Sean O'Connell Show - Full POD 8-5-25

OC talks Utah Jazz & NBA offseason with Gordie Chiesa, Utah's O Line in the running for the Joe Moore Award with Geoff Schwartz, RSL with Trey Fitzgerald, More offensive over/unders for Utah FB, Perception battle Big 12 is fighting + more

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
He's the Shan O'Connell Show, brought to you by Big
Willies on Utah's number one sports talk and Homa b
ESPN seven hundred and ninety two one af AM, a
proud part of Utah's ESPN Radio network.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Have it Tuesday, Everybody, Welcome to the Shan O'Connell Show.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Glad to have you with us. As is always the case,
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(00:57):
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(01:21):
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The promo that we record every day. We have another

(01:42):
number over under today. I'm trying to make these things compelling.
I'm trying to make these things interesting for you. And
you know, Utah, we've focused on the offense so far.
We're gonna stay focused on the offense for a little while.
At the end of the day. I think a lot

(02:02):
of what you see from Utah in the passing game
is going to determine their success for this twenty twenty
five season. But you know, stranger things have happened. You
could have a mediocre passing year and still end up
being in the conference championship hunt. We shall see. Gordon

(02:22):
Chays is going to drop by in about half an hour,
Jeff Schwartz is going to drop by at an hour
and a half, and then Trey Fitzgerald to talk League's
Cup action and RSL being back in the Western Conference
race for the MLS playoffs, all of that coming on
the show. Last year, the University of Utah was good

(02:47):
for twenty three and ninety three total passing yards on
the season. Now, Devin dan Pierre was not the most
prolific passer even in his own conference. The appeal for
him has been the total offense that he was able

(03:09):
to produce at New Mexico. And he's a guy that
has to improve in the passing game. I think is
going to improve in the passing game even if he
wasn't at Utah behind a better offensive line. And we'll
talk about the weapons at his disposal here in just
a minute. I think just the additional year of experience.

(03:36):
I think the familiarity in the offense. I think the
maturity that comes the college football maturity that comes with
being the guy knowing you're the guy, knowing that it
is your job and that there's not really a quarterback
battle happening in fall camp. Not that there wasn't New
Mexico last year, but you're just I mean, you get

(03:57):
better and better every year. You're supposed to get better
and better every year as a college football player. So
for Devin Dampier to add to his success in the
passing game, I think it's just sort of a natural progression,
regardless of whether or not you're at a better place

(04:19):
with a better staff of well, it's the same staff,
but with a better collection of players around you to
help you get better. Okay, So twenty three to ninety
three is not conference championship contending type numbers if you
want to talk about the numbers required to truly compete

(04:41):
for conference championships. And it depends on what conference you're
competing in, of course. But we're looking at three thousand
yards plus for the University of Utah, So we're playing
over under passing yards for the year. Now I ask
thank you yesterday if your leading receiver is going to

(05:04):
be responsible for six hundred and ninety two and a
half yards, all right, The Mason Dixon line, the line
of demarcation for passing if you have a good run
game and you have a good defense, is right around
that three thousand yard mark. So we're going to nine

(05:26):
all right, two nine and ninety nine point five yards.
Are you taking the over of the under on Utah's
passing game producing two thy nine hundred and ninety five yards? Now, remember,
let's put this in context just a little bit. The
most optimistic projections from inside that building and on that roster,

(05:47):
you've got guys saying, well, Devin Dampierre behind this offensive
line is going to do exactly what he did last year.
He's going to be at least a two thousand yard
passer and at least a thousand yard rusher. He's gonna
be per responsible for at least three thousand yards. If
you're talking about three thousand yards of passing and one
thousand yards of rushing, you're talking about devn dan Pierre

(06:10):
being a four thousand yard player, assuming that he's the
guy who generates all that passing for you. There is
the Isaac Wilson option in backup situations. There is the
Bird Fickland option in the backup situations. Nate Johnson out
of the wildcat, I don't know. We're going to see
Nate Johnson throw a lot of passes, if I'm being honest.
But Nate Johnson is going to be part of this offense.

(06:32):
He may he may account for at least a thousand
of that out of the wildcat.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
That is a lofty and insane projection, but okay, Devin
dan Pierre said he wants to be a six thousand
yard offense, right, So, if you have any hope of that,
if you want to even scratch the surface of that
being in the conversation, you probably need like thirty five
hundred yards of passing. You probably need closer to like

(06:59):
thirty eight hundred yards of passing. Although I do think
this is going to be a very proficient run game.
But let's take the most optimistic projections from inside the building,
from players themselves saying, well, I think I could be
a thousand yard rusher. Okay, your quarterback said that, And
then way Sean Parker said he wants to be at
least a fifteen hundred yard rusher. He guaranteed a thousand,

(07:19):
but he said, guarantee you fifty. He guaranteed a thousand.
I don't like guarantees. Why Shawn don't do that? Fifteen
is like his ultimate goal. Really, his ultimate goal is
to beat out DeVante Booker, who same high school by
the way, in the in northern California. So that's his
ultimate goal, is to beat out Devin Booker's mark here

(07:40):
at the University of Utah. But fifteen hundred is what
he cited. So let's say, like the best case scenario,
that's what happens for way Shawn Parker. Now you're talking
about Okay, that's yards between two players, but again would
be insane like spring in five hundred yards from the

(08:02):
also rams the other guys that are gonna get carries.
And now you're talking about three thousand yards as a
rushing team, and your passing number could come down to
three thousand. It's just if you want to be a
fixed six thousand yard offense, most of that's got to
come through the air, and you would have to increase
the production from last year's passing season, which of course

(08:23):
was disastrous. And more importantly, you'd have to increase the
production from Devin dan Pier's passing game. Like his arm
tell what he is producing in the offense. And I
want to tell you, I want to make this clear.
I am probably more optimistic about what Devin dan Pier

(08:45):
is going to be in a Utah uniform than even
the most crimson tinted, goggle wearing mute fan out there,
because I hear the way Devin dan Pier's previous coaches
talk about him, not like the oh why didn't he
come to Utah State with us? Oh my gosh, I
can't believe that these kids these days are always trying

(09:05):
to climb the ladder and move to a different spot,
and oh it's all about taking money and things like that.
The praise with which even defensive coaches from that New
Mexico staff, there's a reverence to the tone almost about
like how special of a kid Devin dan Pier is
because they're fewer and farther between than they used to

(09:27):
be in college football, right, this era especially has taken
away a lot of that team first mentality, or not
taking it away, but altered. It has taken away that, yes,
sir Noser, kind of a mentality because you're now a
professional athlete. If you're a starting quarterback, even in Division

(09:50):
one football, much less Power four, Power five football, you're
a professional athlete. You're making more money than a lot.
Devin dan Pier is making more money this year for
the University of Utah than anyone who coached him at
New Mexico did last year, with the exception of Bronco
mendenaw Right and last year, by the way, just wait

(10:11):
till that was it. Five thousand dollars bonus kicks in
for Bronco after if he can.

