat or filling placed, filling placed between two
pieces of bread, a bun or a biscuit. Because the
hot dog is meat inside a split split bun, it

(17:52):
fits the classic definition. Despite public opinion, the debate is
highly sub Yes.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Sir, you lose. Can we talk about it? I think
it's more. Would you consider it a taco? There's not? Man,
who are you? I'm just asking would you consider it
a top? No, it's not a tacoll it's the same
on your print taco and sandwich. Then it can be.
It depends on how you stack it. Oh my god, hey,

(18:22):
this cold. So we were we were talking about sports.
I'm just curious.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Craig got me on this yesterday because I was thinking
about it and and then the hot dog that question
came up.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
So I just was curious to the thought.

Speaker 8 (18:37):
Ok and you say, no, Mark, have you ever eaten
a meatpole sandwich?

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yes?

Speaker 8 (18:41):
Case, but that's a sandwich right. They hollow out the
bread and put the meatpoles in.

Speaker 9 (18:44):
Ah, that's a semar right.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Okay, I guess how dog is? All right? Finally, yes,
my man agreed. Wait to go. Cole wet to be
convincing in that look at the big brain on cold.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
It was all about the.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Meat ball sandwich. You have to my soul with food
of course.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Well, anyway, the SEC, I wonder if they got hot
dogs over there at the SEC media days.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Went to last year in Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
We will definitely give you updates tomorrow, but please do
as we continue to look at this this conference and
what the expectations are for the University of Texas. We
heard about Georgia and what they bring to the table.
But I want you to hear Kirby smart and this
is something that I'm expecting the conversation for the Texas
offensive line. I'm expecting the response from coach Sharksian tomorrow

(19:56):
to go a little bit like this. As Kirby kept
getting asked about his wide receiver room.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
I'm just very thankful for people like U Steve to
keep questioning them because the more you question them, the
more it helps me motivate them. So everybody says that
we don't listen to you guys when the wide receivers
are listening, so they'll have a new challenge issued based
on your question.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
So basically, don't ask me about my wide receiver room,
because I think our wide receiver room is gonna be
all right, don't ask me about my offensive line. We
made some adjustments and that's all the questions that I
keep getting is about this old line. I'll keep motivating them, guys,
just keep motivating. And now you know who he think
I'm gonna he's gonna be talking to.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Probably Kirk Boles. I got Kirk Bowles. I think that's
what it was. It'll be k colonel asking something. I
love it. I love it though, But this is this
is what it's all about.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
This is the time of year where the questions start
coming out. This is the time of year where you
look back and you see where you lacked. A lot
of people are still going back to the lack of
the running game, not having a thousand yard rusher. Was
that more on the offensive line or was it more
on your running backs? Was it on the play calling?

(21:09):
How are we gonna find the balance of that?

Speaker 2 (21:11):
So, yes, this is good.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
This is good questioning because it gives each team something
that people are thinking about. But it also gives that coaches, hey,
they've doubting you.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
You also got to rescruit people with that kind of temperament.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yeah, you know, like I would love to be able
to recruit like five casey stutters.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
They may not be the most.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
Athletically inclined, but they're the meanest.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
They're gonna work harder than you.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
They're gonna study their playbook, They're gonna do everything they can,
and they gonna hold the other guys accountable.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
Hey, did you work hard enough today? Do you know
your playbook? Like? I want those guys and Kirby looks
for those. That's why they win so much.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
They may not be the fastest, they may not have
the best side to sideline quickness, are the best hands,
but they gonna give you everything they got and they
gonna know what they're doing when they step between those
white lines.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
I just love those type of players.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
People could criticize Vince Young for all the things that
they've criticized him for, but every player that he's ever
played with was like, there was nobody that was gonna
work harder than him, and he was gonna hold you
accountable and ask you questions to test you to see
if you knew what you knew.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, you definitely have to look at this entire season,
the off season, leading into the spring, and now getting
ready for actual August practice.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
Forty five days man.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Yeah, we're forty five days away from the actual game,
but getting on that field starts right after they get
back from SEC media days and you start to really
get that grind and then you start understanding oppressors.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
He'll start telling you different things.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
You'll start hearing about different players, just like we heard
about Jermaine Bishop Junior yesterday, him being able, the talent
enough to be on both sides of the football and
spent time doing that. We still ain't talked enough about
Jonah Williams his health.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
That'll probably be be a question that was.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Everything is coming to the forefront as football season gets
closer and closer. And no, folks, I was not taking
a shot at my man, Kirkballs.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
He's our guy.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
When we come back, I want you to hear the
little story about this Texas football team and why they
will and why they won't be an SEC champion. We'll
talk about it right here on the Morning Kickoff on
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to Zone and always free
in that iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to the Harge Knocks

(23:56):
Life segment of the Morning Kickoff right here on sports
Radio Hey of thirteen hundred the Zone.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
It always free on that iHeart radio. It's not over.
We can always do a duo. No, it's over. It's over.
We're going. We're moved on.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Were because he could take me out with it. He
could take me out with it. I'm not We're not
doing reprieves right now, all right. I want to get
into this conversation with you, Mark, because obviously the Texas
Longhorns are the team that we cover. This is the
home station for all the UT action and UT athletics.
You can hear it all right here on sports Radio

(24:29):
AM thirteen hundred Zone with the voice Craig Way. We'll
be in Tampa tomorrow as the Texas Longhorns make their
appearance at SEC Media Days. And let me just tell you,
over the last few years, it has been a show
in itself.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
But I wanted to get into.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
This article that was out yesterday from our guy Bill
Connelly of the Four Letter Network. He's a great writer,
does some great insight and breaks down teams and you
know the plus minuses and how everything should end, and.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
They do this thing.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
It's supposed to be if Texas, If this happens, Texas
could be a national champion. If this doesn't happen. This
is why they won't be a national champion. So coming
into the conversation, it says Texas plus seven point fifty
to win the national title if Arch Manning learns this

