Turn the Page Tuesday: Texas Preps for Citrus Bowl, Transfer Portal Buzz, Cowboys Defensive Issues & Cooper Flagg’s Historic Night

Today is "Turn the Page Tuesday." The Texas Longhorns football team gets ready for their upcoming Cheez-It Citrus Bowl match-up against the Michigan Wolverines. Several players are declaring for the NFL draft and the transfer portal, meaning younger guys will get the opportunity to play. Across college football, several players are entering the transfer portal. Where will some land? The Texas Men's Basketball team is getting ready to play the Le Moyne Dolphins. The Dallas Cowboys' defensive woes continue, and we discuss how to address them. Cooper Flagg had a breakout game last night, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to score 40 points in a game. The San Antonio Spurs get set to play the New York Knicks in the finals of the NBA Emirates Cup championship game. "The World's Strongest Take!" Plus, Joe Cook of Inside Texas and On3 talks about Texas football's transfer portal, new running backs coach, and prep for the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. Also, we have "Voice of the Houston Texans" Marc Vandermeer after the Texans' 40-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals and upcoming game against the Las Vegas Raiders. You can hear it all here on "The Morning Kickoff Show!"

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:36):
or wherever you may be listening.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
This is a turn the page Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Edition of The Morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
The Zone.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Texas is dealing with portal issues. The transfer Portal is
live and kicking. Joe Cook of Inside Texas joins us
at seven point thirty four. We've got NFL Talk. Is
your Super Bowl champ as of today. Mark Vandermere of
the Houston Texans joins us at eight seventeen, and the

(01:09):
Spurs go for an in season title. I am your host,
Mike Harballhars, my co host, is a WWE Hall of
Famer and recognized as the world's strongest man.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
He is the Mark Henry. Good Morning Austin.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
And of course we've got our guy Marcus behind the boards.
And if you want to be a part of the show,
all you gotta do is text to word Texas follow
by your message to eight one five three zero.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Standard data and message rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
That's the word Texas, follow by your message to eight
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Speaker 3 (01:40):
Standard data and message rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
We're also going to give you a chance multiple times
to get a chance to win a pair of tickets
to go see the Texas Longhorns men's basketball team tonight
at the Moody Center as they will be taking on Lemoyne.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
You get a chance to win.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Make sure you locked in because we're gonna give you
multiple times to win a pair of tickets to go
see the Texas Longhorns. Now we need to get into
this conversation because the forty acres has it going on
and popping. The only thing that I'm worried about is
who is going to be playing for the Texas Longhorns.

(02:22):
News came out yesterday as we were ending the show
that Michael taff has officially declared for the NFL Draft,
Anthony Hill junior has officially declared for the NFL Draft,
Trade More has declared for the draft, and what that
means is a lot of guys will not be participating

(02:44):
in the Citrus Bowl. So we will see a lot
of new faces, young faces with an opportunity this week.
Along with those guys electing to declare for the NFL Draft.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Some guys are talking about getting in the portal.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
And one of those guys just happens to be Lion,
that's what they called him. Leonold Leona Lafoul is now
in the transfer portal. The junior linebacker said yesterday that
he intends to enter the transfer portal. So, now who's

(03:24):
gonna be the linebacker Mark? There's guys missing.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
There's a lot of guys missing, lots of guys missing,
and you know what Texas has got depth. We talked
about the secondary at the beginning of the season as
well as the linebacker corpse. A lot of young guys,
but you need opportunity at some point, and it's either

(03:49):
going to happen by injury, it's going to be happened
by somebody being suspended or possibly the subtraction of the port.
So whatever the reason is, somebody's gonna get an opportunity.
And you can't look at it like, oh, this is
a bad thing that we lose this guy. No, Like

(04:10):
those are guys that proved themselves already. They did everything
that they could do here at this university.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Now it's time for the next crop of guys to
step up.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
And then it usually happens in a bowl game.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Either game gets out of hand and you put a
guy in just to see what he got, or the
guys make themselves unavailable and then you have to put
somebody in that position. Texas just happens to be in
the ladder. There's a lot of guys missing there that
you know, you talk a lot. There's two guys that

(04:45):
are probably playing this game that are walk on, and
one of them is Brady Sarkisian coach Sark's son.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
He's a walk on.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
You got Jonathan Cunningham, he's only played sixteen snaps this season,
Eric Garza walk on played six defensive slash and then
we got Marshall lamdwid he's only played twenty. But you
got Ty Anthony Smith you have Brad Spence and you
have Bo Barnes, guys that have actually got into the

(05:14):
ball game.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
But that's great, but all.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Of these guys that are leaving, it leaves a lot
of questions for the next group of guys. Yes, you
talk about giving them an opportunity to play. It's cool
if you got other guys with you, like it's cool
to have a guy in there, if you've got an experienced.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Guy next to him.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Right now, you have all inexperienced guys that will be
on the field.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Now, I understand it's a bowl game.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
It's another bunch of practices and where these guys give
a chance to go and yes, they get to live
their dreams of being on the field versus Michigan.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
And Michigan's going through.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Their own set of issues and we'll hear from their
coach in just a little bit. But this, this, this
could get real ugly in this game too. And that's
the part of the thing that I'm concerned with when
you start to watch how this is all going to
play out both ways?

Speaker 2 (06:14):
What it goes both ways Florida, Florida's losing a lot
of guys too.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Now, Florida, I mean Michigan. Michigan is losing a lot
of guys too. Yeah, I understand that, But I don't
care about Michigan. I care about Texas. I care about
watching the product for the building blocks of next season.
I get it, Well, there's gonna be a lot of
changes in some of these guys obviously are not going

(06:41):
to make the cut for next year, But you still.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Want to go out there again. I go back to
this number.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
This ten number is an important number for the University
of Texas as far as ten win seasons.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
I think that is.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Something that I have looked at along the way and
said that this should be happening. Now, what Texas is
going to do and how they're gonna create other opportunities
for some it'll be great. We're gonna get a chance
with Michael Taffan, those guys. We're gonna get a chance
to watch Jonah Williams go out there and play safety,

(07:17):
a guy that has so much upside both on the
football field but also on the baseball field. Jonah Williams,
a guy that has spent a lot of time on
the forty Acres game out of high school, should have
been still in high school and was playing outfield in
the SEC games and was producing and was ready to go.

(07:38):
So now he's on the football field and that now
he's gonna have to immerse himself even more so into
the football aspect of it.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
Of being learnt, I.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Guess you would say, of being caught up to speed
on what the secondary calls are and what needs to happen,
because now you have Derek Williams that's gone as well secondary,
you got Michael Tapp gone in the secondary. So defensively,
there has been a lot of moves that has kind
of transformed the way that this Texas football team is

(08:13):
going to look going into next year. I got a question, Yeah,
with taf I, who's going to be making defensive calls?

