April 2023: Spring Game Recap, Recruiting Update, Burnsie English Lessons

The guys are back to review what they took from the Gopher Spring Game, Burnsie gives an update on the 2024 recruiting class (emphasis on in-state players) and Burnsie pronounces a word that Gaardsy and Chip have never heard.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Glenn Mason sent a long time agoat the University of Minnesota. Need a
Pair and a Spare, Thank you, PJ. It is a spring game
edition and April wrap up edition ofthe Pair and a Spare podcast. Justin
Guard from the Fan, Chips Skaggunsfrom the Star Tribune, and playing hurt
today coming back from major injury.His spring game streak is snapped at.

(00:20):
I guess you've been covering as longas me, so twelve. This was
my thirteenth. So now I've gotseniority on you in terms of Spring game.
Ryan Burns go for Illustrated dot Com. How are you doing, man,
I'm feeling better. Wasn't able tomake it to the Spring game,
but we're here now, feeling goodnow that springballs wrapped up. But I
so, here's the thing with spring, even just the Spring game in general.

(00:42):
I think it's like all the takeawaysfrom watching one glorified scrimmage compared to
the other ones that happened and theother three practices the media saw. It's
one of fifteen. I mean,I watched the whole entire Spring game.
I would hope so, but like, I don't know, I mean,
Chip, you've been covering college footballa long time. Are you a big
spring game? Not the way theydo it anymore, because you're not seeing

(01:03):
a lot of the you know,the the regulars, the guys that they're
trying to protect from injury, andthat's you know, it's controlled. Um
so it's it's you know, Iwill say I because of wolves of wild
playoffs and problems and all kinds ofdifferent things going on in my life,

(01:23):
I didn't make it any Yeah,not my problem, but what didn't have
a chance to get to any springpractices and I was able to tune in
to the Big Ten Network for thesecond half. So that's the first time
I saw the Gophers this spring,and it definitely is a pivot point.
It felt like to me, islike I don't already know this team.

(01:47):
It's a lot different team than whichyou're going to be used to. Yeah,
I mean I think that because ofTanner and Mow and you guys that
we've seen for twenty years are gone. It just felt like I was watching
it was like, man, thisis a brand new identity, right,
Well, it's a new guy callingthe plays. You got a brand new
quarterback, you got the strengths ofthe offense go from arguably the best running

(02:07):
back in a long time. Too. They have a lot of good pass
catchers and didn't. I mean,it doesn't feel like there's a whole new
year. Seven years. It's gonnabe a very interesting year. That was
my whole takeaway was they knew thatthey needed to upgrade the wide receiver position,
and I feel like they have Andthis is what Brevin span Ford and
Chris Ottman Bell, you know,coaching on the sidelines and just hanging out.

(02:30):
I mean, Elijah Spencer, CoreyCrum's like your wide receiver five right
now just torches everyone. Yeah.Zero of the Wisconsin game, that was
fun. Like, I have noidea if that Like, it's still PJ.
So you know, he's probably gonnawant to run at fifty times and
milk the clock and do all thosethings. We'll talk modern offense in a

(02:50):
minute, yeah, but it lookedit looked like they had some semblance of
a modern offense and that we're gonnathrow it, We're gonna do some stuff.
I mean, col Kramer might haveset the path the spring game record
for passing yards, but some ofhis deep shots it was interesting, like,
you know, we're just so conditionedto Moe and Tanner and uh sorry
Maron. Yeah, and these namesthat were just um started so many games

(03:12):
right like this is it's almost likea new I mean PJ hadn't had a
practice without those guys at the Universityof Minnesota when you think about like that,
because like he had literally not blowna whistle John Michael Schmidt on campus
without those guys on the field insome form or fashion. So that's how
long they've been here. Yeah.That was the thing that just struck me
as like watching as and you're hearingthese names called out and these new guys,

(03:34):
it's like, huh yeah, it'sa different I need to get to
fall camps. Yeah, that's whyRyan Burns this year, the guy who
only has to make sure he getsto whatever practices are open. That's why
Burnsy is on the Parent of Sparepodcast. You know, Football Insiders is
big for you. We really leanThat's why it's all disappointing. You came
up, lame on Saturday and wasthere for us. For him not to
be there, he had to beon death doorback. Everybody was talking about

(03:58):
it, like where's Burns And they'relike sounds on the injury report. Yeah,
he was exactly. Yeah, hewas wearing the red jersey non contacts.
What's funny when you're getting text fromcoaches after we're saying where were you?
Yeah, five minutes they like whathappened? I was like, wow,
here we are, so but it'sback a picture of you crawled up
on the bathroom floor. Here's whereI was. Yeah. But I've said
a few different times here in thelast month. I think they throw more

(04:20):
in year seven of the Fleck erathan any other year in the Fleck would
hope. So, I mean ithas to be that. Yeah, it
has to because that's their strength,their strength without a doubt. And you
know I didn't I didn't see thebeginning. Athan had a rough first quarter,
but yes, he rebounded in abig way. And that's and that's

(04:40):
going to be the next from Nebraskaall the way into the bowl game.
That is going to be the eighthAnd callik mannis experience. Yeah, he's
going into his third year, hisfirst year is the full time starter.
He's going to have big highs,He's going to have big lows. He's
going to be able though, tokeep you in any game. He's gonna
be able to win you any game, but to the point of he also

(05:01):
can lose you any game with twobad decisions to put you down fourteen three.
I was thinking about this though,with his art, like he physically
athletically, they haven't had a guylike that, No since Webber, who
was there on Saturday. Yeah,nice to see him. To me.
I mean, I think he's probablythe most athlete Dot probably is. Yeah,

(05:21):
physically well, I was physically giftedquarterback in my twelve years. Yeah,
And I think that's what in thatfirst half. You're right, Burns,
he was. He was all overthe place. I mean the ball
was the first few drives, itwas with the fans are but I think
you're when you're that because he's talented, there's no question. So I think
he kind of gets like I canjust come back here and you know,

(05:43):
whereas Tanner it was like every stepis perfect, every hitch is perfect.
I'm very meticulous about it. Hehad a throw in the second half that
just being down there to see it. It was on the far side of
the field and he had a littlebit of pressure and you know in a
spring game, you don't really thereif there's any pressure it's a sack because
they just touch you. And hejust spurred the moment just like flipped it

(06:04):
out to the left, like didn'tset, didn't do anything, and it
was like on the nuts, caughton the sideline and whichever receiver grabbed and
I'm like huh. And it wasn'tlike that was where he was supposed to
throw. It was just like hereI am there he is throw it quick
twenty yard pass. Yeah, like, oh okay, that's different. Well
in the touchdown pass the spencer thatwas beautiful is late. But you know,

(06:27):
the thing I think he'll be ableto do is I mean he's gonna
make mistakes, right, yes,but isn't he gonna be able to overcome
sacks, holding calls that where it'syou know, previously you'd be like,
all right, this is probably gonnabe a punt because they don't have that
in their DNA that he's gonna beable to push the ball downfielder, he's
gonna make something. A big playhappened when you know it's second and twenty

(06:49):
five or whatever. That's what itwas nice about twenty nineteen is you never
felt like they were in like secondand twenty or like, well they could
get this. Yeah, Like it'snot like in for so many years and
sometimes was PJ two, but likein The Killers, like second and twenty,
it's like Lime Grover just puts thesheet down. He's like, just
hand it to the hand it towhoever to give David Robin, Yeah,

(07:10):
we'll punt it. We got PeteMoore, tell ye, Tracy's over there,
going just get them back by behindthe twenty. They're not going to
score. Yeah, but twenty nineteenis like second and twenty second and twenty
five, like okay, not ideal, but they can do it, Like
they could figure that out. Ithink they've got that ability this year too.
Burnsey, Well, that's where it'sgonna be. I've made this comparison,
and I've talked with a couple ofcoaches over there. I've ben asked
Matt Simon when we got him,is how would you compare and contrast the

(07:32):
twenty three receiver room compared to thetwenty nineteen And that's where he said,
we had more top end talent becausewhen you have two first team all big
ten receivers like they did, butthe way that they're going to be able
to go from one through six andthere's not going to be a noticeable likely
drop off. Yeah, it's it'svery again. That's where I will continue

(07:53):
to say last year's offense, it'smore on the offensive line. This year's
offense, it's eighthan in the pastcatchers to make up for probably some efficiencies
on the offensive line and the runningback. When you went to practices,
how did uh upman Bill look?Is he doing much? He's running around?
I mean he's not practicing any Imean, yeah, he's from what
Fleck has told us, he's unscheduledto be able to start doing stuff here

(08:16):
this summer, and then he'll beready to go for fall camp. And
then though I'm a little it's suspiciousthat he's ready to go for Game one
against Nebraska, but even if he'snot, you can still run out Corey
CRuMs, who was one of thebest slot receivers in the MAC the last
couple of years and certainly will bean upgrade on what they got from the
slot last year. And then youhave Brevin span Ford will be back health
healthy, Elijah Spencer, Daniel Jackson, who we haven't even talked about yet.