(25:29):
one neat trick, and that is throwing on the run.
Arch's numbers of him throwing on the run were not
very good last year. He was eighty second in completion
percentage outside of the pocket forty nine point two percent,
and he was ninety fourth in completion rate.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
On the move.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
He was forty eight point six percent completion rate. So
if you look at that, with all the athleticism that
he has, if he can be more accurate outside of
the pocket, this could be a very good year for
the Texas Longhorns.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
I think so.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
I think you throw short, you don't always try to
throw along when you're scrambling right.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
So we'll see how he desires to scheme this up.
If the offensive depth isn't the issue, Coach Sark went out,
got a bunch of skilled players. You see it, Relick Brown,
Hollywood Smothers. You look at what you got in Cam Coleman.
The tight end from up north is a guy that can.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Come in there.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
And if they can be the guys that we think
they're going to be, and Coach Stark can develop the
depth behind those starters. We're talking about a Derek Cooper.
We're also talking about Jermaine Bishop Junior and Dayde mcclutchen
and guys on the outside that are going to get
an opportunity to play. But you also got to be

(26:59):
able to devel depth on the offensive line. If that
offensive line can show that if somebody gets nicked up,
that you can place a guy in there to hold
it down for a little bit. And you saw it
last year when they made some moves on the offensive line.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
What ended up happening.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Texas got better as the season went on, So you'll
start to see that are they going to be a
fast starting team? So that'll be part of the conversation.
But depth is going to be the biggest part in
the last but not least, if Will Muschin can come
in and get this defense to a top of the

(27:40):
chart level as we talked about earlier, when earlier two
weeks ago we talked about Indiana, what they were able
to do.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yes, they were a lot older, but.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
They were a team that came together and defensively, they
were one of the top defenses in the country along
with Miami, who they played for the national championship. If
you can get pressure on the quarterback, create a great defense,
an elite defense, then that will offset what the offense

(28:13):
is doing, and you'll give yourself an opportunity to be
at the top of the charts, and.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
You'll give your offense more positions. And if two defensive
linemen two and step up and keep Colin Simmons and
Biles away from getting picked up by guards, they have
to be occupied. The guards have to be occupied. It's

(28:39):
going to be very difficult to go against this Texas defense,
right And that's not saying about safeties being able to
come up in the box.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
That's not saying.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Cornerbacks being able to play bump and run coverage. I'm
just saying, if Texas has two defensive tackles or another
end that can step up An's Jackson just step up
and say you gotta account for me. We won't have
we won't have much worry about because Kirby smart City

(29:14):
been you win games by what.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Great defense and being able to run the ball.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
When you suggest the clock, you force teams to have
to throw when they don't want to, which leads to
I guess it was Nick Saban said, it's a few
things can happen when you throw the ball too much.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yep. And interceptions is one of them.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah, Turnovers and incompletions are two of the three.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
No.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
And here here are some of the other teams that
have the what ifs. Texas will be taking on Ohio State.
They're the national champion favor plus six hundred theirs as
if if Jeremiah Smith and Julian Saying can get on
the same page and Jeremiah Smith can get some other
guys to step up, like a Chris Henry junior, another

(30:05):
blue chip player. Is if Arthur Smith, the new play caller,
able to get everybody on the same page. Notre Dame
second place plus six point fifty if their second half
of the season, if they can bring that to the beginning,
because remember they went on a run late in the season,
which is why a lot of people thought that they

(30:26):
were going to get into the college football playoffs.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
They have to replace a lot of good stars on
that team.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
But one thing they have on defense is our guy
Leonard Moore junior. And on offense, they have Jaden Greathhouse
from Westley.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
So the top three teams that are in.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
The mix for a national championship is Ohio State, Notre Dame,
and of course the Texas Longhorns, followed by the Indiana Hoosiers,
Oregon Ducks, Georgia Bulldogs. We've been talking a lot about
in Miami Hurricanes. When we come back, got some more
conversation to get into Texas Baseball, give us out awards

(31:08):
and we'll let you know all about it right here
on the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
The Zone and always free on that iHeartRadio app. Welcome
back to the morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio
EM thirteen hundred the Zone and always free on the
iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
As you know, SEC Media Days are.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Going on right now in Tampa, Florida. That means that
we are getting close to football season, but we're going
to put a bow on baseball season. As Texas Baseball
announced the winners of their six team awards, and all
of these awards are named after former players who had
great careers here at the University of Texas. The James

(31:50):
and Houston Street Longhorn Award goes to Luke Harrison that
chose the true meaning of being a Texas Longhorned Luke
Harrison and has shown that. The left handed pitcher who
now is off to a major league career. Brooks Keishnick
Team MVP goes to the freshman Anthony pack Junior. The

(32:13):
man just did everything you could possibly do as a
player in the SEC as a freshman. He's the first
one to win this award in nine years. Keith Moreland
Offensive Player of the Year goes to Aiden Robbins. Aiden
Robbins just signed his major league contract for has signed

(32:35):
his first major league contract with the New York Mets
after he got drafted, but he was named the Keith
Morland Offensive Player of the Year. The Spike Going Defensive
Player of the Year goes to Carson Tenney, another man
that was just drafted by the Minnesota Twins. The Greg
Swindell Pitcher of the Year goes back to back to