Speaker 3 (08:20):
That's what I just said. That's what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Man, There's there's times where lining up is just as
important as the call is, usually in.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
The linebackers or the safeties.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
And with hells heels out and ta fout, who's the
one making the defensive calls on the field. Now, I
know that they've probably been working on this and there
this isn't news to the University of Texas, is coming
news to us, but this is reactionary to the news
that has finally been given to us. And I'm sure
that they've got this all under control and they've been

(08:52):
going through it for quite some time.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
But this is one of those situations.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
That you're looking at this team and saying, all right,
was now's your opportunity to grow up and grow up fast,
and you're gonna get to do it on a big
stage on December thirty first, in front of the world.
So now is your opportunity and getting doubts with cheez
its hopefully at that end. Also, coming out of the
forty Acres yesterday the news was announced that Captain Obvious

(09:22):
arch Manning will be back for twenty twenty six. We've
we've been talking about that since day one. D Captain Obvious.
He's coming back to the University of Texas, and I
know that a lot of folks got a chance to
truly understand who he is, what he is for this program,

(09:46):
what he's matured into from beginning to end, and where
he is right now. My concern for him going into
this Bowl game is how much does he truly play?
And the reason why I say that is because we're
still not sure if we're gonna have.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
All the offensive linemen out there for him.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
And this dude's already been battered and bruised all season
long for some tough situations that he had to go
through before. Are you gonna run him out there that long?
Or are we gonna get the chance to see a
Matthew Calwell, a kJ Lacey some other If we're playing
all these young guys while not play a lot of
the young guys and let those guys get out there

(10:30):
and play as well.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
I don't see not one thing wrong with what you
just said.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
I mean, go out there and get you a couple
of series, kind of like a preseason NFL game. Go
get you a couple of series, and let's see what
Matthew Carwell can do.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Everybody got to see him in crunch time and.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
In the game against Old miss I mean in Mississippi State, yep,
but we didn't get to see him like really get
about a quarter or two ends.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
This would be a good time for that. And kJ Lacy,
you know, like he's.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Gonna be one of those mobile quarterbacks and he'll be
on the depth chart next year, so we got to
see what he got.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, it's an interesting dynamic to where everybody is at
this particular moment, forty acres. This is the world that
we live in, the world of free agency, where everybody
can move around, and now you gotta find a way
to keep everything locked in and.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Ready to go.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
We're just getting started on a turno Tuesday edition of
The Morning Kickoff.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
We're gonna come back and talk transfer Portal.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
At seven thirty four we'll talk to our guy Joe
Cook of Inside Texas, and at eight seventeen we're gonna
go down to h Town and talk to Mark Vandermere,
the voice of the Houston Texans.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
Who are on a heater. Right about now, all on.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
A turn to pay Tuesday edition of The Morning Kickoff
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone and always free
on the iHeartRadio app. Coming up in the next segment,
we'll have our guy Joe Cook of Inside Texas breaking
down all the latest on the forty acres and don't
forget an hour from now we will give We'll be

(12:14):
talking to the voice of the Houston Texans, Mark Vandermere,
as he gives us the latest with the Houston Texans.
Right now, I want to give you a chance to
win a pair of tickets to get a get a
chance to win a pair of tickets to go see
the Texas Longhorns as they get ready to take on
Lemoyne tonight.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
All you got to do is call or call.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Call it, get on the iHeartRadio app, leave a voicemail
and tell us why you want to go to the game,
and we'll make sure that Marcus gets everything handed up
and sent over there. But I'll also give you a
chance to win some more a little bit later, when
I give you a special keyword to get him a

(13:00):
chance to win a pair of tickets.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, that's what I try to do. That's what I
try to do. All right, let's get into it because.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
The news is coming out of college football hot and heavy. Yesterday,
the news came out that DJ Lagway, four star quarterback
out of Florida, has decided that he plans to enter
the transfer portal. New coaching staff coming in and I'm

(13:29):
shocked by this. Not shocked by the fact that he's
entering the transfer portal, but more shocked that they wouldn't
have tried more to get him there. Now, he did
deal with a lot of injuries since he's been on
that campus, so that might have something to do with it.
They may already have a guy that they're looking at
that they to fit their type of offense or whatever

(13:51):
it is that they're going to be doing. But it
was interesting they see his name jump into the transfer
portal as a four star recruit coming out of high school.
Another person that had had his name in the transfer
portal is Patrick Mahomes Junior.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
I mean Dylan Ryola. He a quarterback out of Nebraska
six three, two thirty.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
He two was a four star quarterback coming out of
high school. But here's the thing about him, and I
want to make sure that I get this right, and
I hope that I bookmarked this on what he was
as a quarterback and a transfer. This guy has transferred
since high school. Since high school, he traveled. He transferred

(14:36):
four times since high school. He started at one school
in Texas, went to another school in Georgia, went to
another school before that. Then he commits to one school,
and then he goes to Nebraska, and now he's trying
to get out of Nebraska. It has been just an
interesting dynamic when you start to look at certain quarterbacks

(15:00):
all that commitment issues. I think a lot of these
guys because of the way that college sports is set up.
It's yeah, it's finish the race, finished the race. And again,
it's great to be able to have those types of options,
but there's very few quarterbacks and players that always find

(15:25):
a better home. There's never a better home, so it's
not always greener. There's a few exceptions where guys have
been able to go and change their careers, and Baker
Mayfield comes to mind when you think about what his
career ended up being. But there's very few guys that
can continue to move and play at a high level

(15:47):
like that, especially in this day and age of college football.
Another name to pay attention to in this situation is
Brendan Soorsby.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
He was a quarterback at Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
He is ranked as the number one quarterback on the board,
former four star as well that is looking to transfer
right now. His name was one of the biggest ones
to come out of there. Then you have Kenny Minchi
backup quarterback at Notre Dame, and I was listening to

(16:21):
Brady Quinn, former Notre Dame quarterback, talking about Kenny Minchi,
and he thinks that this is the one that they
should not have let leave. He's a special quarterback in
his eyes. And he was hopeful that he would stay,
but he's not going to be able to stay.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
So there's some moves.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
That are being made and there's no intel about where
he's prepared to go. I want you to go, nump No.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
I mean, who knows Sam Levitt, quarterback for Arizona State,
who everybody loved at one point, he now is going
to be in.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
The transfer port. Are you kidding me?

Speaker 1 (16:56):
He's talking about making a move as well. There's just
so many names and so many different players that are
looking to make a move that this this this cycle
of getting out and making these types of moves is
a little bit different than what we used to.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Seeing at this time of year. I'm shocked.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, I'm really shocked because these guys already have an identity.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
They've played in.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Big Bowl games and championship games, and they're on the move.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
They're on the move.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
And I understand, you want somebody to feat your system
as a new coach or you go somewhere and they like,
you know, that guy would look real good in my system.
I understand it, but it's shocking when they already have
a big.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Name right right, So there's there When I look at
Sam Levitt. He was a guy that was one of
the top quarterbacks in the country when he had Scattaboo
behind them. Last year Arizona State didn't look that great
and now he's trying to figure out what his next
move is gonna be. Would not be surprised if he

(18:10):
ended up guess where either in LSU or Indiana. Indiana
might be looking for a quarterback because Mendoza is gonna
be going to the league. Yeah, yeah, So then you
look at DJ Lagway. What is the latest on Lagway?
Where would he go if if the move is made

(18:32):
by Trinidade Simmons to leave ole Miss or Trinidad Chamber.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Excuse me?

Speaker 1 (18:41):
If his move is to leave ole Miss and go
with Lane Kiffin to LSU. Does DJ Lagway go to
ole Miss to be the quarterback? Who knows? What about
Texas Tech? Texas Tech is looking for a quarterback and
they got plenty of money to.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
Go out there. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
So if you look at Sam Levity, take a trip
to Technically.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
What's the kid named from all Nebraska Dylan Ryola? Yeah, yes, yeah,
he don't.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
Want to be.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Since he wanted to be Patrick so much, and then
too look at possibly him going to Baylor. Baylor is
going to be losing Sawyer Robertson, so Baylor is going
to be looking for a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
And his dad played.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
At DJ Lagway's dad played there at Baylor, so that
could be a spot as well. You also got to
look at what Clemson is going to do because Kay
Klubnick might be going to the draft as well. And
then you look at USC's quarterback, and he was a
guy that a lot of folks. I talk to a
buddy of mine who's big USC Homer. He was talking

(19:52):
about his quarterback and he said he should be the
one that everybody is going after because he is that talented.
So we'll see what happened. But again, Ryola man, I
don't know. I don't I don't know. He should he
should call he should go to Tech. They'll let him
all anti number five or number fifteen.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
While I would I would say five.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yeah, that's Patrick Mahome's number that he played with over there.
So we'll see. What about what about Miami? What about
Miami for him? Mm hmm, because Miami is.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
Gonna need a quarterback. Is he from Florida?

