June 13, 2025 • 47 mins
Minicamp is complete, and the Texans Radio Crew put a bow on the offseason program. Plus, the fellas interviewed each of the long snappers vying for the starting job.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello Texans, Welcome to the show. Mark VanderMeer and John
Harris with you. No General, No John McClain tonight. I know,
it's strange. It's like having an eclipse or something, because
it's so rare that we don't have him on on
a Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
He's out and about doing.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Doing some footage for a documentary with Jimmy Johnson down
in the Keys.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
So that's gonna be good, can't Well. Sometime yesterday afternoon
we just got this, I would say, not random text,
but we just got a text and just had a picture. Yeah,
and it was The General with Jimmy Johnson and then a
few other obviously Lynch documentary Coharts in that right picture
as well.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
So very cool, very cool. Indeed, all right, speaking of
very cool, it's cool when a relatively decent sized story
on your football team is Battle of the long Snappers,
because yes, that's right. There's a competition to see who
gets to replace John Weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And we'll let both guys on.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
The show a little bit later on, also in the
Lab Weekly podcast, Drew Doherty, John Harris, and it's about
JJ Watt who was at practice, and we'll talk about
that a little bit here the opening segment perhaps, and
I know the big story broke this morning about Jimmy Ward,
but not much to say about that. Obviously, the Texans
are aware of it and we'll see where it goes.
(01:18):
And our prayers are with everybody involved with that story,
so hoping for some resolution there. Anyway, Let's get to
it here, Johnny, because OTA's Mini camp, it's all over.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It's all over.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
A team out to get together today and they break
for the big gap between mini camp and training camp,
and here we go. You and I are going to
be out it every night every night, six o'clock Texans Radio,
and we've got so many interviews with Texans players that
you're going to be hearing over the next few weeks.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So that's gonna be cool.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Plus tomorrow night, Glenn Davis, I'm gonna hear some soccer
stuff because July sixth will be Gold Cup Final at
NRG Stadium, first time ever the final, So we'll talk
to Glead about that and about other soccer things, the
other kind of football. Very interesting stuff always with Glamb.
But a day after Mini camp, here we go into
the break.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Absolutely had the family barbecue today and then it's off
into the nether world wherever they're gonna go. We talked
to Honey Interviews, You do forty forty. When we asked
them about that break, we would kind of mention the
word break, and it's funny because it's really not a
not a break for us. I was actually walking back
(02:31):
from practice one day during Ota Is I think, and
Nick Cassario walked up next to me and said, so,
you guys going to break two essentially, and I was like, no, man,
we're doing We're twenty four to seven three sixty five.
I said. The only time that we go off the
air is the time period between the end of the
season and the end of season in the Super Bowl,
(02:53):
then after that, and I said, so when you start
winning the Super Bowls, we will be twenty four to
seven three sixty five, right, And we want it to
be that way. We want to work every single day.
But I said that's only break, and he goes, God
enough to keep you busy. I'm like, oh, yeah, we
got plenty always. We're all good. We're all good all
the time. But when we mentioned that to the guys
about the break, there was something that kind of looked
(03:15):
at us, said it's not really a break. We're just
out of the building because, in paraphrasing many of them saying, look,
you show up here for training camp and you are
a smidge out of shape, or you're a smidge not
ready to pay the price. It's going to be hell
to pay. Yeah, and not because Demko ranged down from
(03:39):
on high.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
It is.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
You walk out in ninety four degree weather and it
is on and then three days later you're putting pads on.
So you've got to be ready to go. And the
guys are very very well aware of, even the rookies.
They've been well counseled on. You don't show up out
of this break not in shape. You've got to stay
(04:03):
the course of what you've been doing. I bet we
have a record number of guys hanging around during the break.
Oh yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
They'll take a vacation maybe exactly, but they're gonna come back.
They're going to work out just like they were before
off season conditioning began.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yep, and you had that.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Thirty plus player turnout for workouts that were not part
of the offseason conditioning program. But the strength and conditioning
staff is here to help them as much as they
want help, right, and those guys. We've always said this
about football, strength and conditioning coaches see more of the
players than probably anybody.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
You know the trainers obviously, if you're in a rehab situation,
you get taped up by some of them. Whatever, But
it's going to be the strength and conditioning people that
spend a lot of time with them. And you're working
on your body, you're trying to add muscle. How about
the Neil Hunter saying yeah, I added five pounds of muscles.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Like, where did it go?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
That's like, I mean, yes, muscles on muscle Johnny, because
he don't have enough.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I'm just like his The number i'd like to know
on him is what's his body fat? Yeah? That percentage
just got to be almost in the negative category.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
But he also probably wants some I don't. I don't
know how he handles it. He is his body type.
It's almost like he could take a little weight off
and look like a really built basketball play.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah yeah, you know, yeah, such long arms, so athletic.
I mean, just to watch him he's tall, yeah, just
to watch him work is you know? I remember when
he signed here in twenty four and we got him
in studio and we were we were we were discussing
a lot of stuff and you could just you know,
(05:46):
he's very I don't say quiet, but he just you
don't say a whole lot. He says what he needs
to say in two three sentences, yeah, and just goes
about his business. But he's so pleasant to be around.
And I always love fighting him in the locker room
after a game, especially when he's made a big play,
because he is just like it's his smile is a
(06:12):
strong handshake, like he's not gonna sit there and smile
and like, hey, this is like like I love to
give him just this big, strong handshake after a game,
especially when he's made plays. But he's such a creative rusher,
and I love that he has a plan beyond the
fact that he's an all around guy. He's an all
(06:35):
I mean, he plays the run extremely well, he sets
the edge very well. He's he's everything you could have
wanted when you signed a free agent. And then you
put him opposite you know, the terminator, and it's Cyborgan
terminator with those two and like the first two plays
a team. A couple of practices ago maybe was first
practice Mini camp I think, like, forget it. They tried
(06:57):
to run a push pass reverse Daniel and he just
he ate up two yards into the backfield and you're like,
all right, well, I guess he's ready to go. And
the play before that, Will Anderson ran right through somebody
to get the c J. And You're like, all right,
you said it, bubble wrap them. Let's go rid of them.
We don't.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
We don't need those guys around here until September.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
We do LA.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Just be ready, be ready for LA. You gotta do,
and they will stay in shape. And it's gonna be
interesting to see how these guys stay in shape. The
whole league has this issue, and I've said it, I
think this break should be shortened to about three weeks.
I think maybe the off season conditioning program starts three
weeks later.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I know the coach.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I don't know this for a fact, but I'll bet
some of the coaches in front office people won't like
that because this is their only break.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
YEP. So I don't know how all that would play out.
And we'll see, all.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Right, some headlines from around the NFL because we're gonna
have the in the lab conversation about Watt coming up
we're gonna have the long snappers coming up here, and
in no particular order of importance here, but Jacksonville obviously
on the practice field this week, as well as every
other team in the league. Trevor Lawrence spoke directly about
his arm sleeve, saying it's for soreness. He did not
(08:11):
throw between what December and OTAs, so that was the
first time, so sore was the word that came up.
I don't like if I'm a Jags fan, I don't
like the word sore because sore and I know it
went around here last week of the week before Demiko
Ryan's general soreness as opposed to lieutenant sorenis or a
corporal soreness, but general soreness.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
But CJ.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Stroud is fine and he threw yesterday in the day before.
Great with Trevor Lawrence, I've got a guy who's had
some injury concerns and now and it was his left
shoulder last year that got him knocked out. Right, I
shouldn't say knocked out because he was knocked out as well,
but that's essentially the reason they shut him down for
the rest of the Yeah, the shoulder, the left shoulder.
(08:53):
This is a right arm situation with him with general soreness.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Because he hasn't thrown much since December.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
But I don't like sore because they'll say sore sometimes
they meeting football people, and it could mean something a
whole lot worse. But I do believe that he'll be okay,
and if he has to exit the field again, it
won't be because of this, It'll be because of something
else in bad luck for him.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
AFC South think about AFC South offseason. Yeah, it was
discussed in Houston about QB one shoulder. It was discussed
in Jacksonville about soreness in the arm for Trevor Lawrence.
Anthony Richardson, Oh yeah, I mean definitely like thing ran
rampant through the AFC South. Cam Wart's okay in Nashville.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
So there's yeah, I saw I'm gonna steal this from
ESPN because I saw this bigger impact for a rookie season,
cam Ward or Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Bigger impact for his team cam Ward.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
He's a quarterback, so it's kind of easy that way,
all right, But let's let's get an exchange rate going
on this. How much of an impact does Travis Hunter
bring the Jacksonville Jaguars as a rookie, it's both sides
of the ball. He practiced on both sides of the
ball for the first time in the last Jags outing yep.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
But what do you think of that? It's gonna be
interesting how much they they're gonna use him on both
sides of the ball.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
We talked about leading receiver Thomas is their leading ran
Thomas jor.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
So what's the stat line in a sense that Travis Hunter,
you look up and go it was worth it to
move heaven and earth to go get him at number two?
So how about DeAndre Hopkins rookie year fifty two, catches
about eight hundred something yards, few touchdowns and Calen Block's
(10:50):
number of interceptions, which is what five? I believe it's five.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, that would be huge, that would be absolutely colossal
if he did that. And I'm gonna say he's not
doing that. He I don't think any five picks. No,
I don't think so either. I don't think so either. Mean,
let me dial it down. Two picks plays a bunch.
I gotta know what the record is too. I think
that's gonna be a big fan Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
That has to be. But but what are people expecting
him to do. People are expecting Mark. I think people
are expecting him to have fifty two catches plus eight
hundred plus yards receiving, handful of touchdowns, are more receiving,
and four or five interceptions defensively. I think that's what
(11:35):
people are expecting. I think that's what Jaguar fans are expected.
I think they're over expecting. Yeah, I didn't agree with you.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
They're expecting triplets and they're gonna get a single kid.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
They had Treyvon Walker as a number one draft pick
a few years ago, and they're still thinking he's a
bust because he hasn't been an eighteen sack of year guy.
He's not a bus. He's getting better every rider, exactly.
That's my point, even though he hasn't gotten to eighteen sacks.
And I'm not just saying this is Jaguar Jaguar fans.
(12:06):
Browns fans were upset with Miles Garrett for a long time.
Texans fans were upset with Mario Williams. Still to this day,
they think Mario was a bust. And I don't think
Mario was a bust at all, absolutely not. But that's
what people expect out of a number one pick. Travis
wasn't the number one pick, but kind of in essence
he was. Yeah, I get it, he would have been.
(12:26):
If you know, if Tennessee had had a if Tennessee
had had a quarterback and a number one pick, he
would have been Travis would have been a number one pick.