(32:56):
our guy, Dylan Valantis.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Dylan Valantis, the big left.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
He will have another opportunity to be a three time
Greg Swindell Pitcher of the Year as he'll be back
on the forty Acres one last.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Season at least.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
And the Shawn Braswell Academic MVP goes to Ethan Walker.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Ethan Walker, Lefty.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Got a chance to pitch in a lot of big
games this year, but here he is now being the
Academic MVP. Academic MVP Ethan Walker, Pitcher of the Year,
Dylan Valantis Defensive Player of the Year, Carson Tenney, Keith
Morland Offensive Player of the Year Aiden Robbins Team MVP
by Brooks, kishnick Is, Anthony Pack Jr. And the James

(33:37):
and Houston Street Longhorn Award goes to Luke Harrison. Also
to cover up all the baseball information, the guys that
transferred out all have found a home. Ashton Larson has
signed with Texas Tech. Jason Flores, former pitcher here on
the forty Acres, has signed with Georgia. Maddox Monsour, who

(33:58):
got a chance to play center field, signs with n
c State. Left handed pitcher k Bing has transferred to
the University of Houston. Andrew Ermis for catcher has transferred
to TCU Presley Corville Coastal Carolina. Cooper Rummel has transferred
to Duke Drayden, Ferguson to Missouri William Hill toward them,

(34:20):
and Grady west Fall has now transferred to k State.
So all the Texas players are on the move, found
a home and now we get ready for the offseason
and see what happens next for Texas.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
I pray for all those guys go to their perspective
teams and do well.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
But you know, the rotation cycle is imminent.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Every year they're going to try to upgrade, get better
and hopefully Texas has done that.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
And to me this is this is now that time
where they start their their their spirit well, getting ready
for the fall ball. A lot of games will be played,
a lot of people will earn some spots.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
This is where you start to see who's coming in.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Ready, are these young freshmen going to be able to
make a move And now you get a chance to
get back into the flow of everything when it comes
to Texas baseball again, those guys that earn those awards
are definitely worthy of it. You got your MVP coming
back and Anthony Pack junior who went on to play

(35:26):
for collegiate Team USA, which was outstanding. And of course
you got your top pitcher in Dylan Valentis, who will
be on a lot of top draft boards for.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
Next year because he's going to be eligible for it.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
I'm expecting big things from them and the Texas Longhorn
program moving forward. Mark, as we mentioned, SEC media days
have been rolling on and today you have Kaylin de Boor,
head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. You have Florida's
John Summerall, who just took over the job right at

(36:02):
the end of the season after Coastal got done. He
came in and trying to turn that program around.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
You don't have to do it with.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
A new quarterback because DJ Lagway is now at Baylor
Old Miss with Pete Golden who replaced Lane Kiffin. Lane
Kiffin will be at media days tomorrow along with his
friend coach Shark, but Pete Golden is there for Old
Miss and taking the microphone today and Texas A and
M Mike Elko. Marcel Reid is another one of the

(36:31):
guys that will be there with him, and a lot
is expected from the Texas A and M fighting Naggies
as this season continues to roll on. As will they
get over the hump? I guess is the biggest question. Well,
it's going to depend on Marcel Reid.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Like you know, against Texas, he disappeared because of the
pressure he has trouble throwing the ball down the field
into the sidelines, anything crossing or deep posts and stuff
like that.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
He's very act.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
He threw a lot of touchdowns right up the scene,
but he's got to work on that outside game.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Yeah, well today you got Kitlyn the board. At nine
o'clock or right at eight o'clock, he'll take the microphone.
He brought in Ryan Coleman Williams, one of the top
wide receivers in the league two years ago. Last year
he didn't have the best year as that top wide
receiver that we thought he was going to have. He's

(37:26):
the name to pay attention to. Florida is taking their
running back. Jayden Ball was somebody that we thought Texas
was making a run on. He decided he was gonna
stay at Florida. They will take the microphone at nine thirty,
Pete Golden will take it. At twelve thirty, he brought
Trinidad Chamberas and Keewan Lacy, two guys that are supposed

(37:48):
to be I would see them, boy, I will see
them as first team All SEC Conference players. And then
at two or one fifty five, Mike Elko takes the
stand with Marcels and takes the microphone stage.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
I'm like because they have so many risks this year.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
That would be George, That would be George and new
had a couple two. When we come back our number two,
we'll hear from Clark Lee from Vanderbilt what are they
doing to replace one Diego Pavia And you'll also hear
from Shane Biemer hot seat Beamer right here on a
wind down Wednesday edition of the Morning Kickoff on Sports

(38:30):
Radio AM thirteen hundred of the Zone and always free
on that iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to our number two
of the Morning Kickoff right here on sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred the Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app,
and our number one. We talked about SEC Media Days
and everyone that was there from the yesterday. You got

(38:53):
a chance to hear from Kirby Smart as he talked
about his team and the expectations.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
And of course you get a chance to talk to others.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
Today at SEC Media Days is a big day because
you got Kaitlyn de Bor of Texas A and M.
He'll be taking I mean Texas A and M of Alabama.
He'll be taking the stage here in just a little
bit at eight five Central time, And of course you
have Florida and John Summerum who is a new head

(39:25):
coach for the Florida Gators, Pete Golden who took over
for the playoffs and now has the head coach at
Ole Miss and Mike Elko. Mike Elko will be the
feature today because there's so much going on with Texas
A and M the momentum of being able to get
into the playoffs last season didn't score, but they tried

(39:45):
everything they possibly could. And of course Kaitlyn de bor
is he on the hot seat. Speaking of hot seat,
we have some coaches that have made some changes. One
of those coaches that has turned the program around is
Clark Lee, the head coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores. A
guy who played for Vanderbilt, guy who loves Vanderbilt, a

(40:08):
guy that has changed the program around, and he had
this to say, not just about the progress, but where
we're going for Vanderbilt.

