Longhorns Monday: 33 Days To Texas Football, Rangers v Astros, NFL Latest

Mike "Hardball" Hardge and guest co-host Eric Henry of Horns247 continue counting down to Texas Football, recap the Rangers vs Astros series, talk Cowboys and Texans, and more. 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
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(00:21):
to nine am Monday through Friday, right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone Morning Austin, Ktown, Flugerville, Htown, Leander,
Pearlammo City, El Paso, San Antonio, and Seals Be Texas
or wherever you may be listening. This is a long
horns Monday edition of The Morning Kickoff right here on

(00:44):
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone and always free
on the iHeartRadio app. We are thirty three days away
from the start of Texas's football season, but football practice
starts this week and start enters year six. It happened,
just like some of the others. The SEC is taking
some hits, but is it warranted? The MLB trade line

(01:07):
deadline is upon us and the Rangers, well, they couldn't
handle the Astros preseason game starts this week and it
is time for some football. I am your host, Mike
Harball Haart, my co host, is normally the WWE Hall
of Famer and recognize as the world's strongest man. He's
normally Mark Henry, but instead we got the second strongest

(01:28):
man and it's our guy, Eric Henry of Horns two
four seven.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Good morning Me, Good morning Harts. Appreciated you having in
the studio as always.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Always ready, and we've got our guy Ronald on the boards.
And if you want to be a part of the show,
all you got to do is text to word texas
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Standard data and message rates may apply. That's the word
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Speaker 3 (01:53):
Standard data and message rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Also, if you want to voice your opinion, all you
got to do is use that talkback feet on the
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it's not, we'll talk bad about the message that you left.
But we do want you to focus on using the
talkback feature because coming up during football season, we're gonna
be giving away prizes and you have to use the

(02:19):
talkback feature. We want to get you involved with the show.
Speaking of getting involved, thirty three days until the kickoff
of football season e. But one of the biggest stories
that is happening right now is obviously recruiting. Jabbar Jaluk
is like DJ Khalid right now he is sitting there

(02:40):
telling everybody another one. And for those that are wondering
what I'm talking about, well, we'll just let you hear
from the player himself as he has decided to make
his commitment two.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Well, I'll let him tell you has.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
Been one of the biggest decisions of my life. After
a lot of prayer, conversations, reflection.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
I know, I know.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
I went home.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
With that being said for the next board.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
For the next few years, I'll be taking my house
to the University of Texas. What I wasn't done ibody

(03:43):
all right.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
I wanted to ask you to see because right now
you're looking at Landon Williams Callous from Richmond. Randall is
somebody that a lot of folks either have as a
four star I believe your service at CBS and twenty
four to seven Sports, they have him as a four star.
You have other people have him as a five star.

(04:05):
My question to you is, Jabbar Luke Jeluke, excuse me,
one of the most important hires that coach Sark has
made thus far, especially on the recruiting trail.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, super quick cards. You know, I just want to say,
young fella, I always laugh. I see them say, you know,
the next three years, right, you know they say what
they chase the four years away, next three years. You know,
just calm down, young fella. But that is I know
to your to your question about Jabbar Juluke, that position
running backs coach is always an important hire because in

(04:39):
major college football, right, you got to think about it,
those guys you're running backs coach, usually your your DB's
coach and whatever facet. Those are usually guys with ties
to a Florida, a Texas, a Louisiana, the Deep South
right where you're gonna not only get running backs like
a land in Williams Callis, but you're gonna get kind

(04:59):
of those mere skill position guys.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Right.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
But in specificity to Jabbar Juluke in Texas, I think
it was an important hire because you kind of take
a look at a position quite as kept hard. It's
the third running back coach in three years, right, you know,
of course you had Chad Scott last year, you know,
and Tajar Choice, right leave, Tajar Choice is one of
the top recruiters and top coaches at his position. Didn't

(05:23):
work out necessarily way you want to with Chad Scott,
but I think before I get best place to land
in Williams Callas. But je Luke, you take a look
at his recruiting background, it's a little bit mixed, right,
you know. You take a look at at his history
with being the primary recruiter, it's mostly running backs. Of course,
his you know, kind of star pupil is Jayden ba
right for who was at Florida and for those who

(05:45):
know super quick.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
I don't know if you caught this hard.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
We spoke with Jayden Bond media days and Jayden bad
admitted he said he thought about coming to texts absolutely right.
But Jabbar Juluke said, hey, you don't have to follow me,
but you take a look. You know, he's played a
part in Dj Lagway's recruitment to Florida. Grant Delfit, you know,
Trevor at Tien, those types of talents I think the
biggest key for me right A Landon Williams Kallis is

(06:08):
a great pickup for Texas. It's one that's needed, especially
with kind of the unniase with Eastern Royal and see
what's going on there?

Speaker 5 (06:15):
Right?

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Is he flipping too? LSC so on and so forth.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
But also one of the things I think it's important
is Jabbar j Luke's ties to Louisiana. Right for those
who don't know, it was a long time high school
head coach at EDNACARR, which is one of the prime programs.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
In New Orleans.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
I think having that tie is going to be huge
for the program to get types of talents like these
that you're gonna be fighting against LSU four and Ole
Miss and so on and so forth.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
So overall it's been a win in my opinion for
Texas well.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
The biggest win for a lot of Texas fans is
the fact that Texas beat out Texas A and M
as well. So when you start to look at the
recruiting dynamics and where Texas is and right now believe
they got twenty two commits in that class of twenty
seven five stars, a ton of four stars and guys

(07:03):
that they're going to develop along the way. I think
this is something that is I always say this and
those that have known me throughout my time here on
radio here in Austin, Texas. I'm cool with the commitments,
but it makes me happier when they're on the campus
when they sign the letters of intent, because the recruiting

(07:23):
is going to continue to happen regardless of where you're at,
especially in this day and age of the NIL the
ability to go out and raise the funds, so to speak,
and make it more enticing for.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
A lot of these kids.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Because you mentioned Eastern Royal, is he somebody that a
lot of folks think that LSU might be able to
flip what happens there? And to your point, I think
this is good for the recruiting classes. I do want
to ask you this because one of the things that
we're looking at as well as people that are looking
for recruits, you're also looking for those skilled players. In

(07:59):
your opinionion, is he one of those guys that's a
home run hitter when he gets in open space?

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (08:05):
I mean you take a look at his frame, right,
we have been twenty four to seven sports have him
at five to seven and a half a buck ninety.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
I know the height may be a little short for
me personally. You know, we're funny. We were all off
here before the show.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
We're kind of talking about, you know, favorite players and
guys from different eras and so on and so forth.
I'm a big Maurice Jones Drew fan, right because that
was a guy, you know, kind of that muscle hamster
quiet who build but landon Williams Kyllis has some of
those similar capabilities. Can you know, handle the ball out
of the backfield as a receiver can run between the tackles.
I think it's that type of player and listen, you

(08:38):
peer him. And the reason, you know, I didn't touch
on this earlier, but another reason I think it's an
important win for Texas for right now is we'll see
what happens with Eastern Royal. We know Monshawn Sales decided
to stay home and go to Indiana. The backfield Hollywood
Smothers could return for another year, but he could be
a one and done guy.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Riley Brown, this is entering his final year.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
You want to have that established right with the rules
that are there. You know what, Hey, hey, my last
year playing coachorable was twenty ten.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Who knows I might have eligibility left right.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
He takes a good point harge, But no, you want
to establish the backfield because I have a guy like
Derek Cooper in to you peer him with the land
in Williams Kallas. I think you feel real good about
your backfield in terms of being able to produce. And
then at d bel right, we'll see have some a quarterback.
But that's a nice trio for quote unquote the future
of Texas football.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
And I do want to bring this up too, because
we'll get into the conversation about the eligibilities and how
things have always changed. But you also look at the
ability to keep guys, being able to lock in have
your recruit and say, hey, you know what, this is
where we are, this is what we're gonna do. And
I'm staying with my commitment to the University of Texas

(09:48):
because I don't see Texas getting worse as far as
the amenities what's going on here and being able to
raise the funds. But there's a lot to look into
as this season and it could be either help get
more recruits or it can hurt the recruiting as well.
If Texas can come out and have the season that

(10:09):
we all are thinking Texas can have. So that's another
big win for the University of Texas them getting an
in state player from Texas, A and M continuing the
tradition of the running back room at the University of
Texas until your point, we got a lot to look
into when it comes to Smothers, Brown and Cooper and

(10:30):
oh yeah, Michael Terry's back there as well as some
of the other guys Ryan nibblein. There's gonna be some
opportunities for some guys to play exciting times on the
forty acres. As we talked about, the Texas will start
practices this week. We'll get a chance to start breaking
it down. But coming up next, I got my guy
Eric Henry hit sitting in for the world's Strongest man

(10:52):
Mark Henry campus here. We're gonna talk about it. This
is year six for coach Sarkisian. Can he pull off
something that has happened a couple times here in recent
history And I'll get your thoughts on that and so
much more. We'll also talk MLB Baseball trade deadline is today.