So the next standpoint, there's so much hype about him,
and in Jacksonville they're feeding the hype. He makes an
interception that goes up on their video, their their stream
or not to stream their feed. And I can't tell
(12:51):
you how many Jacksonville people we've never had anything like
this this. I mean, they've been down for so long
that in a mini camp interception kind of like us,
you know, when Sting got here, was like, oh my god,
look at this dude. We were doing the same thing
in a sense because we had not seen that in
a few years. They haven't seen that kind of play
(13:12):
in a few years in a while, actually probably since
Jalen Ramsey. But I think the fact that it's this
unicorn I play both sides of the ball sort of thing.
I'm just curious, how, to your point, how are they
going to what's going to be deemed to success for
him too. It paid Jaguars and that your final point
(13:35):
was the team. If the Jaguars get to seven wins,
Travis plays in sixteen or seventeen games, and he has
been impactful on both sides of the ball, regardless of
what the numbers are, then I think it could be
deemed to success. I think, though, but I think it's
going to be really difficult.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You almost need more than seven wins. They better be
damn exciting. I'm one or both sides of the ball.
If it seven wins, well, they don't have a first
round pick next year.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
That's rough, yeh, because they gave it up in this deal.
Remember when the Texans two years ago. Let me take
you back two years ago, Johnny, to when the Texans
hired Demiko Ryans and drafted CJ.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Straut and Will Anderson Junior.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And despite those obviously great acquisitions yep as a coach
and two players that you began your draft with, among
others obviously, but despite all of that, the expectations were
still low. The Jags were coming off that playoff appearance
and the comeback win over the Chargers and a lost
to the Chiefs. The Titans melted down, but hey, there's
(14:38):
still a good team and they're gonna be fine. Right,
They're gonna be better than the Texans, right right, and
the Colts are the Colts.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
The Colts should be okay.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
I know they just drafted Anthony Richardson, but they're gonna
bounce back there. The Colts have got talent, they got
Jonathan Taylor. This is gonna be good. Where the Texan's
gonna finish. We don't know a lot of people thought
third would be okay because you thought the Titans and
the Jags are gonna be that much better. And then
what happens. Texans win ten games, knock off the Colts
last game regular season, Titans nowhere to be found, and
(15:07):
JAG's total freaking meltdown. But they still go nine to eight,
not eight. Get that had a meltdown. So I look
at it like this, they could bounce back the jaguar.
Who's got the best bounce back potential here? Jags, Titans.
I'll just put them into conversation because look, the Texans
(15:28):
were there two years ago, or the Colts better bounce back.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Potentially, Daniel Jones doesn't give games away, and Jonathan Taylor
stays healthy. Yeah, I could see it. This is as
you were going through that. You know what hit me?
What I kept thinking in my mind, I'm like, we
had Demika Ryans. Okay, handle this question. What is the
(15:54):
record of Jacksonville, Tennessee, Indianapolis if Demikos is each of
those teams head coach that year or anytime this year?
Oh this year, Demiko, take him off our squad. Let
him be the head coach. You got to hire a seat.
He's got to hire the right assistant. Jackson understood, understood.
(16:16):
I mean, let it be Demiko and the staff. I
don't care, but let Demiko Ryans. Because my pointing is,
as I'm listening to you recount twenty twenty three, I
just remember thinking, yeah, but we have Demko and that matters.
And obviously Demiko yesterday when he was talking about the
acquisition Nick Chubb, you know, he talked about Nicko Sario.
(16:38):
I think we're extremely lucky to have the head coach
GM combination that we have. It's unbelievable, and I think
that that makes the biggest difference in the roster Nick
has put together since twenty twenty one. That's exactly right,
and I think that's made a huge difference. But let's
just say you take de Miko and you put Demko
on the Colts. Now, I know Demiko would look got
(17:00):
the talent building and may not have drafted Anthony Richardson
at twenty twenty three. I don't know. But of those
three teams, which one is the best. If you just
take Demiko Ryans, take Demiko and the staff, and take
this staff and put it with any one of those
other three teams.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
AFC South, I think it means a lot for Jacksonville
because that I think so just Demiko's the coordinator is
gonna make that defense so much better.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
That yeah, that defense should not be as bad as
it was last.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Year, But I still say it's the Colts with the
biggest bounce back because positive effect on the offense. But
that defense is gonna play so much better with a
running game with Jonathan Taylor right that offensive line, with
those receivers.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Those receivers in Indianapolis are really good and deep, really good.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
They just haven't had anybody to throw to him. Somebody
put up the stack. Comparison again with Trevor Lawrence and
Daniel Jones.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Is eerily very similar. If somebody else put up this
is on read it.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
I think they put up CJ and Mariota through a
similar number of games, and it's pretty it's pretty comparable. However,
the one loss record is very different. What the stat
comparison doesn't show is third downs is clutch plays, clutch throws,
moment of truth, first downs and like the throw in
(18:23):
the Buffalo game last year, just to get that field
goal a little closer and make it doable for this team. Obviously,
the Tampa Bay game year one, J Mariota is that's
the comparison. Yeah, I mean, I'll give you the biggest difference.
Here's the biggest difference, winning plate play, kept getting hurt, right, hurt?
(18:45):
I put hurt in air quotes. Yeah, and what do
they have?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I talked to Titans, a pretty good team, Titans players,
people around a Titans organization at that time that were like,
Marcus needs to be one hundred percent before he plays. Yep. Yeah,
remember the twenty eighteen game, we all thought we were
gonna see Mariotta. It's week two. We go to Tennessee
after going to New England, and we think we're gonna
(19:09):
see We're gonna see Marcus Mariotta, you see Blaine Gabbard
instead seen Blaine Gabbert. And I remember Vrabel after the game,
like hearing what Rabel had to say, I was like, Oh,
that's not good. That's not good. And then the next
so I asked some of the people that we knew
with the Titans, I said, so, what's the deal? And
I remember one of them looked at me at one
point and said, if Marcus is not one hundred percent
(19:30):
all the time, he's not playing, well, that's awful. And
that's different than seven. That's track and field. Svin can
have three toes hanging out of his shoe, his left
arm hanging by his side, three concussions, and he's gonna
want to go out there and play.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
An old coach once told me that's track and field mentality,
and for a good reason. In track and field you
have the mentality if you have an injury, you can't
go out there. It's tense of a second. We're talking
about differentially. You got to be able to go get that.
So you need to be perfectly healthy. Yeah, I mean, I.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I understand it because you know, if you're an NFL player,
when you go out on a field, a lot of
times people don't know what you're dealing with. They don't
know you might be dealing with the hernia, a bad knee,
a bad toe.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
You will be judged as a healthy player. That's exactly
You're putting stuff on tape that is going to judge.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I don't care how you got to the starting line
and you were limping and agreed you're groin is.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Ripped off or whatever.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Once you're out there, you're on the record, and that's
the way it's regarded.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And that's why I value the guys that much more
that go out there and play because of that, because
they're putting that to the side and saying, I'm going
out there for my guys. I'm gonna be out there.
I'm gonna be on that field, and I don't care
how people are judging me. I gotta go out there
and make winning plays for my team. And that's the thing.
Seven's going out there banged up, not one hundred percent
(20:51):
shoulder hanging off. He's still gonna find a way. The
Green Bay game is a great case of that. Last year.
Can't be can't protect him the entire day, cannot protect him.
We somehow find a way with defensive special teams to
stay in that game. Joe Mixon with some great runs
and he makes that throw take Xavier Hutchinson on third
down right before the two minute, and then you would
(21:14):
should have been the game, and it should have been
It should have been the game, and it ends up
not being the game. But that's that's what we have.
That's what we have here. So any comparison to someone
like Marcus Mariota numbers wise, my hands up.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
In the crazy like, miss me with that. This guy's
a winner. CJ's a winner. Yeah, and CJ watching him
operate these last couple of days was so much fun
just watching him throw the ball again.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I forgot how enjoyable it was.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, it's been a while, you know, it's been since
playoff practice and playoff games since we've been able to
see him operate. Okay, Coming up in the Lab, Johnny
and Drew discuss what who is at practice Mini Camp Finale,
and Watt had a lot to say. Johnny and Drew
have a lot to say about him and the battle
of the long snappers? Is that dramatic enough? It's happening
(22:08):
in Texans camp this summer it's been happening in OTAs.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
How's it going.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
We'll hear from both guys, Austin Brinkman and Tucker Addington.
They're coming up also here on Texans Radio. Back to
it here on Texans Radio. Mark VanderMeer and John Harris
as promised the Battle of the long Snappers.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
John Weeks is a forty nine er.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Two men in OTAs in mini camp duking it out.
We'll see what they do in training camp with Austin
Brinkman and Tucker Addington. First, we will visit with Tucker
Addington out of sam Houston State University.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Eat him up, cats man.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, no, I mean you'll be calling his games this year,
but I actually call it his games. I know.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Johnny's the unofficial voice of the game.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
For Sam Houston. Yeah, back when, back when you're playing
at sam Houston, been doing doing it for a while.
So yeah, glad Bearcat Orange runs deep. Yeah. I mean
I've got good friends that owned baseball stadiums over there,
so yeah, it's it's good being here, Tucker. I know
a lot of pressure on, you know, following a guy
(23:10):
that had been here for so long in John Weeks.
That's not something you can think about on a daily
but there's gonna be pressure on whoever long snapper is
going forward, definitely, but there's just general pressure on a
long snapper anyways.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Nature it is.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
I mean, Mark will call your name when you're snapping
the ball, but after that you don't want to hear
it because you could be a bad snap here there.
But that's a lot of pressure. How did you kind
of live through the years of dealing with that pressure
of just being that guy that man, this is my
one job. I gotta do it and if I don't
do it, well, this could this game can go sideways
in a hurry.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
So dealing with the pressure, Yeah, I think the nature
posision is we kind of have one shot and we're out,
you know, and so I think take the best of
that opportunity. You know, each snap is a is a blessing,
you know. And for me, my motto is the next
net mentality. So you you get one shot, you go
out there, you snap, and you don't let it affect
(24:01):
your next one. So I think when you take it
like that, the pressure can be lightened.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Right. So yeah, snap at a time.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
You were part of the I want to get this right.
The Texas Long Snapping Organization.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Yeah, so I was actually I trained there out of
high school.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
So this exists, it does snapping, or it does exist,
it doesn't exist. Yeah, And you know, there's a lot
of people wrapping it out there and at least have
learned something from it. And I think coach Connery has
taken the steps to lead a snapper to uh to
the next level, you know, whether that's the best high
school snapper you can be or to whatever college you
(24:39):
can think of. You know, I mean, the coaches are
looking for guys and it's becoming more and more prevalent
in terms of long snapper specific trainings and stuff like that.
And so you know, I might have been one of
the last guys who had played other positions prior to
getting into long snapping, you know, like hey linebacker, Hey
can you also snap?