Speaker 7 (40:18):
It's been a remarkable journey and I'm incredibly grateful to
everyone who's had the courage to believe in our vision
and walk beside us along the way. I'm especially grateful
to our players, those who chose to stay and fight
together to build something meaningful while the world laughed from
the safety of the sideline. I'm indebted and I'm inspired,
but let me be clear, progress is not the destination.

(40:41):
Last season was not an arrival. It was simply another
step in the climb.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
That's the thing that I'm thinking of too. So when
you look at trying to be a poet and didn't know.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
It, well, it was funny because Cole said, Man, I
wonder if that's Ai, and I'm like, no, that's how
he speaks, that's what he mentions, that's how he's built
this program. Here is somebody that is passionate about Vanderbilt
and wanted it to get to national prominence. Now the
biggest question is how do you stay at national, province

(41:11):
provience prominence because of Pavia and now that he's gone,
what are you going to do next? They have a
hot shot quarterback last named Curtis that is getting a
lot of hype and he was a five star and
that's why people were shocked when he picked Vanderbilt. But
he saw something in coach Lee and what they bring

(41:35):
to the table.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
Well, I guess if you if you have a coach
that had Pavia. He's got a lot of patience for
quarterback and this kid must really want some leeway.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
He must know something that we don't.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
And you you try to carve out a place for
yourself that fits you best. So if he could do
with Pavia, he definitely can deal with me because I
want that kind of freedom and that's probably why he
went there.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Well I look at it too, Mark as a quarterback
wants to go to a place, or any player wants
to go to a place where he's going to be
taught as well. Yes, you might give a little leeway,
but he don't have the same skins on the wall
that Pavia had to develop that leeway. And now these
coaches are now looking at I have to win.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
I have to find a way to win.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
And I'm sorry about your feelings, but they trying to
run me out of here. So I have to do
what's best for this team to get victory. So we'll
see what they end up doing there somebody that has
a quarterback, somebody that has a pretty decent team, but
they couldn't get the job done. And now he is
on the hot seat. Is Shane Beemer. Shane Beemer has

(42:56):
been at South Carolina. I believe since two thousand and
now he's at that point where they're past the honeymoon stage.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
There you got to go out there and get victories.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
We are in that stage of the relationship where we
either go get this.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
Expected of you, right. This is where.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
We're supposed to be, and I expected you to do
more in this relationship. And here's what he said yesterday
about his status.

Speaker 10 (43:25):
I stood up here in twenty twenty when I got
hired or twenty twenty one, twenty twenty at the press conference,
and I talked about two things. There was no ceiling
on the football program at South Carolina.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
And nothing has changed. And I said that this.

Speaker 10 (43:39):
Was my dream job when I got hired back then,
and nothing has changed. I'm more convicted about that than ever. Certainly,
last season was a difficult season, to say the least.
There were high expectations and we fell woefully short.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
And that's on me.

Speaker 10 (43:53):
We had six losses last season that were one score
games going into the fourth quarter. We certainly have to
play better in the fourth quarter, but we don't seek
comfort from that with how close we were. I'm accountable
for everything that goes on in our program. Made changes
that I felt like we needed to make. We've gotten
better because of it. I'm a big believer that in life,

(44:13):
you've got to go through some uncomfortable moments in order
to grow, and we went through some really uncomfortable moments
last season, but we have absolutely grown from that. The
expectation always has been since I've been the head coach
and always will be at South Carolina to compete for
championships and to compete for a spot in the twelve

(44:34):
team playoff. That's what we are still working towards each
and every day.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
Oh gosh, that's coach. Coach, coach speed like, don't do that. Like,
I mean, he knows what it is like. If you
your team in the fourth quarter is not performing and
you losing leads in the fourth quarter, how about you
check your strength, coach, work on your conditioning, how about

(45:03):
not putting I'm not taking all the blame he talking
about that's on me. No, my coaches gotta get better
and my players are gonna have to own this. Every day,
we're gonna work harder for the fourth quarter. In Texas,
you see Texas throw the four up and in the
fourth quarter, it's a reason for that they know they've

(45:26):
put the work in to get the fourth quarter done,
and and that's that's that's something that every coach should embody, right,
don't take the blame for everybody.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
I hate it when coaches do that. Oh, that was
on me.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
I should have done better. Yeah, you should have done better.
You should have done a better job of hiring your
strength coach.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
You should have.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
Done a better job behind your position coaches. So that
should have had your players.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
So that is on them, right, So that's why he
says it's on me. He has to take self accountability
for everything that everybody else.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
Does too, right, and then you go, y'all gotta pull
y'all wait too.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
They gotta do that, and they probably do that in
closed doors. But when you walk out in front and
you're the face and you're the leader, you have to
fall on that sword. You can't throw your coaches under that.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
I'm throwing. You hired them, so you gotta throw you.
We leave it if they if they don't get rid
of me, you going to it, Oh for sure, because
you're part of the problem. You want you want to move, Yeah,
but that's that's why do you feel like moving.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
I don't feel like going through the storage building today,
like let's go and do what we gotta do.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
You have to be able to own that responsibility as
a head coach, and I think that is what he
was trying to do.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
And I get it. I get it. This is a
time and a.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Place where all of these coaches and the staff are
putting themselves at risk.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
You're at risk every single day because of the fact
you gotta win.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
You gotta win, which is why him being on that
hot seat is something that I get, but I don't
get because as good as many people believe South Carolina
was back in the day, have you felt a threat
from them. They have great players, they got guys that
go into the NFL and.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Have great safety that they had was he was cold blooded.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
Their wide receivers are good. Their their quarterback it's still good.
I mean, he's still there. But you have to be
able to finish, and that's what he was talking about
those fourth quarters.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Finish them.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
You got to be able to finish twenty seven point
lead against Texas A and m.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Shutting them out. That's nuts.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
And then you end up losing that game. And many
folks thought that was going to be Did.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
They go in to your favorite defense.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Yeah, prevented them from winning for sure, and they would
have to prevent offense because they weren't being the same
started trying to knowing that that's not what you do
because what people tend to forget move. You can try
to do those things, but as you're doing that, you're
stopping yourself for any possession.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Start.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
So it is it is something that these teams continue
to look at and I'm.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Curious to it all because.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
As you look at this SEC, and we talked about
about this yesterday about the hierarchy the top, the top
of the top of every conference. If you look at
the top of the top of every conference, it's normally
the same blue bloods that are normally around the middle.
Part is some guys that you can move around at
any moment. They can have an up year, they can