(11:13):
More players are getting more eligibility. We'll get my man
Eric Henry's thoughts on that and so much more on
a long Horns Monday edition of the Morning Kickoff right
here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone and
always free on my iHeartRadio app. Coming up in the
next segment, we'll have the Hards Knox Life, where I'll

(11:33):
be talking Major League Baseball. A lot going on with
the trade deadline, the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
They're running baseball. No they are not.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
And I'll give you my reason and Bryce Harper will
give you his reason as well. We got my guy,
Eric Henry of Horns two four seven in studio with
us today at eight thirty four. He will open up
his notebook and give you the latest on what he's
been covering for some time now. But Texas football is

(12:03):
back on the field this week. We're getting closer and
closer to the start of the football season thirty three
days away. Deonta Foreman, Eric, not Eric, But what's my
linebacker's name?

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Go league?

Speaker 1 (12:19):
He's one of my favorite ones too. Johnson, not Derrick Johnson,
the fast one. You were here, you weren't. I won't
try to help you out, but yeah, Johnson, he was
the linebacker. He was thirty three. He's another one of
those great players at the University of Texas. But we're
in year six when it comes to coach Stark and

(12:41):
everybody's talking about this football team, the expectation, the recruiting class,
the transfer portal. This is the time where we get
a chance to see it.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Well.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
There have been two coaches in the recent times that
have won the national championship in their sixth season. You
know who they are, I don't know off the top
of my head. Kirby Smart and Ryan Day. They have
each won the national championship in their sixth full season

(13:12):
at their school. Kirby Smart got the job in twenty sixteen,
he won the national championship twenty twenty one, defeating Alabama,
and then Ryan Day got the job in twenty nineteen
and wins in twenty twenty four. So when you start
looking at these teams and how they were able to

(13:34):
get this done, they had to have great players, they
had to have great seasons, obviously, but the execution was
finally there. Texas has the talent on paper, We've seen it.
Texas went out got Will Muschamp, brought him in to
be the head coach of the defense, where coach Sark

(13:54):
can focus on the offense. Is this the time for
the Texas Longhorns? And I know you don't have to
put a number on it yet, but is this it
for Texas?

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Well?

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Listen, you know I've been on the record saying I
do believe Texas will play for a national title this year.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
I will see about an SEC title. Right. That's sorry
about that, that's I put up on silent.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
But all right, you know it's live, folks.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
God, I just had his name for you. Oh, Garry Johnson.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Gary.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Okay, okay, okay too. Back to that answer.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, with Texas, I think will play for a national
title this year because quite frankly, you just take a
look at the talent, right, the top end talent. This
is a team that could have five All Americans. You
talk about Arch Manning, you talk about Cam Coleman, You
talk about Raheem Biles not Sheen Raheem Biles. You talk
about Colin Simmons, about Trevor Goosby. Right, that's that's top

(14:54):
end talent right there. And then you talk about, you know,
bringing Will Muschamp to be the head coach of the defense.
I I'm going to come back at that point in
a second, because I think there's While you noted the
statistic two coaches one national titles in their sixth year,
very recently, Kirby Smart and Ryan Day, there's another statistic
I want to come back to in a second. But
when talking about those two winning national titles, Hey, Kirby

(15:16):
Smart winning his national title, you can't compare twenty twenty
one's college.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
Football to now. The landscape.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
I know it sounds crazy, it's only four years, but
the nil landscape, the everything landscape is so much different
even from year to year. Right with Ryan Day, I
think that is comparable because when you look at six years, Harje,
that not only gives a coach time to get a
full four years with his guys right, his classes, a
full four years, but also to turn over some of

(15:45):
those guys right and then kind of build the death
that is needed. And I think Texas, in my opinion,
if they win a national title this year, that is
where it's going to be established.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
It's not just the high end guys, but the death.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
But real quick, am I come back to That's that
I'm mentioned with Will mush Champ being the head coach
of the defense, there has not been a head coach
in very recent history who has been a primary play caller,
whether offense or defense, who has won a national title.
The last was Jimbo Fisher when he wanted Florida State.
That was in the twenty tens. Row you mentioned Ryan Day.

(16:20):
What's one thing that Ryan Day did. He gave up
play calling responsibilities. I'm not rehashing that argument because Steve
Sarkisian Harje passed back to you, has already said he's
not doing.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
That, right. Yeah, he made that perfectly because he's very
bity clear he's not doing that.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
But I think that's a key thing to note is
that while yes, six years, because you a lot of
time to get your guys in, it's still a big
responsibility that hopefully will mush Champ being the head coach
of the defense will allow Steve Sarkisian to expand on
game day. So I want to I'm glad you brought
that back full circle because of the fact that he
did mention that that he wanted to make sure that

(16:55):
he got a head coach for the defense. He've said
it multiple times during his abilities in the spring.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
It gives him the opportunity to really dial in on
the offense. But as the head coach, you're the CEO,
aren't you supposed to oversee a little bit of every
single part of it? Still be in charge now, I
know he'll be there, be able to call times out
and all this other stuff, but he doesn't want to
be looking over his shoulder to make sure that the

(17:23):
defense is doing what they're supposed to do. When he
can go over to the sideline and kind of get
everybody lined up. If something was missed, he can go
to the bench and say, hey, guys, this is what
we're doing. That to me, that's that that looks different
in itself.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
There's an article on ESPN and forgetting I can't remember
who wrote it, but they talked to a bunch of
head coaches who recently gave up play calling duties, and
one of the things they pointed out is the coaches
I think Kenny Dillingham was one there. It's a great article,
which I knew who wrote it. I think I saw
that just recently, yep. But one of the things some
of those coaches pointed out is giving up those responsibilities

(18:00):
allowed them to be more of a CEO on game day, right.
I don't want to keep rehashing this. I know I've
taken some heat from Texas fans with this. I thought
it was really damning hard when Steve Sarkishan came out
and said he didn't want to be on defensive headset
on game days, right, or excuse me, I not on defense,
but have to be on defensive headset. As much as

(18:21):
he was right, that's an indictment of your defensive coordinator
basically saying, hey, I'm having to come over and worry
about certain things that I don't want to have to
worry about. So to your point, I do think there's
a measure of being the CEO. But I also think
if Steve Sarkisian can, for all intents and purposes, say hey,
I know will much Champ has it right, that should

(18:42):
allow him to be more present on the offensive side.
Because remember, when you're the play caller, you basically are
the offensive coordinator, right, You need to be doing the
things that an offensive coordinator would do. So I think
ideally for Texas, this should allow him to be more
present in a way that, using his own words and
not my words, that he wasn't able to be on
game days in the past.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
And I'm interested in that the fact of him being
able to call the plays.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Was he missing something?

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Was he so worried about the defense and trying to
be on the headsets that he wasn't prepared for the
next series and going back out and really dialing in
on some of the play calls, because he'll tell you
there were some that he goes back and self evaluates
he missed. He wasn't ready, he wasn't locked in on
what play needed to be called at the right time.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
Maybe it was just the lack of execution.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Who knows, but this is going to be another telltale
sign of what this team can or cannot be with
him at the Helm.