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Kind of thing? Hey tied in? Can you also snap?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Now there's people that are committing middle school age kids
to long snapping and where and oh that y'all? Yes, yeah,
I mean you're you're talking about sixth graders wanting to snap,
you know, and maybe I mean that attests to the
guys who have been in the league for years John
Weeks being one of them. You know, uh, he's he's he's,
I mean him and the other people have late a
path to uh to kind of show the position position
(25:21):
as a skill, you know, a skill set and art
and uh, I think it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So when did it happen for you, the turn to
long snapper or was it something that you knew all along?
Speaker 5 (25:32):
So it's actually sophomore year of high school. I kind
of just got thrown the position. So I had a
coach from high school, coach Sierra. He just kind of said, hey,
you're snapping.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I said, all right. He said, what you didn't do
is before I said, no, I haven't. How do you
hold the ball?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
You know?
Speaker 4 (25:44):
He said, oh, here you go. This is how you
hold it.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You learned everything on the spot.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
I had never done it, and he said, man, you're
pretty good at it. And then I kind of started training,
you know, doing long doing a doing a linebacker and
tied end duties you know in high school and I
had started working at a gym and he said, hey, man,
I played and them I know some guys that snapped,
you know, in the league, are snapped in college.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
And you can go.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Play college and do this really all right? So that's
when coach Conyrie came to the picture. He kind of
the strength trainer I was with all those de la Garza.
He kind of brought Conrie down to his gym and said, hey,
this kid's got something, you know, and snapped for him,
and coach kind of said, yeah, I think we can
work on some things and and straighten you up, you know,
get a little more consistent. And obviously I was young
(26:27):
at the time too, so put a little bit more
muscle on and stuff like that. And man, you know,
use your athleticism to your advantage here and try to
try to build something, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Tucker addicton with us, what's the path? Like?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You go right to the gamblers? You out of football
for a while? How does all that work?
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah, so I'm out of football for a little bit.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
I was working at rehab hospital at the time, thinking
about going to pet school, and I was kind of
an interm hey, you know, football might be the thing
that I'm interested in, you know, and had a call.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
From a team to come work out.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
When I was a year and a half removed, still
working in the hospital, were and worked out there and
then you know, my agent said, hey, I think you so,
Phil's an opportunity for you, you know, and uh, of
course Houston Gamblers. I was like a sweet you know,
go from Sam Houston to Houston and then now I'm here,
you know. So it's like a full circle moment trying
to stay in that Houston jeans.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
But have you ever seen any old Houston Gamblers footage
from the eighties? Jim Kelly, I had seen some because somebody.
I think it was a little a little hype real
that somebody made and yeah, yeah it was. It was
a cool little thing for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
So where did where'd you grow up? And how do
you get this? I mean, obviously long snapping get you,
you know, opportunities, but why was it Sam Houston that
you ended up siding on?
Speaker 5 (27:35):
You know, It's kind of a crazy turn of events.
Coach Connery, who owns Texas long Snapping owner and founder,
he actually went to Sam Houston and he somehow had
connections still there through alumni stuff, and one of I
hadn't I hadn't been to any star ranked camps or
anything like that.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
I'd just been training there.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
And so he contacted especially his corterner at a time,
who you know, I don't know if he offered me
on the spot or like before to walk on spot
or how it worked out exactly, but uh yeah, at
the end of the time, committing there, them choosing having
the ability to give me some money.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
And I'm a triplet.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
My mom's a single mom, so I'm I was like, yeah,
i'll tick, I'll take the money.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
So what are the other two guys I have?
Speaker 4 (28:15):
I have a.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
Brother and a sister, so they're still living back at home.
I'm from the Bronfles by the way, Texas, right down
the road, yuh and uh yeah they're still yees. So
I just kind of followed the money at the time,
and and you know, I built a lot of great
relationships there and I met a lot of great people
and I had I had a great career, I feel like,
and it's continued to go up from there.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
All Right, we know you got to go, but what
more for you Bronfles or Fredericksburg as a destination.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I know you're gonna be there's a lot of bias here.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah yeah, but go for it.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Make your pitch because a lot of people are sending
their people set theirselves to Fredericksburg.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Well, you know, I mean depends on what you're into.
But I can tell you New Bronfles is growing rapidly
and fredericks burstall is a little bit.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
I mean they both have that small town feel.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
But I think Fredericksburg when you consider the amount of people,
it depends on how fast paced you want to be,
you know, and what you're into, water sports, water activities.
Green Hall obviously, oh yeah, I actually lived like our
was born and raised. The New bron FLEs lived five
minutes from green Hall and stuff like that. And so
my wife, actually she'd probably be happy to me saying this,
but she introduced me to all the green you know,
(29:19):
prior to that I had been I made my way
around it, but understanding actually that little town or history
in the history there and the music and stuff like that.
She actually got me into that when we met in
high school. So yeah, prompts to her. But I think,
I mean I would bias New bron Fules, but uh,
Frederis was a great spot as well.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
So Verry Night, very politically good answer. Thanks a lot.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Tucker, of course, there's Tucker Addington, one of the two
long snappers. Duke g get out this off season to
replace John Wicks. The other Austin Brinkman from West Virginia.
Tell us a little bit about yourself West Virginia. Yep,
and long snap there. I know, not all long snappers
and basically, well I should say all long snappers don't
(30:00):
start out being long snappers.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Tell us about yourself.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Yeah, no, so thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Yeah, so I was at West Virginia originally from you know,
bel Air, Maryland.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
You know, played for my dad in high school. Was
learned a lot there.
Speaker 6 (30:18):
Yeah, there we go, played quarterback my senior year. I
had a lot of fun with that, punted as well,
and then you know, made the transition and was recruited
as a long snapper to West Virginia. You know, competed
my second year there for the job and then you know,
took it from there.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And how do they know long snap? Hey, here's a quarterback.
I mean it seemingly makes sense quarterbacks could be good
long snappers because all you're doing is throwing the ball.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Between the ball right.
Speaker 6 (30:47):
Yeah, but no, I did the like the camp circuit
as a as a snapper, and then we just needed
a punter my senior year. So I just kind of
did that once the long snapping kind of you know,
recruitment kind of closed up and we were good to go.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
So at what point, Austin, did you realize, yeah, I
can do this long snapping thing. Was it more kind
of your dad saying, hey, we think you can have
a future doing this or what we'll kind of led
you in that direction.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yes, it's funny you say that.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
My dad, uh taught me in our basement when I
was little, because he's like, I don't know if you're
going to be athletic or not, so here's here's a
little tool that we could potentially exactly. Yeah, and then
know and then we needed one kind of freshman year
for varsity in high school. Uh, and then sophomore year
is when I started the camp thing and kind of realized,
you know, going to these camps like okay, like I
(31:34):
can compete with with these guys, and you know, the
more I work at it, I could potentially have a shot.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yet you played quarterback as your high school career evolved.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yes, but it's either in the back of your mind,
I got this exactly.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
Exactly, and you know that's kind of what I was
able to take and run with and you know, it's
got me to this point. So I think it worked
out pretty well.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I mean, there's no questions, worked out pretty well. The
you know, going to West Virginia. What was that like
playing there and being a long snapper where it's one
of those things where I hate to say it this way,
but you don't really want anybody to know your name,
right because they know your name, you probably airmailed one
that stuff. Yes, yeah, you want to be a pretty
important part. You are a pretty important part of the
(32:14):
entire scheme of football at that university. So what was
that kind of like being West Virginia And how is that?
Speaker 6 (32:19):
Yeah, I mean I was incredibly thankful for my time
at West Virginia and you know coach Brown, Coach Brown,
and you know, being able to work my way into
a leadership role on that team, you know, as a
long snapper was something that was big for me just
because I felt like as a team dynamic special teams
is something that I was able to represent, you know,
in the team room and leadership meetings and stuff like that,
(32:42):
but also have a presence on the team and on
the field of hey, like you know, I kind of
you know, I'm able to run this show.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
I know where everybody's supposed to be and really help
out in that aspect.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Austin Brinkman with us long snapper for your textans. So
what are they looking for from you? It's flawless delivery, yep,
But what about getting down field, making a tackle, all
of that, because I know there are two guys here
right now.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Yeah, No, for sure.
Speaker 6 (33:07):
You know, like you said, it's obviously the consistency piece
and delivering a flawless ball, but being able to help
in protection and do my job on the punt team,
you know, take take my man, communicate with the guys
on the line, and you know, really be a big
threat in the protection game for punt.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
What's it been like being in Houston? Do you have
any experience in Houston? Know anybody from Houston, any family
in Houston.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
No.
Speaker 6 (33:32):
The only time I've been down here before is when
we played at Houston in twenty three and my.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Game didn't go well.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
Yeah, that's talking about that's what we don't like to
talk about. Yeah, I figured, but no, my college roommate,
funny enough, he's a g A at Rice now. Uh
so I've been able to kind of hang out with
him and he showed me around the city a little
bit y.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, so it's been a great experience so far.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Is bel Air, Maryland in the part of Maryland that's
near West Virginia or is it east.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
It's it's East, it is, Yeah, So it's like thirty
minutes north of Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Okay, So when you go to Morgantown, what is that
like for you?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Culturally? Morgantown is interesting.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
I mean, they die obviously, die hard West Virginia fans,
but there's just something about the state of West Virginia.
It's just surrounded and the way they banned together for
that football team is special.
Speaker 6 (34:19):
Yeah, and that was one of the reasons I went there. Like,
you are playing for the state. We're the only Power
five program in the state, and you know, every Saturday
in the fall, you know, at home, our fans are
coming together, the state's rallying behind us, and you know,
we really know that we're playing for one point eight
million people rather than just just a small fan base.
So that's something that was really important for us in
(34:41):
our team.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
No pro team in the state, I mean that is
like that we are the pro team. So I'm sure
you've been asked as having been a special teams member
at West Virginia University. Did you ever hear from McAfee
at all?
Speaker 6 (34:53):
So, yeah, he was one of the like guest coaches
for our spring game in twenty four so we we
were able to talk to him, you know, as a unit,
get get some advice from him, and hear about some
of his experiences. And that was a blessing in itself,
just because it's somebody that's been through the system and
we were able to talk to him.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
So that was nice, excellent. Austin, thanks a lot for
joining us. Best of luck to you.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
There's Austin Brinkman, West Virginia Mountainair long snapper battling with
Tucker Addington for the job vacated by John Weeks, who's
now a San Francisco forty nine er. Coming up in
the Lab, Johnny and Drew discuss JJ Watt, among other
things here I'm Texans All Access. In our final segment
tonight on the show, Drew Jordy and Johnny Harris get
(35:36):
together for in the Lab. Let's get a chunk of
that podcast in here. As they talk about JJ Watt
being at mini camp.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
He is going to be a color commentator along with
play by play voice Iron Eagle for CBS this year.
That's a pretty powerhouse duo, right. They're gonna be fun
to see how he does. Just like everything he's done
in his life, JJ's done it at a high level.