(08:39):
We never talked about Daniel Jackson andall he does is makeing. I
know he's gonna go through his Gophercareer like he's gonna be like the Coney
Durr of the wide receipt where hedid you look up and he's just like
a dude we never talked about.I'm fascinated by Brockington. Yeah, I
know, just to see what happens. Yeah, because he's lightning. Does

(09:00):
he make a big step here?Does he where does he fit in this?
And you know, because you havecrooms and then you have Alexandria's Kristen
Hoskins, who when I was atthose practices, they were I'll tell you
the offense looks a lot different atthe practices I'm at compared to what you
saw at the spring game, whichobviously they didn't want to put anything on
tape for Nebraska who else to findout. But I mean that kid,

(09:20):
not the biggest one in the world, but just electric with the ball in
his hands, one of the fastestkids on the team. It's going to
be I think every week Chip's modernoffense point going back to last season.
One week it'll probably be Brevin spanForward, one week it'll be Corey CRuMs,
Daniel Jackson, Elijah Spencer. It'swhatever the defense wants to take away
that week. You've actually got otheroptions to go to. Which how many

(09:43):
years in a row now have weheard Fleck five games into the season just
bemoaning his wide receiver room about inconsistency. That's not the way that it's going
to be this year. It's almostlike there was never competition, so it
was like you weren't getting pushed.It's like, well, now you don't
produce someone else, but you knowis there and you know, we saw

(10:05):
the connection that that Aithan had withSpencer. They're basically just scratching the surface
too, like they haven't been togetherright to what that's gonna look like as
they get more reps in fall camp. And when you look at the numbers
that those guys had, Spencer,I mean they both caught Grim said it
like ten times. They both hadfifty seven catches last year. They both
had like it's not like they didn'tcatch the ball at their last stop.
Like they're they're produce. They they'rethey're very good group of five guys,

(10:28):
and you never know how it's goingto go from FCS group of five to
the big ten. But I'm veryconfident in saying those two will be hits.
And even Cole Cramer you guys mentionedYeah, yeah, the development more
than a wildcat guy. Yeah,the development that he's made in just the
last you could say, four monthsunder Greg Harbow compared to the last four
years. And he looks as confidentas I've ever seen him. So they

(10:52):
even have a viable number two quarterbackwhere you just have to run Wildcat if
you had an injury, you don'thave to just change the entire offense.
I mean that. I think thatdevelopment alone too has just been huge,
just to know that if something happens, you don't have to change the entire
offensive. Faithing goes out, Yeah, I mean is when you look at
him, like their strengths are gonnashift, right, but there's definitely some

(11:16):
hole still. We're gonna get tothe hole. We're gonna get to the
holes. Um, let's talk runningbacks quickly, because that's all all new.
I mean, mo Ibraham was theguy we know Trey Potts is at
Penn State. Um, I don'thow about that. I doubt he's gonna
play much at Penn State. Idon't think he would have played much here.
I think, Um the Trey wasnot the same guy when he came
back a year ago. He talkedabout it week to week. So I'm

(11:37):
glad he can go closer to home. That's cool and we'll see where that
ends up. Bryce Williams, Iforgot he was still here. Um.
I love Bryce Williams. He's fiftyyears old. He's just out there and
if they need him, he'll goout there. He'll pick up a blitz
and he'll get five or six yards. And I mean, you want to
talk about like in the way back, I mean I remember him. I
seen the game against Wisconsin in twentyeighteen. Yeah, that feels like forever

(12:01):
ago. And he's still just rollingaround like he was walking around with brav
after the game. I'm like,okay, hey, Bryce, how's it
calling? Man? Like you're intinga car yet? Like Tanner's having a
kid? Are you getting married?Everybody? Everybody good? Um? You
know who's a listener who told meof this podcast is now since he's graduated,
Tanner Morgan. Hey, good tosee you on Saturday, Tanner and

(12:22):
Dad. Yeah that was very verycool. Yeah that was cool. All
right. Well, now I'm gonnahave to you know, watch what we
say, one of the worst quarterbacksand go for fu. Yeah he knows
that that's it. Yeah, heknows forty year old insurance sales. Yeah
he was holding the program back.Yeah, now what can this program be
with she that he got a topthirty visit with the draft coming up this
week with the Green Bay Packers,did he really? I'm interested to see

(12:43):
what happens with him. Um whatwas I talking about again? Running backs?
So you can see why they likesome of these young dudes. Well,
I'm just happy they were healthy.I know, because Darius Taylor and
Zach Evans, who I think bothscore touchdowns on Saturday, were banged up
from most of the spring. Imean the last act as I went to
there was Sean Tyler and Michigan guyright yea, and then Bryce Williams and

(13:05):
then walk On's because Taylor and Zachweren't healthy. But I think you see
what both of them can bring isa little bit different. I think Darius
is certainly more of the North Southguy, where Zach can make a guy
miss in the open field and didn'tdo that, and he's got a little
bit more speed than I thought hedid. Being able to outrun a go

(13:26):
for secondary for a seventy five yardsscore. But for them, they just
need to stay healthy because Zach Evanswas injured in high school, Bank was
got banged up in fall camp lastyear, got banged up in spring ball
here this year. Darius Taylor's justobviously a true freshman. But it's gonna
and that's what Sean Tyler it's he'snot a twenty five carry a game guy.

(13:46):
In his career at Western Michigan wherehe's two time on MAC, he
only got over twenty carries in agame three times. So this isn't gonna
be the most show where he getsthirty eight carries in a game. What
will they're leading What would be theaverage carry for the top running back on
this team seventeen eighteen. I wasgonna say eighteen. I like eighteen twelve

(14:09):
and eight when they had like thethree heads, Yeah, because I do
think it'll be at least three headsand if not three, maybe four with
Bryce Williams. If if he's gonnabe your third down guy. But there's
just because Sean Tyler isn't Mo Ibrahim. He's the slasher type where you want
to get him moving east west,and then he's got the speed the house,
whereas Zach Evans is kind of amix of he can do a little

(14:33):
of both. And then I thinkDarius Taylor at this stage of his career
as a true freshman, is justa North South guy, which nothing wrong
with that, but you got threedifferent flavors there, plus Bryce Williams.
But they're still kind of searching becauseof the injuries that those guys had this
spring. Is what can they do? Well? Yeah, well he saw
Taylor on the one goal line lowerhis head. Uh, got tough yards

(14:54):
there. I mean, yeah,that was impressive physically. I'll tell you
every year, I feel like it'sjust when you see these true freshmen come
aboard and I think about ten yearsago, five years ago, when it's
I'm thinking like the Theory and Cochranesof the world, who come in at
two hundred pounds a defensive end andDarius Taylor comes in at five eleven two

(15:15):
o five and you're like, you'resupposed to be going to prom with James
Kidd this week, right, andit's they just I don't know what they're
feeding these kids. Well, noone that like I thought the offense would
shift anyways, but it'll be interestedto see there's still how they gain Pj's
trust. Yeah, because that's whatit is with him, right, I

(15:37):
trust Moe. We're gonna program likeI think, without a doubt they trust
Sean Tyler the most, but they'rethey're also cognizant of that's great, PJ.
But you can't run him into theground because that's not the time.
I mean you look at him,he's one hundred and eighty five. And
PJ talked about we've heard I thinkit's on your shows, Like you know,
as coaches, you play to yourstrengths. Well, this team is

(15:58):
about Ethan in that quarterback. That'sgonna be the headline moving forward. It's
it's all about that quarterback. Modernoff it just is it is right.
Yes, you're still gonna run thirtyfive times a game, but the key
is if you're running sixty five place, that means you're throwing the ball thirty
I mean with it with the clocknot stopping. How many plays we're gonna
cut out? Seven to ten iswhat PJ thought. I mean, let's

(16:22):
say it's ten. That's a significantnumber. I mean, whenever did you
run probably seventy for golf. Theway he makes the clock might be five.
For your squad to run ninety,you're taking out probably a fifth.
So they're not gonna like it.But yeah, probably seven to ten,
so I'm sure they've done. Ilove that change. My wife likes it.