(48:47):
have a down year, but there there's still going to
be a quality football team. When you looked at the bottom,
it was the same teams for a long time in
the SEC. And that's before Texas even and Oklahoma even
came into this.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
Right, you are looking at.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
It and you're like, well, this lower half of the
Big twelve can beat that lower half of the SEC,
This lower half of the Big twelve can beat that
lower half of the ACC. So you're looking at your
conference now, you don't know who's going to be at
the bottom. When was the last time you thought that
Arkansas was going to be the bottom part of this
whole thing? When did you think that Vanderbilt was going

(49:23):
to be one of the teams, one of the teams
near the top of the conference with their performances over
the last couple seasons. And that's why people look at
the SEC and saying, can you get back to being
the SEC that is represented and playing for national championships.
That's why people are talking so much about it. That's

(49:45):
why Georgia is still looked at as the premier team
because nobody else has shown that they could go there and.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
Battle for that yet.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
And I think this is the year that other teams
in the SEC show improve and make that move to
the top.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
We'll see what ends up happening coming up next.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
Somebody that is trying to get to the top. That's
number four in Dallas, Baby Dak Prescott said it super
Bowl or bus what's say you, Mark Henry. We'll talk
about it right here on the morning kickoff on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred to Zone and always Free on
that iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
This used to go so hard.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
When I was at the other place and had another show.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
That's when you knew it was about to be fired,
about to be fired. It was about to be fired.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
Yeah, and it's about to be fired too because the
Dallas Cowboys come in with some fire expectations. When you
sit back and you think about this Texas Texas, this
Dallas Cowboy football team, you can think a lot about
Texas because the quarterback, you think about Texas because there's
a lot of people that are looking at this Dallas

(50:54):
Cowboy football team the same way you look at the
Texas Longhorns. You expect them to play well. You expect
your Saturdays to be good. We talked about the young
defenders as we spoke with Tommy Yarsh of Dallascowboys dot Com.
If you missed any parts of that, get over to
our podcast page. As Tommy broke down training camp and

(51:16):
the expectations for the Dallas Cowboys and this new look
defense that you're going to have. But it all goes
back to one Dak Prescott. As Dak Prescott goes normally,
the team goes. The problem is last year's defense was
the problem and the offense was putting up points, crazy points,

(51:37):
and still gets blamed for some of the issues. But
as you look at the matchup and everything that goes
along with it, you realize that Dak Prescott is a
true leader of men. He continues to be excitable about
the season, bringing guys in, going to Utah, bringing most

(51:58):
of the skill positions with them. They could get the
work in. But Dak needs to get a Super Bowl.
Do you believe he needs to get one to secure
his legacy. I'll let you answer that after you hear this.

Speaker 6 (52:10):
Dak needs it because otherwise all we're gonna do is
two or three years from now, when you have a
new quarterback, is we're gonna get ready for round three
of the same thing, where the Cowboys will find a
quarterback and he'll be good, and thirty to forty percent
of the fan base will say he sucks because you're
still not winning the Super Bowl and said, like, this
team will have stuff to overcome. Yeah, Dak, Dak needs

(52:32):
it for y'all.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Like he doesn't. He needs it for his legacy. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
he's totally different. You don't get remembered the way you remember.

Speaker 6 (52:42):
It is totally different, Dak. The difference is a statue
or not a statue. I mean, I'll get a statue
if he went to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
That's all garbage, all garbage.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
Why do you say so many quarterbacks that are member
FRAN Target and didn't win one? There's there are great quarterbacks.
Did Dan Marino in the Super Bowl?

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (53:01):
But that the conversation that you have though for both
of those they didn't win.

Speaker 8 (53:08):
Man.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
People talk about Damn Marino having the prettiest ball that's
ever been thrown, that he had the quickest release ever,
Warren Moon, how many did he win? They don't make
him less great? Steve mcanaire, how many of these quarterbacks? Listen,
they're gonna be remembered.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
Every one of those terbacks that you mentioned played in
the Super Bowl, DOK has not played in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
That's true too. That so so that has to get there.
And Stephen A. Smith pissed me off yesterday, but he
was right.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
How about how about the expectation being getting to the
conference championship or winning the conference championship and going to
the Super Bowl? That super Bowl of bus is not
the reality for every team. But if you're considered to
be one of the top ten teams in the NFL,

(54:03):
your expectation has to be super Bowl a bus right.
The rest of them, they are occupying time and space.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
They are not They're not gonna win. We know who's
gonna win.

Speaker 3 (54:16):
To Cole said it best, You mean to tell me
you think that Carolina's gonna win the super Bowl? Super
Bowl the bus for them? No, Cowboys are spoken in
that breath, not in the breath with the Rams and
Denver and.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
You putting them as a Carolina Panthers. They not that low.
But that that does beat us. We're in the second half.
They've beat us a couple you're in the second half.
Heart Yeah. So it goes back to my conversation.