I expect nothing changes in this since either. But it
made me wonder, how many games do you think they'll
(36:06):
have that are Texans games? How many Texans games do
you think that duo is gonna call. I'm gonna set
the over under a three and a half. You think
they go more than that, you think they go less
than that?
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Okay, So here's one of the weird things about Uh.
You know, JJ's at CBS and typically and I remember
before the schedule came out, I started thinking, yeah, I
think we could get JJ for for a few games.
You know. I know the math is a little bit
different now that Fox and CBS kind of crossover a
(36:39):
little bit more, But it had typically been the AFC.
Texans are in, right, that would be CBS, NFC would
be Fox. Well, I just looked at the schedule. If
my math is correct, If my math is correct as
it sits right now, there are fifteen games, the last
two with the Chargers of the TBD Colts TBD, so
(37:02):
fifteen games.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
I kind of get the sense that Chargers game, it's
laten see, I bet that's a primetime game. I think
it is primetime. It it could be like a Saturday afternoon.
That's the only one on that's exactly considered that a
prime time.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
So my guess is that one will not be CBS.
My hope is that Week eighteen won't matter and that
might just be CBS to get it in at Nut
against the Colts. But there are seven games on CBS.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Oh wow, that's okay, that's I didn't do that advanced math. Yeah, yeah, tough.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
So I think the number is a little bit lower, right,
But when you start looking at the games that potentially,
you know, he could do at the Colts Week thirteen,
that's a CBS game I could I could see that
and that that would be great. It's a Jaguars game
we play at home week ten. I think that that
(37:50):
could definitely then maybe.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Maybe Lawrence starts playing better and maybe the Hunter's excited.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
You know that maybe that Jaguars game before Ravens Week five,
I could see that you know, because they're the number
two crew. You know, this was the Charles Davis Iron
Eagle group, and I love Charles Davis.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
He's awesome.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I loved him, and I think he'll be great on
college football. It's gonna be weird to not hear Charles
doing games and he might just think he might do
him a different way this year. But miss Charles Davis.
But the fact that JJ's replacing him is perfect. I
think JJ and I and are gonna be fantastic. That said,
they're the number two crew, so it's gotta be a
relatively large sized game at Ravens. That could be one
(38:38):
of those that could definitely be one.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Of those Number one that could be a nance Roma one.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yeah, it definitely could so, And that's the hard part.
Like at Jaguars early in the season Titans Week four,
are those teams gonna be at a level that it's
gonna draw the number two crew in those games earlier
in the season. So yeah, I think that's gonna be
a little bit tougher. Now I'm just looking at our
schedule obviously, what impacts it. What's the rest of the
(39:05):
schedule for that week? You know, when we play the
Ravens in Week five. What's the rest of the NFL doing.
What else does CBS have, Because you're right, it might
be a Nance Romo game at noon. Typically they'll do
an afternoon game. My hope is there's a Chief something
game going on in the afternoon and the Chiefs will
end up, you know, getting Nance Romo and we'll get
JJ and I and for at Ravens. Maybe that's the
(39:27):
way to break the streak there in Baltimore, to have
JJ call in the game for us on CBS. I
don't know, there's got to be a way to break it.
But I'm I feel like I'm like you and Mark
and you guys are like me in a sense that
kind of intrigued by all the broadcasting stuff. You know,
who calls what game? How do they figure it out?
We CBS were Fox, you know what time the game is,
(39:48):
all that kind of stuff. Like, all that stuff kind
of intrigues me. I don't know how much fans like it.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
I think come do.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
But I think it's the fact that it's ninety nine
that we're talking about. I think that matters to a
lot of fans. In fact, he was in a bi
bilding on Wednesday. That matters to a lot of fans
no reason. I don't know who asked it, but it
was a good question. But essentially it was are you
gonna be nervous? And he said, Well, the way I
look at it is half of the people watching and
(40:13):
listening are gonna hate whatever I say because it's not
complimentary of their team, and the other half are gonna
like it because I'm saying good things about their team.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
It's all gonna depend So he's got that's a good
perspective to have, you know. It's here's the other thing
I play. Guys don't really give a crap about your
team one way or the other. Though we like to
think they do, they don't. You know, they're pretty unbiased
for the most part.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Here's the other thing too, People are gonna have preconceived
notions and preconceived biases of what they think JJ is
gonna be biased towards. Like, for example, if last year
JJ called a Steelers Chiefs game, well, what's everybody thinking, Well,
JJ is gonna talk about TJ and he's gonna prop
TJ up. And I listened to a good two quarters,
two and a half quarters that game, and he barely
(40:59):
mention and TJ. It came up a little bit, but
it was really I in and I think Nate Burlson
did a game that were kind of goating him into it,
and I think as he gets more comfortable with that, Yeah,
TJ's guy, and we know how much JJ loves loves TJ.
And and that's you know, I'd love that that brothers
can you know, find for each other in the way
(41:20):
that they do and feel for each other the way
that they do that preconceived notion. And as soon as
he says something good about TJ, oh, look at JJ,
he's a homer for TJ. Well, yeah, because he just
beat a triple team and made a sack, right, you know,
but people aren't gonna hear that. It's the same thing
with the Texans. Oh well, the Texans are his team.
He's definitely gonna give credit to the Texans. And I know,
(41:43):
we know JJ, we know that's not always gonna be
the case. JJ is gonna tell it like it is.
You know, if if guys miss the block, if CJ
misses a throw, guys miss tackles, he's gonna say it.
He's gonna call them out. But there's gonna be that
thought of, well, JJ's a textan, he's gonna be bias
towards the Texans. I mean, you fight, you find that,
you know pretty much everywhere. You know, Troy had to
(42:04):
deal with that Traykeman when he was calling Cowboys games
and they called a lot of them and Troy was
very fair.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
But it's trade on the Cowboys. Trayman has never held back.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
No, he's never held back and it but it still
took a while for fans to think, oh, Troy's gonna
be so biased toward the Cowboys. I think the last
I don't know, last ten years, I don't think it's
been like that. I forget when I'm listening to Troy
call a game that, oh, yeah, he's former Cowboy. You know,
JJ will will have to he'll have to fight those biases.
(42:37):
But if he just calls the game as he sees it,
he's gonna you know it, he's gonna be fantastic. He's
got good pop culture references. He can fly off the
cuff a little bit. He'll be fun. You've interviewed him
numerous times. I have as well. He can go with
the flow on anything. But those are the things that
he's gonna have to fight, but he can't think about
(42:57):
fighting them. He just has to call the game the
way he sees it and just let the rest. Let
the rest go, and let people think he's got biases.
We know he is. He loves TJ. We know that
he loves Houston, loves the Texans. But we know he's
going to do the job he's asked to do because that's.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
He came on the Goat Talk with Andre Johnson and
Johnvin Joseph a couple months ago and they asked him,
They're like, who's better, You were TJ? And he said, hey,
career wise, you got to give TJ the nod. Yeah,
he's done it longer and more consistently than I did it.
But then he added the caveat. He's like, but man,
I'll put my four year stretch up against anybodies, including
(43:38):
his that twelve thirteen fourteen stretch three Players of the
Year defensively the Comet year of fourteen where he had
MVP votes. But do you fit a second to Aaron
Rodgers that year in the Yeah, And he's like, JJ
has said, Rogers deserves that MVP. He touches the ball,
it's for the quarterbacks. It's a quarterback award, but man,
(43:58):
he scored five touchdowns, the twenty and a half sacks, it's.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
If a defensive dude was gonna win it. And on
a team that didn't make the playoffs, Yeah, that was
that was the year.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
He probably needed one more touchdown the Texans to make
the playoffs. Yep, two more, maybe break the sack record.
I think I think that would have gotten the sack.
You're a straight hand sack record, yep.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
So yeah, I mean and you say it took all
of that and he pro and he probably wins. Yeah,
Yet he he was that close. He was that close.
I mean, he had people's attention. It was just every
single week and fourteen watching what he was doing. And
I still my favorite moment, you know, one of his
(44:44):
great games. I think a lot of people forget and
got kind of brought up the other day because I
think I think Seth Payne Sean Pendergass were talking about
Sports Rato six ten. They were talking about, you know, CJ,
did you get injured in the weight rooms? Get injured
in the wait room? Talking about injuries in the weight room,
and when that comes up, immediately Ryan Mout pops into
my head because Ryan got injured after the Cleveland game.
(45:07):
But in that game people forget is the person who
caught Ryan malluts first touchdown pass ever was JJ Watt
at wide receiver on a fade route against former text
At Christian Kirksey, and it was just amazing. But in
that game, JJ also had packed the back fifteen yard
roughing the parner penalties and he had those he was
(45:31):
close to Oh, he was that close, and I know,
and you know at the time, I remember thinking, Okay, well,
that's why he was out there that day because they
they felt like he could block it, and he got
cold close. He just he just couldn't finish it. And
I just remember seeing him on the field and Bill
O'Brien is just steaming because its two fifteen yard penalties.
(45:52):
One of them led to a Browns touchdown. The Brown's
really come with the ball that day, but they got
a short field and they ended up scoring a touched
on off one of them. I think the other one,
I can't remember exactly what happened, but they didn't score
on the other one, so I was like, ah, no harm,
no foul. But he had two and JJ after the
second one walks over the sideline and JJ. JJ would
(46:14):
get tired. I always remember this. He would put his
hands on his hips and just kind of his elbows
would go out. He would kind of just stand there
and it was almost like he was looking like, you know,
Bill O'Brien, come get mad at me, like get this
out of the way or whatever. And so JJ was
over there on the sideline for like two plays. I'm
like standing ten yards away, just clear as day. And
finally I see O'Brian kind of stewing, and O'Brien walks
(46:34):
over and he's like good. He kind of signals JJ
goes back in there. In that game, Wat had the
catch for a touchdown. He also had four solos, an
assist for five combined tackles, a sack, three TFLs, forced
to fumble, and had a fumble recovery. And this was
(46:54):
the game. When we came home, we got in a flight.
For some reason. This flight took a long time. I
don't know why. And I remember I was looking at
his working out. I was riding on the way home.
It's dark, it's you know, because we played in November,
and I just remember thinking, you know, JJ's got a
number in almost every one of these defensive columns.
Speaker 3 (47:13):
Yep, he hit the buffet, as Sean Pendergast likes to say.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
And it's like I'm looking at going Jesus, he hit
everything here. You know one thing you didn't hear it
was quarterback curries. And it really got me starting thinking
about the rest of that year, like looking at the
statu sheet, how many of those columns he hit, And
it got to a point where nearly every game he
was hitting every column with a number one. He did
not like the pass that's that's rare. Yeah, he didn't
(47:38):
have a quarterback hurry or pass defense in that game.
Drew Doherty and John Harrison in the Lab. You can
catch that whole podcast on YouTube and Houston Texans dot com.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
Tomorrow Glenn Davis on soccer. Another Texans interview to be
featured to be named later. Stay tuned tomorrow night at
six Area forty five coming up next. Have a great night,
Go Texans.