(16:45):
It's gonna what are they project thatit takes off of a game?
I don't know. Ten minutes we'llfind out. I don't think. I
don't think it'll be like Major LeagueBaseball with the whole pitch clock, which
is the greatest invention and baseball watching, no one will ever innovate. I'm
a big baseball fan, are you? Yeah? I love base Oh my
gosh. Well, now I likeit because I know, like although you

(17:07):
got to pay attention, like youhave no downtime to do your own stuff.
Baseball used to be a good backgroundsport. Now the pitches are going
every two seconds. Every time youturn turn on the game, it's the
seventh inning. Yes, it's movementtoo fast. Exactly what happened. I
gotta get caught up here. Iused to have I get the third inning.
I know if I put it onat seven, even if it's an
eight to six game, it's goingto be done by nine fifteen somehow.

(17:29):
Nowadays, that's the way it usedto be. You might go deep into
midnight and it would always happen whereI would fall asleep on the couch watching
The Twins and then um, thatgolf show that Balis runs, it's completely
inappropriate golf show. Or you've gotthe the non ironic headpro with the very
attractive student, and then my wifewould wake me up and say, what
are you watching. I'm like theTwins, I thought, She's like okay,

(17:51):
yeah, yeah, yeah. Husbandseverywhere we're explaining themselves, like,
I'm just trying to watch sports.It's not my fault. They've got this
pervy golf show on after Um,what are we talking about again? Offensive
line? Who are they? They'rebrand new and they're still figuring out.
Yeah. I have never seen aBrian Callahan offensive line rotate as much as
they did this spring. Where Ithink the biggest change everyone will notice is

(18:17):
Quinn Carroll is gonna be a guardnow, which I think we all would
agree, like he was a averagetackle. Yeah he was a good run
blocker, but it's good to havehim and serviceable. But I think it
can be a really good guard.Yeah, if you move him inside where
he's got to go against two hundredand ninety pound defensive tackles instead of the
bendy edges of the world. Yeah, that's where he's gonna thrive. So

(18:38):
you have got two guys there interms of Arianta ars Is gonna stick at
left tackle. Second you're starting,you're moving Quinn Carroll to right guard.
And then it's about three guys rotatingin each one of those positions. And
that's where we ask Callie when Imean I flat out asked him, I
go, let's put an over underdate on this thing, August twentieth.
You want to figure out your offensiveline. And he's just like, I'm

(19:00):
not going to put a date onit, obviously, and just it's gonna
be very interest because I also thinkthey're going to look to the portal.
Yet I agree to see if theycan't figure out some things, because you're
gonna go from I mean, theylost three all big ten interior guys in
Axel who's leading for center, Nathanbow Lake Fill's own and he's been around
a long time. Six. Imean they're going to be old is they're

(19:22):
going to be old upront, whichis what you want because it's gonna be
Ariante's fourth year, Nathan Bow's inhis sixth year left guard, it's two
guys that are fifth and six years. Right tackle. It's either martesz Lewis
or JJ Gooday, fourth and fifthyear. So all these guys are above
the legal drinking age. So wedon't have to worry about playing freshman like
we have the idea as you alwayssay. Yeah, so it's all with

(19:45):
the portal lets. The freshman's justyou know, going to be an All
American. You shouldn't have to dothat, right, I mean, go
go plug holes. Yeah, what'sspeaking of. I'm not putting the All
American tag on him, but Iwould say this, and I asked Callahan
this. They I haven't seen Callahantake the training wheels off a freshman offensive
lineman like they've done with Greg Johnsonfrom Prior Lake, someone we had as

(20:07):
a four star. And I meanhe's gotten every single number two rep as
a true freshman who should be goingto prom next week, and he's going
to help this team sooner or later. I mean I think next year.
Once they lose probably most of theirinterior guys again outside of Carroll. Mean,
he's a guy that can help you, but it's just going to look
a lot different is you lose threeall big ten guys. I expect the

(20:30):
offensive line to take a small stepback, but it's going to be they
need to figure out who those fiveguys are and start rapping them. Because
of the amount of rotating they weredoing. I mean, you could see
there was issues at times with communicationbecause you've got a brand new guy next
year play and that that's the thingthat jumped out to me, you know,
just watching the second that you know, you know, draw blanket conclusions

(20:53):
off, you know, a springgame, but there's so many new guys
and unknowns, Like it's hard toproject this team. It is. I
mean we've played the exercise in thelast episode of looking at the schedule.
Yeah yeah, I think the overrunnerfor this team for about the fifteenth straight
years. Yeah yeah, and itshould be there for every West team,
by the way, Yes exactly.I think that's I think that's a good

(21:15):
over under. I think I thinkthey nailed it some of years. I'm
like, no chance, because alot of times I've hit the over We've
talked about that hit the over thelast four season, three seasons, we've
the seasons. Anyway, most ofthe time I've disagreed. I thought it
would be a little bit. Ithought it was too low. This year,
I'm like, that's pretty good becausethere's about five to six games where
you're like, yeah, I couldsee that one going either way. I

(21:36):
mean, it's just so hard toknow again because you've had these this group
of players that have been here forso long and now you're replacing them or
just even an identity, and yeah, I mean for all the teams.
Yeah, I mean, we don'tknow what's going to happen with all these
portal teams. You've got a coupleof new coaches in the West, like
you have no idea. I mean, how many players have hit. Some
of these are, you know,guys that are never gonna play. But

(21:56):
I think Minnesota starters and I thinkMinnesota's around fourteen scholarship guys, which the
number one question then I get iswell, how does that compare to the
rest of the Big ten? Andit's about average. Yeah, that's welcome.
So it's not And again Fluck talkedabout his opening press conference and he's
right, is when somebody used tohit the portal five ten years ago.

(22:17):
It's what's happening with now. Welcometo everybody's poaching behind the scenes, and
it's just I mean, that's partof the reason why which I like to
put on the tinfoil hat for stufflike this, but I think that's probably
part of the reason why they movedit inside is to get these horrible camera
angles among one of the things,because you know it, like I do,

(22:38):
guards that college coaches are some ofthe most paranoid people in the world.
Yeah, that's why they didn't placesome of their starters on Saturday.
But did you guys lose your mind? Like I know a lot of other
people did that. I know thefans want to come watch the team.
I understand that they were still onthe ground when I woke up Saturday morning.
Would you want to sit on that? That's the comeback is thirty eight

(23:00):
degrees and clouds and a broken scoreboard. Yeah, the scoreboard television. The
scoreboard is meaningless to me. Ithink, play we don't even have to
figure it out. You got enoughanalysts. Have him hold up some whiteboards.
Put it on a cam like yougot another scoreboard, like the scoreboard
like I don't think anyone except MikeGrimm, to his detriment, is really
concerned about what the score is andhow many players that have been run.

