The Preseason hype surrounding the Longhorns, Did Zay really deserve THIS bag?, & NFL Training Camp is Upon Us.

Can the Longhorns cash the checks that the college football world are cashing on their behalf this season? Is Zay Flowers THAT nice? Both the Houston Texans & Dallas Cowboys looking for fast starts this season. All of this & more on The Morning Kickoff with Mike "Hardball" Hardge & The World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for tuning in to the podcast of The
Morning Kickoff with myself, Mike Harbo Harts and the world's
Strongest Man in WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry. Guys,
we really would like it if you would advertise with us,
because we only go as far as you let us.
That's right, Folks, tune in and make sure you tell
five friends to tell five friends. The Morning Kickoff seven

(00:21):
to nine am Monday through Friday, right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone Morning, Austin, Ktown, Flugerville, Leander, Htown,
Paarlanmos City, l Passo, San Antonio, and sials be Texas
or wherever you may be listening. This is a wild
out Wednesday 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 one days away
from the start of the Texas football season, but Texas
football is back on the fields today.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
What is your storyline? There is a lot to get into.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman joins us at
seven thirty four. We are thirty six days away from
the start of the NFL season, but the Hall of
Fame game is tomorrow and a couple of players got
pay Pay Pay. What does that mean for some of
the others. As we get closer and closer to kickoff.

(01:26):
Right here, I am your host, Mike Harbollharts. My co
host is a WWE Hall of Famer and recognized as
the world's strongest man. He is d Mark, Henry Good
Austin And of course we got Eric and Ronald on
the boards today. And if you want to be a
part of the show, all you gotta do is text
word texas follow by your message to eight one five

(01:46):
three zero.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Standard data and message rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
That's the word texas, follow by your message to eight
one five three zero.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Standard data and message rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
And if you want to voice your opinion, all you
got to do is use that talkback feature on the
new and improved and always free iHeartRadio app. If it's
good enough, you might hear it on air. If it's
good enough. But if it's not, the sound wow, you
remember all the prices right where then he falls off

(02:21):
the cliff. We gotta get that sound, well it, we'll
get that. We'll work on that because if it is whacked.
It will get whacked. That's right. All right, let's get
into it. Mark Because we are thirty one days, well,
thirty one days away from the start of the Texas
football season, and the players are reporting today, well they

(02:45):
reported yesterday to get ready for the season, and you know,
we start thinking about this and we're leading into all
these different moments, and you're starting to anticipate all these
different options.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
That are going on.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Okay, what if Texas does this, and how can they
get to this point? And oh, this is what I'm
thinking about when the predictions start to roll in and
you try to figure out if this is the year
for your squad, not just University of Texas but across
the nation. Everybody's looking at their team coming into practice

(03:21):
and thinking, all right, this is our year.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
This is going to be a special, special moment.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
You know that this time of year, everybody's thinking, Okay,
what did we lose? Did we replace it, did we
recruit it? Did we go into portal and get it?
Texas did all those things. And you know, it's not
uncommon for you as a fan to bury your flag

(03:50):
on the highest mountain, but sometimes you gotta be realistic
and I think it's realistic that we're building our flag
on top of Mount Binail. No no, no, no, Austin is different.
Now Mount Banill is not high enough.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
We're atop the frost tower with our flag.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Heck, okay, we're waving it because of what we see. Sometimes, man,
hey listen, I'm afraid too. We're gonna be up there,
but you know what, we're gonna be anchored down. I
got you, I got you. But we're waving it because
everything is there hard, and I feel like in most cases,
every other university is doing the same thing.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Absolutely, I mean, we'll get into the countdown and start
our own countdown next week. But you're also looking at
this this team in trying to truly understand is the
weaknesses going to be covered up? Are the adjustments, the
self evaluations. You've done it all, all the work you

(04:58):
put in since the end of the season, in from
the spring game or whatever it was spring practice, whatever
they ended up having out there. But then you're starting
to okay, install, install, install. Then you get a chance
to come out here and you get to see it
work you put.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
In all that time.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
It's like yesterday we got a chance to go to
Texas basketball practice and coach Sean Miller was like, this
is our twentieth practice together or so to speak. Now
we're trying to see if we're on our way. On
the other side of it, are the guys grasping everything?
That's the same thing with Texas football. Are they grasping?
Did they grasp Did they spend that time where you

(05:39):
were in film session and some new guys come in
and you're like, hey, when we run this set this bunch,
this is what you need to be focusing on. Or
if they come out of the huddle on the defensive
side and you see this guy and he starts doing this,
you know this is the route or this is the
blocking scheme. Yeah, the tailtale signs and so you art

(06:00):
to really get it going.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Now, there's gonna be some mess ups.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
There's gonna be some discussions, there's gonna be those moments
that coach Shark is gonna be scratching his head to
do this.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, didn't we tell you this? Well?

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Have you not been spending enough time in your in
your position group? Have you not been spending the time
with the guys that were ahead of you. It's like
anything else when you're when you're new to a drill.
You don't have to be the first one, be the
second one, be the third one. But watch the guys
in front of you here and go repeat the motion.
It's really not that hard. But this is the time

(06:38):
where you start to set hard if you want it right,
if you really really want it in your sacrifice, and
you'll pay attention.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, it's one.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
It's those things that continuously put me in the I'm
not gonna say optimism or being one of those guys
that is walking around just pounding the chest or pounding
the table for the University of Texas, but Ohio State
fields like this is a championship year, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon,

(07:10):
usc everybody at the top of the food Notre Dame.
Notre Dame is getting a ton of love this year.
But you also have to look at all, right, how
are we presenting this as a group as my team prepared?

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Are they did?

Speaker 1 (07:25):
They take those steps during the off season to make
sure that they were in the right spot. So it
is going to be a fun, fun time for the
University of Texas. And speaking of fun, as I told you,
the players were reporting to campus yesterday and they were

(07:46):
asked about the necessities that they were going to need
here at the University of Texas.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
No viable thing. You bought the training camp speaker.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Picture of my family actually in my car right nighting giddy.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
What is my tady beer with my daughter's name on it?
Probably this pillow my switched to. Oh my pis fine
for sure, A massage gun. I think a roller, my
hockey sack, my massage gun.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
I play myself with my blanket cut, you know, I went,
I cut my hart, the art set, my pillow, because
those are the things.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
You know. It's like, this is about to be the grind.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
It was a bunch of dudes that said my phone, roller,
my massage gun. Those guys were the adventure because they
know they're about to get beat.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah. Yeah, And that's what it's all about.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
I mean, you know, you remember as a kid going
into football season, especially going into that high school year,
your very first year, that freshman year, and you're like, Okay,
now I'm going to high school. I'm about to be
with all those big dudes, and you can't sleep at
night and you're trying to get in there and you're like,

(09:08):
I make a difference today, and that first day of pads,
you get cussed out or not not pads in the skivvies,
you out there getting cussed out because you went into
the wrong line, you threw to the wrong receiver. It
is that time. And I couldn't wait because this was
the moment of separation. This was the moment of Okay,

(09:31):
am I going to be a good high school player?
Am I going to be a good college football player?
Or am I gonna be a great one? Or am
I gonna get released?

Speaker 2 (09:41):
You know hard?

