The co-host of BYU Sports Nation on Camp Kalani beginning this week, Questions in QB room, How long will Jay Hill be there as DC (?) + more
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
My father taught me many things. You know what they see.
They taught me keep your friends close, put your enemies close.
Time to check in on that two down south. They
have done absolutely nothing wrong, but they're blue. I think
it's just the Red and Blue on The Sean O'Connell's
Show and Utah's number one Sports Talk, the ESPN seven
hundred and ninety two one half N Sean O'Connell Show
(00:32):
on ESPN seven ninety two one FM. I know that
some people have a hard time with our next guest
because he is true and blue. We love Jerem Jordan.
This is Red and Blue on the Sean O'Connell Show,
our first one of the football season, as we check
in on the team down south. Jerem, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
What's up? It's been too long. How are you going? Man?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I've been I'm being really good. You've been enjoying You've
been enjoying the summer with the fan.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah. Yeah, it's been relaxing. It's been good. I feel refreshed.
I feel ready for fresh cut grass and sweaty pads
and breaking down fourth string nose tackles, and I just
feel like ed Helm's in the hangover.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We are bad and we are all holding our breath
for October eighteenth, Utah down at BYU. A lot is
going to happen between now and then, obviously including camp
for both of these teams. Give me your overarching thoughts,
your expectations in the broad strokes for BYU football, given
(01:37):
the context of Jake Retzlaf's departure, what they've had to
deal with as a team this offseason, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, biggest conversation is, hey, who's the quarterback? And you
got a three man race, McKay Hillstead, Trason Borgaye, bear
Bachmeira the three Hillstead Skyridge kid. Utah State was in
the system last year with Trayson Boorgay. Kind of backing
is QB three and four. Obviously Gary Bohannon and of
course Jay Christop not there anymore. So hill said, and
(02:06):
Borgay are your two guys that come in with some
starting experience. He'll set at four games. Bore Gay had
about eight games at Western Michigan, and then bear Bachmeyer
has a really high upside recruited by Obama in Notre Dame,
Texas and m Oregon Michigan. So high profile kid that
didn't get the starting quarterback job at Stanford. They fired
Troy Taylor, he's out. He comes over, he's going to
(02:28):
get a look too. So he brought his brother, Tiger,
a receiver that maybe some Utah fans are familiar with
as well, who played last two years at Stanford there.
So that's the big question. The other question is okay
By replaces two of their tackles, the left and right tackle.
Issaiah Jada, who is on the team previously at Colorado,
had some experience, got in a little bit last year.
(02:50):
Andrew Gentry is the guy that comes from Michigan that
he feels like can plug and play in there and
be good. They returned the interior three of Lafwallo, Mitchell Makassini, Leusa,
kind of those guys they feel good about the O line.
Of course, Carson Ryan comes from Utah. He's tight end
one TVD on who's in that group wide receiver, feels
pretty experienced and good. Chase Roberts, one of the best
in the country is back, Jojo Phillips, Parker Kingston, with
(03:14):
some other names in the mix. But you got some
good experience there. Defensively, replacing seven starters, but from the
Big twelve top defense statistically in a bunch of categories.
But j Hill played a lot of guys, a lot
of reps. And so when you say, hey, Crew Wakeley
left for produce strong safety, well Tellan Alfred and raided
the money played a lot. So you return three guys
(03:37):
that played it free in wall Prastus thotswell you turned
Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glasker two of your three linebackers
who feel like NFL guys, Harrison Taggert and middle linebacker
left for cal se alias Ferah plug In. They feel
like it's the feelings higher than taggerts Quarnerback's hard to
lose the starting two that were pretty good, and Jacob
Robinson was making an impact with the Niners as an
(03:59):
undrafted free guy. Mark Collins is out. They like Evan Johnson,
Mariy Bomba. You lose all four starters on the defensive line,
that feels like a big deal. Obviously, the conversation around
Keana Tonabassi is a massive ad of course, but they
like some of the guys who have been in the
mix playing a little bit as backups, and we'll see
how that group fits in de tackle. A little thin
outside of Keanu it feels like. And then the ends
(04:22):
they're looking for playmakers. So that's the broad strokes. I
guess special teams will fans back the punter, Sam vander
Harts back Parker Kingston is the punt returners back TVD
with kick returner with Keelan Marion going to Miami, So
a lot of experience, excitement, motivation, But ultimately I think
if you AI has decent enough quarterback play, I think
(04:44):
they can compete in the eight, nine to ten win
category in the regular season.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So there are a lot of people in my sphere,
of course, generally Utah centric, that there's an almost a
sigh of relief all they've got some quarterback questions at
by you because everyone knows this team is incredibly dangerous
in other places. I don't think that it's always a
(05:08):
loss when you lose an experienced starting quarterback, and especially
when it's unexpected like this, there's an added layer to it.