(23:21):
Um that's an inside joke with theradio crew because it's like TV's done it
one, we can be done atone as well. They must be taking
breaks somewhere. It's okay to misssome plays. Mike. It's the spring
game. Um no, I Um, that's gonna be a year long thing
with Grimmer and me, by theway, until next year spring game went.
Yeah, the score board, takeout the scoreboards? Did it bother

(23:42):
you that they'd made the decision tomove it inside? Not really, I
know. I mean my kids werebummed. They wanted to go. My
wife wanted to go, like Ican. I think the hardcore is it
would like I'm personally glad I wasn'toutside because I could wear short sleeves.
But it's not about me. It'sabout the like the fans want to see
if the fans haven't been able togo, so I mean, but also

(24:04):
it's thirty five degrees or whatever itwas, it's not enjoyable. Like I
don't think, like you said,Chip, it's it wouldn't be a souper.
I don't know what was the weatherin Iowa City this weekend. I
know Wisconsin did theirs. I knowtwenty thousand people reserve tickets that they all
go. It was it cold theretoo. I don't know. It's just
I wish that they could push therecruiting calendar back so we could have the
glorious May Day that we had acouple of years ago when the spring game

(24:26):
was like May fifteenth and it waseighty six degrees. It was awesome.
That was one of the great springs. Even the week before it was eight
Well, honestly, what they shoulddo and they'll never do it, And
I don't know why. They shouldjust have it at us Bank Stadium every
year and make it a whole Gopherday down there and just say here,
come down here, we're doing afive K it's downtown, come to US
Bank Stadium. We're gonna have aconcert. Here's the spring game. We're

(24:47):
gonna play it for sure, andeverybody can go. I know it's not
their stadium and all those things,but I don't know why they don't do
it. Is it the logistics ofit's set there? Yeah? Is it
the logistics of it's set up forbaseball right now. I think it's probably
just the marketing. It's not ourstadium, that's it. They don't want
to do it there, which Ithink is I'd rather have your fans.
I'd just rather have your fans bethere, because you want as many opportunities

(25:11):
to have touch points with your fansas possible. That's my opinion. I've
been told it as a resounding knowthat they never want to do it.
I wonder if they cannot, ifit's not at their campus, if they
can't bring recruits then, because thenthere's that angle of it. I'm not
sure, but I'm with you,guys have to rent it, yeah,
you know, but I mean Burnsey'sassistant salary, Pool Bump is always coming

(25:32):
like the money's there. Yeah,you know, they've cut sports, they're
firing people like they can afford toReus Bank Stadium. But you know,
as soon as they do that,we're gonna have that glorious Minnesota Spring Day.
The utilize the plaza like you've goteveryone. Why are you not doing
it in your stadium? No,I would just do it there. I
mean, I'm sure there's legitimate reasonswhy they don't but I would. I

(25:56):
think fans would like to see theirteam they like they're are a lot of
Gopher fans now, Like we've talkedabout it the last few years, the
the demographic of Gopher football fans haschanged from you know, the ones that
still wear their letter jackets from nineteenforty. They're still at Williams. But
it's younger people with kids that Imean, and we're going to talk recruiting
here in a minute, Bernsey thatfor most of their lives, these kids,

(26:19):
Huntington Bank Stadium has been there andthey've been going there with their families
and the team has been pretty good. So there's been good memories. Like
it's a young group. I mean, you saw it in New York,
saw it in Tampa, saw itin Phoenix. Like you're grabbing more casual
fans market. Yeah, I meanyou lost the generation of fans and now
you're starting to rekindle something. Yes, I mean everybody that like Phoenix.

(26:40):
I mean Tampa was its own thingbecause that season was so great, Like
everybody was coming. I couldn't believehow many people were in Phoenix and they
were all like my age, andthey all loved parent to spare which we
appreciate. And so it was.I was talking to Randy Johnson about this
this uh the other day, He'slike he was talking about the North Caroline
trip. I was like, youbetter book that one, yeah, because
that's gonna be a popular trip forGOP fans. I talked to somebody on

(27:03):
the on the field Saturday that's gone. That's kind of affiliated. But I
really like, oh, yeah,we're going to that one. We've had
that one for like three years.Like as you should, as you should
um anything defensively we want to talkabout. I don't think that, Yeah,
I don't think we know what thedefense is gonna look like. I
think a transfer portal will be heavilyheavy on the defense. By yeah,
I mean it'll be corner. Theyneed at least two, especially with Beanie

(27:26):
Bishop deciding to go to uh WestVirginia and Ryan Stapp just hanging up the
cleats, which it didn't expect thatto be a thing. And then,
uh, you know, I wasshocked that I wasn't shocked that Tril Carter
hit the portal. I'd been hearingfor four years that Trill Carter had been
thinking about hitting the portal, andthen he finally does it. But I

(27:47):
was shocked that he garnered the interestthat he did from places like Ohio State,
Arkansas. Now he's and he's gonnabe a Texas Yeah yeah, like
what Yeah, that wouldn't surprise metoo. But if you're a big school
and you're looking for day like Ieven think about his first visit was to
Illinois, Like, we all watchedthat Illinois game and then you saw the
monsters that they have on the interiorthere, and then I was thinking that

(28:08):
version of till Carter Illinois would wantthat. I'll say this, you know,
I think we all we've seen enoughof Joe Rossi that you trust Joe
Rossi to figure it out. Yea, it might take a minute, but
they got some personnel issues that theyget us solved. Yeah, I think
you bring in at least two cornersfrom the portal here in the next couple
of weeks, maybe a lineback,maybe a linebacker. They're gonna score forty
two points a game. Guys,we just spent thirty minutes on all that.

(28:30):
There's not be enough footballs um theair. They're gonna break out five
wide against Matt Rules Nebraska Cornhuskers onthat Thursday night. We got to do
it PJ and so modern offense.I mean they just got to hold him
to forty. The way this offenseis cooking, well, i'd tell you
the way we just talked about it. Yeah, I'd tell you that.
You know, the rumblings around thecomplex are that is that this defensive staff

(28:52):
now thinks that collectively they work probablytogether the best of any of the flex
years. Between the new coaches thatthey got into the corner and Um Winston
obviously a defensive line and then theirsenior analyst and Dennis Dotton Carter, who
was a long time d line coach. I think they feel like they can
figure it out. But to yourpoint, I mean there's some holes that

(29:12):
they know they got to feel defensively. Yet I just I also think about
they haven't allowed more than twenty pointsin a game since I think Penn State,
right, UM pass rush has beenthe number one focus. Trust me,
We and the media asked about thatabout every time we got flack.
Was it was, I mean,it's you can't know. I mean,

(29:33):
I mean Winston knows, Dennis DottonCarter knows your ross, he knows they
have the personnel well, but thequestion is gonna be do they have anything
on the interior because Trill didn't giveyou anything as a pass rush or last
year and either Kyler Ball. Youknow, I think where their hopes lies
with a third year kid from Shockopeand Devin Easton. I don't know that
your eye practice what was that lastyear? Year? It was last fall.

(29:57):
I think you caught your eye andthat's where without Trill, he was
the one getting all the reps.Now he didn't play in the spring game.
He was a little banged up,but he should be fine. But
it's if you can actually have somethingfrom the interior to allow John Joyner when
he does turn the corner that thequarterback can't step up, it's gonna make
a world of difference. Plus ifyou have no pass rush and we've seen

(30:18):
that corner room and like, youdon't want your corners to be covering for
five six seconds Right now? Ithink it was was it with your show
guards eat? I heard PJ saythat they brought in some NFL guys to
basically teach them new techniques. Yeah, they are doing a bunch of different
things. That is exactly what youheard. And they do like a pass
rush circuit now with every position creditfor well yeah, yeah, recognizing a

(30:42):
major problem, but also saying let'sbring us some NFL guys to see if
to teach us some things that maybewe don't know. Let's not do the
same thing over and over again.Let's try something differently. I mean we
could all. I would argue thatmaybe the most underachieving group of the fleck
earrow was the twenty twenty to defensiveline last year, just as a as

(31:02):
a position group. It just Imean, what was the second game?
Who was a Western Illinois last year? Could have been sure and Minnesota is
getting no pressure and you're looking aroundagainst Western Illinois and you're like, we
can't get any pressure. Yeah,Like I didn't think the Brick Haley era
was anything to write home about,which is probably why part of why Winston's
here. But they cannot underachieve again. If this team is going to be