Speaker 6 (19:41):
Now.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
I'm not saying anything crazy, so I know that y'all
are listening over there at the University of Texas. I'm
not calling for sart I'm just saying this is one
of those days that I know for a fact that
he is he's looking forward to because he has every
piece that he could ever want in the toys to

(20:03):
go out there and execute those plays. The running back
room is electric from the paper and the highlights. You
look at cam Coleman worth every penny. We've heard that
from multiple players on what he's doing. This is year
four of Arch manning in this offense. There should be
nothing in this offense that Arch doesn't know about.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, and in harder I do want to sneak this in, right,
because I gotta be fair to start. When you talk
with other coaches, they will say you, almost universally, there
is not a more talented play designer in college football
than Steve Sarkishan. What's the difference between play designer and
play caller? I guess the devil's and the details there, right.

(20:48):
But to your point, with all of the talent that
is there on offense, you would hope if Steve Sarkishan
is such a talented play designer, this will allow him
to be able to expand and beat up a play
caller he was, say maybe twenty twenty, twenty nineteen, but
he's raving forty five points per game in Alabama.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
That is it right there? Everybody's looking at it. But
again goes back to your point, it's a different day
and time in college athletics where I think everybody this
probably is the most level playing field for a lot
of teams because they can go get what they need
and what they want and make sure that it fits
the pieces that are out there. But putting Texas in

(21:29):
this position with the battle that is about to happen
with this offense, and of course what the defense is
going to do with Will muss Champ is firmly putting
Texas in the conversation as an SEC contender for the
championship and of course a national championship. If Sark is on,
It's gonna be a fun, fun year when we come back.

(21:53):
The competitive ballance of baseball is being threatened by the Dodgers.
Yeah whatever, I'm gonna give my thoughts on what people
are saying, the trades that are happening, and oh yeah,
it's deadline day in Major League Baseball. Movers and shakers
on a Longhorns Monday edition of The Morning Kickoff right

(22:13):
here on Sports Radio 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. My guy Eric Henry sitting in for the
Big Fella.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
He will be back.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
Tomorrow bringing it as always. He's been at SummerSlam having
a good time. You can see him all over the
place on social media. But I wanted to get into
this because today is the MLB trade deadline. Five PM
is the end of the trade deadline, and there has
been a lot of moves.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Already in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
None bigger than the LA Dodgers making another move to
go get a top of them line. Pitcher Tariq Skoobel
has now been moved to the LA Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
He will pitch tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
He joins show hey O, tany Yamamoto, Blake Snell, former
Tampa Bay Ray, and Tyler Glass. Now and people are
losing their minds. And the reason why they are losing
their minds is because the Dodgers are aggressive in free agency,

(23:30):
trading and making sure that they have a great product
on the field. Now, a lot of people are saying,
look at their salaries, look at how they're doing this money.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
They're deferring a lot.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Hey, that's the way you continue to do business by deferring. Now,
I also look at it this way, in the fact
that there are a lot of teams that could do
the same thing.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
Everybody in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Has the ability to do exactly what the Dodgers are doing.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
You can't be afraid of it.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
And the reason why I say that is because if
you look throughout the history it happens. You look at
the Red Sox, they're spending, they're competing, the Yankees, they're spending,
they're competing. The Dodgers are being able to do the
things that they have wanted to do because they're not

(24:28):
afraid of the money that is involved. Now, I want
you to hear from Bryce Harper. Bryce Harper, who is
probably one of the best players in baseball, was for
worth a while, but he is somebody that is understanding
of the way the finances are being shelled out.

Speaker 7 (24:48):
I'm not saying I want to be a Dodger right
like every reasons. Oh, you know, that's crazy. No, they
do it the right way because they draft, well, they
get guys in their organization that are Dodgers. Like there's
teams that like, you know, like, oh yeah, that's a Cardinal.
I plays like a Cardinal. Oh this guy plays like
a Dodger. This guy plays, you know, like a Philly.
Like if there's certain teams and certain individuals you get
into your organization, you're like, he's going to be a
guy for us because he matches the mold of our team,

(25:09):
our city organization. Right when the Dodgers go out there
and do their job, and yeah, they have more money
than everybody, like, I get that, But you still have
to put pin on paper and go out and play
like you can't just be like, oh, yeah, we're we're
better than everybody. Like, no, you still have to go
out there and do your job and play well and whatever.
They run it the right way. They run a business.
They're smart. They understand what they need to do off
the field, on the field, in their clubhouse, you know, management, everything,

(25:31):
and so they do it the right way.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
And I think more organizations can learn from.

Speaker 7 (25:34):
Them how to run their organization because they do draft
well and they do things the right way in their
minor league systems that make their.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
Players great too.

Speaker 7 (25:41):
They have some random guy that comes in and throw
six innings in the postseason like it's nothing.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
So here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Those players that they've gone out and gotten, those players
were let go by their organization. Basically, Mookie Betts was
traded because the Red Sox were cheap, and then what
to sign the extension and he was an All Star,
he was an MVP. The Braves chose to osen over
Freddy Freeman, Freddy Freeman goes. The Angels refused to play

(26:12):
pay Old Tani, the Yankees wouldn't pay Yamamoto. They decided
they wanted to keep Garrett Cole. There's so many the Rays.
Your team did not want to pay Glass. Now they
were worried about him. The A's dfaid Max Munsey, they
picked them up. The Cardinals great gave up on Edmund

(26:35):
and now the Tigers did not want to pay School.
So why are y'all mad at the Dodgers for taking
advantage of a system that everybody has access to. So
I don't look at what the Dodgers is doing is
bad for baseball. What I look at is the gms,

(26:55):
the ownership groups, and the people that are making these
decisions that make it easy for.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
The Dodgers to go get these guys. That's the problem.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
And for the returns on what they're not getting, they're
getting top prospects. Rice Harper told you they're developing their
guys and you want them, so go get them because
you want them on the cheap and you don't want
to pay top line guys. And E I'm gonna turn
it over to you because you as a Tampa Bay
Rays fan. You have seen this all too often and

(27:27):
they've had bad spending instead of smart spending.

Speaker 3 (27:31):
Harj.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
I'm gonna address that, my pasth rock back to you
super quick. Just answers for me as someone who spent
over a decade playing professional sports. I'm gonna assume you
can say hey or a you have to say the team.
I'm gonna assume you have played for organizations that you
could tell we're focused on being a winning organization, and
you played for some organizations that we're trying to turn

(27:53):
a profit. Yes, say because I played for a bunch
of teams, So yes, I'm on there. My point is this,
in professional sports, but especially baseball, do you want to
be a winning organization or are you focused on your
bottom line when you bought this team or how you
operate this team? Is it on Hey, I want to

(28:15):
make money or do I want to win games? And
the fact of matters you can do both, as you
know Bryce Harper and we talked about this off air, right,
Winning games nine times out of ten will put butts
in seats or at least generate more ways for you
to get revenue. Right, but it shouldn't be upon the
team You know or the fans to be your sole
source spreader. Go out and put a winning product out there.

(28:36):
I talk to use my Rais as an example. Right,
some of the bad spending they've they've had over the years, Right,
how about investing the guys that you've developed. Right, you
heard about Bryce Harbert saying guys who play like a
certain player that organization. I would argue that Carl Crawford
and Evan Longoria and you know James Shields, Tyler Glass now,
et cetera. These are guys who've been home grown and built.
And last thing I'll say, I know we're coming on

(28:57):
the end of the second hards, but look at the floor.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Now, Miami Marlins to a Florida Marlins.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
In my mind, right, the promise was get us a ballpark,
get us a ballpark that we can get all the
revenue and whatnot, and will invest in the team. Right,
bad spend it bad spending. And now they're pulling back.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Right.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
That shouldn't be on fans, right, it's on organizations my mind.
So I completely agree. Yeah, And that's the one thing.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
That I continue to look at when you start to
see how certain teams fade at the end of the year,
and how other ones get stronger is because they're willing
to go out and show their fans.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
I want to win.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
You want me to come and spend all this money
with my family to come and watch the game by
season tickets, be a part of an organization. Yet you're
not doing everything on your end to make me want
to spend my hard earned money, which is getting.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Harder and harder to get to go.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
And spend it on baseball that you're not trying to
be excited about.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Can't do it. Can't do it.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
And that's why I think when people say that the
Dodgers are ruining baseball, no, you need to go talk
to those owners that are not trying to create a
product that you want to be a part of every
single night with them season tickets. Dodgers are doing what
they're supposed to do because the rules allow them. And
everybody's like they're gonna cause us to go to strike. No,

(30:21):
that's not the reason why the strike is happening. And
as somebody who was part of the strike, I know
better when we come back, we're gonna continue the conversations.
The Astros handle the Rangers and Mama there go to
that man again. Yeah, Jord on being Big Jordan right
here on the morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred,

(30:42):
The Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app. You
got any questions, hit us up on the text line
eight eight one five three zero Texas eight one five
three zero. Leave your message and let us know your
thoughts on what you see about the MLB, what's going

(31:02):
on with that? And of course Texas football back on
the field. Shout out to the high school students as
they took the field today. Everybody's getting ready for football season.
It's about that time. It's August, so that means we're
getting closer and closer to kickoff. I wanted to get
into this conversation because Major League Baseball it's been hot,

(31:25):
and a team that has been hot has been the
Houston Astros. But you know who's been hotter my guy,
your Don Alvarez.