But from the numbers standpoint, and I know that's not
telling the whole story of the position, but from a
number standpoint, I look at the three names that you
just mentioned, and I say, why can't those guys give
this BYU team the exact same numbers that Jake retslaf
(05:31):
gave them. Maybe less moxye, maybe less experience, maybe less
confidence in mastery of the offense, but the numbers weren't
overly spectacular. I guess it's a complicated way of saying, like,
you didn't lose the best quarterback in the conference. You
lost the guy who was solid for you and didn't
make the same mistakes that people worried he might make
most often, and he helped the team win, but he
(05:54):
wasn't the reason the team won a lot of games.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yes, No, I agree to you, and I I've heard
some staffords say, hey, we feel confident that that exact
point one of these guys are a combination of these
guys whatever. That looks like they're not going to do
the dual thing. That's not what I'm saying. But yes,
can they produce a fifty nine percent passer who throws
for twenty nine hundred yards, twenty touchdowns, twelve picks? Yes. Now,
the thing that you can't replace, like you mentioned, is
(06:19):
the experience that Jake one has the offensive two. He's
been in the fight in Power four hill standenboorg Gat
played in G five systems, they're now in Power four.
Bear Bachmeier is a true freshman. That's just a ton
to ask, especially for a team that is in win
now mode. Sean, if Byu was on the uptick and
they were feeling like they were getting better, it's different.
(06:40):
You could tolerate something and go, hey, eight and four
regular season building, this is good. You know, I got
a high profile recruits coming in the next couple of
years kind of thing. No, this is a win now situation.
This is you don't have I don't know if Buoy
has j Hill forever, like he's too good of a coach.
You have to seize the moments that you have this
staff and this group of talented players right now. And
(07:03):
if Jake Retslov was the quarterback, we'd be talking about
Boi competing for the Big twelve title. That is not
the conversation externally. Now Internally they feel like, hey, that
people don't feel like we can do it again. So
they have that chip on their shoulder. And certainly it's
a fair question given how important quarterback is. I failed
to mention running back by the way I should mention LJ.
(07:23):
Martin back. Jenny Molly had some really good moments last year,
Enick Nawwaheene and then some unproven guys. They're hoping Hinkley
Rapati gets an extra kind of juco year. Not sure
on that one. That may or may not happen if
he joins that's good at running back. But to your point,
can one of those guys put up those kinds of numbers. Yes,
if the defense can be as good as they were
(07:44):
last year and the special teams, if you always got
a lot of playmakers, skilled positions back, that guy doesn't
have to win VOA ton of games. But like you said,
Jake Rotslov had a few moments where he was pretty
clutch obviously against you Ty, He's got to make a
couple throws there. Oklahoma State, that's a massive drive. There's
a fourth down there, a throw to Darius Flasster to
win against Oclhoma State didn't make it against Kansas. But
(08:05):
boy goes four and two and one score games. Utah
went one and five. That was the difference between those
two seasons in my opinion. Once, obviously Utah was trying
to find the offense. I feel like you got it
with a job back, as we call him down here
running the show. Now, one score games matter. You can
always just make it a two score game and make
it so it's not close. But there will be close games,
(08:27):
clutch moments which body quarterback can make it happen. In
those situations. They have yet to be in the fight,
so it'll be new to them.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Uh, you failed at first to mention the running backs.
I'm kind of glad you did. Deep. I'm scared of
the running back room at BYU more than I'm scared
of any other offensive position, because.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
More than receiver interesting, I just feel.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Like Moa is maybe one of the most underrated players
in the entire Big Twelve conference, and you've got a
one to two punch with him in LJ. Martin. If
your offense line is even good at all, those two
guys can make massive, massive games and be huge problems
for every defense.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, LJ is a guy that if Elsa should be
a thousand yard back. He's five point two a carry,
super solid. He's not a game breaker, like, he's not
going to hit homers. He'll had doubles if you will,
but he is super solid. And then Moa surprised a
lot of people. Five yards of carry last year, three touchdowns. Apparently,
Kansas State you know, was trying to tackle with hands
(09:30):
of butter, like he was bouncing off the wools, sliding
through everybody. He's impressive because he's not the biggest dude,
but he plays big And so yeah, I like, I
like those two. If if Hinkley Ropati is eligible, that
would really help that group a lot because the enixnamaheen
is there. He scored a big touchdown against SMU. But yeah,
(09:51):
you need like three dudes that you're like, hey, we
can we can get through twelve games with kind of
these guys. And here he plays a lot of twenty
one personnel. We thought we saw thirty personnel, three backs,
no tight ends against Houston. At the end of the year.
They're getting creative. Aaron Frederick is some interest to see
what that depth looks like in that position.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Jerem Jordan is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell show.
It's Red and Blue time. We're talking about BYU and
the rivalry game is played on October eighteenth. You mentioned
the defense, and that's kind of really where you have
to start and end a lot of the conversation with
BYU football. Even with that quarterback situation. For me, because
that was the driving force behind the somewhat surprising but
(10:35):
whether you're surprised by it or not, really incredible season
that the team had last year. One of the things
that this defense was so good at is, in my opinion,
hard to replicate the turnover margin and the takeaways that
they created. I mean, there is some luck involved there.