(31:26):
anywhere near they're out again. Backto my point, personnel and defense line,
I mean, is it there?They hope it is. I think
if you're gonna get any pass rush, it's gonna be Eastern and it's gonna
be Kyler Bau in the interior whoNope. They have been saying all the
glowing things about Kyler Baud and againhe's year six. Yeah, is he

(31:47):
the guy that chased down a playerninety five yards on film and that Houston
Baptist how what they needed? Hehad the right how yea, he chased
down a guy two hundred ninety pounds. We don't need him to ninety We
need to run like five to theQB. But you've got I mean,
you've got job Joyner there, You'vegot Danny Strick out there from Moreno.
And I think Anthony Smith looks yep. I mean, he's only been here

(32:09):
ten months. But it's even funnyasking like Jalen Logan running about him and
then they're like, yeah, thisguy since he's been here to where he
is now is night and day.I mean, he's bigger than both joh
and Jalen, and those games arebig. I stood next to him,
sorry to interrupt, I stood nextto him because he made a mistake in
the spring game and had to talkto coach Rossi on the headset. And

(32:32):
if you were listening to the GopherRadio Network broadcast, you may have heard
Coach Rossi in the background strong encouragement. Yeah, and so he had to
put the headset on. And againwe were trying to figure out who coach
ROSSI was mad at, and sothat was meeting my intrepid deal. I'm
like, oh, okay, that'sa big guy. He's a big,
big man. He's six five,like two eights. And I think he
got to play, even though therewere some I think some threats if you

(32:55):
were listening to the broadcast that hisday was done, I think he did
get to go back out there.So, I mean they've I think they
have the bodies. It's Ken Winstonand ROSSI get these guys to give them
anything because I mean, you gotCody Lindenberg at linebacker. Um, but
they've got to figure out some morethings. They're on the back side.
I mean, truthfully, I thinkthe best position group on this team is

(33:17):
safety. Now, Tyler Knubin didn'tplay in the game outside of his bad
starting point when he had Nuben comingback. Yeah, he's the best man.
Yeah, he's good. I meanhe's he tried to sneak on the
field a couple of times. Theyhad to call a time out because he
ran out there late in the game. And he's just a dude. I
mean every report I heard about himfrom the scrimmages that they had behind closed

(33:38):
doors was he's picking off passes,He's lightening people up. I think I
think it will look back and say, you know what, he made the
right decision to come back, becauseI think having a really really, you
know, terrific year to back upwhat he did last year is gonna well.
He's also just huge for that becausethey have some really good bodies back
there. You saw Coleman Bryson inthe Bowl game when MVP, but even

(33:59):
guys like Darius Green, yeah,um, Aidan Gooseby. You'll see Jack
Henderson, who's the new Flip Dixonthat I easily trust me. Uh you
know when you're talking to Daniel House, who's I think one of the smartest
football minds in this media market.This House been drinking milk. By the
way, I al was stunned byhow tall that kid is. I think

(34:19):
it's because I like you. Iknow, you're tall, you're burns,
you let the trees breathe, you'reburly. Do you know what I drank?
Like? So if you were togo out to like a traveling tournament
afterwards, all the kids are orderingpop. You know what, I would
order a large mulk? I cantell what's mul? What's mulk? Like
a skimmull? What? There's nosuch thing as mulk. How do you
spell that? Yeah, you saymilk, milk, milk, milk,

(34:46):
milk, burns milk milk, amI lk. We're all saying the same
thing. No, No, you'resaying mulk. And you where are you
from? Here? The Pride ofthe East, say, Oakdale, Minnesota?
What would you order at skim milk? What in the world? I

(35:06):
can't tell if you're messing milk,I mean milk milk. So when you
were in elementary school, well,that's actually you would drink bulk. I
would crush. Like again, wego out to like a Applebee's or whatever
it days. Everybody's getting like aseven up or whatever. The kids drink
them them pops seven up. That'swhat I drink, sugar free or diet

(35:31):
coax. I'm like, yeah,can I get a skim milk? There
you go. We're all saying thesame thing. No, we were not.
Please tweet burns eat. We're atthe thirty five minute mark of the
podcast, so I don't know howto pronounce we're going to lunch after this.
I demand that you order milk andsee what the way, because no
one knows what that is. That'snot a thing. I want you to

(35:52):
ask for it, just to seewhat they There's no such thing as malt.
How did we get on this?Where were we annual? House?
I think it's because I met himwhen he was like twelve. He came
to Vikings training camp with Charts andPaul Charcion. But now and I don't
see him all that much. WhenI do, he's sitting in the stadium.
That guy's tall. Yeah, yeah, Jesus House. I can't wait

(36:13):
until he's an NFL scout or GEMand like, yeah, we're gonna twenty
years. Yeah, but a lotof Jack Henderson I think is going to
be as good as Flipois, ifnot better. I mean that kid.
So again, it's a rossy defense. Yes, they have some holes to
fill, but I think they they'rewell aware of that. I think they'll
address that. And it's just goingto come down to so, uh,

(36:34):
how many Porter guys do you thinkthey'll bring on defense? Four? Five?
If I had to guess, becausewhat is it today? The twenty
fourth the window open. So thewindow opened on the fourteenth again, and
it goes to the thirtieth and thenkids can decide, I mean anytime,
but you can't enter it after Aprilthirtieth. But if I had to make

(36:54):
an over under guests in terms ofhow many just overall editions they may in
terms of incoming, I'd set theover under lake four. And I assume
everybody's don't throw spring ball now,right, So you're gonna see kids either
lost her position or whatever. Oh, I don't think it'll be like it
was in December, but I thinkyou'll probably see a couple more. And

(37:15):
again they don't have more than acouple of spots open because you still got
to bring in all the high schoolguys that you signed in June to get
under the eighty five. But it'sjust it's messy. It is messy.
And to your points about this isa brand new team, we'll walk into
the portal era where it's just becausefourteen guys go out, or even again,
Dalen Right's now going to TCU ofall places. Yeah, it's it's

(37:37):
just a it's an interesting world weall live in now, you know,
I know it didn't work out withDalen, but no one did more to
beat the Wisconsin Badgers. And Imean that's his, like the guy,
just the guy is partially like fiftypercent responsible for two Acts victories. But
yes, I don't take lightly asa guy who's lived through most of the

(37:58):
last third. I've been you know, follow in it for the last thirty
years. Like I know that therewas a lot more to get out of
Dylan, right, but the dudealmost single hand as we won two axes
by just unbelievable. Yeah. Imean if you just extrapolated his Wisconsin numbers,
we'd be talking about him on Thursdaynight's first round. Yeah, it's
ridiculous. Yeah, you hope thelight goes on and it figures out maybe

(38:20):
third stop, closer to home,whole bit. I don't know. But
thank you Dalen because the axe Iwatched by it on Saturday. So all
golfher fans should be thanking Dyalen,right, um, because he just wore
out the poor Wisconsin Badgers. Um, all right, anything else Spring game
related. I think we milked that. We mulked that about as much as
we could mold it. We'll getme a glass of molk. I think

(38:42):
I put some mulk in my yardaround the trees, so as milk and
mulch the same. Do you usemulch mulch? How's that spelled? Okay?
And then you drink milk. We'reall saying you were all saying the
same thing. No, two ofus are speaking English. You are making
up a work. Yeah, speakingBurns. Got mulk. That's the next

(39:07):
par podcast T shirt. I've gotthe composite rankings for the twenty twenty four
recruiting classes at twenty four seven sportsdot com. Highest state is number one,
Georgia number two, Michigan number three, LSU number four makes a lot
of sense. Florida State five,South Carolina six, Penn State seven,
Notre Dame eight, Chips Tennessee ballsnine should be higher. With all that