Speaker 5 (31:39):
Why try pays He's gonna start at least two go
not averans up trying beyond double in seventy three.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
It's that band again. No way to put him.

Speaker 6 (31:53):
Force the pitch to him and he takes a cutter
in off the plate, keeps a fair and yet another
extravas him for your god and another double. He is
becoming inevitable.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
Listen to the chance of MVP. MVP.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
That's why he is the most exciting player at the
plate right now. Every time he comes up to the plate,
you never know. The Astros have now won six in
a row, nine of the last ten, eleven of their
last twelve, and the Rangers now have lost five in
a row. They're four and six in their last ten,
and now the Astros are in the league. But I

(32:39):
want you to hear one more time from Jordan Alvarez
because now he leads the Major League in batting average
after this hit the.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
All Star break, because he has been remarkable. This guy
is going the other way towards.

Speaker 5 (32:53):
The line and left long run for line. For that's
a fair ball. Your nine is three for three with
his second of the day. Two of them have gone
the other way.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
Jordan ended up having three doubles and went four for
five yesterday. Another big day for the big fella, Jordan Alvarez.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
Hey much needed right now.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
I will say this, you know, I won't turn this
into a you know w d A in Tampla.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
Another iHeart property.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
By the way, but I will say, you know, Junior
Kameniro for making an argument for you know, most exciting player,
But I digress.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
I digress. No, I like that. Though I like him.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
I like the fact of what he's been able to
do because Tampa is leading the AL East.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Correct, correct. But to bring back to the Shrows, you know,
here's the thing. I take a look. Can you talk
about Ordon Alvarez leading Major League Baseball and bating Algrea
was leading leading home runs yes as well and rbi.
This Ale West race are just interesting because the only
way you're gonna get in is you gotta win the division.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
You got to win the division. I think, uh, the
Yankees sading what sixty three and.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
I'm already sty nine, Tampa sixty five and forty six. Right,
So basically, you know, whoever flip flops kind of there
in the AL East, that's gonna be your your wild
card one. Right, So between Houston Texas and the Mariners
are still kind of lingering, that's gonna be your way
you're gonna get into the playoffs. And to bring it
back to Jordan Alvarez, right, he is getting hot at

(34:20):
the right time to try to spear ahead his team
in that race, and they've done some things too, with
Jeremy Panyab moving him to the leadoff spot.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yesterday he got a chance.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
The dh news came out that Carlos Correz going to
see a doctor on Tuesday. Hopefully he can be released.
He may be coming back. And those are the types
of guys in your lineup that give you that punch
and if they can continue good pitching. And who's to
say that they're not gonna make a move today as
the trade deadline is at five pm today. Now the Rangers,

(34:52):
I really don't even know where to start with them,
because they're a team that you thought at the beginning
of the year they were gonna be buyers, they were
gonna be guys that were they were going to be
looking to bring in somebody else. Shout out to Nolan Kingman.
Former Texas Longhorn got a call up this week. He
is in the big leagues with the Texas Rangers, So

(35:12):
shout out to that.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
But you start to look.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
At these teams and you're wondering, to your point, Houston
Texas and the Mariners. The Mariners are a team that
always seems to get hot near the end of the
season and we end up having that one game playoff
between one of those those two teams that are trying
to figure out who's getting in the biggest story in
Major League Baseball to me has turned out to be

(35:35):
the Chicago White Sox, a team that was awful and
now here they are leading the ALS Central Into your point,
what you're looking at with the Yankees, the Rays and
the Red Sox. The Red Sox who have won five
in a row, eight and two in their last ten,
another team that is getting hot. I think they just won.

(35:55):
They won again last night in big fashion. So baseball
is getting in around and there's a lot of opportunities
for these teams to make their moves. Do you believe
that your Rays have enough to hold off the New
York Yankees? I?

Speaker 3 (36:09):
I do believe they have enough.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
But the thing with this when I when I take
a look at the Raised team right is there's hitting,
there's timely hitting. And you know, if you remember the
race recently had a little a little blip, they had
like a five six game losing streak, and them that
situational hitting. Sometimes it is something that that concerns me, right,
and you know, again, I'll spare the rant right, But
I've never been the biggest Kevin Cash fan, right, which

(36:35):
you express player.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
From a round?

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Our guess you mentioned all of them out of my
high school. I went to my high school as well.
You know, I I think come posts in time. That
gets a little bit iffy with me. But I do
think they have enough. But I think it would be
interesting to see one. I want to ask a question
real quick about the Rangers, right, what's your thoughts on
Skip Schumacher in his first year? I knew we had
kind of a rough go at in Miami, I said,
Florida again, what's your thoughts him in his first time?

Speaker 1 (36:57):
I think it's it's it's interesting because of the moves
that they made in the offseason. I got a chance
to go to spring training this year, got spend some
time with Skip, and you know, he's a player's manager,
but sometimes you don't need that. Sometimes you need somebody
to keep the rails on the rails. You want somebody

(37:19):
that is going to be able to lead these men
into action and for me, the inconsistencies of the lineups.
But to be fair with him, he's had to deal
with a lot of injury as well. Over there in Arlington.
So to answer your question, I don't think he's here long.

(37:40):
And I hate saying that because I don't like to
see people who get an opportunity to manage and be
in the leadership positions to lose that. But this is
a team, with the pitching staff and the players that
they have, should be a lot better. You get rid
of Marcus Simeon, he's with the Mets. Mets are terrible.

(38:02):
Is Corey Seger gonna stay healthy enough? Is he on
the trading block? Will Corey Seger get moved today? There's
a lot of questions that need to be answered. Jacob deGrom,
what are they gonna do with him? You thought Uvaldi
was gonna be the guy and help you out. He
got shelled the other day, but right now the Astros
are shelling everybody.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
So be careful what you ask for. Coming up next
hour number one is in the books. Coming up at
the top.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Of the hour, I gotta ask Eric some questions about
these temporary restraining orders that are keeping kids from nineteen
eighty two eligible to play mean not really, not really,
but we'll get into that. The NFL season starts this Thursday,
as we have the Hall of Fame Game and so
much more right here on a long Horns Monday edition

(38:50):
of the Morning Kickoff, right here on sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred the Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back to our number two of the Morning Kickoff,
right now, year on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to
Zone and always.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
Free on the iHeartRadio App.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
WWE Hall of Famer and World Strongest Man Mark Henry
is out, but he would be back tomorrow. So we
got Eric Henry of Horns two four seven to join us.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Make sure you stay locked.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
At eight thirty four, we'll have Eric open up his
notebook as he's gonna break down some of the stories
he's been covering over at Horns two four seven. Texas
football is back at it this week exciting times. We
are thirty three days Gary Johnson and Deontay Foreman days
away from the Morning kick I mean from the kickoff

(39:41):
of Texas versus Texas State. We are the home of
the Texas Longhorn, So stay locked in all season long.
I wanted to get into this conversation E because college
athletics is that I don't want to say a crossroads,
but it you can say it's at a crossroads because

(40:02):
of the temporary restraining orders, the ability to transfer. They
trying to get this Protect College Sports at covered to
kind of change the dynamic of what we've been able
to see. But the ruling came out that a lot
of players, whether it was basketball or even football, have
these temporary restraining orders that they can also come back

(40:26):
to their universities or enter the transfer portal, whatever it
may be. But they're getting an opportunity to play college
athletics again. Now I'm at a point where it's like,
what are we doing, Why are we bringing these kids back?
What is it that is making coaches say, well, I
might need to look at that if this guy's gonna

(40:48):
come in. I'm just confused about the whole thing. Can
you shed some light on what you know or what
you've learned so far during all of these deals. Yeah, so,
you know, I think the the most crucial thing to
do is just kind of go through some of the
details of what exactly is in the Protect College Sports
Act should it pass. Remember, right, you know, you still

(41:08):
have a couple more steps to go to get this thing.
But I'll give you to some of the headline bullet
points right, So you have the five year eligibility window
with professional athletes barred from returning to college.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
So that certainly is a point.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
I know you as a parent of an emerging athlete,
you care about that for sure. Do you have the
reinstatement of the one time transfer exception in terms of
you know, some of the finances you have the cap, right,
it's going to go to a certain number. I still
need to know is that going to be a hard cap, right?
Or can teams have the creativity to go or in

(41:42):
and around that?