Speaker 5 (10:17):
Beat by five thousand dollars for no like that chain
that alters the relationship that players have.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
It's why in the NFL there's a different sort of
a relationship between quarterbacks especially, but between between players and coaches.
Not that there's an interruption of the chain of command
or there's a difference in authority, but it's like you
don't talk about people and say, Wow, he's special. I'm

(10:49):
proud of him. He's like a son to me. He's
like a nephew to me. I really think he's gonna
be something special when he grows into himself. In the NFL,
they don't say that of stuff because they're just like,
that guy is already a grownup. That guy is making
fifteen million, thirty million, fifty million dollars. That guy better

(11:11):
damn well be a grownup. Right In college football, we're
getting away from this, like, oh my gosh, I My
responsibility as a coach is not only to make sure
he's a good football player, but to make sure he's
a good human being. And we want to hold on
to it. Every coaching staff wants to keep it, every
player wants to keep it. But the reality of it
is a lot of these guys have two three four coaches,

(11:35):
even position coaches or head coaches. During their careers. You
don't have the same level of relationship. You don't have
the same time to spend with someone to impress them
with your character and show them who you truly are.
And the New Mexico staff did not have a ton
of time with Devin dan Pierre. But guess what, in
that short time, all of them have been like, Wow,

(11:58):
look at him. And what have you heard from every
Utah coach when they talk about Devin. He was on
campus for two weeks before his teammates decided, Yeah, that
could be a captain for us. And again, that's partially
a product of the position itself, that's partially a product
of the new era in college football, but it's mostly

(12:21):
Devin dam Pier being that dude, being a guy that
can relate to everybody on the staff, relate to everybody
on the team, that shows up first, leaves last, et cetera.
So my optimism for Utah football's offense with Devin dan
Pierre behind center is probably more unrealistic and insane than

(12:42):
even the crazy posting on message board type fans. So
you're saying five thousand yards passing, I still with that
being said, I still think it's a huge ask to
tell someone who is a dual threat quarterback right, who's
and we're being honest, is probably much better as a

(13:02):
runner than a thrower at this point. He's more instinctual
as a runner. He has a little bit better grasp
on the what the defense is doing when he's got
the ball in his hand and he's running with it
than when he's trying to look downfield and understand cover
at least what that's what the tape shows so far.
But again, he's been improving behind the scenes for these

(13:25):
last several months, and he's been doing it under the
tutelage of a guy who totally understands him now, and
our hope is he's now doing it with better weapons
at his disposal, with more efficient offensive talent around him.
But still, you're asking a guy with this number twenty
nine ninety five right, nine ninety nine yards zero point five.

(13:48):
If you hit the over, you go three thousand yards.
You're asking him to add two and a half games
worth of production in the same number of snaps over
what he has last year. You're asking him, I need
an extra seven hundred ish yards out of you in
the passing game over what you had last year, when,
by the way, you were one of the most proficient

(14:11):
offensive gainers at the quarterback position in college football. You're
saying to him, I love what you did with the
number four offense in the country, but I want you
to do that. Plus I want you to do that
in a different way. I want you to do that
with more of your arm involved. I want you no, no, no,

(14:34):
we still need those offensive yards from you on the ground,
but I also want you to give me an extra
seven hundred plus yards through the air. That's a big,
big ask, and I'm optimistic he's capable of it, but
I don't think it's a guarantee by any stretch of
the imagination. And I also, and this is maybe even

(14:55):
a bigger deal, I don't know that it's a requirement
for Utah to end up being in the conference championship hunt.
I think we're gonna get down to like Week nine,
and there's gonna be four or five teams still involved.
They'll probably be one that we didn't expect, and they'll
probably be three or four that we did. And I
think they're all gonna be kind of battling it out

(15:16):
at the top like we had last year. We're heading
into week nine, it was like, well, it's Kansas gonna
be BYU and knock them out of the whole equation?
Is Kansas State gonna be there as I was taken
to be there? Colorado still has a shot if they
just get things dialed in, and Arizona State looks like
they're running away with it.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
Right.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
If Utah is going to be in that rodeo toward
the end of the season, it's going to take. It's
going to require an improvement in the passing game from
Devin dan Pierre. But how significant is a reasonable ask.
And that's why I came up with that number for

(15:56):
two reasons, because it's a lot to say from one player,
I need this from you. But it's also again we'll
go back Utah's offensive passing numbers to put it in
context for you. Twenty and sixteen, twenty eight hundred yards

(16:17):
passing on fifty three percent completions not ideal. Right, the
next year twenty seventeen, thirty two forty two on sixty
one percent completions twenty eighteen. Again, now you're competing for
conference championships in the Pac twelve with these numbers, You're there.
You're in the hunt. You're in that mix, you're in

(16:39):
the game. Three twenty one yards on sixty one percent
twenty nineteen, thirty one, eighty seven, and that year you
were incredibly efficient. Nine point nine yards per attempt. That
is a sexy, sexy number. The late great John Piece

(17:03):
his goal, one of his many goals as a defensive
coach all the time, was like you got to keep
them under that seven yards per completion. If you see
something like nine point nine yards per attempt, wow, that's
a great, great number. That's that might be the best
number of Utah it's ever had. If we go all
the way back, is that is that where your affinity

(17:24):
for in your preference towards yards per play comes from?
Is that is that influenced by Oh, we said. I
was fortunate enough when John Peace was finished coaching at
the University of Utah, he spent time with us doing
postgame shows, and I was hosting those postgame shows and
pregame when we would talk about like what it really

(17:45):
takes to win, you know, four turnovers in a score
or in a score you're getting the win. That's what
I think of with right, and that he obviously that's
like that's an easy one. It rhymes yeah, mnemonic device
for in a score boom you're in and it's like
and it's like, well, yeah, four turnovers is quite a bit,
and you and your defense scores like, of course you're