(39:28):
money. Ten we're coming. Idon't know who eleven and twelve is,
but the Minnesota Golden Gophers right noware clocking in at thirteen and burns.
A lot of it is because there'sa wall around the state right now with
these twenty twenty four kids. Tellus what's going on or even I mean,
their latest commitment in Coy Parish isjust massive for them. I mean
being able to beat up Wisconsin andIowa and their kids' latest offer here in

(39:52):
the last two weeks is Michigan obviouslya team they're just playing in the college
football Playoff. I mean they are. They're doing a very good job of
keeping the insta eight guys in state, and I mean it's something to behold
right now because again we've seen thetop guys like Koit Paris is a four
star guy. I mean, whetheryou want to look at the rating,
which he is for US and orwhat he does is just an overall athlete,

(40:14):
I mean Esco Minnesota. Yeah,just drove how far is that away
from this you've driven through it?Oh yeah, it's about twenty minutes south
of US, that's right. Yeah. Like as a tenth grader last year,
you take out what he did onthe on the football field, he
won the Class A long jump,he would went to state for the two
hundred meter the triple jump. Asa basketball player and an Esco basketball team

(40:37):
where they win twenty five games ayear, he averages over twenty a game,
dunks on kids heads. I mean, this is what it's supposed to
look like in safety. Um,you know, the even gets to hear
Nier, one of the best safetieson the East Coast. There who chose
Minnesota over you know, his dadwas an eight year vet in the NFL.
Chooses Minnesota for Stanford and thirty otheroffers. You know, you look

(41:00):
at those two kids specifically, likeRhneer loved Antoine Winfield. He's not the
biggest guy in the world models hisgame after Antoine Winfield, and Minnesota's got
the model or even what put probablyCoy over the edge of why he wanted
to decide to commit to Minnesota washe came to a Minnesota practice in April.
You know who's there, Antoine Winfield. And it was funny to like

(41:22):
to hear what Winfield said because itwasn't all sunshine or roses. He was
like, you know, is itthe best place in the world? Probably
not, But was it the bestplace for me? It sure was.
But the way that was supposed towork message, yeah, yeah, but
you're right, like the fit forhim was perfect. And so that's where
you know, they've got a couplemore in state fish that they want to

(41:44):
land yet and why Gilmore, who'sjust at Oklahoma this past weekend. Emerson
Mandel from Irondale and offensive lineman who'spicked up Oklahoma, Texas A and m
Penn State in the last few weeks. You know, if if you're able
to land them, well listen,you know it is actually think winfielders.
Like what I said, that's howit's supposed to work. You think about
like it Iowa with tight ends,yeah, or other places that position right

(42:07):
that that that stuff matters to kidsthat are paying attention, Yeah, to
you know when they're high school aregrowing up, they're like, I want
to go where that guy with andbe what that you know, fall that
trade tradition. And I think theway that PJ is too, and the
way that other coaches approach PJ onthe recruiting trail, I think it's good

(42:27):
to hear from people that have hadsuccess and have been through exactly what they're
going to go through here. Youwould know this burnsy, but I'm sure
a lot of stuff is said aboutthe Gophers. Oh yeah, like it
is for every program, but PJspecifically because he is different. It's probably
nice to hear from people that havebeen through. I mean, Bielema had
a lot of nice things to sayabout his time with Carter Coughlin. You
know, what I'm saying, Icould tell the dude just had a great

(42:49):
experience. So that tells me,even though I'm different than PJ, he's
doing something right because he had agreat a great set up there. So
it's probably good to hear from guysthat have been success on social media.
Here. John Michael Schmitz is goingto go probably in the top forty picks
here on Thursday Friday, East Sweetno line recruits come play from Minnesota.
Carter Coughlin's doing the same thing.And if you can point to a model

(43:12):
success where you look at the lasttwo free safeties from Minnesota, Antoine Winfield,
who's about to get a gaudy contractfrom somebody, and then Tyler Newban
is going to be probably a topforty pick, and then the next NFL
draft. I mean, if youwant to say I was tight end you,
why can't Minnesota continue to be puttingout really good safeties. So it's
they're making a lot of headway,and that's where you want to be in

(43:35):
year seven, is winning. Youknow, we'll see if the ratings end
up kind of getting to where thattwenty twenty class did where they signed quite
I think a handful of four stars. But you just look at the offer
lists on some of these guys you'rewinning legitimate recruiting battles against, you know,
Wisconsin and Iowan to your point aboutyou know a lot said about PJ.
You know. One of the firstthings Coit told me was yeah,

(43:57):
he goes, I went to PJ. And I was like, well,
people love to bash you. What'sthat about? And he he goes,
that's a good questions like, well, who's bashing me? He goes,
other coaches? What's that about?So if you don't think, like,
if you think that's just all youknow, because coaches obviously get asked about
it, right, you know thekirk ferences and Pickles of the world.

(44:17):
Yeah, just gonna choose those fornot any particular reason, just random Yeah,
my head like like, you know, just gonna pick those, like
if you don't think that stuff happens, because they'll obviously deny it when the
when the recruits are like, hey, you know these coaches love to bash
you. What's that about? Yeah, you know, it's that's a great

(44:38):
question. Yeah, yeah, heydoing your homework. Yeah right, I'll
trust me. Koy is one I'vetalked to hundreds. If not thousands of
recruits in my twelve years doing this, Koy is one of them. Is
one of my favorite people of theinterview because he is no filter. Oh

(44:58):
good, yeah, you'll he's gonnabe be a fun interview here for the
next few years. Well we gethim in twenty twenty eight. Yeah yeah,
yeah, yeah, well wow,there's a shot that sounds for burns
because we eventually got eventually. It'sI know that there's people over there from
the you that listen to this,so I don't want to kill myself too
much, but it's just yeah,don't don't lose your job in spring.

(45:22):
We eventually got everybody we needed toget to this year. It's just takes
a little time. So you mentionedsome of the other so obviously this is
the class that will sign in December, right, yeah, so we've got
a long road to hoe here.We're not even in Well. My favorite
thing now is, like you know, Koy Parish commits in. Like half
of the people on my Twitter machineare just well, can't wait till it

(45:43):
hits the portal. None of itmatters. It's like, boy, you
must be fun at parties, justenjoy just if we can't enjoy things like
this. I know it's like thatMinnesota gets a big recruiting victory. When
can you when are you allowed tobe happy at any point you're not?
The portal has done that though,Yeah, I think it has made where
you're just waiting for. But Ithink that even the point is like if

(46:04):
you're able to, you know,have a more of an influx of local
talent, say within six hours,or they haven't got the top kid in
North Dakota who had who just wentdown to Miami and Florida picked up an
offer at Chris Climate from Kansas State, among others. I would argue,
I don't know that the data isgoing to show this that they're probably less
likely to transfer if they're from withinsix hours a here. I'm sure data

(46:25):
supports it. Yeah, And soyou're just hoping that the state of Minnesota
can continue to hopefully be on anupward trajectory in terms of producing Big ten
football talent. And for the onesthat live out state, like you said,
like Esco, like Detroit Lakes.I mean, we've talked to Kendred,
North Dakota. That's where Ben Johnsonhas had some of his you know
with the kid from Cherry for them. I was just talking to somebody about

(46:50):
this over the weekend and one ofthe issues Minnesota has because everybody always says,
god, you know, just keepthe instate kids. Why don't they
want to go? For a millionreasons, we've all grown up around the
school, we've all grown up withintwenty fifteen, twenty minutes. Maybe we
just don't want to go. Wellbecause it did not want to go there
to go away to school exactly nowfor Cherry and Esco and kids going away

(47:14):
to school. So keep drinking milkup there and Cherry and Escot a nice
tall glass of mouk. Get somegood milk, really getting those bones.
Big Jim Harba made himself six oneby drinking milk. And if you ask
him, but I remember talking todie in the grave. That's why I'm
six fours because I drank gallons ofmilk. Now you're even changing say,

(47:38):
oh, my god mother and mymom's like milk, milk there. Hey,
that's what it is. It's it'sthe same. We're all saying the
same five different ways today. It'samazing, but it's awesome. The original
point was that's going away for school, Like I mean it was Yeah.