I don't like to take credit away from any team
that can make that happen for themselves, but you know
(10:57):
there were times, even I mean they admitted it down
at Big twelve media Days, He's like, man, we had
a lot of situations where the ball bounced our way.
And staying that that far on the positive side of
the turnover ledger is a is a difficult thing to
do year over year over year. So even though I
think this defense is going to be at least as
good as it was last year, can they replicate that
(11:20):
in your mind?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It's a big ask. It really is. Because BIOI led
the country. They were tired with Texas, who played a
game or two more than DA with twenty two interceptions,
and then they had twenty nine games seven fumbles. I
mean that will equalize a lot of situations. Duoi goes
to SMU, and they turn it over a couple times
and then SMU cost it up. BOI gets takeaways inside
(11:46):
the red zone multiple times. They forced field goals by
went that game eighteen to fifty. That's the playoff team
that BOI went and beat on the road because of
their ability to take the ball away. I mean, it
was an unbelievable thing. You got to be in position,
but you also need to be lucky. All of it
is combined. I'm with you. Third in turnovers game total
in the country. Margin was the top twenty five at
(12:09):
plus eight. Offense turned over a little too much frankly
in the twenties there, but I'm with you if you
can approximate that number, like let's say you a seventeen picks.
You know, the good news is basically returns all of
its safeties and the backup corners that will be the starters.
They've played quite a bit. And then, of course your
top two playmakers are in rushers Frankly all Isaiah Glasker
(12:31):
and Jack Kelly. Jack Kelly is a Balie's on the
m girsky watch lists morning for best defensive player in
the country. Isaiah Glasker is the closest thing we've seen
down here the Kyle van Noy and Fred Warner. He
is just stat stuffer. He speels like a fourth or
fifth round outside landbacker NFL draft pick next year. The
student makes play. So I'm excited. And Jay Hill calls
(12:53):
a great game. He has a great scheme. Before the
Colorado game, which we felt like might be a fifty
five fifty kind of shootout thing, he made Colorado look
silly and he was actually pregame talking to Spencer Linton
and he was smiling like he knew that they were
going to give Colorado some problems. So in Jay Hill,
we trust down here. He's done an amazing job. And
(13:15):
like I said, as long as Boiu has Colonie and
Jay Hill, I think I think they can do some
real special things here.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It feels like up here at Utah there's a lot
of folks who are like gearing up for Hey, this
is the last year that you have Kyle Whittingham on
the hill. I think most people feel bittersweet about that.
I guess there's probably some contingent of fans that are
ready to turn the page. Don't count me among them,
not just yet. But is that is that the feeling
at BYU about Jay Hill. You already mentioned you don't
(13:42):
get to keep him forever. He is too good of
a coach to keep in provo as an assistant, presumably
if you know, a big time job offer comes, and
I think one will are the are the fans and
I guess more importantly the other coaches and the players
having that in the back of their mind that this
is maybe the last year you could take advantage of
(14:02):
his expertise.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I don't think so. It's just I'm just being super
president about it and realistic because I just think he's
an unbelievable coach, Like he is a power for head coach.
He should be at some point, and he's too good,
Like if this defense keeps playing like they did last year,
there's no way he won't be. So I cherish the
moments we have with them, like at some point, you know,
(14:25):
I helped Kevin youngs here twenty or thirty years, but
the reality is probably not. You know, like every season,
just enjoy greatness when you see it, and it's rare
you see and go that player or that coach is
truly great. I just think the world of Ja Hill.
I think he's unbelievable. I think they have a great staff.
He retained its entire staff. It's very rare from an
(14:46):
eleven and two team, and now all these coaches are back.
They're building, like the twenty sixth recruiting classes top twenty
in the country. But he's never had kind of that momentum.
And that's all because you have great culture, great coaches,
you're winning, you know, competitive and all the good things.
So that's just me personally with Jay. I just think
he's awesome and I cherish the time he's calling the
(15:09):
defense because when he's calling it, I feel like, hey,
you always got a chance here, regardless of who this
quarterback is. Is you always not going to walk into
too many games this year where they have the better
quarterback on paper, but they'll have the better defense, and
that gives you a shot. Is that what it feels
like to be a Utah fan. You always have the
better defense.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
You always have the better defense. Was that a shot
at the quarterback situation where you probably.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Maybe mildly maybe Mileley?
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah, look, I mean this that game October eighteenth. The
teams don't get to focus on it, yet I do
because we do.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, think about it.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, it's my favorite game of the year every year.
And and by the way, it's massively, massively important for
Utah to win this year for so many different reasons,
and they got to go down to Provo to do it.
What do you think October eighteenth looks like? And of
course I'm asking you this question in July.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, who knows what the path will be from both
these teams to that situation? What has been better than expected?
What has been underwhelming? Do bery habits quarterback figured out?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You know?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Is that person they is a smooth sailing right? Is
Dan Pierre running all over the field like they're hoping
as Jason Beck and the crew installed that offense to
that degree, the defense and Lander Barton and smith Snowden
and the boys that they do on their thing, Like,
I think it could be a really really compelling matchup.