Speaker 1 (09:42):
I just didn't want to be last in the drill,
right because that told the coaches that you didn't work
hard in all exactly. And I ain't want to be
in a group with them because right they was gonna
get that extra work. Yeah, we gotta get We gotta
speed the process up with you and you no, no, sir,
don't put me in that group.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah. So it is exciting time. These kids are ready
for it.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
When you're getting to this point, when you got a
Trevor gooseby a leader that is going in.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
I saw him walking in.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
My man had his suitcase, a big bag, and a
big old fan under his arm.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
We got to make sure you got it. I want
a fan right now.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
I take my headphones off. I'm like, how are you
that hot? I was watching you. I'm like, what is
going on with you? I'm hot. We've been in here
for fifteen minutes. No, bro, you need to go outside.
I'm not going outside to go. You need to go
in the bathroom. What you a towel or something? Walk

(10:44):
around here? I'm like, what is truly going on with you?

Speaker 2 (10:49):
You got hot flashes? Wow? That ain't I've been for real. Dudes,
don't have hot bless you do? We do? Yes, we do.
Get out of here.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
I know you like, I want you to go to
web MD and say, do men get hot flashes? And
we will give you a report when we get them.
Don't be talking about me being home. I'm just what
you tells me something. We're just getting started on the

(11:19):
Wildout Wednesday edition of The Morning Kickoff. Coming up next,
we'll go through the rankings as Texas comes in at
number four.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Who's better than them?

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman joins us at
seven thirty four, And oh yeah, those lists that we
talked about yesterday.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
It keeps getting bigger for the Texas Longhorns.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
It is going to be a great day because football
is back on the forty acres, right here on the
morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone
and always free on the iHeartRadio app. Man, I didn't
know we was singing, welcome back to the morning kickoff
right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone
and always free on the iHeartRadio app. Coming up in

(12:01):
the next segment, we got our guy, Danny Davis of
the Austin American Statesman, joining us to talk all things
Texas Longhorns, as the Longhorns are now on well not now,
but they are back and ready to roll. Camp opens
today with it. We wait for a long time, you know,
we sit here, we talk about it, and we're.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Like, football's gonna be here, Football's.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
Gonna be It'll be here in about three months, and
then boom, it's gone. I was talking to a buddy
of mine talking about baseball season. They've been waiting for it.
They ramp it all up, and the Round Rock Express
has four home stands left, and then the season's over.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Wow, And it just seems like it's just gone so fast.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Major League Baseball, we talked about the trade deadline and
everything that goes along with that. We'll also get into
the NFL as well. But yesterday the coaches poll came
out in a lot of people people are looking at
it and trying to figure out, Okay, how's this going
to work? Who's going to be the best team? Where's

(13:07):
the rankings in? Texas did not get where do we thought.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
They were going to get? Now?

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Do we think Texas was going to be in the
top twenty five? Did we think that Texas was going
to be in the top ten?

Speaker 2 (13:21):
For sure?

Speaker 1 (13:22):
But do we think Texas was going to be the
number one team, the number two team, or.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
The number three or four team?

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Well, Texas comes in and the coaches poll as the
number four team in the land.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Now listen, I know a lot of folks are.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
Sitting there saying I don't care about the coaches but
I don't care about the polls at all. But yes
you do, Yes you do. The preseason polls do matter
to a certain extent. But as you sit here today
and you see that Texas is the number four ranked
team in the land, what is your initial thoughts when

(14:05):
that came out? My initial thoughts is that it was
it was off because there's really only two teams that
I would put above Texas, and Indiana is not one
of them, and that's Georgia and Ohio State because Texas
haven't beat them and this is the season to beat them,

(14:30):
and they're not going to play Georgia unless they go
to the championship game and Georgia is able to pull
up their end and make it to the championship game. Well,
just so you know, here's the top here's the top ten.
I'll go top ten, Ohio State number one, Oregon number two,
Georgia number three, Texas number four, Notre Dame number five,

(14:53):
Indiana number six, Miami number seven, Texas A and m
number eight. Homa comes in at number nine, and Ole
Miss comes in at number ten. I think that Oregon
Texas should be above and I'm glad that Texas is

(15:14):
above Old Miss. Those two quarterbacks are going to play
a role in what college football success looks like.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
Texas should beat both of them.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, well yeah, yeah, I mean there's a discussion that
can be had when you start to look at all
of the teams and the expectations coming into the season.
As we look at the rankings and you look at the.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Preseason poll by the coaches.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
The one thing that stands out to me the entire
thought process of this is who Texas will be playing
against this season. When you sit back and you look
at all the teams that Texas has been matched up with,
Texas will face the number one team in the land
in Ohio State, the number eight team in the land

(16:08):
in Texas A and M, the number nine team in
the land in Oklahoma, the number ten team in Ole,
miss thirteen team, and LSU eighteen team in Tennessee in
the twenty fifth ranked team in the nation is Missouri.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Texas will play all of them.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
The other part of it is Texas only gets two
of those games at home of the teams that they're
going to be able to play. So this is a
Texas's schedule is not easy when you look at it
on the initial from the coaches Paul, but it's definitely
an interesting and manageable schedule. If you're a Texas Longhorn fan,

(16:53):
it's definitely manageable. Texas just has to go out and
do what it is supposed to do. And nobody was
fearful of Mike Tyson losing in his prime until he
ran in the bus to Douglas, nobody was. I mean,

(17:15):
Mike's gonna go and be Mike. Texas has to have
that type of mentality. It's not just about physicality. It's
about the mentality of the athlete. It's about the mindset
of the athlete. And I know that they have psych
training and so forth, but it really gets real when

(17:38):
you're pressing and today starts the pressing process. They're gonna
wear you out. They're gonna get you so tired that
it's hard to think. But you still have to and
that's a training process too. So if Texas can get

(17:59):
that on board, I don't I don't feel I don't
feel any pressure from a talent standpoint.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
They should get the job done well.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
When when you look at this schedule and it comes
down to the end of the year and say Texas
ten and two or whatever it may be, maybe they're
eleven to zero, eleven to one, whatever, you start looking
at it and it's like you look at the beginning
of the year and you say, man, that's a pretty

(18:29):
daunting schedule when you look at it. So when the
politics of well, you didn't play anybody well at the
beginning of the season, Texas was playing a lot of teams.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
That was ranked.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
In only two of those games, the Ohio State game
and the oh Miss game will be played at home,
so they had to go on the road, they had
to play a game at a neutral site and the
Gauntlet in which and they had to go to Death Valley.
So when you look at Texas's schedule, that's it's pretty steep.

(19:05):
Oh yeah, you should have some leniency, which is one
of the things that coach Sark talked about last year,
like why play a hard schedule if you're not going
to be rewarded for it. Texas should be rewarded. Missouri
is a hard heart schedule. I think A and M
MAS is a hard schedule too. Like there's a few

(19:28):
teams in the SEC that, man, they.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
You can drop. It could be like Florida.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, last year it could be definitely snap up and
get you. Nine SEC teams are ranked in the top
twenty five, so there is a lot that still is
out there when you look at the SEC, the expectations
and who they are to finish out the top twenty five.