Speaker 3 (41:42):
Right?

Speaker 2 (41:44):
Some of the language in the NIL details is going
to get worked out. Is one other thing I think
is important for players. A national agent registry, which I
think is key. Let me kind of explain that super
quick hard. You know you've heard Steve Sarkegan and others say, well,
a lot of these kids, you know, at least in
the NFL, you have to apply to be an agent, right,
and you got to go through certain standards in college.

(42:04):
Right now, you know, uncle Dennis could go be your agent, right,
and he comes in he's asking me for this kind
of money. I do think that is key. Just for athletes.
The commissions are capped at five percent. That's key, right,
because these kids they don't need to be who knows
how much they're giving to agent agents right now? Right,

(42:24):
So tho are some of the hard line things you
kind of need to know. But in terms of what
you talked about with the tros, right, that is the
thing that college athletics right now is a mess.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
I have no problem saying that.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
Why do you think people like Will Wade and others
have no issues building their team with forty year olds.
I'm being hyperbolic and I say Ford but building their
teams but with professional because people like Will Wade and
others a scene like they solve this coming down the pike, right,
you need to get a hold in terms of this
is your eligibility period, This is when you can play,

(43:03):
This is when you can't play.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
Because now you have all of these kids, and I.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
Said this to you pre show, you don't think now
that the twenty twenty one class of twenty twenty one
high school, for those who don't know if they're gonna
come back and say, well what about my five years?

Speaker 3 (43:14):
Right?

Speaker 2 (43:15):
And the COVID kids are gonna say, well, a lot
of kids who graduate the COVID year, right, their recruitment
was screwed up because of all the different you know,
state you know, legislations and laws you know around COVID
and whatnot. They're gonna come back, So you've got to
get a hold of this thing. But I do think
the College Sports Act in terms of some of the

(43:36):
bullet point issues is a good fix, but.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
It still needs to be fleshed out a little bit
more in my mind.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
Yeah, And the other part of it is, you know,
you're starting to look at, to your point, the COVID
kids that are still there, guys that are getting drafted
in finding out that hey I got another or not
getting draft, excuse me, but they're eligible to go to
the NFL. Now they have a chance to come back
to college and get this opportunity. It's really confusing for

(44:04):
let's say a parent that is trying to manage the
next level for their child. Okay, mom, dad, I want
to go to this school, but the numbers just like
we just recently talked about Kendal Weaver and Jordan Pope
where they just got told hey, yes, y'all can go back.

(44:25):
Y'all were part of this lawsuit, y'all are eligible to
go back.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Sean Miller.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
We got fifteen roster spots that are already filled. There's
no room for those guys. Those guys just got they
just graduated just recently, but now they have an opportunity
to go somewhere else and play if a school has
a roster opening. I saw the other day Chris Beard
was talking about they still had spots at Ole Miss.
They had coaching spots that are still open at Ole Miss.

(44:52):
So this whole dynamic of college athletics and trying to
get a rap on it, it is really change the
way people are looking at When's the last time you
heard somebody being academically ineligible?

Speaker 3 (45:07):
When is the last time you heard that it's been
a while, he can't play it because he's doing well
in class.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Well, where's that at now? And it's not even taking
place anymore. But you start to look at the sports
as a whole, and yes, we want the free market,
We want people to be able to we will all believe.
I think I'm not gonna speak for you, but I'm
sure you're on the same page as a former college athlete.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
Everybody deserves to.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Get paid something for being there and forgetting the opportunity
to go to the school, but the parameters of it all. Now,
I liked it when people were getting paid under the table.
Let's just be honest about it, because it was a
different type of conversation.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
You were suspecting it.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
You didn't know the valuation of this player, said is
making this amount of money? We didn't know all that.
We could just put our guests out there. Oh you know,
LeVar Arrington was one of those guys that was getting
the bag, you know, v You know, just certain players
that you looked at and you're like, well, this is
a little bit different than what we grew up on.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Harje.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
One of the things that's kind of fascinating to me. Right,
and again maybe because I work in and around college
sports and haven't covered in college sports for eleven years now,
the NCAA is so short sighted, and I love bashing
the NCAA, so I appreciate it having a minute to
do so now. Right, they spent so many years trying
to fight athletes getting paid that when and this was

(46:35):
a when the inevitability and inevitability came fourth that they
had no preparations to account for this, and hard anyone
could have seen that the moment that there was a
structure for athletes to receive compensation that a cowboy I
mean that, you know, kind of pun intended like Cody

(46:57):
Campbell would come across, you know and say, hey, I
got plenty of money. I can confuse inst into my school.
Larry Ellison, Right, you know, well, okay's flip topics. I
realize I shouldn't give myself in trouble there. I'll come
back to you after on that. But the people with
a lot of money, right, who can fund their programs, right,

(47:18):
it doesn't take a genius to see that, Hey, they're
gonna come in and say, hey, I want to buy
all these players.

Speaker 8 (47:25):
Right.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
You could have seen this coming on the back end,
but the NCAA spent so much time trying to fight
against it instead of creating the parameters and guardrails to
have a system to where it does not look like this, right.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
And that's why you go.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Everybody makes fun of that episode of South Park where
Cartman is talking about a whole student at elites. Yeah,
there's not even about that anymore. It's about let's stry
to build our football team. Let's start to build our basketball, baseball,
whatever team you want to see succeed and now let's
go out there and compete at the highest level. You

(48:01):
mentioned the Cody Campbell situation where Cody goes out and
you know Texas Tech wants to be at the top
of the food chain.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Well, they get to the top of the food.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Chain, but then they forget there's a lot that goes
with being at the top of the food chain. It's
not all about the money. You got to make sure
that you have everything lined out, or else you're going
to create a narrative that makes you paint you into
a bad spot.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
Texas Tech, I'm proud of.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Them being able to get to this point and be
in the conversation, but you got to be able to
handle the conversation when you get to that point. Now,
all of a sudden, people are attacking your program, trying
to punch holes in it. Now you're getting upset about
it when that's the reality of where you wanted to
be in the very beginning, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
No doubt about it. And also the other thing that
for all of the things that folks do not like
about college sports right now, it all comes back to this.
I'll explain it super quick in thirty seconds. Right, so
much of college athletics is about spending, right, and who
can get the biggest roster and all of the you know,

(49:08):
facilities and whatnot.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
That all comes back to the fact that these things
cost money. Yes, right.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
It's not like back in the day where it's like, hey,
go play for school. As you mentioned, you may get
some money under the table, fair enough, but you're going
and the opportunities at the next level now that you've
allowed all this money to get into college athletics a
topic I'll talk about, you.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Know, at eight thirty four.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
That's when you have teams trying to get patches on
their jersey and other ways to find funding to pay
for all of these things hard right.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
And the one thing too that I continue to look
at and want to make sure that we all understand.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Is every move needs to be calculated.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
It can't be just willing Nelly just running out there
and talk about it. I'm about to be in the
dance when you still got to get past security.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
To get into the day.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
Can't come in through the back door and think nobody's
gonna notice it's here now and everybody's putting their chips
on the table. And sometimes you don't want to have
your chips exposed. So it's gonna be interesting in these numbers.
With these players being able to come back with this
tro it's getting kind of hectic, But I would be