Speaker 1 (20:30):
No, he originally was in high school and yes, at Burson.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Man, I don't know. I don't think Miami.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
I think they Miami is gonna look for another just
peer pocket passer like they had last year. Yeah, and
you you you know you don't want a quarterback that's
scrambling and running and doing all the stuff that uh
that that young fella did at uh Nebraska.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Well, we'll see, we'll see what it ends up happening.
But that's just the way that all. Why would you
leave that coach too?

Speaker 5 (21:05):
Man?

Speaker 1 (21:05):
Some coaches ain't for everybody. You know what I'm saying,
He won't say way out. Financial bro, you know as
well as I do, a lot of these times you
did the money.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
It come down to the dollars.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
It always comes down to the dollars, especially now a days,
when you start to look around and you see the
moves that are being made by every single person. You
see right now, gods jumping in the transfer portal for
what to think that they're going to go somewhere else
to try to renegotiate.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
You know all about that.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
You got to renegotiate your renegotiation half the time because.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
The ones you got exactly you're trying to figure out.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Well, man, my productivity well, are they able to come
back to Usay, your productivity was down?

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Do I get some money back? Wow? Hey? Why you
you man?

Speaker 1 (22:00):
You underperformed. Let me get a little bit of that back.
Let me run it back to the other side. Now
the ain't doing that.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
No, that's hey, most of us already spent. Most of
it's already spent.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Coming up next, we're gonna talk to our guy Joe
Cook of Inside Texas and get the latest because there
is more to come, I'm sure. Right here on the
Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone
and always free on that iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to
the Morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone. It is a turn the Page Texas

(22:34):
Tuesday edition of it.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
And let's go talk to our.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
Guy from Inside Texas and on three our guy Joe Cook,
and you can follow them at Joseph Cook eighty nine. Joe,
We're in a very unique time in college athletics where
every single year you gotta make sure your spreadsheet is
up to date because there's so much coming and going.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
A lot of news on.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
The forty acres yesterday about guys possibly entering the transfer,
portal guys opting out and going to look at themselves
at the next level. This is the world that we
live in, and we got to get used to it,
don't we.

Speaker 6 (23:18):
Ah, Man, I don't know if I.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
Want to get used to it. You know, this is this.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Is one of the first times, you know, I've ever kind.

Speaker 6 (23:24):
Of been doing this, and I'm looking around and like
when does this end? So I kind of know what
all the coaches are complaining about. Uh, yeah, they get
paid millions of dollars, but you know, if covering it
is quite the task, and I can't imagine what living
through it is like, uh in the various facilities. But yeah,
I mean, we live in a world where you have

(23:45):
year to year free agency. You know, your your roster
can change quickly within a matter of seconds, and you
know then then are real free for all breaks free
on January second, after they play a game, after they
try to get the recruiting class sign to the season.
So I can see why there are so many coaches
who complain, and rightfully so, about what the schedule looks like.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
And you know, the.

Speaker 6 (24:09):
Portal and player movement being one of those big big
factors in.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
That Joe Harj has a lot of concerns about the
depth of Texas linebackers corps and possibly even the safety
How do you feel Texas is going to be able
to feel those spots.

Speaker 6 (24:30):
Yeah, The linebacker one's interesting because if you think about
the two guys that you know are not playing for
two guys that you know are not playing, one is
tray More and one is Anthony Hill, you could probably
march out Brad Spence and ty Anthony Smith respectfully for
those spots, and you know, yeah, you're not getting Anthony Hill,

(24:50):
you're not getting tray More. But Spence and Smith our quality.
They got a lot of reps this year. They know
what they're doing in that position. Well, now you're out
here without the angle of foul and now you're really
tapping in to them. Not I don't want to say
the bottom, but some of the you know, real it's
a real, true test of your depth. Most likely guy

(25:11):
to fill that in is Elijah Barnes. True freshman played
in three games, finished as the number one linebacker in
the twenty twenty five class.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
According to ON three, and.

Speaker 6 (25:21):
Then he saw a good amount of action against Arkansas
when sark was trying to rotate guys in and keep
some guys fresh on the short week. So that's probably
who you're gonna see. And then you know what it's
It could be your favorite walk on Mey get his opportunity,
and that could be Marshall Landware, who's actually a farmer
walk on. Could be Brady Sarkesian, Steve's son. You know,

(25:44):
it could be a guy you know, just because I
wrote the article yesterday and I happen to know the name.
Could be a guy like Eric Garza, who you know,
before I saw a picture of him or saw him
on the field, didn't even know who was on the roster.
So it's gonna be an interesting day at linebacker for
Tech Is, especially when they're trying out a true freshman
against you know, even if it doesn't have a sure

(26:04):
own more. They do a lot of misdirection and movement
within the run game to get things going at the
line of scrimmage.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah, that's one of the things that I was concerned
about making the calls who's going to be able because
half of the battle is lining up properly, you know
what I'm saying. So that's something that I was concerned
about as well. And then you go into the secondary. Obviously,
Derek Williams entering the transfer portal, Michael Taff announcing that
he is going they're not going to play in the

(26:33):
game and headed into the NFL. So now you get
a guy like Jonah Williams on that back end. But
who else can they put back there to kind of
calm the waters on the backside.

Speaker 6 (26:47):
Jelani McDonald, he's practicing, he's you know, it's the main
stay there at the secondary this year, and he's going
to be someone that they're going to rely on a
lot in this game. Alongside him, You're going to probably
see guys like uh, you know behavior fhil to me. Uh,
maybe even some Jordan Johnson rebel there in the defensive
backfield at that safety spot because they don't have Derek

(27:09):
Williams and they won't have Michael Taff and you'll see Jonah.
And I think Jonah had a you know, specialized role
as his season went on, as he got a little
bit closer to full health, uh, and he was you know,
tasked with basically being a third down, you know, deep
safety defender. He had to do a few different things
in that Vanderbilt game when you know everybody was getting hurt.

(27:32):
Michael taff I think was out. But you know, there's
just a lot of inexperience, and you know, it's I
think that's kind of a blessing and occurs for for
these Bowl games that you you get to see some
of these players take advantage of an opportunity and you know,
they may be freshmen, but they're they're not freshmen anymore,
especially someone like Jonah who's been on campus full full year,

(27:53):
has a bunch of appearances. Uh, you're you're gonna have to,
you know, ask them to make a lot of big
plays and do some of the things that literal all
Americans are doing for them.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
So we now we're going to the offense. Now you
said that DeAndre Moore is going to be gone. Who
would be the number one guy to step up in
front of him? Would it be Parker or when we
get to see how guy Ryan Nibblett get some reps
at that spot.

Speaker 6 (28:23):
Yeah, that's that's an interesting one. I think Parker is
already kind of you know, I don't think he'll lose
a spot because in fact, when they went to two
tight ends, more would come off the field just by
being a spot. So I think you'll see Dylan McCutcheon,
who's gotten plenty of appearances this year, gotten some important receptions.
I think you'll see some utilization of Ryan Nibblett, maybe

(28:45):
a little bit more than in what you might have
seen throughout the regular season. And then you know, I
think they're going to try to really show some faith
in Nick Towns and I know he's got a receiver,
but he's that second tight end kind of in that
h role and is someone who's going to be able to,
uh do a little bit different thing at that at
that spot. You know they saw you saw Texas give
him the carry for the touchdown against the Aggies. You've

(29:08):
seen him he hasn't always blocked the right guy, but
he makes the guy across from him feel like he's
been blocking the right guy, you know, and uh, that's
that's pretty important for a true freshman. So I think
you're gonna see Niblett, McCutcheon, and then a little bit
of mix in with some two tight ends stuff from
uh Nick Townsend. As far as what you will try

(29:30):
to do to replace Deandra Moore in the aggregate.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
We're talking to Joe Cook of Inside Texas. Make sure
you follow him at Joseph Cook eighty nine Joe before
We Let You Go. Texas makes a move brings in
a running back running back coach to replace Chad Scott.
Tell us the latest on the new running back coach
for the University of Texas.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Yeah, Jabbar je Luke.