(18:05):
gonna win yeaheah, Right, that's like it's also that's a
perfect defensive game. Yeah, A more realistic defensive goal is like,
you have got to make sure that when this team
drops back to pass, that they're not getting more than
seven yards per attempt because again, put that in put
that in context with a Utah defense. Right, Teams don't

(18:29):
do this the way they used to. But you run
on first down, no game, you run on second down
a yard or two against the Utah defense. How good
they are every year against the run. Now you're talking
about third and long. He doesn't want third and long
to be manageable for teams. He wants all right, on average,

(18:49):
your passing plays are not going to get you that
first down against my defense. Right, So for Utah in
twenty nineteen to be getting a touch not a touchdown,
a first down on every passing play, basically, that's amazing.
You didn't see that in the COVID year that you
throw away seven and a half yards per attempt on

(19:11):
twenty twenty one Conference championship, three thousand passing yards exactly,
all right, So they just hit the over on the
question we're asking today. Of course, two different quarterbacks or
was it because Cam didn't start all the games? So
you gotta take that in consideration. That year twenty twenty two,

(19:32):
thirty four eighty nine, seven point eight yards per attempt. Again,
that's nine point nine is not something that Utah is
gonna achieve most years. If you're seven yards per attempt
plus for the University of Utah, you're probably in good shape.
Twenty twenty three bad year, twenty twenty four, bad year,

(19:53):
six point six and six point seven yards per attempt still,
I mean almost seven as a run first team that
you Utah is always going to be. Even this year,
they're going to be that right, as a run first team,
this time with some spread concepts in there. Seven yards
per attempt, But how many attempts are you gonna have? Well,

(20:13):
you're gonna have as many as the offense dictates because
of your proficiency and your completion percentage, and the yard
is that you end up needing. I think to be
in that conference championship hunt is right around that three
thousand yard mark. It's not an unreasonable ask, but it
is something that would be a big improvement for Devin

(20:36):
and a big improvement more importantly for the University of
Utah offense. I think it's I did not realize that
it was over six and a half yards per play
the last two years. Oh see, I would have guessed
soon been much lower than that. But as I think
back on the last couple of years, it wasn't necessarily
moving the ball down the field that was the offensive problem.

(20:58):
The offensive problem, it was finishing the job in red zone,
getting in the getting in the end zone. Obviously, they
didn't move the ball as well as they did in
the two years previous when when Cam was starting on
fact World championship teams, but they moved it pretty well.
So yeah, that I guess that makes sense that it is.
It was still close to that seven yards per game mark.

(21:20):
And I will again, I'm trying to put these numbers
in context for you as I ask you for over, under,
over or under two nine ninety nine point five yards
in your passing offense for Utah this coming season. I'm
not asking you to be the most productive passing offense
in the Big Twelve conference Last year, James who was
the most proficient passer or passing team in the Big

(21:42):
Twelve the Iowa State? It was Colorado. Oh duck Colorado,
of course, four thousand and thirty four yards. It goes Colorado, TCU,
Texas Tech, Iowa State, Baylor, Arizona State, your eventual conference champion,
had thirty two hundred year yards through the air. Okay,
And like Sam Levitt is getting a lot of hype

(22:04):
this year, but he was not. That makes sense that
they were. They were not that close to the top
because they did not rely on Sam Levitt as much
as they're going to this year. Sixth best in the conference.
But guess what their yards per attempt was zero point
four second best in the conference behind only Colorado, who

(22:25):
was incredibly one dimensional. And of course Arizona State was
anything but yeah, because they had that run game behind
Cam scattaboy. B that was that three of them before
contact with Cam Scataboo like five yards after contact. It
seemed like that guy just dragged people, just a freak.
Arizona State was sixth best in this is just yardage production.

(22:46):
Oklahoma State, bottom dweller in the conference, still gave you
three and forty seven passing yards BYU in the best
season they've had in recent memory, just over three thousand
yard yards. For Utah to come in with three thousand
yards this year, if you compare it to last year's number,
that's good enough for ninth best in the conference. You're

(23:08):
I'm asking you to be right in the middle of
the pack. We've done this with a lot of the
numbers so far. I don't need an improvement that puts
you number one or number two. I'm talking about, can
you get to the middle of the pack offensively with
your passing game total yardage production three thousand yards if
you hit the over, if you hit the under. By

(23:30):
the way, for teams that's that hit the under, and
still we're really good by you, just barely on the
north side of that line of demarcation. Arizona was under,
Cincinnati was under, Kansas State was one of the best
teams in the conference, and they had twenty seven forty
eight So two hundred and fifty yards shy. Basically, yeah,

(23:52):
that speaks to Avery. Johnson is like Devin dan Pierre,
a guy who is more effective at least so far
have been more effective with his legs with his arms,
So that that speaks to that that that's a good
comparison for Utah football. This season, Kansas State is eleventh
from last year. That it's West Virginia Kansas, who's a
really hard team to evaluate because they basically played two

(24:14):
different seasons. Last year. UCF best running team in the
conference was not proficient through the air twenty three ninety six.
Utah was fifteenth in the conference last year in total
yardage over through the air twenty three ninety three, as
I mentioned, and Houston was dead last with oney eight
and thirty two yards. Houston and Utah and Arizona were

(24:37):
the teams that had fewer than seven yards per attempt.
So I think you're I think you made a good
number there to get to ninth in based on last
year's stats in the conference because from tenth to through
sixteenth there's only one winning team in there. That's Kansas State.

(24:57):
Kansas looked like a winning team at the end of
the year. Ultimately they ended up with a losing record
because of how bad their start was. So that's that's
from that perspective too. OC that seems to be a
good place for Utah's offense to be through the air.
So eight seven seven three five three zero seven hundred
on the text line at real oc sports on Twitter,

(25:19):
tell me if you think Utah is going to hit
the over or you're okay with the under, it's not
a panic move if you hit the under, because you
could be an outlier like Kansas State, you could be
in that BYU neighborhood. I mean BYU barely north of
three thousand yards last year was a good team, eleven
win team. Of course, they didn't end up in the

(25:40):
conference championship game because the tie breakers and craziness like that.
So I just think they're like two plays away, two
plays away from being in the conference championship game, maybe
being conference champions because there's their two losses were that close.
So that's a that's a good spot to be in.
And then it's also if you can compaired to BYU

(26:01):
season last year, you would hope that Utah's defense forces
the turnovers that BYU's defense did last year, to oh
see an improvement in that area from last season. As
good as Utah's defense was last year, they did not
quite You talk about four in a score. They were