(19:58):
Alabama comes in at number eleven, Texas Tech comes in
at twelve. LSU thirteen, USC fourteen, BYU fifteen, Michigan Go
Big Blue comes in at sixteen, Penn State seventeen, Tennessee eighteen,
Washington U dubb comes in at nineteen, The Ponies of

(20:20):
SMU come in at twenty. The Utah Utes come in
at twenty one, Iowa twenty two, Clemson Dabbo Swayeney out
there at number twenty three, and U of H Houston
Cougar's number twenty four in Missouri round out the top
twenty five. So you have a bunch of different thought processes,

(20:43):
a bunch of different teams in that top twenty five
to start the year. And this is the coaches pole.
This is the coaches pole. This is not the AP,
this isn't ESPN's This is the coaches Fantasy Football League list.
This is the coaches speaking with their heart.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
They figured it out. He got it.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
So I look at Notre Dame and we talked about them.
They got a guy that's up for a Heisman, the
Maxwell and CJ.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Carr, but they also got a Thorpe.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
Award winner well of nominee and Leonard Moore junior right
here from Austin, Texas.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
And we're a round rock.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
He is a special special talent and so Notre dame
and great house wide receiver from Austin, Westlake is a
player to pay attention to as well. Marcus Freeman got
it going on over there. They tried to fire him early,
but now they're like looking at him and they praising
him for the things that he's been able to achieve.

(21:41):
Let's get a chance to talk to our guy, Danny Davis,
the Austin American Statesman as he breaks it all down.
I got to give him a little crap. He went
big time on us yesterday. I'll explain right here on
the morning Kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to
Zone and always free on my iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Welcome back in.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
The morning kick off right here on sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred the Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
It is Wednesday, so you know what that means.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Our guy Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman and the.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Paull fine Bomb Show. That's right, he went on.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Paul fire Bomb sent him a picture and I was
a little jealous because I.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Was like, is he gonna be too big time for us?

Speaker 1 (22:27):
As we get ready to talk Texas football. Number one,
welcome to the show. We're glad to have you back.
Number two. You talk about my big head. Let me
see how big your head is now that.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
You're a TV star.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
I luckily got a wife and a five year old
to keep me humble, so there's gonna know, no big
heads for me. I'll always have time for y'all. Y'all,
let me wear a sweatshirt. Let me get away with
hearing Rodnie sweatshirt on his show.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
I love it. I love it.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
I want to get into this conversation because you've been
covering the Longhorns for a few years now, and we
got a chance to go to SEC media days, and
I know you could care less about preseason polls and
Texas comes in at number four by the Coach's poll.
But we're back for another season. This is year six
for coach Steve Sarksian. How important is this year for

(23:24):
coach sark and the Texas football team.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
I think every Texas is important. I think obviously you
know Steve's love this team to semi finals at this point,
and he's won a big twelve championship and got into
an SEC Championship game. But at a certain point you
kind of gotta, you know, make that next step. This
is the same program that Ranolf mack Brown at some
point and you know Darryl and his running it to

(23:53):
figure heating to step aside at some point and people
are expect results. And what is the next step for
this Texas team? Is it making that championship game? Is
it winning a champion national championship? Is it winning an
SEC title? I think that's kind of up to your
verysonal person has kind of make those judgments accordingly, but
you kind of got to make those next steps and
maybe get past that semi final or you'll get past

(24:16):
that SEC championship game.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Danny, what is success? What what is deemed by you?
Not by you know what do you think? We care
what we think? But what do you think success is
for this long or team?

Speaker 3 (24:35):
I mean, we have what people define as a generational quarterback.
It's probably just you know, making it to a national
championship game. It's being in that conversation. You know, I
think now with the way the playoff is and may
be unfair just to say national championship or busts because
now that it's you know, the twelve teams, and you know,
you have to win at least three or four playoff games.
You could have one bad afternoon and you know, Ruin.

(24:57):
You know, there's plenty of good teams to go win
championship because they have one.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
On one bad game.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
But I think if you can earn that championship conversation,
if you're among the final four, final four teams, if
you're making an SEC championship game, I don't think people
can complain. People will, but I think Texas has to
be in those conversations and has to be there at
the end. It can't be last year, you know, going
to Orlando. As fun as that was, if you if

(25:24):
you got to make that trip, that's not really what
the Texas team should be shriving for. With a quarterback
of archers caliberns and the talent and the money that
they're pouring into this roster, I just don't think that
cuts it.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
For that being said, the most important element is the
offense scoring, or is just you know, the defense stepping
up and being able to force teams to give the
ball back.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
Well, Mark, you know, I don't look like Stevet Sarcassian.
I'm gonna really can't right now, I'm gonna say success
is playing complimentary football. I mean, it's not just going
to be Arch, It's not just gonna be in this defense.
It's not going to be special teams, which at times
last year is pretty pretty awful. Every part of this
team has to play well to survive the gallet that
is this season, and survive the gallet that is yes,

(26:10):
you see, this is a tough schedule, and I think
seven of the teams that were in that preseason polar
on it, and I'm sure a couple of the teams
will pop up in surprise throughout the season.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
So I mean, you're not going to get up.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
You're not going to get away with, you know, Texas
trying to score forty points each week, because that's not
going to happen here. I could get away with Texas
trying to hold teams down to zero points. I mean,
the offense is gonna have to compliment the defense. We're
just gonna have to compliment special teams. We're just gonna
have to compliment the offense and make a whole circle
or whatever cliche. And I'm just trying to I'm trying
to think of what team is going to say when
we talk to them. When we talked to Hi later

(26:41):
today about what success is for this team, He's gonna
say something about complimentary football.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
So I'll say that here.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
So let me ask you this.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
We're talking to Danny Davis of the Austin American States.
I mean, you can follow them at Underscore Danny Davis. Well,
Texas takes the field today moving forward. Every day is
a new day and week to week improvement is something
that coaches always talk about. That's what we look for.
Some of the things that need to be cleaned up.

(27:09):
If you were to walk out to practice today, I
know it's not full pads. I know it's just gonna
be walking around in shirts and T shirts. One of
the things that I Am going to be looking at
is the speed of this team, the in and outs,
the ability to move from sideline to sideline and show
that they have spent the time paying attention to what

(27:31):
coach Muschampions looking for on defense.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
And what coach sark is looking for.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
As you mentioned, this is an experienced football team with
the Texas Longhorns as far as Sarking arch four years together.
Being able to come out and execute that offense. Yeah,
I mean these early practices are.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
I mean, it's great to get out there, it's great
to see everyone, it's great to kind of get that
count down started.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
But you know what the speed mean? And on August
fifth or what we.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Say as we do good, you do good, you good?