Speaker 6 (29:52):
He's been kind of an sec veteran. You know, he
started in the New Orleans high school UH scene, and
it was a head coach there. U coach that basically
every Louisiana school, Louisiana Law Tech, I think a little
maybe even a little bit of a ULM LSU obviously
was most recently at Florida, has worked at Texas Tech.

(30:12):
Just been all over the place and someone who is
familiar with pretty much every single part of it ten
and I twenty, which is important when it comes to
recruiting running backs. And he's put together a lot of
different quality running backs. You know, he's had thousand yard
rushers at Louisiana Tech and Louisiana. He's had the type
of running backs that have developed.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
You know.

Speaker 6 (30:31):
Jayden Ball is the name that I think Texas fans
have had a wondering eye on. He was not the
most highly rated player yet he turned him into a
very effective player. Then at the same time he'd taken
the Superstars for you know, their Darius Geist. For as
awful off the field as he was, he was good
on the field his whole career, and Joe bar je

(30:51):
Luke or jivar je Luke kept him that way as
far as on the field matters go ball. You know,
all these different guys that that he's coached, just a
variety of profiles and someone who is able to get
a lot out of any type of back that that
is in his room, so should be. I think it's
I think it's an improvement. I think it was a

(31:13):
process for Sark, who I think, if anything, prefers to
soft landing his guys kind of like Nick Saban used
to do. But he saw a need and very quickly
to go forward and make a move, make an improvement,
kind of beat out Kentucky for.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
For ju Luke.

Speaker 6 (31:32):
They thought they may have had the chance to swipe
him until Texas showed up. And now Zeluke's gonna be
recruiting for the Longhorns.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Nope, everybody's excited to have him here and we'll see
what ends up happening. Because there is a lot of
good running backs that are still out there. Joe Cook
of Inside Texas make sure you follow him at Joe
Joke eighty nine. As always, man, We appreciate you, brother,
of course, thank you guys. There is Joe Cook up.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
Next.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
We're going to continue the conversations and give you a
chance to what a pair of tickets. But we got
Texas men's basketball playing tonight, and I'll give you the
keyword for that opportunity right here on the morning kickoff
on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone and always
free on the iHeartRadio app. Great sup from Joe Cook
of Inside Texas. You can follow them at Joseph Cook

(32:22):
eighty nine. Right now, we want you to get over
to that app, the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's always free and it's there for you.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
All you got to do is tap that microphone and
leave the keyword of the day to win a pair
of tickets to go to the game tonight as Texas
takes on Lemoinne. The keyword of the day is dunk.
Dunk is your keyword of the day. As Texas plays
tonight at seven pm at the Moody Center. They've got
tickets in the student section. They want everybody out there

(32:54):
to support this team. And you know, when we look
at this Texas basketball team, they're sitting at seven and
four on the season, working progress, still going through some things,
but you start to understand when you watch this team
that you can see the signs of getting better. You
can see the signs of understanding how each player's role

(33:19):
is starting to be defined. You can look at a
guy like Jordan Pope, who he can score the basketball,
and what he's been able to do is find those
pockets after the entry into the post, he can find
a pocket where he can clear up his shot. You
see him penetrate, dish the ball off. You can see
different things happening with him at the point guard position.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
You also look.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
At what Treumon Mark is continuing to fill his role
out as well, But of course it all starts with
matus In in the post and what he's been able
to do. But they had they played good against Connecticut
the other day. Wasn't their best game, but they played
well enough that they kept the game close.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
It wasn't their best game, but they were game. They
kept fighting, they kept attacking. The one thing that I
look at as a problem that that's going to be
needed to clean be cleaned up is when something works,
why are you waiting five possessions to do it again?
Make them stop it, keep going at them. That's how

(34:27):
you draw files to the other team. And I feel
like Texas went away from things that were successful and
it would be like six minutes gone before they did
that again where they they ran a play that was
really highly successful and it was easy for them to score.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
Go to it again.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
No, I mean, this is a Texas basketball posure will
that has played some of the better teams in the country.
When you look at what Yukon and what Duke at
the beginning of the year, Duke they lost by fifteen,
and then against Connecticut they lost by eight. So they
have shown some improvement from that first game to where

(35:10):
they are now.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
You've seen them.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Go out and beat Arizona, Well, lose to Arizona State
on the last second shot, but then you go and
see him go beat North Carolina State and then lose
to Virginia.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Make the adjustments.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
But now they get a chance to kind of be
back at home and get things going. I know Coach Miller,
he'll be the first to tell you and That's the
one thing that I love about coach Miller. He's not
shy about what he sees and not shy about telling
you what he's seeing. But they're getting closer and closer
to conference play. They have a few games. They got

(35:45):
this Lamoy game, and then they got Maryland Eastern Shore
coming in on Monday the twenty second. Then they get
January third, they got conference play with Mississippi State.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
Then they played Tennessee in Knockville.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
So we're about to rank wrap it up and get
right after it coming up here at the beginning of January.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
And you know, you got to turn it up in
your conference and you gotta you know, there's if.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
You were holding back anything, now it's not the time.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Now when you get in the conference play, you gotta
play like you're gonna be and create your identity. Yep,
this is this is It's funny because excuse me, watching
this team and understanding who they are is something that
we've all talked about. But now it's getting to the
nitty gritty. Now it's next Saturday on the third, you

(36:38):
were going to be playing a team in Mississippi State
who they are probably still trying to figure themselves out
before conference play, but you start that at home at least,
and you'll get to play here for the next three
games heading into conference play.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
And pretty much all the teams that's ranked in in
in the conference are ranked in the top twenty five
in the country. So when you play your conference games
every night is a series that can make or break
your season because you don't want to let somebody get

(37:15):
two or three games up on you. If it comes
down to matchups, you want to win those matchups. So
the conference is way more important than this preseason schedule
that they played, which was difficult.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Well, this is going to be a challenge for cam Den, Heidi,
and this is a guy that's played.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
A lot of basketball.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
He's healthy now he's getting his opportunities to do some things.
Declan Derux junior, he's going to have to start playing
a little bit bigger. I mean he's a freshman, but
his body tells you something different and he should be
ready to go as well. Your boy Nick Cody is
gonna have to step it up as well. So we'll

(37:55):
see what ends up happening with this basketball team in
their opportun tunities. Because this is the time that your
bench starts to shrink a little bit too when you
get ready for conference. So all of these guys that
are getting all this playing time right now, that may
be shifting, and it may be shifting pretty quickly because
of the fact that these things that we look at

(38:17):
throughout these moments is where these coaches are watching this
film every single day and breaking it down and seeing, Okay,
this is a liability in this area, this is a
positive in this area. Now, we got to try to
figure out how we get everybody on the same page.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
And it's getting closer and closer.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
You can see it, and everybody's understanding where they need
to be on the court as far as spacing. But
one thing that will always travel is defense. Got to
make sure that defense is locked in. Our number one
is in the books. Our number two is just around
the corner NFL Action.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
We'll break it all down right.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Here on the morning Kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred to zone, always free on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome
back to our number two of the morning pickoff right
here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to zone and
always free on the I Heart Radio app. And our
number one. We got a chance to talk Transfer Portal.
There is so much that is going on in college football,