Hello Texans, Welcome to the show. Mark VanderMeer and John
Harris with you. No General, No John McClain tonight. I know,
it's strange. It's like having an eclipse or something, because
it's so rare that we don't have him on on
a Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
He's out and about doing.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Doing some footage for a documentary with Jimmy Johnson down
in the Keys.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
So that's gonna be good, can't Well. Sometime yesterday afternoon
we just got this, I would say, not random text,
but we just got a text and just had a picture. Yeah,
and it was The General with Jimmy Johnson and then a
few other obviously Lynch documentary Coharts in that right picture
as well.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
So very cool, very cool. Indeed, all right, speaking of
very cool, it's cool when a relatively decent sized story
on your football team is Battle of the long Snappers,
because yes, that's right. There's a competition to see who
gets to replace John Weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And we'll let both guys on.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
The show a little bit later on, also in the
Lab Weekly podcast, Drew Doherty, John Harris, and it's about
JJ Watt who was at practice, and we'll talk about
that a little bit here the opening segment perhaps, and
I know the big story broke this morning about Jimmy Ward,
but not much to say about that. Obviously, the Texans
are aware of it and we'll see where it goes.
(01:18):
And our prayers are with everybody involved with that story,
so hoping for some resolution there. Anyway, Let's get to
it here, Johnny, because OTA's Mini camp, it's all over.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It's all over.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
A team out to get together today and they break
for the big gap between mini camp and training camp,
and here we go. You and I are going to
be out it every night every night, six o'clock Texans Radio,
and we've got so many interviews with Texans players that
you're going to be hearing over the next few weeks.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So that's gonna be cool.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Plus tomorrow night, Glenn Davis, I'm gonna hear some soccer
stuff because July sixth will be Gold Cup Final at
NRG Stadium, first time ever the final, So we'll talk
to Glead about that and about other soccer things, the
other kind of football. Very interesting stuff always with Glamb.
But a day after Mini camp, here we go into
the break.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Absolutely had the family barbecue today and then it's off
into the nether world wherever they're gonna go. We talked
to Honey Interviews, You do forty forty. When we asked
them about that break, we would kind of mention the
word break, and it's funny because it's really not a
not a break for us. I was actually walking back
(02:31):
from practice one day during Ota Is I think, and
Nick Cassario walked up next to me and said, so,
you guys going to break two essentially, and I was like, no, man,
we're doing We're twenty four to seven three sixty five.
I said. The only time that we go off the
air is the time period between the end of the
season and the end of season in the Super Bowl,
(02:53):
then after that, and I said, so when you start
winning the Super Bowls, we will be twenty four to
seven three sixty five, right, And we want it to
be that way. We want to work every single day.
But I said that's only break, and he goes, God
enough to keep you busy. I'm like, oh, yeah, we
got plenty always. We're all good. We're all good all
the time. But when we mentioned that to the guys
about the break, there was something that kind of looked
(03:15):
at us, said it's not really a break. We're just
out of the building because, in paraphrasing many of them saying, look,
you show up here for training camp and you are
a smidge out of shape, or you're a smidge not
ready to pay the price. It's going to be hell
to pay. Yeah, and not because Demko ranged down from
(03:39):
on high.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
It is.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
You walk out in ninety four degree weather and it
is on and then three days later you're putting pads on.
So you've got to be ready to go. And the
guys are very very well aware of, even the rookies.
They've been well counseled on. You don't show up out
of this break not in shape. You've got to stay
(04:03):
the course of what you've been doing. I bet we
have a record number of guys hanging around during the break.
Oh yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
They'll take a vacation maybe exactly, but they're gonna come back.
They're going to work out just like they were before
off season conditioning began.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yep, and you had that.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Thirty plus player turnout for workouts that were not part
of the offseason conditioning program. But the strength and conditioning
staff is here to help them as much as they
want help, right, and those guys. We've always said this
about football, strength and conditioning coaches see more of the
players than probably anybody.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
You know the trainers obviously, if you're in a rehab situation,
you get taped up by some of them. Whatever, But
it's going to be the strength and conditioning people that
spend a lot of time with them. And you're working
on your body, you're trying to add muscle. How about
the Neil Hunter saying yeah, I added five pounds of muscles.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Like, where did it go?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
That's like, I mean, yes, muscles on muscle Johnny, because
he don't have enough.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I'm just like his The number i'd like to know
on him is what's his body fat? Yeah? That percentage
just got to be almost in the negative category.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
But he also probably wants some I don't. I don't
know how he handles it. He is his body type.
It's almost like he could take a little weight off
and look like a really built basketball play.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah yeah, you know, yeah, such long arms, so athletic.
I mean, just to watch him he's tall, yeah, just
to watch him work is you know? I remember when
he signed here in twenty four and we got him
in studio and we were we were we were discussing
a lot of stuff and you could just you know,
(05:46):
he's very I don't say quiet, but he just you
don't say a whole lot. He says what he needs
to say in two three sentences, yeah, and just goes
about his business. But he's so pleasant to be around.
And I always love fighting him in the locker room
after a game, especially when he's made a big play,
because he is just like it's his smile is a
(06:12):
strong handshake, like he's not gonna sit there and smile
and like, hey, this is like like I love to
give him just this big, strong handshake after a game,
especially when he's made plays. But he's such a creative rusher,
and I love that he has a plan beyond the
fact that he's an all around guy. He's an all
(06:35):
I mean, he plays the run extremely well, he sets
the edge very well. He's he's everything you could have
wanted when you signed a free agent. And then you
put him opposite you know, the terminator, and it's Cyborgan
terminator with those two and like the first two plays
a team. A couple of practices ago maybe was first
practice Mini camp I think, like, forget it. They tried
(06:57):
to run a push pass reverse Daniel and he just
he ate up two yards into the backfield and you're like,
all right, well, I guess he's ready to go. And
the play before that, Will Anderson ran right through somebody
to get the c J. And You're like, all right,
you said it, bubble wrap them. Let's go rid of them.
We don't.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
We don't need those guys around here until September.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
We do LA.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Just be ready, be ready for LA. You gotta do,
and they will stay in shape. And it's gonna be
interesting to see how these guys stay in shape. The
whole league has this issue, and I've said it, I
think this break should be shortened to about three weeks.
I think maybe the off season conditioning program starts three
weeks later.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I know the coach.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I don't know this for a fact, but I'll bet
some of the coaches in front office people won't like
that because this is their only break.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
YEP. So I don't know how all that would play out.
And we'll see, all.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Right, some headlines from around the NFL because we're gonna
have the in the lab conversation about Watt coming up
we're gonna have the long snappers coming up here, and
in no particular order of importance here, but Jacksonville obviously
on the practice field this week, as well as every
other team in the league. Trevor Lawrence spoke directly about
his arm sleeve, saying it's for soreness. He did not
(08:11):
throw between what December and OTAs, so that was the
first time, so sore was the word that came up.
I don't like if I'm a Jags fan, I don't
like the word sore because sore and I know it
went around here last week of the week before Demiko
Ryan's general soreness as opposed to lieutenant sorenis or a
corporal soreness, but general soreness.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
But CJ.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Stroud is fine and he threw yesterday in the day before.
Great with Trevor Lawrence, I've got a guy who's had
some injury concerns and now and it was his left
shoulder last year that got him knocked out. Right, I
shouldn't say knocked out because he was knocked out as well,
but that's essentially the reason they shut him down for
the rest of the Yeah, the shoulder, the left shoulder.
(08:53):
This is a right arm situation with him with general soreness.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Because he hasn't thrown much since December.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
But I don't like sore because they'll say sore sometimes
they meeting football people, and it could mean something a
whole lot worse. But I do believe that he'll be okay,
and if he has to exit the field again, it
won't be because of this, It'll be because of something
else in bad luck for him.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
AFC South think about AFC South offseason. Yeah, it was
discussed in Houston about QB one shoulder. It was discussed
in Jacksonville about soreness in the arm for Trevor Lawrence.
Anthony Richardson, Oh yeah, I mean definitely like thing ran
rampant through the AFC South. Cam Wart's okay in Nashville.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
So there's yeah, I saw I'm gonna steal this from
ESPN because I saw this bigger impact for a rookie season,
cam Ward or Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Bigger impact for his team cam Ward.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
He's a quarterback, so it's kind of easy that way,
all right, But let's let's get an exchange rate going
on this. How much of an impact does Travis Hunter
bring the Jacksonville Jaguars as a rookie, it's both sides
of the ball. He practiced on both sides of the
ball for the first time in the last Jags outing yep.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
But what do you think of that? It's gonna be
interesting how much they they're gonna use him on both
sides of the ball.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
We talked about leading receiver Thomas is their leading ran
Thomas jor.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
So what's the stat line in a sense that Travis Hunter,
you look up and go it was worth it to
move heaven and earth to go get him at number two?
So how about DeAndre Hopkins rookie year fifty two, catches
about eight hundred something yards, few touchdowns and Calen Block's
(10:50):
number of interceptions, which is what five? I believe it's five.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, that would be huge, that would be absolutely colossal
if he did that. And I'm gonna say he's not
doing that. He I don't think any five picks. No,
I don't think so either. I don't think so either. Mean,
let me dial it down. Two picks plays a bunch.
I gotta know what the record is too. I think
that's gonna be a big fan Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
That has to be. But but what are people expecting
him to do. People are expecting Mark. I think people
are expecting him to have fifty two catches plus eight
hundred plus yards receiving, handful of touchdowns, are more receiving,
and four or five interceptions defensively. I think that's what
(11:35):
people are expecting. I think that's what Jaguar fans are expected.
I think they're over expecting. Yeah, I didn't agree with you.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
They're expecting triplets and they're gonna get a single kid.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
They had Treyvon Walker as a number one draft pick
a few years ago, and they're still thinking he's a
bust because he hasn't been an eighteen sack of year guy.
He's not a bus. He's getting better every rider, exactly.
That's my point, even though he hasn't gotten to eighteen sacks.
And I'm not just saying this is Jaguar Jaguar fans.
(12:06):
Browns fans were upset with Miles Garrett for a long time.
Texans fans were upset with Mario Williams. Still to this day,
they think Mario was a bust. And I don't think
Mario was a bust at all, absolutely not. But that's
what people expect out of a number one pick. Travis
wasn't the number one pick, but kind of in essence
he was. Yeah, I get it, he would have been.
(12:26):
If you know, if Tennessee had had a if Tennessee
had had a quarterback and a number one pick, he
would have been Travis would have been a number one pick.