What I hope, honestly is that it's a massive swing
(16:40):
game in the fortunes of whoever goes to the victorial
title game. That's what it always used to be in
the Whack and the Mountain West and whatnot. Is like,
you got to win that game because you need the
edge to get to the championship game in this league,
and that would be awesome. I think obviously two great programs,
and it's gonna be fun. I can't wait to see
kind of what happens before then in the game, after
(17:01):
the game. The only thing that's tough is there's so
many teams in the league. It's gonna come down to
some dumb tiebreaker and it's just that killed the OU
last year and it was their own opportunity to win,
you know, two of three, and they lost two of
three and then mixed tile game blah blah blah. So
that's the only thing with the league that's sort of
tough is like all this expansion, it's not truly kind
(17:24):
of yet we beat them, we're in. It's well hopefully
So and So wins because it's dumb tiebreaker plays.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Not only that, but it's okay to talk about now.
I promise we're gonna get really, really sick of talking
about Big twelve parody and how everyone in this league
can beat everyone in this league. I spent enough time
in the Pac twelve to know exactly how that feels,
where you're just like, oh, yeah, this this league has
no elite team that crushes everyone else. So, who knows
who's gonna end up in the playoffs right now? The
(17:53):
betting odds even are all over the place. Some books
have it Kansas State's the favorite, Utah's second, Arizona State second,
Texas Tech up there, Baylor up there, BYU before the
rest left. Transfer was in that conversation, even when the
sports books now they've fallen kind of to that second tier.
I've already made my thoughts on that pretty clear. But
(18:15):
outside of Provo, who do you think is the scariest
team in this Big twelve conference.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It's a great point. It's hard to look at Arizona
State and evaluate because Camp Scataway was such an important
piece of their offense. Yet Sam Levitz back Jordan Tyson's
like a first first round, second round kind of receiver,
and they returned nine started on both sides of the ball.
It's hard to not think that Arizona State has some real,
real juice. Iowa State and Kansas State feel like they're
(18:45):
super consistent. If every Johnson takes that next step. For
Kansas State feels like offensively they would be hard to beat.
Iowa State super solid, hard to lose, two thousand yard
receivers though Utah always feels like an offensive way from
being right there, they're not there right and so if
if that clicks like that could be dangerous. If you
already gets decent quarterback play, you'd like to think you
(19:06):
always in the mix. But that's a massive question. But
it feels like, you know, Baylor's pretty interesting, finished on
a six game win streak in the regular season last year,
lost the bowl game, but they returned Sorier Robertson and
a thousand yard running back. So it is it is
pretty open, and it's not good for the Big twelve
to have this much parity. By the way, there needs
(19:29):
to be an elite team that you kind of say, hey,
they're probably getting the benefit of the doubt of an
at large bid if they don't win the league, because
what we don't want is what happened last year. You're
just a one bid league. We need the two in there.
Then when it goes to sixteen, you got to push
for a third. So it's it's I would like to
see a team or two kind of emerges one of
(19:49):
the top teams, but I think it's going to be
difficult because you have a lot of good to very
good programs. Is there a great program right now in
the league. I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Quite yet, how about you talking about be talking about Colorado?
They made sure we talked about him yesterday. I thought
we were going to get this bomb drop type news
and it was right. It was happy news. I'm glad
that Deon's cancer free. It wasn't. It wasn't the football
press conference. I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah. I mean that that one depends too on what
are they going to get from the quarterback position. Kayden
Salter was unbelievable at Liberty two years ago and that
was good last year. But is he the guy or
or is the stud freshman jj Juju lewis going to
be the guy at five start? Like that kind of
all depends you lose Travis Hunter. There's a lot of
losses there. You know, a kid on the team, like,
(20:38):
what's the motivation. Of course he's motivated to win. Come on.
But I think I think they'll be interesting. But I
don't see them as a contender. But yet again, last year,
we weren't talking about Arizona State. They went from worces
to first and the and the poll. I agree with
the idea by the way not to do a preseason
poll to the teams. I think that was smart because
you're trying to get that second team in. I think
that was a good move. I also want to get
(20:59):
rid of the AP preseason poll. I don't think that
helps us. It's fun for marketing. It's fun. Hey, we
beat so and so early in the season, but ultimately
it doesn't really matter. Like the college football playoffoll, we
wait till October before that comes out. AP provides some context,
marketing whatever, but in terms of actually being rewarded for
what you did, Arizona started too far back right in
(21:23):
the pack to kind of catch up. I'm hoping the
Big twelve can get two teams in, albeit at like
eleven and two or whatever, because it's just hard to
No one's running the table in.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
The fleet, Jeremy, I look forward to our conversations every
week as we will continue red and Blue to the
chagrin of sum but to the delight of so many more.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
They don't have a choice in the programming. But you
can tweet at Shan O'Connor. Yeah, thanks for having me on.
It's gonna be fun to jet. I appreciate it all right.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Look, forward to it Man. Thank you for your time.