Speaker 3 (28:08):
What exactly is with the speed being without pads and
people not really being able to touch you, it is
what do these offensive drills mean? When you know if
anyone gets within ten feet of arch, they're going to
be doing updowns. That's one person you definitely definitely can't
this type of year. But I mean, you know, I
think all of us, I think I said this maybe
last week. I think all of us would be lined

(28:28):
up during the offensive drills to see what you know?
An arch to Camp Coleman Ball looks like all of
us will be lined up to see what you know.
Some of these younger guys who we expect to merger
have to step up, will look like we're gonna be
want to with m Mosley who looked good at times
last year, but it was also injured for parts of
times last year, So I didn't kind of rapport and
kind of connection on this offense. As we start throwing

(28:50):
on pads, and it's that point of season, the little
little time of Texas is gonna last. See, we'll kind
of want to see what this defense looks like under Muschamp.
I'm sure we're going to see much of physical physicality
in these practices, at least the segments we're allowed to
look at. But defensively, what does that death chart look like?
What are these formations look like? Et cetera, et cetera.
So we're gond to get the most out of our

(29:10):
little little practice windows, but there's still some stuff to
queen from those windows.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
I do want to say this because no thud, no
play will definitely be in in effect coming up in
a couple of weeks. But you mentioned something that I
don't think we talk enough about, and that's the special teams.
How important this special teams is going to be. We
also obviously know about the return game with Ryan Niblett,
but we got brand new deep snapper, holder, punter.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
And kickoff guy.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
This is going to be a big test for Kelvin Banks,
for Coach Banks and this Texas football team.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
Yeah, this is Texas takes a lot of private and
special teams. That was not something that was their strength
of this team last year, which I think was kind
of of the theme. I mean, we can't say complete strength.
Ryan Nible was great at times and definitely won them
some football games, but the kicking and the punting all
that stuff. And but this is completely new. They brought
in all those transfers on social teams. They also have

(30:13):
some freshmen that they brought in and signed and gave
scholarships too.

Speaker 4 (30:16):
So we'll see one of those guys.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
If those guys can emerge and those freshmen don't emerge,
how well they're developed over this year So next year
Texas maybe isn't you know, wasting its portal time. I'm
trying to trying to attract specialists and of those guys
already on the roster. But this two trade off seasons
that Texas has been like, we don't have what we
need on our roster. Let's go devote time and attention

(30:40):
to the portal and see if we can get some guys.
So is that is that a trend or can you know,
Jeff Banks actually develop these guys.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
So that's gonna be a theme because at some point during.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
The SEC they're going to need that, you know, these
guys to make a big kick at some point during
this season, SEC play the playoff, They're going to need
someone to you know.

Speaker 4 (30:57):
Hit a huge punt.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
We're all confident, I ended, but obviously the coaches and
the SEC media are confident in him as well.

Speaker 4 (31:04):
But what what are some of those other guys look like?

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Is Jeff Banks on high seat?

Speaker 3 (31:10):
I mean, I may put him on there, but obviously
he's Steve's guy, and Steve obviously has confidence in him.
And you know what he's done with with the tight
ends and on special teams and totality. I think I
think he's keeping him around because they keep giving him
raising in extensions, and I think Steve must must like
what he sees but behind the scenes. But obviously, if

(31:31):
you're just you know, looking at from a four hundred
few foot view or whatever that whatever that phrasing is,
you probably have some questions about Jeff, but Steve, Steve
obviously does not have the same questions.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
That we do.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
I need you to get your cliches locked in because
you know we're gonna hear a bunch of them today.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
Seven thirty in the morning. Cliche.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Hey, I'm not holding you to today, really, my man.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman. You can check
out all of his work over at The Statesman, and
of course you can follow him at Underscore Danny Davis
or check him out on Paul Fine Bombshaw.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
I'm sure he's going to be a regular once this season.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Gets Everyone was busy that I was like the last
pall of me person kicked up.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
Don't expect us on a regular basis.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
We appreciate you, brother, have a good one. All right
there he is Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Daniels, Yeah, he's great. He's great.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
When we come back, I want to give out some awards. Well,
I'm not going to give him out. I'm going to
give some people whose names are up for some awards.
Right here on the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred Zone and.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Always free on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to the
morning to kickoff.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
Great stuff, bar guy Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman.
He is always on top of things, and as he said,
it is that time football season is upon us. The
Longhorns will be taking the field this afternoon. Exciting times
because this is a team that a lot of folks
have high expectations for and the reason why they have

(33:13):
these high expectations is because of some of the people
that they have on the football field. Texas football senior
linebacker Raheem Biles and junior edge rusher Colin Simmons were
both named to the preseason watch list for the Bronco
Negirsky Award.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
This is an award that is.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Given to the nation's top player. Obviously, looking at excuse me,
looking at what Colin Simmons is capable of doing is
something that landed him on this list. We also talked
about Raheem Biles and what he's been able to do.
The Jim Thorpe and Bronco Nogorsky Award winner most recently

(33:57):
was ja Da barn He was one of the four
finalists and Bears was the first finalist since Malcolm Brown
and Brian o'ragpole being out there. Another award opportunity that
was out there is the Outlet Award and that is
given out to the best offensive lineman or defensive lineman,
but mostly for the offensive lineman and Trevor gooseby no

(34:22):
doubt about it. The senior is on the list and
Brandon Baker. Brandon Baker is on the list as well.
So those are some of the names that are out there.
Those are some of the awards that are our finalists for.
And coach coach Sarkegian is up for the Dodd Trophy

(34:44):
for the nation's top coach.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Man, that's a great honor just to even just to
be nominated. But I think that this is the year
for him to get a lot of superlatives, to see
him get awards that.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Require winning.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
You got to win to get a couple of these awards,
you know that right right that you know, like to
be nominated for.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
All these awards, it's great, it's great.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
It's been a ton of Texas Longhorns that have been nominated,
but it's few that win it. And when you win it,
that means that you were a winner. And you know,
coach Sark has done a lot of winning, but he
hadn't won big one yet. I think that this is

(35:35):
the year that they see him as being that winning coach.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah. I mean.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
He's had a lot of success. Yeah, since he's been
on the forty acre excuse me, oh yeah, yeah, get
that out of that, get that evil out. I had
to clean that up. But you start looking at the
finished product, and I think that's what Danny was talking about.
People forget and Danny mentioned this. Texas was a semi

(36:04):
finalist twice in the College football Playoffs, two passes away
from possibly playing for a national championship. Two feet lower
Mitchell get that ball, and if they don't fumble on
the goal line and they scoop and score against Ohio State,
it's a different ball game. They don't give up the

(36:26):
big play right before the half to Traveon Henderson who
was able to take a screen pass and take it
to the house as Texas was gaining momentum in that
ball game. So he's done a very good job. It's
more about the finishing. Obviously, you beating Oklahoma, everybody's excited
about that. You went to Alabama, beat Alabama in a

(36:48):
night game. Still got to get over the hump with Georgia.
But if you look at his success after that first year,
after he got here, that first year, everything started to
go the way that folks had hoped when he took
the job here. In year six, this is a big year.
He's done things. But likes Danny said, you gotta finish.

(37:09):
You gotta be able to if he wins an SEC title.
Is that good? It's great, put you in the driver's seat,
but you gotta get to that next level.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
But he's also done all of this without having coach Blood,
without having that big brother to stand behind and say, yeah, yeah, Spike,
tell him Spike, come on, come on. He can stand
behind his defense like this defense is. I said the

(37:42):
same thing with the Cowboys. Great offense, number one offense,
number two offense in the league, but you.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
Did last in defense.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
Texas wasn't dead last in defense, but they weren't top ten. Right.
If Texas can get in the top ten, top fifteen defensively,
they'll win a national championship. If you get the special
teams that go from what was it, one hundred and thirteen,
one hundred and fourteen in the country, Texas, if you

(38:17):
get them in the top fifty, So.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
When are they gonna be higher than that?