(39:19):
from opt out, chasing NFL dreams, and of course guys
that decided that it was time to make a move.
So we talked to Joe Hook of Inside Texas as
he broke it all down. The news on the forty
Acres is Leonga Lafoul will be making a move to
go into the transfer portal. They also made an announcement

(39:41):
yesterday that Arch Manning was coming back to the University
of Texas. In other news, transfer Portal participant DJ Lagway
is looking to find another home, so we will see
what happens with him. But before we get into the NFL,
TJ Finley looking for a seventh year of eligibility after

(40:05):
he too is jumping into the transfer portal. This is
a young man that was at one point he was
at LSU, another point he was at Texas State, Auburn, Western, Kentucky, Tulane.
He's been all over the map and now he's asking

(40:25):
for a seventh year of college eligibility and know what
they probably will grant him. That you'll get it. He's
the University of Diego pavia Me. But he don't run
his mouth like Diego, and he obviously is not a

(40:46):
player like him because he wouldn't have to be making
all these moves the way that he is. But it's
amazing to me that that is where we are right
now in college football, that we have a guy that
is trying to come back to college for his seventh season,
seventh season of eligibility, and I don't believe he was
dealing with injuries like that. Were some of those guys

(41:08):
that they wouldn't even let both skate come back and
remember all the knee injuries he had.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
They were trying to get him out of school.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
So it's just crazy to me that that is where
we are coming up at eight seventeen. We're gonna talk
to the voice of the Houston Texans, Mark Vandermere, as
the Texans continue to stay on that heater, and we
will see what he has to say about their upcoming matchup.
But right now, I want to go into the NFL
Power rankings, but first I got to talk about the
Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
And I know the dream is over.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
It's been over since the opening tipoff or opening kickoff.
We knew that it was done by then, but you
start to think about this team and the moves that
was supposed to be made, that was that were made
and what ended up happening. But Stephen Jones did his
weekly radio availability up in Dallas and he was asked

(42:02):
about the defensive woes and what is going on with
the Cowboys defense.

Speaker 7 (42:07):
Hey, this is this will obviously be something that we
evaluate in the offseason. We've gotten better, uh, you know
from a personnel standpoint, uh, and thought we were really
turning the corner.

Speaker 8 (42:19):
Obviously, we played a really good offensive.

Speaker 7 (42:22):
Football team in Detroit and uh, and that was tough.
But to have ten days, uh, you know, and it's
not just the defense, it's offense and special teams.

Speaker 8 (42:32):
To have ten days to get prepared.

Speaker 7 (42:34):
Play a home game against Minnesota, you know, we're certainly
not satisfied with.

Speaker 8 (42:38):
Uh, you know how we played that game. And you know,
I think coach Shottneimer said it best.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
It's from the top down.

Speaker 7 (42:44):
Uh, includes starting at the very top with Jerry and
myself and Will and our coaching staff and our players.
We just uh have ten days to get prepared.

Speaker 8 (42:54):
We didn't we didn't do a good job.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
Unbelievable, unbelievable, Like you didn't know this coming into the
season that this was something that you needed to address.
You looked at your personnel and thought that it was
going to be okay. Not only did you look at
your personnel and believe that Matt Eberflus, you saw exactly
what was happening with the Chicago football team when he

(43:17):
was the head coach there.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
They weren't very good.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
They fired him, y'all brought him back, and yet the
defense is dead last in every statistical category. And you
want us, well, we made some personnel changes, not enough.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
No, they realized they made a mistake, and you know
they'll they'll fire him at the end of the season.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
There's no reason to fire him now.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
I mean, set a precedent, show us that you really care,
show us that you really man by.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
Then what do we need you for to get it?

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Don't matter who we get. Get him out of there,
Get him out of there.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
No, I'm talking for real.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
We see coaches get fired all the time and they'll
elevate somebody else to do the calls. There's probably a
guy on the team that has been able.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
To make calls for quite some time. Why are they
just holding him back?

Speaker 9 (44:10):
Like?

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Why are we Why are we talk into it. I'm
just like, why are we keeping why you still twist
him off? I just said, let go, Like, what are
we waiting.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
If you think that there's somebody on the bench that
they can make a better sequence of calls that can
help them win.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
Then put it.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
Let it.

Speaker 3 (44:32):
Put him in the game, just like.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
A player, exactly exactly. What's your best unit defensively right now? Uh?

Speaker 3 (44:40):
Special teams and they feeling.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
I'm talking on the defensive line, defensive line, who's the
defensive line coach?

Speaker 3 (44:46):
Make them coordinator? They don't want them kind of response.
You don't want that. I don't want that kind of smoke.
We don't want that. You don't want to find that.
You make the defensive coordinator.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
They have to love football in a way that they
see it, like Jess, not just checkers position. Because you
don't want to reward like the secondary coach as your
defensive coordinator right now, you probably should have because he's
that awful too. You start looking at all of these
guys and all of them got to go, I mean,
everybody got has to go. And then you also look

(45:18):
at okay, let's look at what's going on with Al Harris.
Remember him, Yeah, Al Harris is now with the Chicago Bears.
What the Bears look like? They look like juggernauts. They're
out there, Yeah, they're out there balling. And he was
the guy that everybody on that team wanted to be
the DC. Everybody even the people that covered the team

(45:39):
wanted him as the DC. But yet they didn't want
to make that move. They wanted to go back and
dust off the crate with Matt Eberflus.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
And he's been terrible.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
And if you could say, well he didn't have the
personnel that he wanted, really he did. He did. Can
you be a better coach and adjust to the players
that that you had? Mark, You've been trying to get
rid of tray Vond Diggs for the long years. Yes,
And he's still on the team, and we gotta look
at the top and he absorbing the most money of

(46:11):
anybody in the secondary.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Yes. Yes, So I'm finally with you on that part.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
If he gotta go, he gotta go, because he seems
to be a malecontent from what everybody is saying on
how they're going back and forth, Jerry saying that he's
not healthy, he's saying he is healthy.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
No, But what happens.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
It all starts from the world strongest take I did
before the season started.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
And the fact that he had surgery. They wanted him
to stay in Dallas and do his rehab, remember.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
And he said, nah, I can.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
I can do my rehab at home with my guy.
It didn't work. They almost had He had to have
another procedure because he had scar tissue and that means
that he was not doing therapy. And they and what
did they do? They find him like two hundred and
fifty grand. Hargie makes like twelve fourteen million a year.

(47:12):
You don't care about that. It's still when he stopped playing.
But if you cut him so well, you know what,
not only we're gonna find you, but we're gonna cut
you on.

Speaker 8 (47:24):
Your way out.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
Good luck to you and your future endeavors. You can
go play for somebody else. We're gonna free up this
cap salary cap space so we can go get somebody
to feel this spot. Because if you're not gonna listen
to me, why am I talking to you? And that's
what the cowboys are doing. You know. I always say, man, sometimes.