So the next standpoint, there's so much hype about him,
and in Jacksonville they're feeding the hype. He makes an
interception that goes up on their video, their their stream
or not to stream their feed. And I can't tell
(12:51):
you how many Jacksonville people we've never had anything like
this this. I mean, they've been down for so long
that in a mini camp interception kind of like us,
you know, when Sting got here, was like, oh my god,
look at this dude. We were doing the same thing
in a sense because we had not seen that in
a few years. They haven't seen that kind of play
(13:12):
in a few years in a while, actually probably since
Jalen Ramsey. But I think the fact that it's this
unicorn I play both sides of the ball sort of thing.
I'm just curious, how, to your point, how are they
going to what's going to be deemed to success for
him too. It paid Jaguars and that your final point
(13:35):
was the team. If the Jaguars get to seven wins,
Travis plays in sixteen or seventeen games, and he has
been impactful on both sides of the ball, regardless of
what the numbers are, then I think it could be
deemed to success. I think, though, but I think it's
going to be really difficult.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You almost need more than seven wins. They better be
damn exciting. I'm one or both sides of the ball.
If it seven wins, well, they don't have a first
round pick next year.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
That's rough, yeh, because they gave it up in this deal.
Remember when the Texans two years ago. Let me take
you back two years ago, Johnny, to when the Texans
hired Demiko Ryans and drafted CJ.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Straut and Will Anderson Junior.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And despite those obviously great acquisitions yep as a coach
and two players that you began your draft with, among
others obviously, but despite all of that, the expectations were
still low. The Jags were coming off that playoff appearance
and the comeback win over the Chargers and a lost
to the Chiefs. The Titans melted down, but hey, there's
(14:38):
still a good team and they're gonna be fine. Right,
They're gonna be better than the Texans, right right, and
the Colts are the Colts.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
The Colts should be okay.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
I know they just drafted Anthony Richardson, but they're gonna
bounce back there. The Colts have got talent, they got
Jonathan Taylor. This is gonna be good. Where the Texan's
gonna finish. We don't know a lot of people thought
third would be okay because you thought the Titans and
the Jags are gonna be that much better. And then
what happens. Texans win ten games, knock off the Colts
last game regular season, Titans nowhere to be found, and
(15:07):
JAG's total freaking meltdown. But they still go nine to eight,
not eight. Get that had a meltdown. So I look
at it like this, they could bounce back the jaguar.
Who's got the best bounce back potential here? Jags, Titans.
I'll just put them into conversation because look, the Texans
(15:28):
were there two years ago, or the Colts better bounce back.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Potentially, Daniel Jones doesn't give games away, and Jonathan Taylor
stays healthy. Yeah, I could see it. This is as
you were going through that. You know what hit me?
What I kept thinking in my mind, I'm like, we
had Demika Ryans. Okay, handle this question. What is the
(15:54):
record of Jacksonville, Tennessee, Indianapolis if Demikos is each of
those teams head coach that year or anytime this year?
Oh this year, Demiko, take him off our squad. Let
him be the head coach. You got to hire a seat.
He's got to hire the right assistant. Jackson understood, understood.
(16:16):
I mean, let it be Demiko and the staff. I
don't care, but let Demiko Ryans. Because my pointing is,
as I'm listening to you recount twenty twenty three, I
just remember thinking, yeah, but we have Demko and that matters.
And obviously Demiko yesterday when he was talking about the
acquisition Nick Chubb, you know, he talked about Nicko Sario.
(16:38):
I think we're extremely lucky to have the head coach
GM combination that we have. It's unbelievable, and I think
that that makes the biggest difference in the roster Nick
has put together since twenty twenty one. That's exactly right,
and I think that's made a huge difference. But let's
just say you take de Miko and you put Demko
on the Colts. Now, I know Demiko would look got
(17:00):
the talent building and may not have drafted Anthony Richardson
at twenty twenty three. I don't know. But of those
three teams, which one is the best. If you just
take Demiko Ryans, take Demiko and the staff, and take
this staff and put it with any one of those
other three teams.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
AFC South, I think it means a lot for Jacksonville
because that I think so just Demiko's the coordinator is
gonna make that defense so much better.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
That yeah, that defense should not be as bad as
it was last.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Year, But I still say it's the Colts with the
biggest bounce back because positive effect on the offense. But
that defense is gonna play so much better with a
running game with Jonathan Taylor right that offensive line, with
those receivers.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Those receivers in Indianapolis are really good and deep, really good.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
They just haven't had anybody to throw to him. Somebody
put up the stack. Comparison again with Trevor Lawrence and
Daniel Jones.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Is eerily very similar. If somebody else put up this
is on read it.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
I think they put up CJ and Mariota through a
similar number of games, and it's pretty it's pretty comparable. However,
the one loss record is very different. What the stat
comparison doesn't show is third downs is clutch plays, clutch throws,
moment of truth, first downs and like the throw in
(18:23):
the Buffalo game last year, just to get that field
goal a little closer and make it doable for this team. Obviously,
the Tampa Bay game year one, J Mariota is that's
the comparison. Yeah, I mean, I'll give you the biggest difference.
Here's the biggest difference, winning plate play, kept getting hurt, right, hurt?
(18:45):
I put hurt in air quotes. Yeah, and what do
they have?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I talked to Titans, a pretty good team, Titans players,
people around a Titans organization at that time that were like,
Marcus needs to be one hundred percent before he plays. Yep. Yeah,
remember the twenty eighteen game, we all thought we were
gonna see Mariotta. It's week two. We go to Tennessee
after going to New England, and we think we're gonna
(19:09):
see We're gonna see Marcus Mariotta, you see Blaine Gabbard
instead seen Blaine Gabbert. And I remember Vrabel after the game,
like hearing what Rabel had to say, I was like, Oh,
that's not good. That's not good. And then the next
so I asked some of the people that we knew
with the Titans, I said, so, what's the deal? And
I remember one of them looked at me at one
point and said, if Marcus is not one hundred percent
(19:30):
all the time, he's not playing, well, that's awful. And
that's different than seven. That's track and field. Svin can
have three toes hanging out of his shoe, his left
arm hanging by his side, three concussions, and he's gonna
want to go out there and play.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
An old coach once told me that's track and field mentality,
and for a good reason. In track and field you
have the mentality if you have an injury, you can't
go out there. It's tense of a second. We're talking
about differentially. You got to be able to go get that.
So you need to be perfectly healthy. Yeah, I mean, I.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I understand it because you know, if you're an NFL player,
when you go out on a field, a lot of
times people don't know what you're dealing with. They don't
know you might be dealing with the hernia, a bad knee,
a bad toe.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
You will be judged as a healthy player. That's exactly
You're putting stuff on tape that is going to judge.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I don't care how you got to the starting line
and you were limping and agreed you're groin is.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Ripped off or whatever.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Once you're out there, you're on the record, and that's
the way it's regarded.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And that's why I value the guys that much more
that go out there and play because of that, because
they're putting that to the side and saying, I'm going
out there for my guys. I'm gonna be out there.
I'm gonna be on that field, and I don't care
how people are judging me. I gotta go out there
and make winning plays for my team. And that's the thing.
Seven's going out there banged up, not one hundred percent
(20:51):
shoulder hanging off. He's still gonna find a way. The
Green Bay game is a great case of that. Last year.
Can't be can't protect him the entire day, cannot protect him.
We somehow find a way with defensive special teams to
stay in that game. Joe Mixon with some great runs
and he makes that throw take Xavier Hutchinson on third
down right before the two minute, and then you would
(21:14):
should have been the game, and it should have been
It should have been the game, and it ends up
not being the game. But that's that's what we have.
That's what we have here. So any comparison to someone
like Marcus Mariota numbers wise, my hands up.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
In the crazy like, miss me with that. This guy's
a winner. CJ's a winner. Yeah, and CJ watching him
operate these last couple of days was so much fun
just watching him throw the ball again.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I forgot how enjoyable it was.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, it's been a while, you know, it's been since
playoff practice and playoff games since we've been able to
see him operate. Okay, Coming up in the Lab, Johnny
and Drew discuss what who is at practice Mini Camp Finale,
and Watt had a lot to say. Johnny and Drew
have a lot to say about him and the battle
of the long snappers? Is that dramatic enough? It's happening
(22:08):
in Texans camp this summer it's been happening in OTAs.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
How's it going.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
We'll hear from both guys, Austin Brinkman and Tucker Addington.
They're coming up also here on Texans Radio. Back to
it here on Texans Radio. Mark VanderMeer and John Harris
as promised the Battle of the long Snappers.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
John Weeks is a forty nine er.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Two men in OTAs in mini camp duking it out.
We'll see what they do in training camp with Austin
Brinkman and Tucker Addington. First, we will visit with Tucker
Addington out of sam Houston State University.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Eat him up, cats man.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, no, I mean you'll be calling his games this year,
but I actually call it his games. I know.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Johnny's the unofficial voice of the game.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
For Sam Houston. Yeah, back when, back when you're playing
at sam Houston, been doing doing it for a while.
So yeah, glad Bearcat Orange runs deep. Yeah. I mean
I've got good friends that owned baseball stadiums over there,
so yeah, it's it's good being here, Tucker. I know
a lot of pressure on, you know, following a guy
(23:10):
that had been here for so long in John Weeks.
That's not something you can think about on a daily
but there's gonna be pressure on whoever long snapper is
going forward, definitely, but there's just general pressure on a
long snapper anyways.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Nature it is.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
I mean, Mark will call your name when you're snapping
the ball, but after that you don't want to hear
it because you could be a bad snap here there.
But that's a lot of pressure. How did you kind
of live through the years of dealing with that pressure
of just being that guy that man, this is my
one job. I gotta do it and if I don't
do it, well, this could this game can go sideways
in a hurry.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
So dealing with the pressure, Yeah, I think the nature
posision is we kind of have one shot and we're out,
you know, and so I think take the best of
that opportunity. You know, each snap is a is a blessing,
you know. And for me, my motto is the next
net mentality. So you you get one shot, you go
out there, you snap, and you don't let it affect
(24:01):
your next one. So I think when you take it
like that, the pressure can be lightened.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Right. So yeah, snap at a time.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
You were part of the I want to get this right.
The Texas Long Snapping Organization.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
Yeah, so I was actually I trained there out of
high school.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
So this exists, it does snapping, or it does exist,
it doesn't exist. Yeah, And you know, there's a lot
of people wrapping it out there and at least have
learned something from it. And I think coach Connery has
taken the steps to lead a snapper to uh to
the next level, you know, whether that's the best high
school snapper you can be or to whatever college you
(24:39):
can think of. You know, I mean, the coaches are
looking for guys and it's becoming more and more prevalent
in terms of long snapper specific trainings and stuff like that.
And so you know, I might have been one of
the last guys who had played other positions prior to
getting into long snapping, you know, like hey linebacker, Hey
can you also snap?
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Kind of thing? Hey tied in? Can you also snap?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Now there's people that are committing middle school age kids
to long snapping and where and oh that y'all? Yes, yeah,
I mean you're you're talking about sixth graders wanting to snap,
you know, and maybe I mean that attests to the
guys who have been in the league for years John
Weeks being one of them. You know, uh, he's he's he's,
I mean him and the other people have late a
path to uh to kind of show the position position
(25:21):
as a skill, you know, a skill set and art
and uh, I think it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So when did it happen for you, the turn to
long snapper or was it something that you knew all along?