(47:59):
I mean I spent the day withwith Isaac awesome up there in Cherry Dude,
for that family, for him thatis going away from school. This
was not like so that's different becauseand you know, I'll go, I'll
you know, and I never missan opportunity to tweak Lakeville. I mean
people in Lakeville like saying, hey, we're going to Wisconsin because it's it's

(48:20):
seen as a great school and everybodyloves Bucky. And by the way,
they're all here, they all comeback and get jobs here. We are
a safe haven for Big ten terroristsbecause there's no I might have said this
with you guys, there's no gopherhats and cedar rapids on the playground.
Like I'm at my kids playground likeonce or twice a week, and I've
got Wisconsin, I've got Iowa,I've got Missigan, I'm at Notre Dame.
Like in they kind of come getjobs somewhere. Well exactly in Coralville.

(48:42):
There's no badger hat, you know, in the Coralville in Iowa City
West, there's nobody walking around witha Wisconsin hat and living to tell about
it. Like, yeah, thatkid's getting hazed, possibly bullied, and
I'm not condoning that. I'm justsaying that's how it is. Yeah,
Like here you can wear whatever hatyou want and everybody and they got bumper
stickers of all your schools. Like, but when you're in Esko, just
straight shot down thirty five your familyand you're away from school and you're in

(49:05):
the big city and it's cool.I'm so good that they're producing some of
these players, and good for PJand staff for getting up there and finding
them. In Ben with Isaac,like that's that's where you're going to have
a lot of success Burns. Hehit the key, though. This state
has to produce enough of me.And I always said, like when people
ask me, like why has Minnesotahistorically not been successful, There's a thousand

(49:28):
reasons, but one to me,one of the most important or main reasons
for that is because when you're producingsix to eight big you know, well,
six to eight Division one players andnot all of them or recruits not
a Big ten caliber. When youhave to go out state defined to fill

(49:49):
out twenty five guys, right,there's a higher chance that they don't work
out, and if they do workout, they probably hit the portal that's
even where you look at like thenumber of Power five sign in Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and Iowana. Given year, Minnesota's consistently third of the three,
and that's where it needs. AndI would continue to bang the drum of
there are so many basketball players inthis state that are between six one and

(50:13):
six five where they do go playD two basketball or low level D one.
If you just come out and playcorner or tight end, the state
would would produce another three to fourhigh level kids in a given ear.
But now it's more this year isthis kind of another I think it's an
above average year compared to what we'veseen now. I think I don't know

(50:34):
that you know, we'll see howit ends up going through camp season.
But like the best year that I'vecovered is that twenty sixteen class, which
was Carter Coughlin, Kamal Martin,Thomas Barber, even the guys who didn't
go here, like Kodoska is nowin an NFL roster from Maple Grove.
Like that was an outlier year.Now, I don't know that twenty four
here will be that, but Imean it's certainly an above average year,

(50:58):
and it's a good thing. Fourflat because he's able to capitalize on it.
Yeah, and I think a lotof it too, is what we
talked about earlier, Like from people, I was asked, did Huntington Bank
Stadium help? This will will helpmy argument with your guy Ryan James that
they need to do something with WilliamsArena. Yea, they built the stadium
twenty ten kids have now grown uptailgating like what happens in the skyyumlot stays

(51:19):
in the SKYU malt families are downthere. Like the whole vibe around,
the whole thing has changed. Andnow all of these kids, so Mason
Carrier, like he's from Detroit Lakes, you know what, his family's gigantic
Gopher fans. They were at thefirst game at Huntington Bank Stadium a lot.
But you know, yes, you'reI think I think Pj's done a
good job of cultivating like that interest. But I'm turfing back just the product

(51:39):
of high school football is it.It's getting I mean getting bigger for them,
I mean it's getting better, butit's still not to where it is
in Wisconsin. And I want togive in here, which is crazy because
if you think, like why ofall the small farm communities in Iowa and
Wisconsin. Why Minnesota wouldn't have theexact same thing with the population. And

(52:00):
you know, some of those guysare going to NDSU or North Dakota,
some of them are going to Iowa, some of them are going to Wisconsin.
But it's like, you got it, because I mean, how many
guys have we have we read about. It's like, oh, yeah,
they've they have one stoplight in thetown and he played fifty two sports.
He played nine man football. Butyeah, we just let you like something
about him. I think guess whathe developed into an All Big ten safety.

(52:20):
Yeah, scotsoner Iiowa. Like thatshould happen here too. Yeah,
there's no reason why I can't.Well, I think the world's getting smaller
too. Like I was talking withdom Izzo up in North Dakota, good
guy, and you know we hadthe discussion of like NDSU's not able to
find as many you know, randomNorth Dakota kids like a Carson Wentz of
the world, or like they're gonnahave a kid by the Kody Macco in
the top sixty picks, just oneof the most interesting looking fellows out there.

(52:45):
But it's like, you know,Riley's Sunroom from Kindred, North Dakota
ten years ago, would probably goto NDSU because no one has ever heard
about him. Well, in thisday and age where you can just google
a kid and you can find outhis highlights and watch him quickly, the
world is getting a lot smaller,and so it's but I will continue to
say I think it's more like thebasketball type of thing, because basketball this

(53:07):
culture in this state, high schoolwise, is bigger than it is.
And I would say Wisconsin and Iowa, and that's where I would say,
if you can get some of thesesix foot to six six kids to not
play D two basketball and instead bea tight end or a receiver or a
linebacker or whatever it may be,you would probably start to see Minnesota compete

(53:28):
more with what power five talent isbeing produced around when Jarvis Immers's trying it
now after college. Yeah, essentiallyKindred just a little south of Fargo.
I don't think off at twenty ninethere, forty six, hang a right,
there's Kindred. Wow, all right, anything else you want to talk
about? We got to hear yourstory about how I almost died. Yeah,

(53:51):
that was the last podcast. That'sall right, people, people,
don't need to know that. Ithought I was having a stroke and maybe
a heart attack and had to goto the er. And that's why the
episode I was a little delayed,a little delayed being posted. You know,
I got I got out of it, if you know, little anxiety,
little um, little exhaustion, runningmyself a little too hot. I
can't run like I used to.You know, I did not start my

(54:12):
day. Yeah. Yeah, Wellhere's a personal question for the both of
you that I'll put on this record. So my best friend, my best
man, loves to tell me thatI'm graying at a more rapid rate than
anybody else. He knows that atWow, what a guy. When did
you two start? Okay, lookat me. The sides of my head,
there's a reason they're so short.Yeah, when did you guys start?

(54:34):
Yeah? When did you guys startto turn it in the last five
years? Probably lean into it?Um, I mean I'm not or what
is your what are your wife's thinkabout that? Yeah? I mean I
mean, am I coloring my hair? No? No, I'm I'm You're
not using the just I'm not reallyleaning into it or um avoiding it.
I'm just kind of letting nature takeits course, but I'm with you.
Like on the sides, when it'sa my sideburns are very gray. Like

(54:59):
that's when I when I can reallysee it. Then I know I need
to get a haircut. When whenthey take it off and it just falls
on the apron there, I'm like, oh, wow, all right.
And my daughter asked me why myhair was white the other damn, Like
it's just on the I'm like,well, you were born in twenty eighteen.
That was part of it. Youknow, your brother in twenty fourteen,
your other brother in twenty sixteen.Um, that's what I got.
I was probably forties. Yeah,is what it is. The only only

(55:22):
thing I wanted to run my raceis do kids for prom still rent tuxes
from like the men's warehouse. Theyget but there's still two sizes too big
and they look. Family's running intoa color. My wife was at in
Kansas with my daughters this weekend formom's weekends down there. So your games

(55:43):
can't believe. I can't believe she'dleft the state for school. Yeah,
and I know you'll never get ajob back here. No. Um,
Dad didn't read instructions that the tuckshad to be back yesterday, or we'll
find out clean them up for thenext prom. I gotta get him cleaned
up. He went with the graytwined our late fee today, twenty dollars