Speaker 3 (47:45):
You gotta give people a little leadway.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Not in that case, when you're the most paid, the
highest paid guy, and you don't listen to us. What
is the guy that's not getting paid gonna do hard?
You think he's gonna listen. So they created a horrible
president and that's that's what the Cowboys are dealing with.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
Need to get out of the way, get a football
and general manager in there and have him eat people's
faces off, do what I say, or get gone. And
when you get there, that's when you have people go, okay, man, man, kay,
gm don't play man.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
He gonna find you every.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Week, right like you know, we're not gonna get a
find two hundred thousand dollars once.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
No, you're gonna get fined every day every week until
you accuess to what he wants and what Diggs is.
I think the whole issue is is he was seventeen
million dead cap money if you would have cut him
before the season.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
Now he's only six million.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Yeah, so it's goodbye. We'll see if it's time to go.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
To say goodbye two years today.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Yeah, it's a it's a little bit different when you
start to actually break it all down and the Cowboys
continue to get on my last nerves. Not only I'm
glad they've.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
Been on it. They've been on it, not just holding
out hope. I was holding out hope the entire time.
I'm like, this has got to be better. Yeah, now
you know how I feel.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
I Hey, everybody that's keptboard fan, please takes heart and
say markmen trying.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
To tell you. They riting. Don't tell me all time.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
Listen, Goots, please send him a message.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
And let him know. Do not give the goods an
opportunity to do that. It's horrible what they're doing. They
did a good job I think with Koa Shatti.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
You can see his imprint on that offensive line and
on the running game.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
But that defense, oh man, yup.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
They gotta just scrap that, drop a grenade over there
and then just start all over again.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
Yeah, that's a different type of thought process. Coming up next,
we're gonna continue our thought process and talk to our guy,
Mark vandermir the voice of the Houston Texans as.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
They can to row energy on.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
Twelve, right here on the Morning Kickoff 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. We are
going to head down to h Town, where the Houston
Texans continue to find.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
Ways to get it done.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
They defeat the Arizona Cardinals forty to twenty. Last week,
Mark vandermir the voice of the Houston Texans, came on
here and was worried about Jacoby Brissett and how he
he was a Texans killer. Well, the Texans decided to
exercise the demons. He played well, but the Texans got

(51:08):
that win.

Speaker 10 (51:09):
How you doing, Mark, I'm doing great, guys.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
Yeah, Brissette played well.

Speaker 10 (51:13):
You know, he's a good quarterback in his role as
a backup. I think he's one of the better ones
in the NFL. He can hold it down for a while.
He made plays and Miko Rans was not happy with
the defense giving up. It wasn't really about the twenty points.
It was about some of the drives, the extended drives
the Cardinals had. It was about Trey McBride going off. Now,

(51:34):
he does that against a lot of teams, but he
went off in this one. He had five catches on
one drive. So they have to do a better job
because they're going to face good tight ends. They're facing
rock Bowers this weekend. But all in all, it was
a team you were quote supposed to beat and you
beat them. And the Texans are not accustomed to being
this team that's quote hunted, and they were that. They

(51:56):
responded well. And now you move on to the Raiders
on Sunday. Try to keep to go because all of
these wins, all these games are absolutely critical in a
very tough AFC.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Right now, Mark, it's NFL, and we all know that
any team in the NFL is dangerous, but maybe not
the Raiders.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
I don't think there's.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Gonna be a problem with Houston winning that game.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
But the one.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Thing is everybody's very fearful of this defense, but the
consistency in the offense is failing. What are they going
to have to do to get this offense to catch
up to this defense?

Speaker 10 (52:37):
Well, I think you got to look within. And if
you look at this offensive line that they've had together
for several games in this six game winning streak with
Truent Brown and right tackle, Howard left guard, and you
have the rookie Ursery at tackle, they're doing much better.
And they just have their first one hundred yard rusher.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
Of the season on Sunday.

Speaker 10 (52:57):
I was against the Cardinals, but it was Jamar Jordan,
the second year guy, really a rookie making his debut,
but he's been in the building and he played well.
So that was a nice thing to see about. CJ
look good. You know, you throw for over two point fifty,
you have three touchdown passes, really good quarterback rating, no turnovers,
and I think that's another thing, guys, when you look

(53:18):
at the offense not turning the ball over. That little
detail right there, which is a huge detail in this
game with a defense like that. We talked about it
last week. The game plan against the Chiefs was basically,
get what you can, just don't turn it over because
we've got this on the other side of the ball
and they're gonna have to win some games like that.
But I think it's a slow climb with this offense.

(53:40):
CJ's playing better. This is his third game back and
he looks really good. Let's see if you can look
really good on Sunday and take it from there because
you have the Chargers after that. Then the Colts will
see if that game means anything, and then you get
to the postseason. Now you're not in yet, so like
I said, everything's absolutely critical to take care of business weekly.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
The only thing is I was looking at this defense
and watching the game, and really I'm I'm mad at
myself because we talk a lot about Jalen Petrie, We
talk a lot about Derek Stingley Junior, but I haven't
talked a lot about Kamari Lassiter in what he brings
to the table. He is tenacious in that secondary and

(54:20):
he just seems to be very disruptive because everybody's talking
about Stingley in Petrie, but this is a guy that
deserves his credit as well.

Speaker 10 (54:30):
You know one thing we talked about on the broadcast,
which you can hear on this station, is you can
hear the hits. We have the sound effects microphones on
the field, and when Lassiter makes a hit, it sounds
like a two hundred and fifty pound linebacker hitting somebody.
He is that violent with his hits. And I don't
know where he is this week, but he was second

(54:51):
on the team in tackles. If your corner second on
the team in tackles, usually that means you stink. Guys
are leaking into the secondary. He's having to make plays
ten to fifteen yards deep. It's not like that. Rossner
makes plays at the lot of scrimmage. Yet he's a
great coverage guy too. At that pick in the game,
he is really terrific. I think he's going to be
a pro bowler, and you might have Pro bowlers on

(55:12):
each side at cornerback, which would be amazing. But I
think they deserve it. I think he deserves that kind
of consideration. And he practices like crazy. They love him
during the week because he is one of those tone centers.
You need guys who love to practice. The great ones
all do no matter what the sport, they love practice,
they thrive on it. He's one of them.

Speaker 8 (55:33):
Mark.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
You think that a lot of that came because of
the confidence that he's got a lot of reps against
a lot of the guys, because their quarterbacks have been
trying him because they're afraid to throw as Stingley. So
now he's got all these reps and he's got all
his confidence built up.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
That is almost like having two number one corners.

Speaker 8 (55:55):
Yeah it is.

Speaker 10 (55:56):
They loved them coming out of Georgia. You know, they
drafted them second round. They saw all all of this
on tape, and the guys coming out of schools like
Georgia or Alabama when they were really good. You know,
they tend to have that work ethic you're looking for.
They played in huge games and if you see it
show up there, chances are it might show up in
the NFL. But I always say this about draft choices,

(56:17):
They've got to get better from there. You get them
at a certain point, no matter how good they are,
they need to improve from that point. And he has
because he works at it.

Speaker 4 (56:25):
And it sounds cliche, but in football in life, that's
really the key, isn't it.

Speaker 10 (56:31):
And he puts the time in it shows now they.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
Have to get ready.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
As you said for the Raiders, and Mark mentioned it,
it's not one of the better Raider teams that have
been out there, but it is a team that is
in the NFL, and you have to make sure that
you lock in and stay focused. I don't think Demico
has a problem keeping his team locked in, but what
about the other leaders that can step up and make
sure that this team stay He's focused, and as you said,

(56:57):
every game matters at this point in this season.

Speaker 10 (57:01):
If I know Demco, he's gonna put on the Max
Crosby tape because he told us yesterday during his show,
Max Crosby. When you see Crosby play, you don't know
what the Raiders record is because it looks like this
guy is just wrecking shop all over the place. I mean,
he plays with such passion and they should be better.
They got brock Bauers all world tight end, they have Crosby,

(57:22):
they have a few other guys who can hurt you,
and he'll keep everybody focused because, like I said, the
beauty of this is they can't afford to lose. Last
year down the stretch, it was weird because the one
scene was out of reach and the division.

Speaker 4 (57:36):
That clinched early, and even before they clinched, it.