(26:22):
not close to that in most games, and there's different
reasons for that. It wasn't just it wasn't because they
weren't good at just simply that the guys weren't good
at forcing turnovers or injuries and everything else. But if
they improve on that number the way they want to,
you don't necessarily need as much from the offense. In
that case, New Mexico's passing numbers were good enough for

(26:45):
fifth in the Mountwest Conference last year with twenty seven
sixty eight seven point one yards per tempt So just
barely in that green or in the black, whichever you
want to use the financial term or whatever. Right, so
New Mexico again, you're not going to be a four
thousand yard passing offense. You're just not. Can you be

(27:10):
a three thousand yard passing offense? I think if you can,
you're in the neighborhood for a special season. I think
if you're at twenty seven hundred, even though it doesn't
seem like that's a huge gap, I think that's disastrous
for the University of Utah, right because you extrapolate that out,

(27:30):
you know, that's that's four first downs a game. At
least that you can't get through the air that you
probably needed. Utah football twenty nine two nine ninety nine
point five yards. I'm taking the over because I think
you have to hit that over in order to be

(27:52):
in the conversation for a conference championship if you're Utah.
I think that the under and the teams that were
instill in good situation with the under, It's just it's
not a sustainable model. It's not a model you can
plan around. And while Utah might have, Utah realistically could

(28:12):
have the best run game in the Big twelve Conference
this year, and if they do, we're probably okay with
twenty seven fifty. But I was told, actually this is
this happened a long time ago. There was a moment
in my life where I thought I was going to
join the military, and I went and I did the
ASVAB test, and I thought it was really awesome because

(28:34):
I scored incredibly high on the as BAB. I'm really
good at standardized tests, James, I don't know if you are,
but like SA SAT act like anything that they were like,
we have designed these tests for middle class white people,
like I really really really excel in those tests, right,
what a brag? There and the ASVAB. I smashed it

(28:57):
on the aspab, right, so you would have been amazing
at the Wonderland. So I was sitting down and I
was feeling really cool talking to this recruiter, right, and
I was like, well, if I'm going to join, I
want to be like you know, I want to be
like a Navy seal. I want to be an army
ranger or would punch sharks. And he was like, he
was like, okay, well, if you want to like the

(29:18):
way that it was, he was like, with your score
and having a college degree, you want to be an officer,
you got to go to officers candidate school. And I
was just like all right, well, no problem. He's like,
here's the thing, though, if you only want to do
those jobs, you have to be in the top five
percent of your boot camp class. In order to be

(29:38):
able to choose your job as an officer. We assign
you to where we need you, and the only way
you get to choose for yourself is you're in the
top five percent. And I was just like, okay, no problem, Like,
did you see my ass fab, I can get top
this guy. This guy was awesome. He was just like,
don't plan on that. I was like, what do you mean.

(29:59):
He's like, do not plan on being in the top
five performer And you said, I have no time for
your losers mentality. I didn't say that, Army. It was
a really sobering thing because, again I this was post
as bab whore. I'm thinking I'm the genius. I'm thinking like, oh,
the Army would be lucky to have me, and he
was like, hey, dude, don't count on it. I was like,

(30:22):
what do you talk about. He's like, you're gonna be
in there with these eighteen year old machines who don't
get tired, and they're gonna run the PT tests and
they're gonna you're your late twenties, mid twenties. I was
early twenties, early twenties, mid twenties. And he's like, you're
gonna be These guys are freaks and they don't have
anything else to worry about. He's like, don't count on

(30:44):
having the having a top you know, a top percentage
score coming out of boot camp. Was like, what the heck?
And obviously that's not the path my life took. So
but the reason that I bring that up is because
I was told and I will remember it till the
day I die. Like, you can believe in yourself all
you want, but you should never ever, ever plan around

(31:06):
make a decision based on the assumption that you are
going to be the best at something. When there's competition,
you don't know what you're up against. You just don't. Right,
There's always a better swimmer, there's always a faster runner,
there's always some one hundred and fifty pound kid who
can do a thousand pull ups. There's always something, and

(31:27):
there's always somebody smarter than you. So for Utah to
be like, all right, well, we can set our expectation
for passing yardage at twenty seven fifty because we're going
to assume we're the number one rushing offense in the
Big twelve Conference. Uh huh, don't you dare do it.
UCF and new new head coach. But UCF could do

(31:50):
what they did last year under Scott with the new
head coach under Scott Frost, and they they could be
a losing team again, but they could still be way
better than you on the grind and especially by the
way the run game. I again, because your quarterback is
such a good runner, and because I really think way
Shaun Parker, who we've got some news about him we'll
get to later in the show. Today, it is a

(32:11):
monster and because primarily your offensive line should be one
of the best in the entire country. We'll talk with
Jeff Schwartz about that coming up here in an hour.
I think you could project really good run numbers, but
don't you ever assume you're number one. Ever. Don't plan
around filling a deficiency that could exist in your passing

(32:35):
game because your run game is that good, you just
don't do it. Prepare for the worst, Expect for the worst.
Prepare for the best. Yeah, expect the best, Prepare for
the worst.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Anyway, Gordy chaz is gonna swing by the San Antonio
Spurs backed up a Brinks truck. Damian Lillard is going
to be spending hopefully a little bit more time and
Augden we'll talk about all of it with our resident
NBA guru, Gordia Chiasa. Next on The Sean O'Connell Show,
ESPN seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
Peace Out, Let's get the latest on the Utah Jazz
with former Jazz assistant coach Gordy Chiasa. He's forgotten more
about the NBA than any of us will ever know.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
Let's not get crazy.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Come for the hoops talk, stay for his list of
the day My list today. Here's o C with basketball
sob on. Gordy Chiaysa on the Sean O'Connell Show.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Gordia Jayson joins us on the Shat O'Connell Show. We're
gonna give him the summer off after Thursday. We'll see
him here in studio on Thursday, and then we'll let
him enjoy the rest of his summer. Dorty, welcome to
the show today.

Speaker 6 (33:55):
How are you, sewan Am Dune's fine? Thank you.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
I want to talk about Damian Lillard GM of Weaber
State Basketball. We've seen this with several players in the
NBA where they kind of attach themselves to their alma
mater or to a university, mostly as a face is
a figurehead. Dame's gonna have a little bit more free
time this next year than your average NBA player will.