Speaker 1 (38:22):
I think with the players that they brought in, the
ability of designing special plays and schemes, I think it
is the confusion that some of these quarterbacks are going
to have. I think this is going to be a huge,
huge year Texas. Back on the practice field today. We
are getting closer and closer, thirty one days away from

(38:45):
the start of the football season, but they're on it today.
Coming up at the top of the hour, we will
talk in fl pay Days and the Cowboys back out
there right here on the morn to kickoff on sports
Radio A teen hundred zone and always free on the
iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to our number two of the

(39:05):
morning kickoff right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
the zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app. And
hour number one we talked about Texas football thirty one
days away from kickoff as they will take on the
Texas State Bobcats two thirty at DKR Memorial Stadium. Texas
comes in at number four in the coaches poll and

(39:28):
they are excited a lot of expectations coming into the year.
A lot of guys that are expected to do big things,
whether it's Cam Coleman and Arch Manning as they are
listed as the Maxwell Award watch list, the Bronco, the
Girsky Trophy Colin Simmons and Racine Biles for the nation's

(39:49):
top defensive player, the Outland Trophy, Brandon Baker and Trevor
Gooseby for the best offensive lineman or defensive lineman, and
coach Thieves Tarkesian up for the Dodd Trophy, which is
the national Coach of the Year. But we are thirty
six days away from the start of the NFL season.

(40:12):
Tomorrow night, we have the Panthers and the Cardinals womp
wamp wom wam in the Hall.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Of Fan game.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
But that means that football is here and we will
have it from here on out. We'll be talking all
things INFL, college football, high school football. If there's football
being played, we're gonna talk about it. But right now,
I wanted to talk about the Dallas Cowboys and them
being in Oxnard.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
They've had their first padded practice.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
There was a lot of hidden You saw the video
of the Marvi and Overshan filling the hole and blowing
up the line, I mean, the fullback. You also saw
some big hits that were happening out there as well,
some interceptions, some touchdowns, a lot going on, and coach
Schottenheimer talked about his thoughts on the first padded practice.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yeah, I thought it was really good.

Speaker 5 (41:10):
Back and forth, you know, I thought, uh, you know,
defense did some really good things. I thought the offense
responded in the red zone a couple of touchdowns. I
thought the padded work was really really good. There's a
clip I showed the guys at the very first play.
You know, GP comes down, he cracks Marquise Bell, Demo
and Hunter Lepk kind of collide in the hole as

(41:31):
a rock who's folding off the edge. He's unblocked, tags
off doesn't take a side shot.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
I thought it was really really good work for the
first time.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
And the one thing about it is as a Roku
who got kicked out.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Of practice yesterday.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Because he threw a punch at Terrence Steele, Tyler Goeidon
missed some reps because on the first team because of
a sore elbow, and Demo was held out because of
some sore legs. So Tech Texas, the Cowboys are out,
they're in at work. No, they're in California. They're they're

(42:04):
out there putting in that work. But the thing that
I like about it is the fact that this seems
to be a team as shot he said earlier in
the week. They like being around each other, they like
putting in the work, they're being aggressive, and they're looking
out for one another. Hey, Terrence still got that face
you want to punch, though. I can understand this rock

(42:26):
could and when he not false starting like he letting
somebody run around him like a turnstyle.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yeah, you know he was on my Mark Hearing trade
list last year.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
Man. I think everybody makes an appearance on that list.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
At least once.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Then I'm like mandam Yeah. And the other part of
it is too. You know you talked about Tyler geiding
and possibly moving him. They've been working him on both sides,
whether it's the left tackle or the right tackle. He's
been getting work on the offensive line on both sides.
Have anybody ever done that, like where they they moved

(43:04):
the tackles just to confuse people.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
No, not for that, not for that.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
But it's the left side is left side, right side,
his right side. It don't matter who's on the side.
It more about the effectiveness of the offense. Dak believes
that he's going to be fine. He thinks that he's
going to be the back side. But there was a
stat that came out yesterday that was talking about Dak
Prescott and how many times he's been hit. Dak Prescott

(43:34):
was hit during or immediately after a pass attempt excluding
sex sixty one times last year. That was tied for
the fourth most in the NFL and second most in
his career, where he's had sixty two times that he
was hit.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
You see what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Yeah, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was the left side.
It could be the right side, it could be up
the middle. There was a bunch of blown assignments a
lot of times with the Cowboys last year. But you
also got to look at this team and how they're
going to be better, and you talked about it, Mark,
You talked about that defense and what it needs to

(44:14):
do well.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
The strength of the defense and the.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Staff comes from Christian Parker and what he brings to
the Cowboys.

Speaker 5 (44:24):
Boys a great teacher one. I think I've been very
open about that. You know, he simplifies it into a
good way. He's excellent with fundamentals and techniques. But you
know that's the way I used to coach quarterbacks. You know,
I wanted to be hands on and receivers, be hands
on and demonstrate. And as I get a little bit older,
I get out of that now. I mean my heart

(44:46):
rate gets up a little high now, over fifty. But
I think he's awesome. But again, I don't want to
make this just about CP. Derek Ansley is an elite
football coach and we are so fortunate to have him,
Ryan Smith, the way that secondary is built with you know,
Rob Muschamp being there and and DA and and Smitty
along with CP, we're loaded for bear there and I

(45:08):
think that's important.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
It's very important.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
And when you look at this team and how it
has been constructed, there's a lot to desire. And what
I mean by that it's they've struggled so bad defensively
that anything is going to be good and improvement anything
they were last so they have to find a way

(45:33):
to get it done. So there's a lot going on
with this team, a lot going on with this staff,
But the most important part is getting better weekend and
week out. And the other thing is mistake free football.
If you can play mistake free football, it gives you
a greater chance. Just limit the all false starts, limit

(45:56):
the holding penalties, limit the unnecessary reference, eliminate all of
the holding.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
And defensive touching like those were Texas.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
That's where Dalla's bad. That's where Dallas was really bad
last year.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
And did y'all catch that that name that popped up
in there.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
He said, Robert mush Champ has done a really good
job helping in the secondary. Yes, Coach mush Champ's nephew
is on the Dallas Cowboys staff as the assistant secondary coach.
So yeah, yeah, the lineage is there. The lineage is there.
But you start to look at how this team has

(46:40):
gotten better on offense. We can't talk about them enough
for what they've been able to do, but the one
thing that we continue to have to go to is
how different this defense is going to look. I'll get
into some sound a little bit later about Kobe Durant
and what he's been able to do. Revel has been

(47:03):
out there and looking great. Durron Bland is looking like
he's getting back to being Dron Bland the rookie to
where he was making play after play after play.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
And if you can get Caleb downs.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
There's not enough superlatives to talk about what he's been
able to do so far in the Dallas Cowboys football camp.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
But when you look at the breakdown in the.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Execution of this new defense and the fact that you
hear Christian Parker is a hands on coach. Thirty four
years old. He's out there, he running routes. He's trying
to show you exactly what he wants to see done.
That's the impressive part about this, and the true meaning
of it is they let him go and be that guy.