As always, thanks sev jam Jordan
My father taught me many things. You know what they see.
They taught me keep your friends close, put your enemies close.
Time to check in on that two down south. They
have done absolutely nothing wrong, but they're blue. I think
it's just the Red and Blue on The Sean O'Connell's
Show and Utah's number one Sports Talk, the ESPN seven
hundred and ninety two one half N Sean O'Connell Show
(00:32):
on ESPN seven ninety two one FM. I know that
some people have a hard time with our next guest
because he is true and blue. We love Jerem Jordan.
This is Red and Blue on the Sean O'Connell Show,
our first one of the football season, as we check
in on the team down south. Jerem, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
What's up? It's been too long. How are you going? Man?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I've been I'm being really good. You've been enjoying You've
been enjoying the summer with the fan.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah. Yeah, it's been relaxing. It's been good. I feel refreshed.
I feel ready for fresh cut grass and sweaty pads
and breaking down fourth string nose tackles, and I just
feel like ed Helm's in the hangover.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We are bad and we are all holding our breath
for October eighteenth, Utah down at BYU. A lot is
going to happen between now and then, obviously including camp
for both of these teams. Give me your overarching thoughts,
your expectations in the broad strokes for BYU football, given
(01:37):
the context of Jake Retzlaf's departure, what they've had to
deal with as a team this offseason, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, biggest conversation is, hey, who's the quarterback? And you
got a three man race, McKay Hillstead, Trason Borgaye, bear
Bachmeira the three Hillstead Skyridge kid. Utah State was in
the system last year with Trayson Boorgay. Kind of backing
is QB three and four. Obviously Gary Bohannon and of
course Jay Christop not there anymore. So hill said, and
(02:06):
Borgay are your two guys that come in with some
starting experience. He'll set at four games. Bore Gay had
about eight games at Western Michigan, and then bear Bachmeyer
has a really high upside recruited by Obama in Notre Dame,
Texas and m Oregon Michigan. So high profile kid that
didn't get the starting quarterback job at Stanford. They fired
Troy Taylor, he's out. He comes over, he's going to
(02:28):
get a look too. So he brought his brother, Tiger,
a receiver that maybe some Utah fans are familiar with
as well, who played last two years at Stanford there.
So that's the big question. The other question is okay
By replaces two of their tackles, the left and right tackle.
Issaiah Jada, who is on the team previously at Colorado,
had some experience, got in a little bit last year.
(02:50):
Andrew Gentry is the guy that comes from Michigan that
he feels like can plug and play in there and
be good. They returned the interior three of Lafwallo, Mitchell Makassini, Leusa,
kind of those guys they feel good about the O line.
Of course, Carson Ryan comes from Utah. He's tight end
one TVD on who's in that group wide receiver, feels
pretty experienced and good. Chase Roberts, one of the best
in the country is back, Jojo Phillips, Parker Kingston, with
(03:14):
some other names in the mix. But you got some
good experience there. Defensively, replacing seven starters, but from the
Big twelve top defense statistically in a bunch of categories.
But j Hill played a lot of guys, a lot
of reps. And so when you say, hey, Crew Wakeley
left for produce strong safety, well Tellan Alfred and raided
the money played a lot. So you return three guys
(03:37):
that played it free in wall Prastus thotswell you turned
Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glasker two of your three linebackers
who feel like NFL guys, Harrison Taggert and middle linebacker
left for cal se alias Ferah plug In. They feel
like it's the feelings higher than taggerts Quarnerback's hard to
lose the starting two that were pretty good, and Jacob
Robinson was making an impact with the Niners as an
(03:59):
undrafted free guy. Mark Collins is out. They like Evan Johnson,
Mariy Bomba. You lose all four starters on the defensive line,
that feels like a big deal. Obviously, the conversation around
Keana Tonabassi is a massive ad of course, but they
like some of the guys who have been in the
mix playing a little bit as backups, and we'll see
how that group fits in de tackle. A little thin
outside of Keanu it feels like. And then the ends
(04:22):
they're looking for playmakers. So that's the broad strokes. I
guess special teams will fans back the punter, Sam vander
Harts back Parker Kingston is the punt returners back TVD
with kick returner with Keelan Marion going to Miami, So
a lot of experience, excitement, motivation, But ultimately I think
if you AI has decent enough quarterback play, I think
(04:44):
they can compete in the eight, nine to ten win
category in the regular season.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So there are a lot of people in my sphere,
of course, generally Utah centric, that there's an almost a
sigh of relief all they've got some quarterback questions at
by you because everyone knows this team is incredibly dangerous
in other places. I don't think that it's always a
(05:08):
loss when you lose an experienced starting quarterback, and especially
when it's unexpected like this, there's an added layer to it.