(34:21):
What do you expect his impact on Weaver State hoops
to be.

Speaker 6 (34:26):
Tremendous? First thing is a nine time All Stars, so yes,
street credit to the players. As far as recruiting, so
what does the gentle mant to do as far as
the college athletics, mostly oversee the trans reporter. He helps
in recruiting, He assists in fundraising. He provides mentorship to

(34:49):
the players internally and to the families. And so it's
a really interesting job description. And you mentioned for about Dame.
Lewis a lot of free time, Dames rehabbing his letter
Chilles tendant. He's sitting out the whole year, the twenty
five twenty sixth season, so it helps them. It gives
Ruper's State a chance to compete definitely at against the

(35:12):
high level teams because Dame is there. The money's almost equal.
He could be a difference maker. Now, Utah utes interesting
with Alex Jensen being the head coach. Sean they have
Wes Wilcox, who's a former general manager of the Atlanta
Hawks and the sittant general manager of the Sacramento Kings.
I b Yu who's at the top ten right now.

(35:36):
As far as preseason polls, they don't have technically a
general manager, but you know they have Kevin Young and
Brian Santiago as the ad. They work in a partnership.
There's a few more facts. Stephen Curry is the assistant
general manager. I was alma mater, Davidson College. Patty Mills,

(35:56):
former San Antonio Spurs who from Australia now lives in
Hawaii for in the last ten years, he's a general manager
University of Hawaii men's team. Trey Young, Oklahoma general manager
of Alma Mado and then Shaquille O'Neill of all people,

(36:18):
is the voluntary general manager of Sacramento State University because
the head coach is Mike Baby, a very close friend.
Quickly again football Andrew Luck of Stanford alma mater. He's
general manager of the Stanford Cardinal football team. So it's
a new position. Some are just figureheads, some actually shown

(36:40):
do the work, and it's a new landscape of NCAA sports.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
I anticipate that, you know, like you said, some of
them is just, you know, put my face on a
picture and send it to the kids. Some of them
actually get a little bit more hands on. Traditionally, Damian
Lillard has been more hands on with the things he
does than a lot of NBA players. I mean, in
his own shoe design, all that kind of stuff. I
imagine he'll have more fingerprints on it than than a

(37:08):
lot of guys serving the same role. Is that accurate
in your mind, that's it.

Speaker 6 (37:12):
Is very much. He loves his school. Remember Strong, he
was under recruited a long time ago, so in the
Bay areas Oakland, California, kid and teams got involved later on,
like cal Berkeley, and he was so as far as
his steadfast with Weavers State. As the other schools came
along his junior and senior year, he committed early to

(37:35):
Weavers State and the rest is history. So he loves
the Wildcats and the Wildcats love him, and that's why
it's going to work out.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Let's talk about the San Antonio Spurs spending some big
money to keep the Aaron Fox through. I think what
is a twenty thirty two and twenty nine million dollar
max extension felt like a no brainer. Are the Spurs
with what they've got on this roster and now the
immediate future pretty locked up?

Speaker 7 (38:08):
Well?

Speaker 6 (38:08):
The first thing is that as a reference point, they
have not made the playoffs in six years, So that's
what's the most current thing. The last time I made
it was twenty nineteen. But they feel that right now
by trading last season for Daron Fox and now given
the extension you alluded to, exactly his agent's Rich Paul

(38:29):
of Clutch Sports, so he's able to drive that power
that through with the San Antonio front office. Darren Fox
is one of the fastest guys in the NBA, so
he's going to play in lockstep with the victor were
in BEYONMBA. And then now with Dylan Harper being there,
Harper could play off the ball as a I'll call
him a combination guard. So he will definitely help the Spurs.

(38:54):
And now with that contract he's in place, he's last
year shown the twenty nine thirty. See he's going to
make sixty one point five million dollars. So again this
is a new jogging of the NBA with the collect
his bargaining agreement. And you saw Luca Dantu's contract also
that victory beyond someday probably would be the first player

(39:16):
ever to make one hundred million dollars in an NBA season.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Was there ever any doubt for you that Luca was
was going to sign an extension with LA.

Speaker 6 (39:27):
No, not no doubt at all. Is that once he
got over moving on from Dallas where he was heartbroken,
and then the reality set in He's in the Lakers,
which is a tremendous spot for him, and now he
signs that long term contract for him, and it's going
to help the Lakers and as they go forward, it's

(39:49):
going to help the everyone involved in the organization. And
you can see right now he's committed more to fitness
this offseason, and so he was always serious about playing
and now he seares that being helping the Lakers try
to win a title for the first time since twenty twenty.
It's almost the new face of the Lakers. Not to

(40:10):
say that Lebron James isn't a great player, but if
they go forward, they're going with Luca as far as
him being him being the main guy.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Forty Chasing my guest here on the Sean O'Connell show,
talking all things NBA. Every time we talk and say
what's going to happen with the Warriors, what's going to
happen with Kaminga and a stalemate? Apparently with that negotiation,
what do you think is going to happen ultimately.

Speaker 6 (40:37):
That he will sign with He will sign with the
with the Warriors. Yeah, I think that absolutely that even
though it's it's painful and it's messy, he will sign.
He'll sign a two year contract. The second he will
be a player option, and that allows his people that
if it didn't work out, he's utively traded on January

(40:59):
fifth teeth of this year. And so the way the
contract will be structured, so they're going to try to
sign him, Shale plays out petuitior for Sable. The first
will say two and a half months with him and
with the team, and if it doesn't work out, he's
eligible to be traded. So the contract is as we

(41:20):
speak right now, two years, forty five million dollars total.
It will make him the fourth highest play pay player
on the Warriors, and rightfully so, behind Steph Jimmy Butler
and Draymond Green. So Cominga is the young guy that
will be fourth highest paid. He thinks she should. He's
worth more. So it's the people and that's been the

(41:40):
problem right now. But if I'm the Warriors, I'm keeping
them there the way the rules are restricted. No, it's
better on them so far. So why would you want
to give him the whole thing as far as what
he what he people desires for?

Speaker 3 (41:53):
Bertie, did you ever play poker with Gilbert Arenas?