Speaker 5 (25:32):
So it's actually sophomore year of high school. I kind
of just got thrown the position. So I had a
coach from high school, coach Sierra. He just kind of said, hey,
you're snapping.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I said, all right. He said, what you didn't do
is before I said, no, I haven't. How do you
hold the ball?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
You know?
Speaker 4 (25:44):
He said, oh, here you go. This is how you
hold it.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You learned everything on the spot.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
I had never done it, and he said, man, you're
pretty good at it. And then I kind of started training,
you know, doing long doing a doing a linebacker and
tied end duties you know in high school and I
had started working at a gym and he said, hey, man,
I played and them I know some guys that snapped,
you know, in the league, are snapped in college.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
And you can go.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Play college and do this really all right? So that's
when coach Conyrie came to the picture. He kind of
the strength trainer I was with all those de la Garza.
He kind of brought Conrie down to his gym and said, hey,
this kid's got something, you know, and snapped for him,
and coach kind of said, yeah, I think we can
work on some things and and straighten you up, you know,
get a little more consistent. And obviously I was young
(26:27):
at the time too, so put a little bit more
muscle on and stuff like that. And man, you know,
use your athleticism to your advantage here and try to
try to build something, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Tucker addicton with us, what's the path? Like?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You go right to the gamblers? You out of football
for a while? How does all that work?
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah, so I'm out of football for a little bit.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
I was working at rehab hospital at the time, thinking
about going to pet school, and I was kind of
an interm hey, you know, football might be the thing
that I'm interested in, you know, and had a call.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
From a team to come work out.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
When I was a year and a half removed, still
working in the hospital, were and worked out there and
then you know, my agent said, hey, I think you so,
Phil's an opportunity for you, you know, and uh, of
course Houston Gamblers. I was like a sweet you know,
go from Sam Houston to Houston and then now I'm here,
you know. So it's like a full circle moment trying
to stay in that Houston jeans.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
But have you ever seen any old Houston Gamblers footage
from the eighties? Jim Kelly, I had seen some because somebody.
I think it was a little a little hype real
that somebody made and yeah, yeah it was. It was
a cool little thing for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
So where did where'd you grow up? And how do
you get this? I mean, obviously long snapping get you,
you know, opportunities, but why was it Sam Houston that
you ended up siding on?
Speaker 5 (27:35):
You know, It's kind of a crazy turn of events.
Coach Connery, who owns Texas long Snapping owner and founder,
he actually went to Sam Houston and he somehow had
connections still there through alumni stuff, and one of I
hadn't I hadn't been to any star ranked camps or
anything like that.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
I'd just been training there.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
And so he contacted especially his corterner at a time,
who you know, I don't know if he offered me
on the spot or like before to walk on spot
or how it worked out exactly, but uh yeah, at
the end of the time, committing there, them choosing having
the ability to give me some money.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
And I'm a triplet.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
My mom's a single mom, so I'm I was like, yeah,
i'll tick, I'll take the money.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
So what are the other two guys I have?
Speaker 4 (28:15):
I have a.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
Brother and a sister, so they're still living back at home.
I'm from the Bronfles by the way, Texas, right down
the road, yuh and uh yeah they're still yees. So
I just kind of followed the money at the time,
and and you know, I built a lot of great
relationships there and I met a lot of great people
and I had I had a great career, I feel like,
and it's continued to go up from there.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
All Right, we know you got to go, but what
more for you Bronfles or Fredericksburg as a destination.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I know you're gonna be there's a lot of bias here.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah yeah, but go for it.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Make your pitch because a lot of people are sending
their people set theirselves to Fredericksburg.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Well, you know, I mean depends on what you're into.
But I can tell you New Bronfles is growing rapidly
and fredericks burstall is a little bit.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
I mean they both have that small town feel.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
But I think Fredericksburg when you consider the amount of people,
it depends on how fast paced you want to be,
you know, and what you're into, water sports, water activities.
Green Hall obviously, oh yeah, I actually lived like our
was born and raised. The New bron FLEs lived five
minutes from green Hall and stuff like that. And so
my wife, actually she'd probably be happy to me saying this,
but she introduced me to all the green you know,
(29:19):
prior to that I had been I made my way
around it, but understanding actually that little town or history
in the history there and the music and stuff like that.
She actually got me into that when we met in
high school. So yeah, prompts to her. But I think,
I mean I would bias New bron Fules, but uh,
Frederis was a great spot as well.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
So Verry Night, very politically good answer. Thanks a lot.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Tucker, of course, there's Tucker Addington, one of the two
long snappers. Duke g get out this off season to
replace John Wicks. The other Austin Brinkman from West Virginia.
Tell us a little bit about yourself West Virginia. Yep,
and long snap there. I know, not all long snappers
and basically, well I should say all long snappers don't
(30:00):
start out being long snappers.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Tell us about yourself.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Yeah, no, so thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Yeah, so I was at West Virginia originally from you know,
bel Air, Maryland.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
You know, played for my dad in high school. Was
learned a lot there.
Speaker 6 (30:18):
Yeah, there we go, played quarterback my senior year. I
had a lot of fun with that, punted as well,
and then you know, made the transition and was recruited
as a long snapper to West Virginia. You know, competed
my second year there for the job and then you know,
took it from there.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And how do they know long snap? Hey, here's a quarterback.
I mean it seemingly makes sense quarterbacks could be good
long snappers because all you're doing is throwing the ball.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Between the ball right.
Speaker 6 (30:47):
Yeah, but no, I did the like the camp circuit
as a as a snapper, and then we just needed
a punter my senior year. So I just kind of
did that once the long snapping kind of you know,
recruitment kind of closed up and we were good to go.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
So at what point, Austin, did you realize, yeah, I
can do this long snapping thing. Was it more kind
of your dad saying, hey, we think you can have
a future doing this or what we'll kind of led
you in that direction.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yes, it's funny you say that.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
My dad, uh taught me in our basement when I
was little, because he's like, I don't know if you're
going to be athletic or not, so here's here's a
little tool that we could potentially exactly. Yeah, and then
know and then we needed one kind of freshman year
for varsity in high school. Uh, and then sophomore year
is when I started the camp thing and kind of realized,
you know, going to these camps like okay, like I
(31:34):
can compete with with these guys, and you know, the
more I work at it, I could potentially have a shot.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yet you played quarterback as your high school career evolved.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yes, but it's either in the back of your mind,
I got this exactly.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
Exactly, and you know that's kind of what I was
able to take and run with and you know, it's
got me to this point. So I think it worked
out pretty well.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I mean, there's no questions, worked out pretty well. The
you know, going to West Virginia. What was that like
playing there and being a long snapper where it's one
of those things where I hate to say it this way,
but you don't really want anybody to know your name,
right because they know your name, you probably airmailed one
that stuff. Yes, yeah, you want to be a pretty
important part. You are a pretty important part of the
(32:14):
entire scheme of football at that university. So what was
that kind of like being West Virginia And how is that?
Speaker 6 (32:19):
Yeah, I mean I was incredibly thankful for my time
at West Virginia and you know coach Brown, Coach Brown,
and you know, being able to work my way into
a leadership role on that team, you know, as a
long snapper was something that was big for me just
because I felt like as a team dynamic special teams
is something that I was able to represent, you know,
in the team room and leadership meetings and stuff like that,
(32:42):
but also have a presence on the team and on
the field of hey, like you know, I kind of
you know, I'm able to run this show.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
I know where everybody's supposed to be and really help
out in that aspect.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Austin Brinkman with us long snapper for your textans. So
what are they looking for from you? It's flawless delivery, yep,
But what about getting down field, making a tackle, all
of that, because I know there are two guys here
right now.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Yeah, No, for sure.
Speaker 6 (33:07):
You know, like you said, it's obviously the consistency piece
and delivering a flawless ball, but being able to help
in protection and do my job on the punt team,
you know, take take my man, communicate with the guys
on the line, and you know, really be a big
threat in the protection game for punt.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
What's it been like being in Houston? Do you have
any experience in Houston? Know anybody from Houston, any family
in Houston.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
No.
Speaker 6 (33:32):
The only time I've been down here before is when
we played at Houston in twenty three and my.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Game didn't go well.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
Yeah, that's talking about that's what we don't like to
talk about. Yeah, I figured, but no, my college roommate,
funny enough, he's a g A at Rice now. Uh
so I've been able to kind of hang out with
him and he showed me around the city a little
bit y.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, so it's been a great experience so far.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Is bel Air, Maryland in the part of Maryland that's
near West Virginia or is it east.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
It's it's East, it is, Yeah, So it's like thirty
minutes north of Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Okay, So when you go to Morgantown, what is that
like for you?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Culturally? Morgantown is interesting.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
I mean, they die obviously, die hard West Virginia fans,
but there's just something about the state of West Virginia.
It's just surrounded and the way they banned together for
that football team is special.
Speaker 6 (34:19):
Yeah, and that was one of the reasons I went there. Like,
you are playing for the state. We're the only Power
five program in the state, and you know, every Saturday
in the fall, you know, at home, our fans are
coming together, the state's rallying behind us, and you know,
we really know that we're playing for one point eight
million people rather than just just a small fan base.
So that's something that was really important for us in
(34:41):
our team.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
No pro team in the state, I mean that is
like that we are the pro team. So I'm sure
you've been asked as having been a special teams member
at West Virginia University. Did you ever hear from McAfee
at all?
Speaker 6 (34:53):
So, yeah, he was one of the like guest coaches
for our spring game in twenty four so we we
were able to talk to him, you know, as a unit,
get get some advice from him, and hear about some
of his experiences. And that was a blessing in itself,
just because it's somebody that's been through the system and
we were able to talk to him.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
So that was nice, excellent. Austin, thanks a lot for
joining us. Best of luck to you.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
There's Austin Brinkman, West Virginia Mountainair long snapper battling with
Tucker Addington for the job vacated by John Weeks, who's
now a San Francisco forty nine er. Coming up in
the Lab, Johnny and Drew discuss JJ Watt, among other
things here I'm Texans All Access. In our final segment
tonight on the show, Drew Jordy and Johnny Harris get
(35:36):
together for in the Lab. Let's get a chunk of
that podcast in here. As they talk about JJ Watt
being at mini camp.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
He is going to be a color commentator along with
play by play voice Iron Eagle for CBS this year.
That's a pretty powerhouse duo, right. They're gonna be fun
to see how he does. Just like everything he's done
in his life, JJ's done it at a high level.
I expect nothing changes in this since either. But it
made me wonder, how many games do you think they'll
(36:06):
have that are Texans games? How many Texans games do
you think that duo is gonna call. I'm gonna set
the over under a three and a half. You think
they go more than that, you think they go less
than that?