(50:21):
interested to see which players do come back and how
big of an impact that they can make for those teams.
Are they the difference makers? Coming up next, NFL starts
this week. We thirty seven days away from the first
real game. When we're a couple of days away from
the Hall of Fame game, we'll talk about that. And

(50:41):
the Cowboys have Super Bowl expectations and there's a new
player for Demico Ryans that is gonna make a difference.
Right here on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred to Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app.
Coming up in the next segment, we'll have our guy
Eric Henry Hords two four seven, who's hitting in for

(51:02):
the big fellaw as. He will give you what's going
on in his notebook and you do not want to
miss it. We got NFL football coming up this Thursday
as the Hall of Fame game, as the Panthers will
take on the Cardinals.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
But we got football we could go to.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
You could take a nap it's going to be a
Super Bowl rematch thirty seven days from now, as Seattle
and New England will kick off the season in the
regular season. But there is a lot of football that's
being talked about. The Cowboys will have their first padded
practice today and the Texans have an open practice that

(51:41):
will be starting at nine a m.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
As you know, the.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
Quarterback gets all the glory and he gets all the blame.
That can't stop a defense, I mean stop the other
team's offense, so he still gets blamed for what the
Cowboys did last year seven to nine and one not
make the playoffs. Although they had a four thousand yard passer,
two one thousand yard receivers in a thousand yard rusher.

(52:09):
They averaged thirty and a thirty two and a half
points per game, yet they could not win to get
into the playoffs. But dak still has Super Bowl aspirations.

Speaker 9 (52:22):
The mentality of each of these men, as I said,
as y'all said earlier, right, we've got eleven guys returning
on offense, all the starters, and added some pieces. You
can say, you know, just season the offense up a
little bit, but some big changes came over in defense.
You got a guy like Christian Parker who's won a
Super Bowl, been on a Super Bowl winning team, knows
what it's supposed to look like bringing that intensity to
our defense. And then you got guys that have won
in the past, and whether it be you know, Quinn

(52:44):
coming from winning programs or guys just knowing what it
takes and one really wanted to sacrifice to do whatever
it takes. At the end of the day, it's about
manifesting things and putting the energy out there when you
play for this organization. Trust me, these fans believe and
that's what they wanted. If you're not there, they're upset.
And at the end of the year, teams are upset,
right and there's only one and so I don't know
why anybody's running from it, and so hey, let's put

(53:05):
it out there. And if for not you know, and
if for not doing it, for not being about that,
then what.

Speaker 3 (53:09):
The hell are we playing this game for?

Speaker 1 (53:10):
That's what I'm talking about, speaking Dak, I've been waiting
for this conversation to happen. Dak's letting you know with
his chest what the Cowboys are thinking about, what they're
planning on doing. But the realization of it is you
got to make the playoffs. Number One that NFC East
has always been one that it flips all the winners

(53:31):
each year. If it's not the Eagles, it's the Cowboys.
If it's not the Cowboys, it's the Commanders. The Giants
got a new coaching staff, Hardball's coming in, so it's
gonna be a very interesting season. But optimism is true.
When you manifest something and you believe in something, it
can come to fruition for you. And Dak as a

(53:54):
Cowboy fan, and as long as I've been a Cowboy fan, listen,
I was early enough that I was here. I got
a chance to see all them Super Bowls. I was
around for a majority of them. It's been a long
time since I've had a good time. Eric at the
end of the year where the Cowboys are playing on
that final Sunday of the season, whether it's the final

(54:15):
Sunday of NFC Championship weekend or even getting to the
Super Bowl. But this year just seems a little bit different.
Jerry's talking about Tenton the windows to make it not
so brighten there should have passed some curtains in there.
When he built the Dog on Stadium. You think about
what's going on in Philadelphia. AJ Brown is out, as

(54:36):
I mentioned, you got a new coach in New York.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
Are they gonna be able to change?

Speaker 1 (54:42):
And is Jade and Daniels gonna be healthy for the
Washington Commanders. The Cowboys seem to be in a good spot,
even though that schedule is not the easiest one out.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
There hard you know, listen, I'm not gonna try and
pick on the Cowboys, but I.

Speaker 3 (54:58):
Gotta say this.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
I gotta say, all right, we're getting to a point
in time where I remember when I was growing up.
You know, I come from a family of Jamaicans who
went to New York right when I was growing up,
my dad, you know, New York sports fantas time about you.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Know, the Yankees and the Knicks, and I'll be like
they're bad half. Its like, we're starting to get to
the point.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Remember like when people talk about the Packers of the
sixties and they're like, yo, that was I was thirty
years ago. Yeah, yeah, we'll get to that point.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
With the Cowboys. Like you can't tell someone who's.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Under the age of Hell, I'm thirty four, so I'm on,
I don't I don't even remember that last championship. But
he's someone you know, five six of your younger than me.
They're like, how was decades ago? Right now that I've
said that, Hards, because I know it's about that time,
we're gonna start reminiscing about the championship set up, Like, yo,
that was that's a long time ago. Where here's Michael

(55:51):
Ihrvan right, that's why you those documentaries. But the exactly
here's here's the thing, Hards, right ehs take me the
kids don't about the White House exactly, No, it's hard
just gonna come back to defense man, right, like deck,
Only only in Dallas can a quarterback play as well

(56:16):
as Dak Prescott is paid, played over the past, you know,
half decade or weren't even longer, and ignore a defense
that was horrendous.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
Right.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
I saw a statue. I saw stat the other day.
I said the Cowboys could have allowed something like fifty
sixty less yards per game and they still would have
been last, right, right, So to me, it all comes
down to that. I take a look at some of
the signings, right, like Jaylen Thompson and PJ. Lock on
the back end. I mean they they didn't make some
moves in the secondary. We'll see how that comes together.

(56:46):
I don't want to, you know, rehash old debates and whatnot,
but you know, you kind of traded a generational pass
rusher for and now that comes back to bite you, right, so,
and now you're trying to make moves. We all know
the move and they tried to make the offseason to
go get Max Crosby. That falls apart, right, So we'll see.
But at the end of the day, this is all
going to come down to defense. And you know, football

(57:09):
is a complimentary game to talk about. Steve Sarkisian, Right,
Can Dallas ran the ball well last year? Can can
their offense help out the defense in some of the
ways as well that you kind of need to.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
And that's one of the things too that you start
to look at and say, okay, can they be it?
We're trying to figure out the number is do they
need to be a top ten? Do they need to
be a top fifteen, Do they need to be a
top twenty. I'm going as low as twenty because the
offense is going to put up points if everybody stays healthy.

(57:41):
There's some things that may be going on with the
offensive line, we'll see what ends up happening there. Can
Jayden Blue step up in the running back to be
a complimentary piece to what we saw from Javonte Williams
last year. If Jayden Blue can keep his head on
and be active every weekend, this be something that could
be special for him. But to your point that defense,

(58:04):
you go out and get a Rashaun Gary who's been
team captain number one since he's been there. You got
Quinn Williams and you got Kenny Clark. Now both of
those guys are gonna be together. You got the rusher,
Brott Barnum or the one from Michigan that just came in.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
He is going to be a monster.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
And people have already said it, Oh yeah, Caleb Downs
a savant when it comes to defense. And then again
you got the experience with Jalen Thompson PJ.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Locke.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
You still got Malik Hooker that is about there. You're
trying to get the cornerback position locked up to see
who's going to be the one to step up. Now
that you got digs up out of there, this is
going to be the biggest year for the Dallas Cowboys
because of a Christian Parker who's come in, hadn't called plays,
hadn't been the defensive coordinator yet, but everybody believes he

(58:54):
is going to be the key to this team, kind
of like what we talked about with Will Muschamp and
what is gonna bring to this defense. So we'll see
what happens there. But when you go to h Town,
they have continued to be great on defense. The one
thing that they're trying to do is sure up their
offensive line, and Demico Ryans think they may have found

(59:14):
a guy that is going to do a lot of
the dirty work on that old line.