Speaker 6 (41:58):
I never did know, but I'm but I'm privy to
some of the things he's done over the years and
shorts alluding to right now. As far as a poker game,
that's a federal not a federal offense playing poker, but
it's how we how we did it at his home,
et cetera, and all the other things that are going on.
Gevil Reech was a tremendous player. That's the set part

(42:18):
about it is that he was an all star player
and he really helped his teams win and he could
score against anybody. But as the years, when in his career,
it seems that he finds trouble or trouble finds him.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
There are guys like this in every sport, every year,
in every sport. And you know you were you were
involved with I'm sure you know back room discussions on
how you handle guys like this, what you can do
to help. Where is the where's the line when a
guy when there's a Gilbert Arenas where Look, everyone makes

(42:53):
mistakes and gets into trouble sometimes in their life, but
when it becomes a pattern of behavior. And obviously he's
he's long retired and he's not affecting any NBA teams now.
But going back to his days in the NBA. You know,
there's the stories of locker room craziness and pulling guns
on people on planes and all that kind of stuff.
When you're a member of a coaching staff and you

(43:14):
want to help a guy, when do you finally have
to say, all right, this dude, there's not a lot
we can do. We need to make a decision on
whether his talent is enough for us to deal with this.
He's not going to change.

Speaker 6 (43:29):
You said it perfectly, So the question is he's not
going to change. And so by being around a player
on the plane at three o'clock in the morning, you
see somebody how they really are, or in the locker
room before a game, and so the coaches and manager
who work together with the agent and probably you describe there,

(43:51):
you would cut tights once you realize that there's no
other paths. You tried to rehab them, you try to
counsel him, tried to do everything possible within reason to
assist him to some of his vices that a player
might have. He's still doing it, and he becomes a

(44:13):
distraction to the team. So a lot of times with
a team sport is that balancing act between a star
player that can really do great things, but how he
affects the other group and brings them down. And that's
that invisible fine line that every coach, especially in the
NFL and an NBA, how they walk. And that's the

(44:34):
point of that. You think it returns diminishing, you'll move
him on, hopefully to get almost a value for him,
but if not, sometimes addition by subtraction, even though it's painful.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
Arenas is only forty three and he last played in
twenty twelve for Memphis. Three time All Star, so great career,
still really super solid career. Man can't keep himself out
of trouble. I will say presumed it a until proven guilty.
That is the way we do things in the United
States of America. Gordy, What is your list today?

Speaker 6 (45:07):
My list today? Sean, We talked about so much the
less few months so about the college draft, and even
though Cooper Flagg and all these guys top of the
draft that they are ultra talented people, the reality is
that it's very hard to make an impact because the
players come out so early in their career and yesteryear.

(45:31):
Most tremendous players would come out after their junior year,
maybe the sophomore year, or they stay all four years.
So what that said is a short list showing of
the players name to All NBA First Team as a rookie,
So which means that you're in the top five players

(45:53):
in the NBA your rookie season. And there's only nine
guys of all time and one isn't Ron James, which
is so fascinating. Number nine Alex Grozer, first to MBA
in nineteen fifty played for the Indianapolis Olympians, which later
on became defunct. Number eight Bob Pettitt Saint Louis Hawks

(46:14):
became Leanahawks. He was first to All NBA in nineteen
fifty five. Number seven the late Elgin Bellor from the Lakers,
first to UMBA nineteen fifty nine. Number six Will Chamberlain
of the Warriors now seventy six is All NBA First
Team nineteen sixty. Number five Oscar Robinson of the Cincinnati

(46:39):
Royals now the Sacramento Kings nineteen sixty one, first of MBA.
Rick Barry of the Golden State Warriors in nineteen sixty six,
first of MBA. Number three Wes Unsell of the Washington
Bullets now the Wizards, first NBA nineteen sixty nine, number two.

(47:03):
Larry Bird of the Celtics thirsteen All NBA as a
rookie in nineteen eighty one, and the last guy to
do it is Tim Duncan of the Spurs in nineteen
ninety eight. First Tim O NBA, which is twenty seven
years ago. So Bird and Duncan are the last two
guys to do it. Now, just give him some highlights

(47:25):
of both those guys. Tim Duncan season before he arrived
in San Antonio, the record was twenty wins and fifty
two losses. With Duncan as a rookie, the Spurs won
fifty six and twenty six. Larry Bird before being drafted
by the Celtics, the Celts had a record of twenty

(47:47):
nine and fifty three Bird's rookie season, the Celtics were
sixty one and twenty one. So that's how hard it
is for these guys. So even though Cooper Flagg and
all the other young phenoms, you think they're going to
be great. Usually the beginning they play well, but to
be a difference maker, it's very very hard. Thus, Sean,

(48:11):
that's my list of today.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Has anyone in the NBA ever done the thing where
they were in the MVP race and won an MVP
as a rookie.

Speaker 6 (48:22):
Well, the only guy e a dude was a Wes Onsell.
He was. He won the he refirst, he won the
mv He won the MVP all rookie in the same year. Wow,
that's how hard it is to do again. The guys
come out so early, even though they're ultra talented, but

(48:43):
they're nineteen years old, just like in the NFL showing
see in the NFL. The reason why they have that
three year rule because they know that in the NFL,
the guys are men. They're going to take the young
fellaw's heads off in a game. It's a standing in basketball,
but not as not as latly physical. But these guys

(49:05):
aren't ready as far as prime time doing great things
of leading their team and accomplishing so many things. They
eventually they might be, but not in the beginning because
it's such a differential of strength and also game experience.
There's nothing like the NBA or the NFL.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
Gordy love talking to you see on Thursday. Thanks for
the time, sir.

Speaker 6 (49:28):
Thanks you on peace Out.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
That's Gordyiaza, resident NBA guru here on ESPN seven hundred
and ninety two to one FM. Hey, good news for
a guy we were just talking about for a former
Utah pass rusher getting another shot in the NFL. I'll
tell you who and where he's going next on the
Sean O'Connell Show. It's Utahs number one Sports Talk, ESPN
seven hundred.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
You're listening to a Sean O'Connell show for the Murdoch
Hunding Studio of ESPN seven one and ninety two one.

Speaker 4 (50:01):
Half an.