(56:06):
late fee. Yes, they've ranttuxes and his fit perfectly. So it
was good, good experience. Idon't even remember. I think we just
wore suits. Well, I hada Dinah. Yeah, I don't think
we went tucks. I know Ididn't. I'm sure my date was impressed.
Sure she was real thrilled. Mygirlfriend at the time. I remember,
she's got a lot of great memoriesof the effort I put this was

(56:27):
this was tennis season, or Ididn't have time to worry about prom.
All right, we're trying to trytrying to hank banners, right, all
right, write about you. Yeah, I'm just trying to make the class
of two thousand and one. TheLegends series. I got Michael rand sitting
there. I wanted Chip Scoggins.Unbelievable because I did a ten year retrospective
of Fitz Barber and Fit Senior.I had a nice talk was Fith Senior

(56:52):
at the Wolves game, and Ididn't include I just always wanted to.
I just always I figured I wasalways fourth, but if it was the
athletic, you would have had roomfor four. Because you had the print
restrictions, you had to cut atthe three. So mour Fitzgerald believe you
weren't on that guard. Yeah,yeah, I mean, I guess I
can see you. You just misseda kid. That's true. Yeah,

(57:15):
that's true. You know why Ididn't drink enough milk? I didn't drink
enough milk. Had I drank moremilk, maybe I would have been taller
than nine three or milk whatever we'recalling it today, malk milk milk.
I cannot. I cannot say itmilk milk, milk. I cannot.

(57:37):
It's okay, it's like literally pronouncedit incorrectly. Every way You've used every
vowel sound you can. You needto go on wheel of sweating. I
am okay. We're all saying thesame thing, so there was all different
in corrections. That's what I don'tunderstand about your family or anybody with Like

(57:57):
if I misspeak at my house growingup, or with my friends or with
my family, I am constantly roasted. I am the one of the friend
group that is just obliterated by thefriends. Also somebody has alerted you to
the fact that you don't pronounce milkcorrectly or elementary. It's elementary, what
how it is. We're not gettinginto this right now, but milk,

(58:20):
milk, and malk are all thesame thing. I have, literally,
I have family members or friends thatenunciate them in each of the three ways.
There is not a right way.I would argue. The wrong way
is to say it milk. Icannot. I cannot say it like that.
It's not it's milk. It's notthat common say milk milk, not

(58:42):
milk milk. Yeah, yeah,milk, milk milk. There you go.
I feel bad for you because thisis now your legacy. Yeah,
I don't care and your narrative likeyou will not go anywhere near Huntingdon Bank
Stadium without somebody asking you if youwant some milk. Well, I'm just
glad. I just want to geton Chips level because I will get this.
I thought I had weird things,yeah, like this is no,

(59:04):
I'm not in that category. Youhave weird things. I'm on board of
a lot of them, including theairport one. Thank you. You just
can't talk the amount of people whohave come up to me about the airport
thing and thought it was hilarious.The chip gets there so early. I
did get TSA pre good for you, and I got their three hours or
you know what we're doing changing lines? Yeah, now he's got TSA.
You don't have to show up untillike you never know, guards take a

(59:28):
trip. And it was like outthe door insane, you never know,
insane. I tell you MS,did you miss your flight? T SA
pre wasn't. Yeah, that's whyhe gets it now it doesn't have to
show up until. No. Butit was. But but checking bags,
there's a week long deal. Itwas. There was only one security thing
open because that's snow. People couldn'tget the couldn't get to work. Did

(59:49):
you miss your flight? No?Were you sweating? Not really? Not
well? Our flight was already peoplehere helped the brand, well no,
But who I felt bad for itwas the people that had no I idea
what they were doing. Like Ifly enough for I kind of knew where
we were going. I knew wewere in good shape, like the people
that they take one flight a year. And there was no delineation of which
line was which I mean even Iwas like are we in this line?

(01:00:12):
Like is this self bag tag,like, let's just do this, We'll
drop it off somewhere. I knewonce we got all that done, like
t SA pre and clear would bewould be smooth because that's a hell of
a combo. Yeah, like ridiculous, almost overkilling MSP because there's just never
ego boost. Yeah, it's mostlya flex. It is a it's a
flex. Yeah, but I'm sureyou used that saying often flex. It's

(01:00:35):
a flex. It's a flex.Yeah. Um, I would love for
you Texas tonight. But when you'retalking to your children, say, boy,
yeah that was a fl You didn'thave to flex on them like a
right, They probably look at yourhead tilted a little bit. It was
unbelievable how busy it was. That'swhy you get there three hours early.
And um, I just read anarticle about the Van Gundhi brothers that Minnesota

(01:00:58):
native Steve Russian wrote in sives greatstory because that's what Steve Russian does,
um Stan and Jeff Stan is likethat. Stand gets to the airport.
He had a noon flight. Theywere doing the interview at seven and his
wife said to him, I can'tbelieve you're still here because he's like that
too. Because you never know,there could be an accident. There could
and that was I felt bad fora lot of people that because that was

(01:01:21):
another day where like our original flightwas canceled. How about this chipper and
we gotta go our original flight.We're leaving Saturday morning, April first,
Friday night, March thirty first.I get home from Wolves Lakers. I
wasn't sitting courtside for that game Burns. Yeah, it must be tough amount
of times you've done. That.Wasn't the city one of a few times
I did. If I've learned anything? Um? Yeah, I had people

(01:01:42):
buy me it was weird. Um. And I checked the flight and it's
like your itinerary for April second.I'm like, April second, what's going
on? Yeah? My flight hadalready been canceled the spring breaking rebooked and
we were flying to Salt Lake Cityand then down to the Orange County port.
They had us the next day Sunday. Was supposed to land at like

(01:02:04):
one on Saturday. The next day, Sunday, Minneapolis, Orlando, Atlanta,
Orange County. Fourteen and a halfhour travel day. I've got three
kids. You imagine, No,you do it? No. I stayed
up now because I know what I'mdoing, and because we have Kyle Potter
from Thrifty Traveler dot com. He'she always says, just get on the

(01:02:27):
horn with everybody, call the number, hit the app, beyond Delta dot
com. Just fire off whatever youcan. It's spring break. There's no
flights. Yeah. I somehow wesomehow got the next morning a direct flight
to San Diego, which wasn't wherewe were flying into, but it's only
an hour south. It actually workedout better and it had five seats on
it. That was the other miracle, Like it was a it was a

(01:02:49):
miracle day. Yeah. And luckilyit was delayed a couple of times.
So that's another reason why I wasn'tfreaking out in the lines, because I
kept looking down. It's like delay, delay, delay. We had to
shovel out that morning. Like itall worked out. But good for you
getting tsa pre Yeah, that's abig time the other day and it's like
you feel like a boss. Yeah, just you take your shoes off,
Chipper. I know our belt,but it is, as I always say,

(01:03:10):
I mean, that's the one placein my life that I would not
I've never had an anxiety attack likeI had to put me in an ear
at an airport by myself traveling,because that's like the one that's like my
zen place where I actually get somestuff done. What a flex You're there
so often that's your most comfortable place. I feel like home. Yeah,
it feels like home to me.Um. Thanks everybody for listening to the
Parent of Spare podcast. We'll havesome news on the parent a spare um

(01:03:34):
as we move forward here. Imean we're talking big things. Yeah,
like we're taking this now, We'regoing to have lunch and talk this thing.
We've got another T shirt idea herewith malt Um. We might Here's
one thing I want to know tothe audience. Would anybody be interested in
two things they well, we knowthey're interested in some type of road watch
party here in the Twin Cities.Would anybody be interested in taking a road

(01:03:55):
trip with the Pair and a Sparecrew with Burnsy, with Chip and with
me. You gotta let us know. Tweet at us, hashtag us hashtag
molk let us know that if youwanted to take a road trip with Parent
of Spare, travel with us,hang out with us, maybe tailgate with
these guys, bring your own milkand take in the game and do something
out and apparel, Yeah, wouldyou wear a shirt that said start to

(01:04:19):
day Modern Offense and got got malBelieve it got you guys. Later I
tell a friend about us, tweetabout us. Thanks everybody for listening to
the Parent to Spare podcast. We'llbe back in about a month. Bye.