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Okay, So here's one of the weird things about Uh.
You know, JJ's at CBS and typically and I remember
before the schedule came out, I started thinking, yeah, I
think we could get JJ for for a few games.
You know. I know the math is a little bit
different now that Fox and CBS kind of crossover a
(36:39):
little bit more, But it had typically been the AFC.
Texans are in, right, that would be CBS, NFC would
be Fox. Well, I just looked at the schedule. If
my math is correct, If my math is correct as
it sits right now, there are fifteen games, the last
two with the Chargers of the TBD Colts TBD, so
(37:02):
fifteen games.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
I kind of get the sense that Chargers game, it's
laten see, I bet that's a primetime game. I think
it is primetime. It it could be like a Saturday afternoon.
That's the only one on that's exactly considered that a
prime time.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
So my guess is that one will not be CBS.
My hope is that Week eighteen won't matter and that
might just be CBS to get it in at Nut
against the Colts. But there are seven games on CBS.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Oh wow, that's okay, that's I didn't do that advanced math. Yeah, yeah, tough.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
So I think the number is a little bit lower, right,
But when you start looking at the games that potentially,
you know, he could do at the Colts Week thirteen,
that's a CBS game I could I could see that
and that that would be great. It's a Jaguars game
we play at home week ten. I think that that
(37:50):
could definitely then maybe.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Maybe Lawrence starts playing better and maybe the Hunter's excited.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
You know that maybe that Jaguars game before Ravens Week five,
I could see that you know, because they're the number
two crew. You know, this was the Charles Davis Iron
Eagle group, and I love Charles Davis.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
He's awesome.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
I loved him, and I think he'll be great on
college football. It's gonna be weird to not hear Charles
doing games and he might just think he might do
him a different way this year. But miss Charles Davis.
But the fact that JJ's replacing him is perfect. I
think JJ and I and are gonna be fantastic. That said,
they're the number two crew, so it's gotta be a
relatively large sized game at Ravens. That could be one
(38:38):
of those that could definitely be one.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Of those Number one that could be a nance Roma one.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yeah, it definitely could so, And that's the hard part.
Like at Jaguars early in the season Titans Week four,
are those teams gonna be at a level that it's
gonna draw the number two crew in those games earlier
in the season. So yeah, I think that's gonna be
a little bit tougher. Now I'm just looking at our
schedule obviously, what impacts it. What's the rest of the
(39:05):
schedule for that week? You know, when we play the
Ravens in Week five. What's the rest of the NFL doing.
What else does CBS have, Because you're right, it might
be a Nance Romo game at noon. Typically they'll do
an afternoon game. My hope is there's a Chief something
game going on in the afternoon and the Chiefs will
end up, you know, getting Nance Romo and we'll get
JJ and I and for at Ravens. Maybe that's the
(39:27):
way to break the streak there in Baltimore, to have
JJ call in the game for us on CBS. I
don't know, there's got to be a way to break it.
But I'm I feel like I'm like you and Mark
and you guys are like me in a sense that
kind of intrigued by all the broadcasting stuff. You know,
who calls what game? How do they figure it out?
We CBS were Fox, you know what time the game is,
(39:48):
all that kind of stuff. Like, all that stuff kind
of intrigues me. I don't know how much fans like it.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
I think come do.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
But I think it's the fact that it's ninety nine
that we're talking about. I think that matters to a
lot of fans. In fact, he was in a bi
bilding on Wednesday. That matters to a lot of fans
no reason. I don't know who asked it, but it
was a good question. But essentially it was are you
gonna be nervous? And he said, Well, the way I
look at it is half of the people watching and
(40:13):
listening are gonna hate whatever I say because it's not
complimentary of their team, and the other half are gonna
like it because I'm saying good things about their team.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
It's all gonna depend So he's got that's a good
perspective to have, you know. It's here's the other thing
I play. Guys don't really give a crap about your
team one way or the other. Though we like to
think they do, they don't. You know, they're pretty unbiased
for the most part.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Here's the other thing too, People are gonna have preconceived
notions and preconceived biases of what they think JJ is
gonna be biased towards. Like, for example, if last year
JJ called a Steelers Chiefs game, well, what's everybody thinking, Well,
JJ is gonna talk about TJ and he's gonna prop
TJ up. And I listened to a good two quarters,
two and a half quarters that game, and he barely
(40:59):
mention and TJ. It came up a little bit, but
it was really I in and I think Nate Burlson
did a game that were kind of goating him into it,
and I think as he gets more comfortable with that, Yeah,
TJ's guy, and we know how much JJ loves loves TJ.
And and that's you know, I'd love that that brothers
can you know, find for each other in the way
(41:20):
that they do and feel for each other the way
that they do that preconceived notion. And as soon as
he says something good about TJ, oh, look at JJ,
he's a homer for TJ. Well, yeah, because he just
beat a triple team and made a sack, right, you know,
but people aren't gonna hear that. It's the same thing
with the Texans. Oh well, the Texans are his team.
He's definitely gonna give credit to the Texans. And I know,
(41:43):
we know JJ, we know that's not always gonna be
the case. JJ is gonna tell it like it is.
You know, if if guys miss the block, if CJ
misses a throw, guys miss tackles, he's gonna say it.
He's gonna call them out. But there's gonna be that
thought of, well, JJ's a textan, he's gonna be bias
towards the Texans. I mean, you fight, you find that,
you know pretty much everywhere. You know, Troy had to
(42:04):
deal with that Traykeman when he was calling Cowboys games
and they called a lot of them and Troy was
very fair.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
But it's trade on the Cowboys. Trayman has never held back.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
No, he's never held back and it but it still
took a while for fans to think, oh, Troy's gonna
be so biased toward the Cowboys. I think the last
I don't know, last ten years, I don't think it's
been like that. I forget when I'm listening to Troy
call a game that, oh, yeah, he's former Cowboy. You know,
JJ will will have to he'll have to fight those biases.
(42:37):
But if he just calls the game as he sees it,
he's gonna you know it, he's gonna be fantastic. He's
got good pop culture references. He can fly off the
cuff a little bit. He'll be fun. You've interviewed him
numerous times. I have as well. He can go with
the flow on anything. But those are the things that
he's gonna have to fight, but he can't think about
(42:57):
fighting them. He just has to call the game the
way he sees it and just let the rest. Let
the rest go, and let people think he's got biases.
We know he is. He loves TJ. We know that
he loves Houston, loves the Texans. But we know he's
going to do the job he's asked to do because that's.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
He came on the Goat Talk with Andre Johnson and
Johnvin Joseph a couple months ago and they asked him,
They're like, who's better, You were TJ? And he said, hey,
career wise, you got to give TJ the nod. Yeah,
he's done it longer and more consistently than I did it.
But then he added the caveat. He's like, but man,
I'll put my four year stretch up against anybodies, including
(43:38):
his that twelve thirteen fourteen stretch three Players of the
Year defensively the Comet year of fourteen where he had
MVP votes. But do you fit a second to Aaron
Rodgers that year in the Yeah, And he's like, JJ
has said, Rogers deserves that MVP. He touches the ball,
it's for the quarterbacks. It's a quarterback award, but man,
(43:58):
he scored five touchdowns, the twenty and a half sacks, it's.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
If a defensive dude was gonna win it. And on
a team that didn't make the playoffs, Yeah, that was
that was the year.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
He probably needed one more touchdown the Texans to make
the playoffs. Yep, two more, maybe break the sack record.
I think I think that would have gotten the sack.
You're a straight hand sack record, yep.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
So yeah, I mean and you say it took all
of that and he pro and he probably wins. Yeah,
Yet he he was that close. He was that close.
I mean, he had people's attention. It was just every
single week and fourteen watching what he was doing. And
I still my favorite moment, you know, one of his
(44:44):
great games. I think a lot of people forget and
got kind of brought up the other day because I
think I think Seth Payne Sean Pendergass were talking about
Sports Rato six ten. They were talking about, you know, CJ,
did you get injured in the weight rooms? Get injured
in the wait room? Talking about injuries in the weight room,
and when that comes up, immediately Ryan Mout pops into
my head because Ryan got injured after the Cleveland game.
(45:07):
But in that game people forget is the person who
caught Ryan malluts first touchdown pass ever was JJ Watt
at wide receiver on a fade route against former text
At Christian Kirksey, and it was just amazing. But in
that game, JJ also had packed the back fifteen yard
roughing the parner penalties and he had those he was
(45:31):
close to Oh, he was that close, and I know,
and you know at the time, I remember thinking, Okay, well,
that's why he was out there that day because they
they felt like he could block it, and he got
cold close. He just he just couldn't finish it. And
I just remember seeing him on the field and Bill
O'Brien is just steaming because its two fifteen yard penalties.
(45:52):
One of them led to a Browns touchdown. The Brown's
really come with the ball that day, but they got
a short field and they ended up scoring a touched
on off one of them. I think the other one,
I can't remember exactly what happened, but they didn't score
on the other one, so I was like, ah, no harm,
no foul. But he had two and JJ after the
second one walks over the sideline and JJ. JJ would
(46:14):
get tired. I always remember this. He would put his
hands on his hips and just kind of his elbows
would go out. He would kind of just stand there
and it was almost like he was looking like, you know,
Bill O'Brien, come get mad at me, like get this
out of the way or whatever. And so JJ was
over there on the sideline for like two plays. I'm
like standing ten yards away, just clear as day. And
finally I see O'Brian kind of stewing, and O'Brien walks
(46:34):
over and he's like good. He kind of signals JJ
goes back in there. In that game, Wat had the
catch for a touchdown. He also had four solos, an
assist for five combined tackles, a sack, three TFLs, forced
to fumble, and had a fumble recovery. And this was
(46:54):
the game. When we came home, we got in a flight.
For some reason. This flight took a long time. I
don't know why. And I remember I was looking at
his working out. I was riding on the way home.
It's dark, it's you know, because we played in November,
and I just remember thinking, you know, JJ's got a
number in almost every one of these defensive columns.
Speaker 3 (47:13):
Yep, he hit the buffet, as Sean Pendergast likes to say.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
And it's like I'm looking at going Jesus, he hit
everything here. You know one thing you didn't hear it
was quarterback curries. And it really got me starting thinking
about the rest of that year, like looking at the
statu sheet, how many of those columns he hit, And
it got to a point where nearly every game he
was hitting every column with a number one. He did
not like the pass that's that's rare. Yeah, he didn't
(47:38):
have a quarterback hurry or pass defense in that game.
Drew Doherty and John Harrison in the Lab. You can
catch that whole podcast on YouTube and Houston Texans dot com.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
Tomorrow Glenn Davis on soccer. Another Texans interview to be
featured to be named later. Stay tuned tomorrow night at
six Area forty five coming up next. Have a great night,
Go Texans.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.