Speaker 8 (50:08):
Thirty one days of football brought to you by Baskin Robbins,
Who've got great football, utelh Football, Big twelve Football, NFL
Football Monday through Friday, Classic calls happening every Saturday, that's
at noon leading up to the season opener.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
This Saturday, it'll be the Utah State game from last September.
I was talking about this with Brian Brown last week
was the Oklahoma State win which we played last Saturday,
or this this coming Saturday, they replayed the Utah State game,
which one of those. We were we as a fan

(50:43):
base most high on Isaac Wilson because those were two
really good performances, peak performances for Isaac last season. Obviously
Oklahoma State. Being the first Big Twelve game winning on
the road felt really good going to four and oh
but he was real. He was arguably better against Utah State. Yeah,
but Oklahoma State, right, he felt like it was big

(51:05):
boy football against at the time, an Oklahoma State team
that we didn't know was going to be terrible last year.
Oklahoma State, Yeah, they were ranked at the time. They were.
Oklahoma State was right behind Utah in the preseason poll.
Remember the Utes in their first year in the Big
Twelve were picked to win the championship in Oklahoma State.

(51:27):
It was like Oklahoma State, Kansas State shuffling kind of
behind them and the Cowboys. We had that game circled.
Every YOUTE fan had that game circle. Is this is
where you find out what this team really is. That
is the whole season right there. And wow, we were wrong,
Holy cow, were we wrong? But yeah, that's where we
were the highest on on Isaac Wilson and hopefully he

(51:49):
had some great games going forward. Just after Devin dan
Pierre is no longer here, because you want Devon to
be healthy. Obviously, you know, I actually thought about doing
an over under that I I'm not even gonna tell
people what it was, but it was related to games
played for backup quarterbacks at the University of Utah in

(52:09):
twenty twenty five. I decided not to put that juju
into the world, so we're gonna leave it alone. But yeah,
that's a fun little trip down memory lane. People can
listen to at noon on ESPN seven hundred. Make sure
you're listening by the way to topical trivia. We've got
tickets to give away and that's coming up at about
one five. All Time Low is coming to the Union

(52:33):
October sixteenth. We'll give away a pair of tickets. Little
update from a former you. We just talked about Bradley
and I last week in a start bench cut the Annihilator.
I like that Bradley and I has been signed by
the San Francisco forty nine ers. Hey, you're niners. I

(52:54):
love that love on the other side of Nick Bosa.
Let's go yes. So look, I say this from the
most respectful place possible. It's just a reminder how hard
it is for people to excel in the NFL. Because
Bradley and I was a consensus All American at the

(53:15):
University of Utah. He's had eleven games roughly that he's
actually played in the NFL. He's bounced around practice squads
and things like that. He was drafted in the fifth
round by the Dallas Cowboys boo. And that's probably why
he hasn't been successful yet because he was with a
crap organization and then he went to another crap organization
on the practice squad with the Jets. So like, yeah,

(53:37):
he hasn't exactly been handled by the best franchises yet,
but the Freddie Coleman experience there, he that's Cowboys. Bradley
and I had thirty sacks in college, one hundred and
thirty five tackles, forty two tackles for loss in eleven
games with the Dallas Cowboys. How many tackles do you
think he has so far as an NFL player. I'm

(54:00):
gonna be way off. I don't even know, like twenty
two two he's got two at least. I was way
off in a more positive direction to assisted tackles, right,
And I'm not doing that to dunk on somebody. I mean,
he's an NFL player. He's been in professional football, but
he hasn't had to have a real job yet. He

(54:20):
went from the NFL and then he's been doing the
UFL thing. He's with Birmingham, the Birmingham Stallions. But that's
how hard, that's how big the leap is. That's how
significant the jump is. And Bradley's a bit of a
tweener size wise, right, So there was conversation when he
was coming out of school, and it's been this way

(54:42):
for a lot of Utah players. It was this way
for an eight Orchard, it was this way for Jason Fanaika,
it's this way for Bradley. And I like, okay, well,
can he be an every down pass rusher. He probably
needs like an extra twenty to thirty pounds for that.
So let's see if he's got the mobility to be
a stand up linebacker or an outside three four linebacker,
things like that. And I mean, you're talking about a

(55:05):
guy in four years for the University of Utah three especially,
he didn't play a ton as a freshman, but his
three years at the University of Utah, where he was
a regular contributor, you knew this was one of the
best players on the team. You knew this was one
of the best players in college football. And then you
go to the NFL, and that's how hard it is.
To excel in the NFL, especially when you have to

(55:26):
spend how many years he spent with the Dallas Cowboys,
correct Cowboys and now and now and then ever and
then since you mentioned all he's done in his career,
since all of that, he also was was started, benched
and cut by you last week. You a great pass rusher.
He's really been through a lot lately. But he also well,

(55:50):
now that he's a forty nine ers, he's gonna helphim
win the super Bowl. Now that he's a forty nine er,
I'm starting him again. Yeah, so I got I gotta bench.
You cut somebody else now, I mean, Nate's not in
the league anymore. Nate and Hunter are not in the
league anymore. So there you go. Yikes, twenty seven year
old Bradley and I getting another shot in the NFL

(56:12):
with the San Francisco forty nine ers. You'd love to
see it every single time it happens, and good for him. Also,
you saw another former ut from that same era, Tyer Huntley,
getting a contract with the Cleveland Browns. I don't I'm
not sure he's gonna be on the opening day roster,
but getting some more money, let's go I mean, anytime

(56:35):
you get an opportunity to play professional football that Huntley
really is, like, the best situation for him is the
backup in Baltimore. It really was, wasn't it, because maybe
Lamar jackets back to where he can do that because he's, yeah,
he's he's a poor man's Lamar Jackson. And it's like,

(56:58):
you don't have to change a ton If Lamar goes
down by putting in Tyler Huntley, it's not going to
be the ceiling is not going to be quite as
high with Tyler Huntley. But they're very, very similar players.
And there ain't no shame in being a backup quarterback
in the NFL. There's no better job in the United
States of America than that one. And he's right now,

(57:21):
he's like the emergency to he's a sixth quarterback on
the roster. Did you realize that when they when they
signed him, they have the three guys everyone but Joe
Flacco is injured. Right, Here's what I want to know,
all right, when your agent calls you and says, hey,
got an opportunity another team, You're like, oh, yes, what
a relief, amazing, yes, please yes, And then they go

(57:45):
it's the Cleveland Browns.

Speaker 4 (57:47):
Do you go.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
Shugh because you gotta take it. You can't say no
just because it's the Cleveland Browns. But there's got to
be some level of that if you're an NFL player
at any position, but it's especially at the quarterback position.
If your agent calls are just like, hey, we got
something special coming down the pipe, You're like, oh sweet,
I'm gonna be on a team. I get to stay

(58:09):
in the league. I'm gonna have all these delicious free
meals and nice hotels, and I get to tell everyone.
Do you think he walked into his uh to the
manager of the call center, he'eviably got a job at
and it's just like, tore everything, tore his badge off
through it on the No, he didn't. He's he's not

(58:29):
at that point yet, but Tyler probably never it's like, hey,
it's the Browns. No, that's rough. It's hey, it's the Jets. Come.
I know. That's what I was gonna say. The Jets
are probably the only other team, maybe Jacksonville. But Jacksonville
feels like a better situation than either of those two.