Speaker 10 (57:39):
Was kind of a foregone conclusion they were gonna win
the AFC South. This year, the division's not out of reach,
but they got to get help to win the division
and they need to win and they'll be in, but
they gotta win. They got three games left for no
matter who the opponent is.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Yeah, as we look at this and how it's playing out,
the Jacksonville Jaguars are sitting at ten and four, the Texans,
winner of six straight, are sitting at nine and five,
and Old Man Rivers is in Indianapolis and they are
sitting at eight and six. So to your point, you
cannot afford to have any setbacks coming into the week.

(58:20):
Jacksonville won five straight. You guys have won six straight,
so it is an interesting matchup to say the least.
But I wanted to ask you this because as you
look at this AFC, this is probably the best that
I've seen the AFC as far as not being top
heavy with those regular teams. You look at Denver sitting

(58:40):
at twelve and two, the Chargers sitting at ten and four,
New England eleven and three, the Bills ten and four,
and of course Jacksonville.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
This is the who's who football this season. None of
them want to play Houston, right right?

Speaker 4 (58:56):
I think that's true.

Speaker 10 (58:57):
You don't want to see the Texans defense to be
really interesting.

Speaker 4 (59:01):
You know, we talk about where do you want.

Speaker 10 (59:02):
To go in the postseason if you have to go
on the road. Look, I would not go into New England, honestly,
and I said that before Buffalo beat them, because I
felt like New England's good, but are they great? You know,
you look at that schedule and then I look at
Buffalo themselves. You saw what the Texans did to the
Bills a few weeks ago on national television. I don't
know how good they are, but they have Josh Allen,
who's going to be the best quarterback in the playoffs.

(59:24):
Denver looks good. You don't want to have to play
them there. They're gonna be a lot of tough opponents,
a lot of tough outs once you get to the playoffs.
It's really interesting. And the Rivers thing is fascinating. You know,
I was roody for them to lose, but I wanted
him to do well. So I kind of got what
I wanted because he's the old guy, and the Texans
are thin by the way at defensive tackle right now.
And I joked with Demiko Rice, I said, look, Philip

(59:45):
Rivers is forty four. Vince Wilfork is forty four. Hear
me out.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
I'm just kidding.

Speaker 4 (59:51):
That's not gonna happen.

Speaker 10 (59:52):
But they need some help at defensive tackle. Let's do
they pick up this week?

Speaker 1 (59:56):
JJ said he can come out and get you a
sack or two. It feels like he's in good shape.
So y'all might need to make that call to JJ Watt.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
And see what's going on with him.

Speaker 10 (01:00:07):
Yeah, well, see, we need a guy who's beefier though.
We need a three hundred pounds or what's probably like
two sixty five two seventy at this point. He can rush,
but can he stop the run in the middle, And
that's what we're looking.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
For, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
As al BF, as always, we appreciate you taking the
time and we're enjoying this ride with you. The Texans
are taking on the Raiders this week and you can
hear all the action right here on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred The Zone with the voice of the Texans,
Mark Vandermere, as always, Mark, Thanks man, all.

Speaker 4 (01:00:40):
Right, thanks a lot, guys, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
No problem. There he is, Mark Vandermere doing his thing.
Coming up next, we've got the world's strongest man and
he's gonna bring you his world's strongest take right here
on the morning kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
Zone and always free on that iHeart Radio app.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
You heard the be dropped. That can only mean one thing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
W W Hall of Famer World's Strongest Man Deep Mark
Henry brings you his world's strongest take.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
Take it away, big fella.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
You know what time it is. Time for the world's
Strongest take. By the world's strongest man. My guess back.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Then they didn't know me. Now I'm hot. They all
on me. Here we are aget guys.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
At the World's Strongest take and I feel like this
is a good one.

Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
It's not often.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
That we have a guy that comes into sports that
almost transcends the sport and we say sometimes, man, this
is this is odd.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
When was the last time this happened. Well, I'm talking
about Cooper Flag.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
I talked about him before the season was started, and
I'm gonna talk about him again right now.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
It's very pertinent that I talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Him because last night he passed Lebron James as the
youngest guy.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
To score forty points.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Some more, Lebron James, at nineteen years old scored forty
points and Cooper Flag just recently last night scored forty.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
Two at eighteen years old. Eighteen years old, the youngest
guy to ever do it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
Also, there's only been nine players in the history of
the NBA as a rookie to score more than two
thousand points.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
Cooper Flag is on pace to score.

Speaker 1 (01:03:07):
Twenty five hundred points, which would put him up there
in the top with the greatest scorers of all time,
and of course, you know, you look at the Kareems
and Elvin Hayes and Michael Jordans, Oscar Robinson, the Rick Berrys.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
These are names that are synonymous with the greatest players
to ever play. And I just want to go on
record right now, and my take is this, barring injury
and him trying to make highlight reels of people and

(01:03:53):
putting his body at risk, if he continues to play
at this pace, he will make that twenty five hundred points.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
And he will move.

Speaker 2 (01:04:05):
Into that top five, top ten of all time rookie scorers.
Everybody on that list ended up being the franchise. They
ended up being the number one player in the league.
And hard you and I had a big conversation about
who's going to be the face of the league.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
That's an American that it was always we had Winby
come in.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
We got Luca that's killing it, SGA, He's Canadian. I
really do think that Cooper Flag is the guy. It's
been a long time, twenty years since an American or

(01:04:53):
any player under twenty years old has done this, and
that guy. Last guy was Lebron James. That's pretty damn
good company. What's the use.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
Yeah, well, let's hear uh.

Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Cooper flag and those points from last.

Speaker 5 (01:05:09):
Night, Hayley two of three tonight, here's a drive down
the lank. Cook got to the basket.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
Coop to the hoop with a fowl.

Speaker 9 (01:05:21):
Bailey's averaging ten points a game this year, very very promising.

Speaker 5 (01:05:24):
Rookie tak a bit to the draft after one had done. Rutgers,
Oh it all puts up. But Cook to the hoop again.

Speaker 9 (01:05:31):
With a kook, and he puts it up with the
left that it's in there. Highlight reel finish and one
as well.

Speaker 5 (01:05:39):
That's one of those touch you're gonna show at halftime.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
You wanted to Vincent repeat with the boling run that one.

Speaker 5 (01:05:44):
Oh, right back, catcha Coop, pitch a three again. The
next basket for Cook, we'll get in the career high
and he's got it.

Speaker 9 (01:05:53):
Thirty six for Cooper, flag and County still fourteen.

Speaker 5 (01:05:57):
Leut to play the game. Got a deflection here, but
Cook's got out.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
He is special. He is somebody that you you look
at and you believe that he's going to be talented.
He went through his struggles at the very beginning, like
every other NBA player or whenever you become a pro,
and then of course him being only eighteen years old
and being able to perform like that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
So it is a lot to break down.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
It is a lot when you start to look at him.
The main thing for me is he just got to
be continue to play in a good system that lets
him play the way that he's capable of, because you
can see it. You can see the ups and downs
that he's going to go through, but you got to
let him play through it. He needs Kyrie Irving. He
needs Kyrie to come back from injury.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Kyrie is going to help him so dramatically that his
points are going to go up significantly. Anthony Davis is
just now realizing, Hey, I need to hit this guy
on the move.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
Anthony Davis was trying to play a given gold game
with him. They're the same guy, except for Cooper Flag
is faster and can shoot.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
A more consistent outside jump shot.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
They're the same same abilities to get rise above everybody,
play good defense, like he could be an all time player.
He just got to know his role and have people
set him up. I think Anthony Davis has got it.
If Anthony Davis want to preserve himself, give the young

(01:07:40):
guy the ball set him up, and then it's gonna
make your job easier. Yeah, it's gonna Like I said,
it's going to be fun to watch this team play.
We thought that in the very beginning. You start looking
at it if of course, but you have to look
at this type of situation wation. If this starts to happen,

(01:08:03):
you have to see what's going to happen with the
Anthony Davis. How are they going to play off of
each other? And when it comes crunch time, who's taking
that shot? Who is going to be the guy to
take that shot? Well, Anthony has earned the right to
be able to take that shot.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
But Mike did too, and he would pass it off
to a couple of people.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
Lebron would make the right Michael Jordan asked Mike when
he won those championships, who took that last shot? Well,
Kurry did take the shot, but yeah, yeah, yeah, I
guess he might have done it in the regular Yeah,
I know you are. The better question is who you
put the ball in hands to create the shot instead

(01:08:41):
of who takes the shot, because.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
He needs to be Kyrie Irvy, but he's not back
out there as of right now. Maybe you go to
Flag because he could great off the drap balls.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
So yeah, yeah, it's gonna be interesting, so you start
looking at it. I was glad to see if we
had to say we was ready for all that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:02):
So that was good.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
I'm glad we talked a little bit about Cooper Flag.
I got a little excited because I was like, let
me grab that, let me grab it.