Speaker 3 (54:51):
Top four every division, you know who they are, top
to bottom four in every division.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
You know who they are.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Yeah, So you start to look and you say it,
but I wouldn't put the Cowboys even though they did earn.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
The lower half. Bro I hate to say it. The
and and the reason that they're in the lower half
is not because of Dak is because of Jerry.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
And up going on out Jerry.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
Why we gotta mess with Jerry because Jerry's the one
that hired the defensive coordinators that completely sucked the last
three coaches. They all did different defenses and the team
never had the opportunity to say, you know what we
can we can we can grow from this next season.

(55:43):
Hopefully with Christian Parker this year, you don't scrap it
after one year of allowing him to put all his
work in, which I think that he has put enough
work in already with just the people that he had,
the tools that he have in the tool box, the.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
Covered is full.

Speaker 3 (56:05):
The Cowboys had a lot of stiffs on it last year.
That defense, the Cowboys will in every game because of
their offense scoring thirty points a game, yep.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
And then you like, how.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Many teams scored thirty points and lose? You mean to
tell me you're gonna let people score thirty five and
thirty eight points against you.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
Because you have the.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
Worst NFL defense statistically in history.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
That won't ever happen again.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
If they're halfway, if they're the fifteenth defense in the league,
the Cowboys have the opportunity to go to the playoffs
and maybe get to the Conference championship, and I think
Christian park can.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Get that done.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Oh a lot of people are looking at Christian Parker
as the savior of this defense.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
He can't do it alone.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
And I think the fact that the Cowboys defense now
has he's definitely looking at he's.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
Doing it alone. He can't. He can't do it alone.
Got Downs in the secondary.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
He's got Malachi Laurence, a new guy that is coming
up that is getting a lot of Parry Gary is
one heck of a Williams right, and Kenny Clark and
Kenny Clark and both defensive line, both linebackers, and Marvin
Overshown being back, and you start to look at the savant.
As you mentioned, Caleb Downs is somebody that the NFL

(57:36):
is looking at. And you know Jerry Jones is looking
at it now and he's out of the way possibly
being the the face of the Dallas Cowboys. You know,
you always had somebody that was on the offensive side
of the ball and on the defensive side of the ball.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Who have you seen on the defense.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
Jerry wanted that to be him, is what I was saying.
He wanted to be that. And last year he stepped
away and let coach Schottenheimer be coach.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Shottenheimer, he broke. He goes in.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
Say, okay, we're deficient on defense. Let me bring in
another coach. There's a lot of great coaches that would
not go to the Cowboys because they knew that Jerry
Jones was going to hinder them. And they care about
their record, they care about their legacies and free agents,
I'm not going to Dallas. That's where your career goes

(58:31):
to die. Yep, I'm a fan.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
I know what it looks like.

Speaker 3 (58:36):
The optics, but I still roll with him.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
I didn't want to, but I but I did.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
And here we are on the prefaces of the Cowboys
having a better defense. And when I say better, I'll
take fifteenth, I'll take halfway.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
I mean, I think anybody.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
Specially after last year, being dead laugh, the absolute worst.

Speaker 8 (59:06):
God, you're talking like the Cowboys are like the Cleveland Browns.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
They are now.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Defensively they were the worst. Well they were the words, yeah,
the worst.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (59:17):
I just say it's like for free agents, like, no
one wants to go to Dallas. Would you rather go
to Dallas or Arizona or Dallas or Carolina? But if
you look at Jerry and what he's built like, Jerry
will pay you eventually if you're if you're worth a damn.
But it's not like you know you're going to Cleveland.
It's like, oh great, Like who wants to go travel
to Cleveland?

Speaker 1 (59:37):
If you're smart, you will go to the Dallas Cowboys.
Act strictly because two things. Number one, you're gonna get paid,
and number two, if you play for the Dallas Cowboys,
your legacy becomes a little bit different.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
Period. And you know that.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
I mean as a Dallas Cowboy fan. You know how
many guys just.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
That the narrative has changed because Jerry is stepped back.
Look how quiet it is. Man, that's good. It is
good to talk him out. Like Candy Man. You've been
saying it. Don't say your name no more. You've been
saying him and Joe Hendry.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
And the Candy Man. You can't mention them just they
just show up. Don't do it, don't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Coming up next, we got the World's Strongest Man bringing
you his World's strongest take right here on the morning
kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred, The Zone and
always free on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
You hear the beat, drop it can only mean one thing.
W W Hall of Famer, The World's Strongest Man. The
Mark Henry brings you his World's Strongest take. Take it away,
big fella. Yes you know what timing. I's time for
the World's Strongest Take by the World's Strongest Man.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Cold.

Speaker 3 (01:00:47):
Back then they didn't know me, but now that I'm hot,
they are all all man guys, another edition of the
World Strongest Take. And I know y'all are mad. I
know you're upset. I know you feel like it's an
abuse of power. But let me tell you why you

(01:01:12):
should not be mad. And the subject matter is mister
Lebron James. This may be the last take of the
year by basketball because we are getting into college football
forty five days away. But the big topic right now

(01:01:36):
is Lebron James not deciding on where he's going to
be playing next season. And that being said, the league
now has not released the schedule because they have not
decided or not where the Christmas.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
Games are going to be.