(47:54):
They let Schadenheimer go out and get this young up
and coming defensive coordination and bringing some nuances to the
way the game is played. Ibra Flus was terrible, terrible
everywhere that he was.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
He was terrible in Chicago. I wonder how he got.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Here because he was a former Dallas Cowboy and they
tried to bring back some comfort. Oh lord, yeah, yeah
exactly said again, Oh.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Lord, I'm hard. Just a couple of points. He's not
working with the forty nine ers, by the way, that's
gonna that's not that's gonna help us.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Yeah, this, this Dallas Cowboy offense got better too. Yes,
because now that you've identified Illinois as your third he's
got a lot of reps to help in that third spot.
They brought in Trigg from Baylor to give another receiving

(48:54):
threat at tight end, and Jalen Blue has been playing
out of his mind. They say, if he can give
the Cowboys some explosive plays one oneber game, then you
already make you already had you give Javon Williams arrest,

(49:18):
so he's fresher. There's no there's no negative to that, right,
It's only only positivity. It's the it's the beautiful, beautiful
part of what looking from afar looks like. Oh, you
see the adjustments, you see the different players, you see
the different personnel, you see.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
The ability to make plays.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Pretty soon, they're gonna be tired of looking at each other.
They're gonna be ready to start scrimmaging, go hit each other.
They're gonna be ready to go hit somebody else because
you know the plays. If you've been practicing against each other,
you get a good jump on a break because you
recognize the route and the formation. Those are the things
that we continue to I want to see from the
Cowboys and the thoughts of.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
The potential, the potential.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Of a special, special season up in Dallas. But hey,
we talk about that every single day, we talk about
that the NFL.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
Some contracts are out there.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
I got a discussion about one player in particular that
just got paid, and I'm curious to what this due
does for not only his position, but others around the NFL.
We'll discuss right here on the morning kickoff on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred to Zone and always free on

(50:36):
the iHeartRadio app. As you know, we don't pocket watch
around here, but we do like to give flowers where
flowers are due. Oh, speaking of flowers, yes, you heard me, folks.
Flowers were due and it was time for him to
get paid. In crazy, crazy thought process, two time Pro

(50:59):
Bowl wis Zay Flowers reached an agreement yesterday went the
Baltimore Ravens a four year, one hundred and forty million
dollar guarante or one hundred and forty million dollar extension
that includes a one hundred and one hundred and eight

(51:19):
million dollar guarantee.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Now that's good work if you can find it, I
will say that.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
But moving him at thirty five million dollars per year
in his extension ties him with Justin Jefferson. So let's
sit back for a second and look at Zay Flower's career.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Is he a pro bowler? Yes?

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Is he a name that pops up in your head
right away when you start thinking of the top wide
receivers in the game. He is making more money that
or tied with Justin Jefferson. He's making a million more
than cd Lamb, Drake London. Another guy who why is

(52:07):
he making that much money yet? Jean Robinson at the
running back position. Who people keep saying the running back
position is not a position where you want to spend
a lot of money. Well, okay, fine, Jon cost seventy
nine passes last year, seventy nine passes last year out

(52:27):
of the backfield, and you want to pay him just
the thirty or fifty one million dollars and you're paying
this guy all that money.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
It's ridiculous. That's sad. It's really sad. And the market
haven't really stretched yet.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
The highest paid wide receiver was just about to say
that the highest paid wide receiver per year is Jackson
Smith and Jack But by the way, I didn't pay
it off yesterday. I meant to pay it off yesterday.
Hard Knocks is Seattle Seahawks. So I watched I've watched
episode one yesterday outstanding. By the way, their Super Bowl
rings off the chain. And when I say off the chain,

(53:11):
this is the biggest Super Bowl ring that I have
ever seen in my life, biggest ring I've ever seen
in my life. It is unbelievable. I'll pull a picture
up in just a minute. But Jackson, Jackson Smith and
Jake but forty two point one five million dollars. Jamar
Chase is at forty point twenty five in, Drake London,

(53:35):
and Jake Flowers justin Jefferson and Cede Lamb all in there.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
These are good.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Numbers because now when poolan decor and uh was it Williams?

Speaker 2 (53:47):
From is it Williams? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (53:49):
But you're going on there and and now we gotta
get picking there we go. Those three wide receivers are
gonna get that kind of money. Well, Pooka is gonna
get probably forty two of forty four. And because I
feel like he's the best, he just gotta keep his
mouth shut.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
So I'm glad you brought that up too, because there's
some stats by NFL Plus and George Pickens versus man
coverage last year was the top wide receiver five hundred
and eighty three yards last year versus man coverage. Zay
Flowers was second at four hundred and seventy three, Pooka

(54:33):
Nakua third, Jackson Smith and Jigba fourth, and CD Lamb
came in fifth. So Zay getting that contract extension.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
I just is that out of nowhere grass being that strong.
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Hard you made the Pro bow though, Like, yeah, he's
a really good wide receiver.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Yeah he undecided.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
I hope you're not judging him because he's vertically challenged.
Size does not matter when it comes to football.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Oh, I said football.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Let me finish, Let me finish, unlike unlike the commercial
that we heard on the TV screen right here. But
you start to look at how you match this up,
and you go and look at his numbers. You would say,
just like you said, oh, Zay flowers whatever.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
But then you go and look at his numbers. Man,
I did not know he went off like that. Yes,
and it's.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Got me in my in my mind thinking do I
need to pick him on Fantasy?

Speaker 2 (55:40):
I'm you know what I'm.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
Saying, Like you start looking it out of my head, man.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
I bet there's a lot of room in there. There's
a lot of room. Wow, walk around in there for
a minute.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
I'm not.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
I don't have your throat. But you start to.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
Look at it, and you say, man, you start looking
at his numbers.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
He had eighty six receptions last year.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
Twelve hundred and eleven yards, fourteen point one yard per reception,
five touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
He actually ran the ball a few times. Good, real good,
fifty seven fantasy points last year.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
So you start looking at it, You're like, man, maybe
I was slipping. I was dead slipping. I gotta put
some respect on this. But now I'm really gonna put
my emphasis on running backs because he adds to another
guy as in the receiver class that I was not
thinking of. Yeah, so yeah, thank you, thank you for

(56:34):
letting us know yesterday.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Yeah, it's like, okay, is there.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
Anybody else, guys, y'all going put it up that. Now
he's three weeks away from fantasy football.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
I want to get my team right.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Well, you sit there, you know, got that meme up
there going, I apologize.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
I was not aware of your game. I was not aware.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
And then you go and you look at the numbers,
and you know all the time, does that happen?

Speaker 2 (56:59):
How can you have that kind of production? Vertically challenged?
I guess you know what I think we're looking over.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
He was slightly overlooked, but he's out there put I'm
sorry for all kings out there, hey, man, vertically challenged.
So you sit there and you're like, Okay, this is
a little bit different than what I was expecting.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
You know what, we didn't do that with Steve Smith.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
Well, because Steve Smith is ready to fight you because
in his mouth, yes, he was gonna let you know
about yourself. And in case you didn't know, now you do,
Steve Smith will let you know. So how about that
two of those guys on the same team. You got
Aaron Jones on that team too, on what team?

Speaker 2 (57:47):
No on he's on the bike Vikings.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
Yeah, confused with the purple, with the purple, purple, confused
with the purple. So that's that's interesting when when you
sit back and try to put all these things into perspective.
So Zay Flowers getting his money, to your point, it's
a bigger deal for the other wide receivers. For George Pickens,

(58:15):
he's going to be another guy that every time somebody
gets paid at that position, he's going to look at
it a little bit differently. We talked about Jon Robinson
yesterday and what he was able to bring to the table.
I want you to hear from Ian Rappaport and his
thoughts on the Jon Robinson money, how it is going

(58:37):
to affect a lot of people in the NFL as
you look at that running back position.