But from the numbers standpoint, and I know that's not
telling the whole story of the position, but from a
number standpoint, I look at the three names that you
just mentioned, and I say, why can't those guys give
this BYU team the exact same numbers that Jake retslaf
(05:31):
gave them. Maybe less moxye, maybe less experience, maybe less
confidence in mastery of the offense, but the numbers weren't
overly spectacular. I guess it's a complicated way of saying, like,
you didn't lose the best quarterback in the conference. You
lost the guy who was solid for you and didn't
make the same mistakes that people worried he might make
most often, and he helped the team win, but he
(05:54):
wasn't the reason the team won a lot of games.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yes, No, I agree to you, and I I've heard
some staffords say, hey, we feel confident that that exact
point one of these guys are a combination of these
guys whatever. That looks like they're not going to do
the dual thing. That's not what I'm saying. But yes,
can they produce a fifty nine percent passer who throws
for twenty nine hundred yards, twenty touchdowns, twelve picks? Yes. Now,
the thing that you can't replace, like you mentioned, is
(06:19):
the experience that Jake one has the offensive two. He's
been in the fight in Power four hill standenboorg Gat
played in G five systems, they're now in Power four.
Bear Bachmeier is a true freshman. That's just a ton
to ask, especially for a team that is in win
now mode. Sean, if Byu was on the uptick and
they were feeling like they were getting better, it's different.
(06:40):
You could tolerate something and go, hey, eight and four
regular season building, this is good. You know, I got
a high profile recruits coming in the next couple of
years kind of thing. No, this is a win now situation.
This is you don't have I don't know if Buoy
has j Hill forever, like he's too good of a coach.
You have to seize the moments that you have this
staff and this group of talented players right now. And
(07:03):
if Jake Retslov was the quarterback, we'd be talking about
Boi competing for the Big twelve title. That is not
the conversation externally. Now Internally they feel like, hey, that
people don't feel like we can do it again. So
they have that chip on their shoulder. And certainly it's
a fair question given how important quarterback is. I failed
to mention running back by the way I should mention LJ.
(07:23):
Martin back. Jenny Molly had some really good moments last year,
Enick Nawwaheene and then some unproven guys. They're hoping Hinkley
Rapati gets an extra kind of juco year. Not sure
on that one. That may or may not happen if
he joins that's good at running back. But to your point,
can one of those guys put up those kinds of numbers. Yes,
if the defense can be as good as they were
(07:44):
last year and the special teams, if you always got
a lot of playmakers, skilled positions back, that guy doesn't
have to win VOA ton of games. But like you said,
Jake Rotslov had a few moments where he was pretty
clutch obviously against you Ty, He's got to make a
couple throws there. Oklahoma State, that's a massive drive. There's
a fourth down there, a throw to Darius Flasster to
win against Oclhoma State didn't make it against Kansas. But
(08:05):
boy goes four and two and one score games. Utah
went one and five. That was the difference between those
two seasons in my opinion. Once, obviously Utah was trying
to find the offense. I feel like you got it
with a job back, as we call him down here
running the show. Now, one score games matter. You can
always just make it a two score game and make
it so it's not close. But there will be close games,
(08:27):
clutch moments which body quarterback can make it happen. In
those situations. They have yet to be in the fight,
so it'll be new to them.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Uh, you failed at first to mention the running backs.
I'm kind of glad you did. Deep. I'm scared of
the running back room at BYU more than I'm scared
of any other offensive position, because.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
More than receiver interesting, I just feel.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Like Moa is maybe one of the most underrated players
in the entire Big Twelve conference, and you've got a
one to two punch with him in LJ. Martin. If
your offense line is even good at all, those two
guys can make massive, massive games and be huge problems
for every defense.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, LJ is a guy that if Elsa should be
a thousand yard back. He's five point two a carry,
super solid. He's not a game breaker, like, he's not
going to hit homers. He'll had doubles if you will,
but he is super solid. And then Moa surprised a
lot of people. Five yards of carry last year, three touchdowns. Apparently,
Kansas State you know, was trying to tackle with hands
(09:30):
of butter, like he was bouncing off the wools, sliding
through everybody. He's impressive because he's not the biggest dude,
but he plays big And so yeah, I like, I
like those two. If if Hinkley Ropati is eligible, that
would really help that group a lot because the enixnamaheen
is there. He scored a big touchdown against SMU. But yeah,
(09:51):
you need like three dudes that you're like, hey, we
can we can get through twelve games with kind of
these guys. And here he plays a lot of twenty
one personnel. We thought we saw thirty personnel, three backs,
no tight ends against Houston. At the end of the year.
They're getting creative. Aaron Frederick is some interest to see
what that depth looks like in that position.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Jerem Jordan is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell show.
It's Red and Blue time. We're talking about BYU and
the rivalry game is played on October eighteenth. You mentioned
the defense, and that's kind of really where you have
to start and end a lot of the conversation with
BYU football. Even with that quarterback situation. For me, because
that was the driving force behind the somewhat surprising but
(10:35):
whether you're surprised by it or not, really incredible season
that the team had last year. One of the things
that this defense was so good at is, in my opinion,
hard to replicate the turnover margin and the takeaways that
they created. I mean, there is some luck involved there.