Speaker 3 (01:01:59):
Because they want one of the best teams involved in
these flagship trademark games, and Lebron James plays a pivotal
role in whether or not who plays in those games,
depending on what team he chooses to be a part of,

(01:02:24):
because he is the draw, ladies and gentlemen. He is
the Roman Raigns of the NBA. He is the one.
He's the tribal chief. When Brady was playing, there was
nobody higher on the football landscape than Tom Brady was. Right,

(01:02:47):
Lebron James is the same. Nobody said anything about Brady
when he was a champ. Nobody says anything about Roman
Rains being the one.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Lebron James is the one, y'all.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
He has that power that Cas Shade I said earlier
in the Break. Lebron James physically, it's at forty years old,
it's still in the top twenty five best athletes in
the NBA. He's number one, I think from a cerebral

(01:03:25):
standpoint because of his memory and his experience fundamentals, dribbling, passing, shooting, clutch,
top ten, business wise, number one. You're trying to be

(01:03:48):
the face of the NBA. You gotta take Lebron's crown,
and it's no. I don't see nobody yet in sight
until he retires and he gives the crown away because
nobody stepped up and.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
Took it yet.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
My take is this Lebron James has earned the right
to say I will play when I play who I
played with When I tell you I.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
Play hard to what say it? I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
That was a lot bro broke it down. Lebron James
is the face of the NBA still, whether people.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
Want to believe it or not.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
They can call them washed up, Yeah, you can call
them everything.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
The league is still waiting on them.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
The one thing I will say is why won't the
league just go ahead and make it and put all
the games because questionable? Put all the games as to
be determined on all these other teams.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
You can do that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
You can do that, just put it out. But the
networks don't want that. The network wont.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
A great spenit of time and place.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
Lebron James versus Janni's Anton Takumbo, all Lebron James with Joanna's.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
Anton to Coumbo versus team. They want to know who's
the teams Lebron.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
The league cares more about where Lebron is because they
know that he is the lynch pin of the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Wherever he goes, that team is gonna win.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
Hard sucks, but that's still that That's that's where it is.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
You know, they have done an unbelievable job. I don't
agree with.

Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
Him uh stringing it out because I think it's very
self gratifying, but much more how much how much more?
I mean really cold? He could just he could just
say it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
Man, he knows nothing's changing, like there's been no Ruster
moves for anybody that will say I'm changing for this,
I'm changing for that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
So therefore he knows exactly where he's going.

Speaker 3 (01:05:54):
He's hard. I think that it's a league thing. Jerry
Jones did this with the Cowboys. It's called hijacking the feed.
Where do you see him? Where do you see him at?
I'm not gonna talk about this no more. I see
him in two places to win the championship, Miami and Philly.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Now, if he goes to Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
They will not win the championship because I don't think
even with Lebron James, they can't beat uh.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
Miami.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
I don't even think they could beat New York. I
don't think they could beat Miami, New York or Philly.
In the West. If he joins Golden State, he still
got to run in the Oklahoma city of San Antonio.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
Good luck.

Speaker 3 (01:06:46):
Better stay in the West, I mean in the East,
so he needs to go to Miami and play. They
showed Giannis and Bam out of bail practicing together yesterday.
I didn't realize that Bam could pass.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
The ball or all you gotta do is throw it
near the rims.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
The man he threw the ball to Janna's and Yanna's
dunk so hard that I thought.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
He was gonna break it backboard. Well, you know as
well as I do. It's it's one of those deals.
They need to have that happening. But imagine if you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:20):
Got Lebron throwing the ball to Bam and to Janna's.
Remember the Olympics, right, Bam was the star Lebron James
and in the Olympics Steph Curry and Lebron James were
the scorers.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
But they kept.

Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
Getting the ball to Bam because Bam was the unique mismatch.
And you have Giannis at Takumpo driving and leaving Bam
one on one with people.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
Go to Miami. Yeah, just go to Miami and win
another championship. You already won one there. I just look
at it. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:07:57):
I'm I'm really hopeful, but what let me stop you
I'm sorry, but what is your take on him holding
the league up?

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
I'm done with it, Like I'm I'm finished.

Speaker 1 (01:08:14):
I'm not even looking at it anymore because of the
fact that he has gotten to the point now.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
Where it's the side show.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Well, it's not even a side show because he's not
he's not making it about him. He's not posting something
every day for people to be like, well, is he
gonna say something today? It's more us, Okay, we're creating
this narrative.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Yeah, Like personally, I don't care.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
It's like these kids that are committed to certain schools
till they get on campus.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
What we talking about, What we're talking about, what we're
talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
We got market Spearence now we're talking about We got
market sperience on campus. Now we can talk about him.
We got Austin Goosebie on campus. We can talk about here.
We got bow An on campus. We can talk about that.
Rest of them, huh huh.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
What we'll see where Lebron go, Where Lebron gonna go,
because when Lebron go, we'll know where you're going. You
know what I'm We're gonna.

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
Wind down this Wednesday with our final take. Texas basketball.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
They got a game schedule and SEC Media Days Texas
takes it over tomorrow. We'll talk about it right here
on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
to Zone and always free on that iHeartRadio app. What great,
great show todays of it. Get over to the podcast
Days wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
SEC Media Days roll on today.

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
Caitlin Debor, John Smroll and Pete Golding and Mike Elcot
will be having a huge, huge talk today about the season,
the impact and what's going on with their programs.

Speaker 3 (01:10:01):
You were saying earlier today, I think the people may
want to know that the four Letter Network has laid
off more people.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
Yeah, And like I gave you my.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
Explanation why I thought that is, I think it's a
contractual deal.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
Nobody's thinking pay cuts. Well, some people are still getting
paid more money. So a lot of guys are getting
paid more money. So you start to look at it
and you truly truly see that guys are well, they
will be fine. I think everybody's gonna understands what it
looks like Tomorrow. It'll be a throwback Thursday, but we

(01:10:43):
will be at Texas or we'll be at SEC Media
Days Live from Tampa, Florida, talking all things Texas Longhorns.
As the Texas Longhorns football team will take the stage,
Coach Sark will be out there what ever. Gooseby offensive lineman,
first Team All American Maxwell, excuse me, Walter Camp, you