Speaker 8 (01:09:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
So now we're gonna get ready to talk a little
bit more because the San Antonio Spurs. We went to Dallas.
Now we're going to San Antonio as the Spurs play tonight,
and we'll talk about it right here on the Morning
Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to Zone and
always free on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to the
Morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred

(01:09:31):
the Zone. If you missed any parts of the show,
get over to our podcast page wherever you get your
podcasts and check out the latest. Also, we've been having
great guests weekend and week out. Go check out everything
that we've got on our podcast page because I guarantee
you there is something for you there. Make sure you

(01:09:53):
tell all your friends about the show as well, because
that's all we do.

Speaker 3 (01:09:58):
Is bring you in foe tame it uh.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Speaking of info tament, We're gonna give you one more
opportunity to win a pair of tickets to go see
the Texas men's basketball team tonight as they will take
on Lamoye. All you gotta do is tell us why
you want those tickets, and we'll see what we can do.
Special shout out to Joe Cook of Inside Texas giving

(01:10:21):
us all the latest on what's going on with the
transfer portal. As Texas prepares for their matchup against Michigan
and they're gonna end up trying to figure out who's
on the roster. By this point, a lot of folks
are practicing, all right, what happens? All right, I'm gonna
tell you right now. We come in here after that
game and things don't look the way they should. I

(01:10:44):
don't want you come in here talking about man. I
can't believe they look like that.

Speaker 3 (01:10:48):
No, I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
I don't think that's gonna be a problem. Okay, guys
are buying for a position. They these guys are being
taught that when we have an opportunity up up, and
that's what they're gonna get, an opportunity. This is an
opportunity for the people that's gonna be playing for the future.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
I'm not wear it because they recruited very well the
last three years. These guys that are sitting on the
bench that wanted an opportunity.

Speaker 3 (01:11:16):
Here, here's your moment. Here's your moment.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
You're gonna wait on them to bring somebody in, or
you're gonna go out there and shine so bright that
they go, hey, how did we ever not see this?
That's who you gotta be. And I think Texas has
some of those guys and they're gonna get to play.
All right, We're gonna see you feel that courage. I'll
hear you. I'm just still not you're still not feeling

(01:11:44):
you gotta see it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
With your own eyes.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
I gotta see it with my own Oh ye, little faith.
It's not a matter of the little faith. It's reality
of the situation and how long that's We're gonna see
exactly who's gonna be participating in who who is not,
Who has grown in this moment to your point, and
who has not. We're gonna end up seeing that. So

(01:12:07):
we'll see how this all plays out. But tonight we
have Texas Basketball. As we talked about but we also
have NBA Action as the San Antonio Spurs with the
return of Winby and Yama has now advanced to the
Emeritus NBA Cup Championship Game, which will play take place

(01:12:31):
in Las Vegas tonight at seven thirty Central Time on
Prime Video. And this is going to be good because
obviously New York they trying to win something.

Speaker 3 (01:12:44):
New York just trying to find a way.

Speaker 1 (01:12:45):
Those folks were so disappointed when they came up short
last season, and for Winby, this is Look, it's a
mid season tournament championship.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
There's financial game for a lot of players that are involved, and.

Speaker 2 (01:13:00):
That five hundred thousand dollars for the winner. Yep, so
that's a nice hund change, I mean just extra yeah. Yeah,
Like what if you all right, you won, game is over,
you won five hundred.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
G what you do with it?

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
Take it to the bank, put it in there. Because
you know why, I'm not finna be on broke. You
know what I'm saying. I not facing broke. I mean,
I've been broken before and I don't want to go back,
you know what I'm saying. So I'm taking care of
the things that I needed to take care of and
that is that account in making sure that there's plenty
of zeros in that thing. But you also got this

(01:13:42):
is the one thing that I learned about the San
Antonio Spurs is Winby was out for twelve games and
they went nine and three without Winby in the lineup.

Speaker 3 (01:13:53):
So they learned a lot about themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
And Winby now still the focal point, but he understands
I don't have to do it all because these guys
are able to do the things that they needed to do,
having Dearon Fox back, having him healthy, and watching the
growth of Castle Castle and Harper and what they've been
able to achieve.

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
This is something that I like about this team. Now.

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
The Knicks, on the other hand, you already know they scrappy.
They gonna fight you. It's gonna be a knockdown, dragout
war between these teams because the last time they played
them was in March of earlier this year. They ain't
even seen each other. So now them being able to
play each other and look at who they are, I

(01:14:42):
like the Knicks. I think there's like I said, they're
a scrappy team, but you start to see if they're
gonna have enough to get it done. Right now, they're
sitting at eighteen and seven on the season. They're behind
the Pistons who are twenty one and five. Continuing the role.
But you look at that team in New York and

(01:15:03):
are they positioned to win it all?

Speaker 2 (01:15:06):
New York is a good team, but their glue guy
is also their point guard. The Spurs glue guy is Barnes.
Barnes is playing out of his mind. He's orchestrating getting
everybody in the right places, and he's facilitating for others
with his hustle. And they have three players on that

(01:15:29):
team that are better than him. I can't say that
for New York. New York has really three players. They're
three head monster team period all together. All the rest
of those guys are role players.

Speaker 3 (01:15:44):
Who would you say, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, and who else?

Speaker 2 (01:15:47):
No, Jalen Brunson, big Cat and god, what's my guy's name?
That came from the nets? Marcus helping me out out,
Markel Bridges, Bridges, Bridges is the guy. And then you
got heart Is He's a heart road player. Heart is

(01:16:08):
the glue guy. To me, he's the glue guy. He's
the one that is coming out and being tough.

Speaker 1 (01:16:14):
He's the one that is going to make life difficult
for everybody, and he'll give you thirty if you if
you will thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:16:21):
I'm gonna have to see that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:22):
I'm gonna have to see that with you and will
have an opportunity because I will be at the Christmas game,
the Knicks versus the Cavaliers.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
Nice, nice, Well, before we go, tell everybody to go
get the tickets.

Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
Hey, listen, go get the tickets for the Austin Sports Awards.
That will be a commercial plan for the rest of
the day and tomorrow looking.

Speaker 3 (01:16:47):
Forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
You gotta come see this is gonna Me and friend
are gonna.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
Entertain you just like Harje and I do on a
day to day base where it is.

Speaker 1 (01:16:57):
Make sure you get over to Austin Sports Awards dot
com for Marcus, for Mark, I'm harballhard and just remember this.
Tune in all day long, stay locked in to AM
thirteen hundred the Zone, and don't believe everything you see,
because even salt looks like sugar.

Speaker 3 (01:17:14):
Peace,