Speaker 8 (59:21):
Keeland is a swarm player, man. I love it like
I love to see an old lineman and pushing guys downfield,
still fighting to make sure he finishes. I love his mindset,
and I mean that's what it should be.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
He cares a lot.

Speaker 8 (59:37):
You guys see it and standing to the side, we
see I watch it all the time. Try to highlight him,
you know, in our team meetings, because that's what we're
looking for.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
You have that type of mindset at OH line.

Speaker 8 (59:48):
It's a it's a problem for defenders because you're just
a pessy. You can't get rid of guys and that's
what he is. He's a nuisance for the defense and
that's what he's gonna be for us, and I love
every bit of it.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
That's Keelan Rutl offensive lineman. They went out and got
him in the draft and he is going to be
a serious problem and that's what they need in the
running game.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Yeah, super quick. That is a killing Rojia kid I'm
familiar with because I covered him. He began his career
at Middle Tennessee, right, so we're kind of blending the
conversation of working your way up.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
They got him from Middle Tennessee and also fabch Naw
who was at OU. He began his career at UNT.
But two guards that hopefully can spring the run game for.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Us and they need that, especially with the moves that
they made to go get David Montgomery to shure up
that running game. Coming up next, we're gonna hear from
our guy Eric Henry his latest, what he's been covering
and can this happen?

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
What we'll tell you when it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Comes back right here on the morning kickoff on a
Sports Radio A and thirteen hundred to Zone and always
free on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to the morning kickoff.
This is where we would normally have our guy, the
world's strongest man, the Mark Henry, bring you his world's
strongest take. But we're going to have our guy Eric

(01:01:06):
Henry of Hornes two four seven open his notebook on
a subject that we all are curious about, and I
kind of touched on it the other day.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Take it away, I Henry, Yeah, yes, harje, I know
you talked about the other day, but hey, I'm here
alive and living colors, so I figured I could talk
about it here on the show for those of you
who are not up to speed. Very recently, two very
high name prestige programs, Ohio State and Notre Dame signed
deals to allow advertising on their jerseys. Now, when I

(01:01:37):
say advertising, this is not going to look like NASCAR
where and they've got all types of patches all over
the place, it's a very small advertisement a patch.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
I believe.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Notre Dame signeder a deal with SO five Memory serves
me correct, for almost twenty million dollars a year, and
Ohio State in to deal with seventeen millions a million
dollars to deal with JP Morgan Chase. Now I want
to make this clear because when I've brought it up
that I think it is time for Texas Athletics to
now eventually pursue a advertisement patch on the jerseys. For

(01:02:11):
those who don't know, the NCAA rule is that the
patch can be no bigger than four square inches, all right,
four score inches for those that know, that's less than
half the size of a playing card, all right. So
it's not going to look like some big, massive logo
to be smaller than the SEC patch that is on
Texas jerseys right now. But Crystal Conte a few years back,

(01:02:32):
when asked if there ever would be advertising on the field,
he said no. He then later had a change of heart.
Texas partner would a human literally heart and great segue.
That tees me up because Crystal Conte said that this
the company human, you know, the work they're doing is
so important that he had a change of heart and
felt that that is something that should be, you know,

(01:02:54):
proclaimed great. I have no reason to not believe Crystal Contia.
I can take might a word, however, human. You know,
I don't think this is going for free as well, right,
there is some sort of compensation. Crystalcante said, Hey, the
jerseys are sacred.

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
Ground.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
We're wearing burn orange. Why would I want Sonic on
my jersey? Well, I don't think son is going to
be on the jersey, but I think an ideal partnership
for Texas would be. And we spoke about this pre show.
The Kevin Durant logo, that Katie logo that already appears
on some of Texas is not on their basketball jerseys,

(01:03:27):
but the you know, pregame warm ups and you know
kind of the quarter zip that Sean Miller wears during games. Right,
that's very similar to how Jordan his famous jumpman logo
appears on UNC jerseys across sports, not just basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
I think that would be the ideal partnership. If Texas
couldn't get that, you know, I'd say, you know, there
are some other possible brands.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
But listen, it's just business, guys.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Why for those who say, why we're Texas, that's the
response of again, is we're Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
We don't need that. Well, Ohio State. It's Ohio State
and Notre Dame. Notre Dame.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
And if they think, hey, this is another opportunity to
fund their programs, it's probably good enough for Texas. And
the last thing I'll say, right, Texas, you know has
these historic uniforms. Well, the Yankees uniform is historic, and
guess what they have an advertisement the Lakers and the
Lakers are a bit of a different scenario because the
Lakers people don't know that's a family business, right, so

(01:04:22):
they're not like this ultra billionaire like they need the money, right,
But those are historic jerseys. Harsh as a native Texans,
someone who would have gone to the University of Texas,
what am I missing? Because I get either get told
I'm a dumb Floridian who's from out of state or
this is Texas. What am I missing?

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Hard, I don't think you're missing anything.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
I think the truth of the matter is we're in
a day and age that it's not like the old days.
And to your point, you look at Notre Dame and
so far, I mean, that's big money for the university
that can help with a lot of different things. Because
you're getting that every single you're getting it annually. You
look at the Ohio State to your point, it's the

(01:05:04):
Ohio State University, just like the University of Texas. So
you start to look at it, and then you look
across college. The landscape of college athletics. You have twenty
five or twenty four teams that now have that logo.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
But the Big twelve went out.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
With Monster Energy just recently, so you start to look
at the dynamics.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
And we talked about this a little while ago.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
Things have changed so much in the landscape of college athletics.
We're not saying that you have to go out and
get this thing, but what's to say that you shouldn't
in those particular moments? Like I love the KD deal
because it's already here, It's already part of your program,
and correct me if I'm wrong, and maybe somebody over

(01:05:50):
on the forty acres can shoot me a message. But
I think the deal with Nike is stopping you truly
from going out and getting something. So why I partner
with somebody that's part of Nike, the same way North
Carolina is with the jump Man and being a part
of that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
So I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (01:06:10):
I think we're at a time we're not telling you
to your point to put a big banner on there,
but there is a patch.

Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
You got an SEC patch on there.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Why not put another little patch right there, And it
doesn't have to be big, just make it something Because Look,
we all know that once you put something on there,
somebody's going to buy that jersey for sure, and that
will help raise money, raise proceeds for the true meaning
of name, image and likeness at the university.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
Harsh just a couple quick points where you know, a
right when there was uproar about you know, putting something
on the field human right from fans, not from ANSI
text from fans.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
You don't even notice it. You don't notice it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Fans will not notice a less than four square inches
a logo. I promise you no one's canceling their season
tickets that Texas does this, right, So there's that. There's
that step, ay b we just to blend all our conversations.
College athletics is business now, right. You don't think that

(01:07:15):
all of these things that cost money. And I'm not
saying Texas is lacking money. I'm not saying that, but
it's another revenue stream, right. It just is thirty million
dollars a year? Is thirty million dollars? Okay, sorry where
did I get that number from? Because I just put
it kind of out of thin air. I think Texas
will be able to negotiate a deal of thirty thirty
five million dollars a year.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
Right, if you can.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
Get that that that's money that allows you to do
certain things.

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
No fan will cancel their season tickets if they do this,
but a fan might rethink about doing their season tickets
if there's ever a discussion about should you, you know
not should you retain a coach that maybe is underachieving. Right,
It takes money to go get a Jim Schlashnagel a
you know, a Sean Miller, ah the women's soccer coach.

(01:08:01):
I'm gonna margarite Babs Space, Right, it takes money to
go do those things, right, So this is only beneficial.
So I guess when I hear that pushback from Texas fans,
I think it's just kind of the shock of what we.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
Talked about, Harje the old days being gone.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
But as for his traditional and historic as, Texas is
hard And I wrote this in the article. The only
thing that is not for sale in terms of only
tradition that is kept are ones that are cannot be
bought and are being litigated in courts. Right, that's it, right,

(01:08:37):
right Outside of that, everything in term tradition is it's
up for grab.

Speaker 1 (01:08:41):
Yeah, everything has a price, and the price of negotiation
is just that you may not want to do that.
You may want to keep it the way that it is,
the icy whites and the burnt orange, and I get it.
But financially, you're asking people to spend a lot of
money every single week to hard earned money that I

(01:09:02):
talked about earlier.