(01:11:06):
got our quarterback arch Manning will be taking the microphone
as well, and of course Colin Simmons, Colin Simmons and
Trevor Goosby.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
You should be able to hear that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
Craig Way, the voice of the Texas Longhorns, will probably
get the most of the interviews tomorrow because of the
time frame and win Texas will be in but we'll
be there boots on the ground bringing you all the action,
getting insight. We'll have Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman.
He will join me at eight o'clock and or in

(01:11:39):
Mark at eight o'clock. And of course we'll have Eric
Henry of Horns two four to seven joining us at
his usual time on the show. So we're excited about
it all, but there's so much to get into. Also,
I wanted to bring this up to Mark because Texas
men's basketball has scheduled Baylor has Baylor Bears on their

(01:12:02):
schedule for the basketball season next year. But the thing
about the game is that it will be played in
San Antonio at the frost Bank Center, a neutral site
game November the fifteenth. I believe that that's right after
a Texas football game to the following day. So it'll

(01:12:24):
be interesting to see how many people are going to
make it to the.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
To the frost Bank Center after the show.

Speaker 3 (01:12:33):
Well, because that that's gonna be sold out.

Speaker 2 (01:12:37):
Watch I don't know if it's gonna be sold out.
Everybody want.

Speaker 1 (01:12:41):
Everybody also wants to go to LSU because it's the
day after LSU in Baton Rouge.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
Oh it's away game.

Speaker 1 (01:12:48):
Yeah, yeah, it's not a whole game, So that will
be an interesting look. Glad that they're getting a chance
to play. As you know, Baylor and Texas played a
lot during the South What's Conference Days and the Big
Twelve Days, so they've they've known each other in the history.
It changed once everybody decided to go their separate ways.

(01:13:09):
But it's always a great matchup because Scott Drew always
has good basketball teams and Texas is trying to see
how good their basketball team is going to be.

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
I would tell everybody not to drive to New Orleans
like fly and then go to San Antonio and then
rent a car, drive back up off.

Speaker 2 (01:13:31):
That way.

Speaker 3 (01:13:32):
You can, you know, after the game, wake up early,
get on a plane, get to San Antonio, get a car,
run around, watch the game, then come back it off.

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
That is not always the easiest flight to get out of. Yeah.
Oh sure, but you're gonna be the only one. I mean,
you the only one that can get a PJ man.
You the one that's you.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
Know, yeah, you know I can't. Yeah, oh you can. No,
I can't. Yeah, I got a wife.

Speaker 1 (01:14:05):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure if she was traveling and she
wanted to travel like that, there's other things we could
do with that money. But yeah, you start looking at
it and you see that Texas getting that back on
the schedule is something that needs to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
I do want to ask you this.

Speaker 1 (01:14:27):
Tomorrow, obviously, Texas it will be taking the stage. There
will be a lot of conversation about the Texas Longhorns,
the expectation of the season. Coach sark Over underwins he's
gonna get mad about something, you know it, because somebody's
gonna make him mad about a question that'll be asked.
But my thought to you is, what is the question

(01:14:48):
that you would ask him if you have one question
that you would want to ask him about this football team,
about the off season, whatever it may be, what would
be your biggest, your your favorite question for him?

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
Coach?

Speaker 3 (01:15:02):
The biggest complaint is about the play calling inside the
red zone, like, is there anything that was done differently
or that you will do differently this year as opposed.

Speaker 1 (01:15:18):
To the last couple of years. Well, Mark, that's a
great question. But let me just tell you this. I'm
not gonna give you my game plan. I'm just gonna
let you see what happens. And yes I did some
self reflecting, but now it's time for us to get
back to work. That's why they build windshields and not
rear view mirrors that are smaller because they don't want
to look back.

Speaker 3 (01:15:38):
Come on, tough signs on the coach hit me with
the bar. You know you will too. Exactly what he's
gonna say.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
I mean, he's gonna you know, I did go back
and look, and we weren't that bad. They weren't red
zone It's just we didn't score touchdowns. And if you
look at the number, we were eighty five percent success
rate in there, but the touchdown rate we were sixty
three percent.

Speaker 3 (01:16:07):
And we will have to be We're gonna hit you
at the stats and everything, but that's so good. So
my thing is this, when Xavier Worthy was here, they
ran those pivot routes, and when Golden was here, they
ran the deep end and and and just to jerk
jerk out, like, can we can we get those two

(01:16:31):
routes inside the twenty with a tight end going up
the scene?

Speaker 2 (01:16:35):
You know what I think?

Speaker 1 (01:16:36):
I think truly that it is something that he believed
guys can't run the right route like that is.

Speaker 2 (01:16:44):
That it has to be. I hope you have faith.

Speaker 3 (01:16:46):
I hope these guys show him that they can do
what he asked him to do. Because if that's the case,
Texas is gonna they're gonna get more possessions from the defense.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
And I have all faith in the world that that
offense is gonna be fine. This year. We're gonna find out.
It's time.

Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
It's definitely time, and it is gonna be and it's
closing time. We'll be live from Tampa, Florida tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
Stay locked in.

Speaker 1 (01:17:12):
Tell your friends to tell more Friends about the Morning
kickoff Monday through Friday, seven to nine am. Mike Harg,
Mark Henry, and our guy Cole holding it down and
just remember this, stay locked in all day long.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
Thank you, Cole. Make sure you stay locked. It's gonna
be a busy day.

Speaker 1 (01:17:29):
Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, The Craigway Show with the voice
of the Texas Longhorns.

Speaker 2 (01:17:33):
Craig Way.

Speaker 1 (01:17:34):
I think it's gonna be Jake because Cam and Craig
will be on the flight.

Speaker 2 (01:17:39):
I will be on the way as well.

Speaker 1 (01:17:41):
But just remember this, Folks, don't believe everything you see,
because even.

Speaker 2 (01:17:44):
Saul looks like sugar. Peace.