I don't like to take credit away from any team
that can make that happen for themselves, but you know
(10:57):
there were times, even I mean they admitted it down
at Big twelve media Days, He's like, man, we had
a lot of situations where the ball bounced our way.
And staying that that far on the positive side of
the turnover ledger is a is a difficult thing to
do year over year over year. So even though I
think this defense is going to be at least as
good as it was last year, can they replicate that
(11:20):
in your mind?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It's a big ask. It really is. Because BIOI led
the country. They were tired with Texas, who played a
game or two more than DA with twenty two interceptions,
and then they had twenty nine games seven fumbles. I
mean that will equalize a lot of situations. Duoi goes
to SMU, and they turn it over a couple times
and then SMU cost it up. BOI gets takeaways inside
(11:46):
the red zone multiple times. They forced field goals by
went that game eighteen to fifty. That's the playoff team
that BOI went and beat on the road because of
their ability to take the ball away. I mean, it
was an unbelievable thing. You got to be in position,
but you also need to be lucky. All of it
is combined. I'm with you. Third in turnovers game total
in the country. Margin was the top twenty five at
(12:09):
plus eight. Offense turned over a little too much frankly
in the twenties there, but I'm with you if you
can approximate that number, like let's say you a seventeen picks.
You know, the good news is basically returns all of
its safeties and the backup corners that will be the starters.
They've played quite a bit. And then, of course your
top two playmakers are in rushers Frankly all Isaiah Glasker
(12:31):
and Jack Kelly. Jack Kelly is a Balie's on the
m girsky watch lists morning for best defensive player in
the country. Isaiah Glasker is the closest thing we've seen
down here the Kyle van Noy and Fred Warner. He
is just stat stuffer. He speels like a fourth or
fifth round outside landbacker NFL draft pick next year. The
student makes play. So I'm excited. And Jay Hill calls
(12:53):
a great game. He has a great scheme. Before the
Colorado game, which we felt like might be a fifty
five fifty kind of shootout thing, he made Colorado look
silly and he was actually pregame talking to Spencer Linton
and he was smiling like he knew that they were
going to give Colorado some problems. So in Jay Hill,
we trust down here. He's done an amazing job. And
(13:15):
like I said, as long as Boiu has Colonie and
Jay Hill, I think I think they can do some
real special things here.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It feels like up here at Utah there's a lot
of folks who are like gearing up for Hey, this
is the last year that you have Kyle Whittingham on
the hill. I think most people feel bittersweet about that.
I guess there's probably some contingent of fans that are
ready to turn the page. Don't count me among them,
not just yet. But is that is that the feeling
at BYU about Jay Hill. You already mentioned you don't
(13:42):
get to keep him forever. He is too good of
a coach to keep in provo as an assistant, presumably
if you know, a big time job offer comes, and
I think one will are the are the fans and
I guess more importantly the other coaches and the players
having that in the back of their mind that this
is maybe the last year you could take advantage of
(14:02):
his expertise.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I don't think so. It's just I'm just being super
president about it and realistic because I just think he's
an unbelievable coach, Like he is a power for head coach.
He should be at some point, and he's too good,
Like if this defense keeps playing like they did last year,
there's no way he won't be. So I cherish the
moments we have with them, like at some point, you know,
(14:25):
I helped Kevin youngs here twenty or thirty years, but
the reality is probably not. You know, like every season,
just enjoy greatness when you see it, and it's rare
you see and go that player or that coach is
truly great. I just think the world of Ja Hill.
I think he's unbelievable. I think they have a great staff.
He retained its entire staff. It's very rare from an
(14:46):
eleven and two team, and now all these coaches are back.
They're building, like the twenty sixth recruiting classes top twenty
in the country. But he's never had kind of that momentum.
And that's all because you have great culture, great coaches,
you're winning, you know, competitive and all the good things.
So that's just me personally with Jay. I just think
he's awesome and I cherish the time he's calling the
(15:09):
defense because when he's calling it, I feel like, hey,
you always got a chance here, regardless of who this
quarterback is. Is you always not going to walk into
too many games this year where they have the better
quarterback on paper, but they'll have the better defense, and
that gives you a shot. Is that what it feels
like to be a Utah fan. You always have the
better defense.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
You always have the better defense. Was that a shot
at the quarterback situation where you probably.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Maybe mildly maybe Mileley?
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah, look, I mean this that game October eighteenth. The
teams don't get to focus on it, yet I do
because we do.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, think about it.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, it's my favorite game of the year every year.
And and by the way, it's massively, massively important for
Utah to win this year for so many different reasons,
and they got to go down to Provo to do it.
What do you think October eighteenth looks like? And of
course I'm asking you this question in July.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, who knows what the path will be from both
these teams to that situation? What has been better than expected?
What has been underwhelming? Do bery habits quarterback figured out?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You know?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Is that person they is a smooth sailing right? Is
Dan Pierre running all over the field like they're hoping
as Jason Beck and the crew installed that offense to
that degree, the defense and Lander Barton and smith Snowden
and the boys that they do on their thing, Like,
I think it could be a really really compelling matchup.