Speaker 3 (01:09:03):
That has kind of changed.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
The way people are thinking about there's leisurely spending. This
can offset some of that too and bring another part
of it. And I think it's a real simple fix
with the KD deal. And I'm just using that because
that's Nike. That's part of it, and you may not
lose money from Nike by using something that's already there.

(01:09:26):
You might even see an increase in all that money
as well. Good stuff from our guy E Henry. Coming
up next, we've got the final drive, some moves are
made in the NFL, and the trade deadline is today.

Speaker 3 (01:09:39):
What's next in MLB?

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
Right here on the Morning Kickoff on sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred The Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
Welcome back to the Morning Kickoff right.

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
Here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. I
want to thank my guy Eric Henry of Horns two
four seven for coming in and sit and then with me.
It's rare that he gets a chance to come into
the studio, but when he does.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
It's always a good time.

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
As we mentioned, football season is right around the corner
and the Houston Texans have decided to add an old face.

Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
To the squad.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
News came out yesterday that the Texans are going to
sign Jadavian Clowney to a one year deal, pairing him
with Will Anderson Junior and Danill Hunter on the outside.
That'll be something that fans will, you know, be a
little nostalgic about when you bring back a guy that

(01:10:37):
was your number one overall pick in Jadevian Clowney had
some great seasons there before he became a mercenary and
going from team to team year in and year out
kind of like that about him. As we mentioned, the
Dallas Cowboys will have their first padded practice. Now you
get to see what some of these guys are all
about the speed of the game, the thuds and be

(01:11:00):
able to hit. The Houston Texans will have an open
practice today, so a lot of folks will be able
to check that out. Major League trade deadline ends today
at five o'clock. People are already losing their mind thinking
that the Dodgers are ruining in baseball. No, the ones
that aren't making the moves are the ones that are

(01:11:20):
ruining the game of baseball. And as we mentioned, Texas
football will start practice this week and we'll let you
know all of that and hear from the coaches. Will
have media availabilities in sound all week long. But this
is year six for coach Steve Sarkisian. We can say
that he's had a lot of success, multiple win ten

(01:11:43):
win seasons, being able to be in the semifinals twice,
play away in both of those games. If you really
want to sit back and think about it, you look
at Kirby Smart. He was able to get a national
championship in his six year while after taking over Georgia,
Ryan Day, most recently in twenty twenty four, became a

(01:12:07):
national champion in his sixth season. Is this something for
coach sark in the Texas longhornse to have that breakthrough
this season?

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
I do believe that Texas will have a breakthrough. As
I said, I believe Longers will play for a national
title this year. Arge, I'm gonna shift the conversation a
little bit, keeping the same realm. But I'm going to
give you a hot take, and I'm curious if you agree.
We've talked about the changing dynamics of college athletics and
just how much different the game is. And there's a
reason why people like Nick saban Riot or I got

(01:12:39):
Tony Bennett and basketball haven't retired coach kyp They didn't
want to be part of this college athletics.

Speaker 3 (01:12:46):
They want to coach pro sports. They want to coach
pro sports. Right.

Speaker 2 (01:12:49):
I believe that if Steve Sarkisian wins a national title,
that Steve Sarkisian is the best coach in the history
of Texas football.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
And the reason for that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Is because, because no disrespect to Mac Brown, didn't have
to do it in this landscape. All right, this landscape
is such where you have to Indiana just won a
national title, right, Okay, we know that would have never happened.
You know me, I was raised a Florida State fan.
One of the things that made Florida State or I

(01:13:20):
had a chance. I've said this on the show before.
I'll say it for those who've never heard it. You know,
my first gig covering confort Ball was covering Florida International.
But why I bring that up is Butch Davis, the
head coach of the Hurricanes in the late nineties two thousands,
built that roster with thirty seven future first round picks, right,
which is a crazy number. You cannot build a roster

(01:13:41):
where you say, hey, coach Davis, just to always say
this to me. A man who played for the Cowboys,
Russell Maryland, right, they said, you know when we had
in Miami, Russell Maryland said you want to transfer, and
I said, you know, hey, you don't know I need
to transfer. You're gonna play here, right, And Russell Maryland
wuld stay until he's a junior.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
And no one's staying till they're a junior anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:14:01):
You're not getting a backfield that Bush Davis had with
Listen to this for those who don't know, he had
naj Well, Najie, Davinfort that's the least. But Willis mcgahey,
Frank Gore, Clinton portis all on the same roster. You
don't get that anymore, right, Steve Sarksian, he's having to
an essence, be a professional head coach and general manager

(01:14:24):
and convinced one hundred one hundred and five hundred and
ten eighteen to twenty two year olds to be focused
on one common goal in an error where these guys
are getting paid. So my hot take is, if Steve
Sarkasian wins a national title, I do believe he'd be
the best coach in Texas history a with the resume
he's built and doing it in this landscape.

Speaker 3 (01:14:46):
What says you are Wow, that's that is a hot take,
And that is something that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:52):
Kind of caught me off guard because it wasn't It
wasn't the thought process.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
That I was headed down.

Speaker 1 (01:14:59):
But it would be a great debate because of the
because of the fact of the way that it's built.
I would go back to mac Brown only to the
fact that he was competing in a realm to where
the under the table stuff sure was more of the competitiveness,
you know, Like I said it a thousand times. It's

(01:15:20):
like when he used to say I want to get
ten wins and whatever happens after that. It used to
drive me nuts and I was like, no, you need
to be saying you need to get to a national championship.
But then in hindsight, you get to ten wins, you'll
get an opportunity to play for a national championship in
the old old realm of where college sports was. Now

(01:15:41):
you're sitting here and you're looking at the dynamics the
extra sec game and the ability to go out there
and win. It would be a great debate and a
great conversation starter because of what you said, the resume
where he started at that rough beginning and to where
he's been able to build his team from where he

(01:16:01):
was in that squatted position on TV called him saying guys,
we are bad to where he was like, we are
bad to the bone because we've been able to achieve
a lot here at the university. That's a great question,
and I'm gonna come back to you on that, because
that is something that you would have to really really
dive into to kind of think of it. But in

(01:16:25):
present time, you're absolutely right because people are gonna remember
what happened recently, not what happened in the past, because
it has been what almost twenty years since that happened.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
I think it is twenty years a matter of fact.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
So you start to look at it and you're like, Okay,
that could work. I got a question for you. Do
your Tampa Bay Rays make a move to finish this
thing off, to get enough to finish off the Al East.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
I do believe they will. I do believe that they
they have enough. I saw they just made a move. Yes, yes,
today I listen.

Speaker 2 (01:17:03):
I think this team, when they're playing their best, I
think they're a top two to three team in baseball. Right,
it's just a matter of you know, as you know
about baseball hard sometimes team gets hot, teams get hot,
sometimes teams getting slumps.

Speaker 3 (01:17:14):
But I do think they will make a move to
be able to finish it off.

Speaker 1 (01:17:17):
Well, we'll be interesting to see exactly who they go
out and get. Is it gonna be a pitcher, Is
it gonna be a hitter, Is it gonna be a closer?

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
To get things set up? A lot of folks.

Speaker 1 (01:17:28):
Are making some decisions, and of course you have to
hear it, and you will hear it all day long
right here on Sports Radio and thirteen.

Speaker 3 (01:17:37):
Hundred to Zone.

Speaker 1 (01:17:38):
Stay locked in because coming up next, we've got the
Dan Patrick Show, followed by Colin cal Herb, the voice
of the Texas Long Horns, crag Way, Bucky BK and
of course you have Rob Podker coming up to close
it all.

Speaker 3 (01:17:55):
Out.

Speaker 1 (01:17:55):
I want to thank my guy, Eric Henry of Horns
two four seven. I want to thank Ronald. The big
fella will be back. We got a new guy sitting
in here. His name is Eric too. We'll give you
a chance to get to know him as well.

Speaker 3 (01:18:08):
But as always, folks, just remember this.

Speaker 1 (01:18:11):
Don't believe everything you see, because even salt looks like sugar.

Speaker 3 (01:18:15):
Have a great day, peace,