Speaker 6 (58:44):
This is a very very good day for Jamiir Gibbs
as well. I mean, Jon Robinson's the highest paid running
back in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
It's a three year deal. Everything is good.

Speaker 6 (58:55):
Jamiir Gibbs was looking at this deal and going, okay, well,
I'm also really good and is he going to be
the highest paid running back in the NFL when this
is over. Time will tell on that, but no doubt
that is going to be where he's going to aim.
If you pay for the elant of facts, you pay
Jon Robinson more than twenty two million dollars per year for.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
The Detroit Lions.

Speaker 6 (59:16):
Whatever this ends up being, the price has just gone
up significantly, significantly. In every contract affects the next contract.
Every highest paid guy affects the next guy who wants
to be the highest paid. That really is where we are.
These do not exist in a vacuum. So the fact
that Jon Robinson went first and takes a really really
strong deal just sets the benchmark for every other running

(59:39):
back to come wherever their deals come in. So great
day for Jamiir Gibbs, Great day for Jonathan Taylor with
the Indianapolis Colts, who's also in talks for a new deal.
Just really a great day for any running back who
likes money.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
I would say, likes money. Yeah, and money is long
because a lot of guys are about to get paid.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
So excited to.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Taylor man, his production was off the hook last year
the first seven games.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Yeah, and then he got injured.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
But like, why not go ahead and get those guys
taking care of Yeah, get those elite guys taking care
of y'all so you can see what you got left.
Everybody talks about paying a running back, I think they
are underpaid. I think they're very vital to the success.
You talked about Saquan last year and what he brought

(01:00:33):
to the table.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
You look at Dereck Henry, he's very consistent. There are
guys that are.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
Still good at the running back position that need to
be taken care of.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
And the running back position is making a comeback.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Speaking of coming back, make sure you stay locked. The
world's strongest man is about to bring you his world's
strongest take right here on the morning kickoff on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred to Zone and always free on
the iHeartRadio.

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
App that's what I know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
That's what I know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
You heard the beg drops, so you know what that means.
The Big fellaw w w E Hall of Famer and
World's Strongest Man, d Mark Henry brings you his World's
Strongest take.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Take it away, big fella. Yes, you know what time
it is?

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
What time is it? It's time for the World's Strongest
take by the world's strongest Man.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
Back then they didn't know me, but now that I'm hot,
they all on me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
All right, guys, another edition of the World's Strongest Take.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Very rarely do I take the time out to.

Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
Pat myself on the back when it comes to being
a dad, because it's what we're expected to do.

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
Right hardier a dad of athletes.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Last night I cried about something that had absolutely nothing
to do with me. I'm sorry, Hey, I'm a softie.
Last night, you know, I'm a Yankee fan, so you
know I'm watching the Yankees and George Lombard, you know,

(01:02:37):
was a highly regarded player in the Yankees form system,
and they brought him up and his mom and dad
were there. They were watching his brother Hunter. He was

(01:02:58):
playing what was that he was playing in Jupiter at
the ball and he hit a home run, and they
were watching and they were celebrating, and they were just
like the mother started crying, and I started crying. And
then in the fifth inning, our guy, I say an.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
Hour, because you know you're a Yankee. Yankee, George hit one.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
Three hundred and forty nine feet Guys, I mean he
yanked one. So you have a mother and father sitting
there in the crowd. Earlier about two innings, their younger son.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Spanks won over the wall. And then.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Your your son, George, who is getting his first start
in the major leagues, the big time, he yanks one,
and they're all emotional and celebrating, and I could do

(01:04:09):
nothing but celebrate with them, not because I was a
fan of the Yankees, but because I know the struggle
of being a parent, trying to get your kid to excel, and.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
The support and we.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
We we sometimes don't give ourselves enough credit for the
long drives, the staying up late with the kids, them
being injured and you trying to nurse them back to health,
and you building them up mentally and emotionally. You're better,
You're good, you like and I know what those parents

(01:04:49):
have been doing, And congratulations hard every parent listening to
my voice that that support your kids in athletics. And
there are other things, but I'm on athletics today. I
want you to reach up with your right hand, go

(01:05:12):
over your left shoulder and pat Joself on the back.
My take is that parents are essential to success. It
don't always work like that, but it's awesome when it does.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
What's a y.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
Yeah, it's a beautiful story because George Lombard, who has
been a big league coach, he's the bench coach right
now of the Detroit Tigers. He was with the Dodgers
for four seasons, coaching first base and being around the game.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
He played in the major leagues. He is a big
leaguer and.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
For him to have not one, but two kids that
were drafted in the first round. George Junior was drafted
in the twenty twenty three MLB draft by the Yankees
and now he is the starting shortstop for the New
York Yankees. By the way, made a couple of great plays.
The home run was great, but he made some great
really good as well. And his brother Jacob was drafted

(01:06:09):
in the first round this year and it was his
first game that he was able to play in Jupiter
and hit a home run. And you're right, Mark, there's
a lot of unsung heroes when it comes to raising
great kids, great athletes, and more importantly, great people and
the drives the moms and dads that are sacrificing. Lindsey

(01:06:33):
does an unbelievable job with our kids and making the
time while working as well to make sure that they
can get to where they get and have great opportunities.
So you're right, I'm not gonna separate my shoulder trying
to get.

Speaker 2 (01:06:48):
Back there, but I will, but I well, I just
I got a bash shoulder.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
But then you start to look at at at the
way that things were were eventually taken care of, because
last night that home run. He's supposed to be coaching.
Don't come over here, Mark, don't come over here, Mark,
Mark people. Thanks man, y'all heard them heavy hands hitting
me on my back. I think my shoulder is separated

(01:07:13):
this time. So yeah, now I can do it because
you didn't separate.

Speaker 2 (01:07:19):
You separated my shoulder with them heavy hands.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
But it is essential for a lot of folks to
understand that, Hey, parents, it does not go unnoticed by
those that truly understand the sacrifices that a lot of
folks are are going through.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
It's it's a different day in time. Man. Baseball is
expensive sports, are man? Please don't.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
I don't even want to think about these three trips
that we had this offseason in restling.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Man really needs a little bit of equipment for that.
Think about these.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
Dudes walking around with gloves, helmets, shin guards, the extra able.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Yeah, but they gotta eat and they gotta fly. That's right,
that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
But yes, and I appreciate the fact that you acknowledge
parents that do a lot for their kids, and no
greater joy is seeing those those successes, those wins pay
off and all that it paid off. And here's a
guy who has raised two sons that were first round
picks within three years of each other, and one league

(01:08:29):
and the other one is getting an opportunity to chase
his drest And what he said after his game was,
I just want to be up there with my brother
one day. And that's the beautiful part about it. But
you got to remember your daddy's up there too. He
told his mom she was going to come to Jupiter. Yeah,
he said, no, no, no, it's a bigger deal absolutely for him.

(01:08:50):
To be in Yankee Stadium and start. My brother is
the starting shortstop for the new year. Go there, and
I'm playing for the Marlins. Yeah, go ahead and care
I'll be in the big league suited up because that deserve.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
That tells you who they raised us.

Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:07):
Now, yeah, I'm playing for the Marlins because I'd have
been like, yeah, come, somebody gotta come to see me.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
Great tech by the World's Strongest Man coming up in
the final drive of a wild out Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
There's some big news in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
But more importantly, the Houston Texans got a new player.
Well he's kind of old, but we'll talk about it
right here on the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio and
Furbishing one hundred to Zone and always Free on that
iHeartRadio app. Today on the Morning Kickoff, Serve with myself,

(01:09:43):
Harbo Hart and the World's Strongest Man, the Mark Henry.
If you missed any parts of the show, don't worry.
We'll have the podcast up for you after the show
and you can go back and listen to some of
the great moments that we've had here.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
Mark.

Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
A lot of people are are are saying thank you,
Mark for saying that you got them all misty eye
as they're getting ready to.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
Go to meetings and driving to work. I'm sorry, bro,
I had to do it. I had to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
Man. When I when I just told hard, When I
saw his mom hand her phone to her husband and
put both her hands over her.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
Face, I just started. My eyes was leaking.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
Man. They were sweating or something. But it was man,
it was not ooh, man, it was a dry. It
wasn't a dry in that room. That's what it's all about, man,
being excited about all of it. Speaking of being excited
about the Texas football is back on the field. It
is a big day for the Texas Longhorns as they

(01:10:47):
begin their journey to what has led to what we're
hopeful of being at one hell of a football season.
Practice starts this afternoon. Start is in his sixth year
as the head coach of the Texas Longhorn, so we
have a lot of big expectations. Get over to my
social media at Harball HARJ. You'll get over there and

(01:11:10):
you can see the ring that is out there for
the Seattle Seahawks, the new team on hard knocks. It
is a beautiful, beautiful ring. You can even take it
off and where its yeah, unbelievable and it pops out
and it puts Super Bowl champions out there. So outstanding stuff.

(01:11:31):
They are the feature team of Hard Knocks. We'll get
over there and check it out. I'll watched episode one
last night. Outstanding work. Also, the Dallas Cowboys continue to
put in work in the Houston Texans. I want you
to hear from Al Azir, the linebacker for the Houston Texans,
as he.

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Talked about the return of the OG.

Speaker 1 (01:11:54):
Jadavian Clowney, the former number one overall pick for the
Houston Texas, made his return back to h town. It's
a little bit different, but Al's Zaire is excited about
what the Texans are getting ready to do.

Speaker 7 (01:12:11):
Risky Richard Man ris K Richard obviously a great player.
He started his career here first round, picked for a reason,
has had a really good career eight and a half
sacks a year ago. Surprised, I mean he was even
available this late, honestly, But I'm happy because it's on
our team now. So he's a great player.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
Excited to work with him for sure, no doubt, no
doubt he's gonna bring a lot mark. You were talking
during the break about the possibilities of what that defense
could be with Jadavian Clowney coming back, just the scheming
on pastrae situations like I Zerio's coming, Will is coming,

(01:12:50):
and now you have another guy that's an elite past if.
Let's put it like basketball. Everybody knows Steph curries superpower
is he could hit threes from anywhere, right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
That's the way pass rushers are.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
They can get your hands off them and they can
bend and get to the court.

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
It's a gift. It's a specialized talent.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
It's like bowling or playing darts of something that requires
over and over and over, and it's a skill set.
You don't even have to be that great physically anymore.
You just have to have that ability. And now they
have four guys that have it that. Once upon a
time there was a team that had four elite pass rushers.

(01:13:37):
They were called the New York Giants, and they had
a package called the NASCAR and they would put all
four of those defensive ends in at the same time
with an outside linebacker.

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
You had five guys rushing.

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
You had approximately two seconds to get the damn ball
out while you was gonna get sacked. That's what Houston
can do. Now that's scary, man. Yeah, they're trying to
get after it, and you know somebody else that's trying
to get after it, the Dallas Cowboys and coach Schottenheimer.

Speaker 2 (01:14:08):
And one of the things you.

Speaker 1 (01:14:10):
Can't mentioned that defense in the same breadth as the
can because they've made some adjustments.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
And one of the players that have.

Speaker 1 (01:14:18):
Come in and then's shown great instincts is Kobe Durrett.

Speaker 5 (01:14:23):
His instincts and the ability to feel things. And you're
playing different coverages down there, and he's been around this
system for a while, different places, playing with the Rams,
a lot of similarities with what they're doing. I said,
you did you score? Did you get caught at like
the thirty? And he said, shot, hey, check out all
my interceptions. They usually go the distance.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Yeah. Playmakers, playmakers.

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
And you were talking about this earlier when you were
saying about being able to get extra possessions right right, Well,
you don't need extra possessions if you get a pick six,
that considered a possession right there. So if the Cowboys
can create those types of plays, turn the ball over
and get the themselves an extra possession. Trying to temper

(01:15:02):
my feelings you up here, just blowing making me feel
a little nervous man, Like I don't I don't know
what the thing with the field right now, like the
Cowboys with a good defense hard and I'm gonna start
beating my chants around here.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
Just feel that there.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
We are thirty six days away from the kickoff of NFL.
Understand that we are thirty one days away from Sark
trying to build that championship run against starting off against
Texas State. We are in football mode right now. We

(01:15:44):
are full steam ahead. Texas will be at practice today,
We will have sound from coach Sark tomorrow morning.

Speaker 2 (01:15:53):
It is it is full gold now. We are locked
in loaded.

Speaker 1 (01:15:58):
Got a chance to go to watch Texas basketball practice yesterday.
Let me just tell you, folks, there's a lot of
hype around this basketball team. We don't know what they're
going to be because they're still constructing and figuring out.
But one thing they're not gonna be is the shortest
team on the court. This team is long. They got

(01:16:20):
some athletes and when you look at Marcus Spears junior
and the ability that he has, when you look at
Austin Gooseby and what he brings to the table when
you look at bo Ogden and the physicality in which
he was practicing with, and then you get a chance

(01:16:41):
to look at Matus and you look at the transfers
that were brought in Sha Ktown, Katetown, David Punch, Freeman
bro I'm telling you, Mike Lewis. Eric Henry was here
the other other day and was trying to get fans
to understand that this basketball team is going to be different.

Speaker 2 (01:17:02):
I am here to tell you from what.

Speaker 1 (01:17:05):
I saw yesterday, this basketball team is going to be different,
and everybody needs to get on board because it's going
to be an exciting time on the forty Acres, whether
it's football, basketball, baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
Soccer kicks off tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
In San Antonio against UTSA, whether it's softball, back to
back national champions volleyball starts this month as well.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
We hear folks were back. We got it at the bottom.
Now we're here. We are here.

Speaker 1 (01:17:36):
We made it through another episode of The Morning Kickoff.
Shout out to our guy, Danny Davis of the Austin
American Statesman. Shout out to Mark Henry. Shout out to
our guy Eric and Ronald teaching him, learning him up,
learning them up and shout out to you the people.
Thank y'all for always being consistent. Stay locked in all

(01:17:57):
day long. Dan Patrick, Collin cow I heard the voice
of the Texas Longhorns, Craig.

Speaker 2 (01:18:02):
Way, and of course Bucky and BK.

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):
This is the station for you, followed by Round Rock
Express Baseball for Mark Henry, I'm hardball hard and just
remember this, Folks, don't believe everything you see, because even
salt looks like sugar.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
Pease