What I hope, honestly is that it's a massive swing
(16:40):
game in the fortunes of whoever goes to the victorial
title game. That's what it always used to be in
the Whack and the Mountain West and whatnot. Is like,
you got to win that game because you need the
edge to get to the championship game in this league,
and that would be awesome. I think obviously two great programs,
and it's gonna be fun. I can't wait to see
kind of what happens before then in the game, after
(17:01):
the game. The only thing that's tough is there's so
many teams in the league. It's gonna come down to
some dumb tiebreaker and it's just that killed the OU
last year and it was their own opportunity to win,
you know, two of three, and they lost two of
three and then mixed tile game blah blah blah. So
that's the only thing with the league that's sort of
tough is like all this expansion, it's not truly kind
(17:24):
of yet we beat them, we're in. It's well hopefully
So and So wins because it's dumb tiebreaker plays.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Not only that, but it's okay to talk about now.
I promise we're gonna get really, really sick of talking
about Big twelve parody and how everyone in this league
can beat everyone in this league. I spent enough time
in the Pac twelve to know exactly how that feels,
where you're just like, oh, yeah, this this league has
no elite team that crushes everyone else. So, who knows
who's gonna end up in the playoffs right now? The
(17:53):
betting odds even are all over the place. Some books
have it Kansas State's the favorite, Utah's second, Arizona State second,
Texas Tech up there, Baylor up there, BYU before the
rest left. Transfer was in that conversation, even when the
sports books now they've fallen kind of to that second tier.
I've already made my thoughts on that pretty clear. But
(18:15):
outside of Provo, who do you think is the scariest
team in this Big twelve conference.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It's a great point. It's hard to look at Arizona
State and evaluate because Camp Scataway was such an important
piece of their offense. Yet Sam Levitz back Jordan Tyson's
like a first first round, second round kind of receiver,
and they returned nine started on both sides of the ball.
It's hard to not think that Arizona State has some real,
real juice. Iowa State and Kansas State feel like they're
(18:45):
super consistent. If every Johnson takes that next step. For
Kansas State feels like offensively they would be hard to beat.
Iowa State super solid, hard to lose, two thousand yard
receivers though Utah always feels like an offensive way from
being right there, they're not there right and so if
if that clicks like that could be dangerous. If you
already gets decent quarterback play, you'd like to think you
(19:06):
always in the mix. But that's a massive question. But
it feels like, you know, Baylor's pretty interesting, finished on
a six game win streak in the regular season last year,
lost the bowl game, but they returned Sorier Robertson and
a thousand yard running back. So it is it is
pretty open, and it's not good for the Big twelve
to have this much parity. By the way, there needs
(19:29):
to be an elite team that you kind of say, hey,
they're probably getting the benefit of the doubt of an
at large bid if they don't win the league, because
what we don't want is what happened last year. You're
just a one bid league. We need the two in there.
Then when it goes to sixteen, you got to push
for a third. So it's it's I would like to
see a team or two kind of emerges one of
(19:49):
the top teams, but I think it's going to be
difficult because you have a lot of good to very
good programs. Is there a great program right now in
the league. I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Quite yet, how about you talking about be talking about Colorado?
They made sure we talked about him yesterday. I thought
we were going to get this bomb drop type news
and it was right. It was happy news. I'm glad
that Deon's cancer free. It wasn't. It wasn't the football
press conference. I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah. I mean that that one depends too on what
are they going to get from the quarterback position. Kayden
Salter was unbelievable at Liberty two years ago and that
was good last year. But is he the guy or
or is the stud freshman jj Juju lewis going to
be the guy at five start? Like that kind of
all depends you lose Travis Hunter. There's a lot of
losses there. You know, a kid on the team, like,
(20:38):
what's the motivation. Of course he's motivated to win. Come on.
But I think I think they'll be interesting. But I
don't see them as a contender. But yet again, last year,
we weren't talking about Arizona State. They went from worces
to first and the and the poll. I agree with
the idea by the way not to do a preseason
poll to the teams. I think that was smart because
you're trying to get that second team in. I think
that was a good move. I also want to get
(20:59):
rid of the AP preseason poll. I don't think that
helps us. It's fun for marketing. It's fun. Hey, we
beat so and so early in the season, but ultimately
it doesn't really matter. Like the college football playoffoll, we
wait till October before that comes out. AP provides some context,
marketing whatever, but in terms of actually being rewarded for
what you did, Arizona started too far back right in
(21:23):
the pack to kind of catch up. I'm hoping the
Big twelve can get two teams in, albeit at like
eleven and two or whatever, because it's just hard to
No one's running the table in.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
The fleet, Jeremy, I look forward to our conversations every
week as we will continue red and Blue to the
chagrin of sum but to the delight of so many more.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
They don't have a choice in the programming. But you
can tweet at Shan O'Connor. Yeah, thanks for having me on.
It's gonna be fun to jet. I appreciate it all right.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Look, forward to it Man. Thank you for your time.
As always, thanks sev jam Jordan
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