(58:49):
Like I don't know, maybe Carolina Right now, Carolina, you're
just like, but with those places, you're probably like, all right, cool,
you know what, I could see something good happening here. Yeah,
there's there's potential. There doesn't feel like there's ever potential
with the Browns or Jets. Yeah. Also, I wonder if

(59:10):
I wonder if this Brown situation is one where he's like,
you obviously take it, but I wonder if there was
like some trepidation in the back of his mind where
he's like, this is clearly because like I'm gonna be
the fifth or sixth quarterback in this room, Like I
don't know if I'm gonna make it out of if
they're gonna keep me by the time preseason's over. That's
gotta be something that's a little rough in the back

(59:32):
of the mind. But you say, hey, I'm gonna perform
well in camp in preseason whatever action I get, and
then maybe and then hopefully another team that needs that
needs a need someone else in the quarterback room will
put me on their actual regular season ross. Okay, Well,
according to this pot track, which usually has the best
contract information available, Yeah, that phone call, whether you want

(59:54):
to get it or not, Uh just got him four
hundred and sixty nine thousand dollars. I'll take that phone call.
Total guaranteed, it's is guaranteed at signing and total guaranteed
money on his one point two nine to two one
two nine two five for one year, a signing bonus
of one hundred and sixty seven five hundred dollars total

(01:00:15):
guaranteed at signing four hundred and sixty nine thousand, nine
hundred dollars. I'll take that phone call. Okay, Yeah, where's
the where's my clipboard? I can I can do that.
So what calls you to just like, hey, you gotta
move out of Miami into Cleveland where you're gonna be
the fifth quarterback on the roster. You're like, oh, you'll
be like listen, I'm gonna keep my place in Miami.
But here's the thing, dude, because I don't know, because

(01:00:37):
I'm seriously doubting, because Chador is gonna get healthy, Picket's
gonna get healthy. I don't think those are season ending.
I'm seriously doubting he makes it to the opening day roster.
Pickets hands are too tiny, though, he's got those Burger King's.
I got these tiny hands for four hundred and sixty
nine grand. Yeah, I'm keeping the I'm keeping the place

(01:01:00):
I'll be in Miami because I'm like, I'll be back,
and I'll be back in like a month. I'm almost
rooting to not make the opening day roster. If that's
total guaranteed. I think you're just like, I'm gonna get
for a month, four and seventy grand to work for
a month. He yeah, dude, yeah, and I and I
don't have to be in I don't have to be
in the Browns organization for more than more than training

(01:01:20):
camp in preseason. Okay, Like, here's the best case scenario
for Tyler. Hunty shows up ends up getting two quarters
worth the play in in a preseason game. The Browns
are just like, we just don't have room for this
number of quarterbacks on the roster. He plays well in
that picket, doing's healthy, now, thank you, thank you for

(01:01:42):
your service. He plays, He plays incredibly well for that
amount of time. And I don't know the LA Chargers
or the San Francisco forty nine ers, or like the
Dallas Cowboys, for hell's sake, are just like, hey, you
know what, we liked what we saw from me in
that preseason game. Your QB number three on our roster
this year. Here's a million bucks, hold a clipboard. Yeah,

(01:02:05):
I don't have to be with Cleveland. That really is
the best case scenario. Now, Obviously, if he can make
the Browns opening day roster, he's gonna be thrilled about
that because he's got he sticks. He certainly sticks with
the team that he's on right now. But yeah, that's
tough to be not even the starting quarterback in such

(01:02:27):
a bad organization for quarterbacks that that's gotta be tough.
So hopefully, hopefully that's how it works out for him.
By the way, Tyler Huntley, so far, he's twenty seven
years old. He's made six million dollars so far in
his career. Pretty good for a guy who hasn't who
hasn't been a regular starter. He has a guy whose
spots started. Well, raise your hand, Raise your hand if

(01:02:48):
you have six million dollars as a twenty seven year old,
or a fifty seven year old or a seventy seven
year old like this is. Tyler Huntley's a smart guy.
He's gonna probably have two three more years in the
league doing this thing, bouncing around being a backup quarterback
spots starting here and there. At the end of the
day He's retired by thirty with eight million, nine million,

(01:03:10):
ten million bucks in the bank. I know it's not
all about money. I know it's not, but it's kind
of all about money when you're talking about your job.
So good for him. Yeah, he definitely not. Pooh pooh,
Tyler Henley. Always good to see former utes getting some
chances in the NFL. All right, got to take a
quick one here speaking of utes away, Sean Parker's name

(01:03:33):
appeared on a watch list and it begged a question
for me, which preseason award is most exciting? More importantly,
which college football individual award is most prestigious? Which is
the one that means the most Throw out the Heisman Trophy,
of course, which is the one that you want to
see a ute win more than any of them, because

(01:03:55):
there's there hasn't been a lot of those individual trophy
honors collected by utes. Which would you like to see
in the Utah Trophy case? Eight seven seven three five
three zero seven hundred atrialo C Sports, It's a Sean
O'Connell show on Ute is number one sports Talk ESPN
seven hundred US.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
He's Sean O'Connell show. You Were Home of the best
inside of youre Hughes. Let's get back to Woe c
from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio oh ESPN seven hundred at
ninety two one a.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
M eight seven seven three five three zero seven hundred
as a Utah Football Fan Individual Award for the trophy case,
what would you like to see a Utah player win most?
Throw out the Heisman, that's the most prestigious. What's the
one that you would like to be able to claim

(01:04:52):
Outland Trophy? Bennerrik, the Buckets Award, the Oak Walker. Let's
see the uh Nate Orchard won the Hendrix Award, which
is for the defensive end. Right, Okay, we've had several
Utah players in the past. When the Morris Trophy, which

(01:05:12):
was the PAC twelve specific oh Ras Lineman as voted
on by your peers, by your opponents, right, the opposite
the guys you went against. Yeah, so amazing, Which is
it's the coolest award? I awards should be. I hope
the Zombie Pack twelve keeps the Morse Award. I don't
care if they do. All all awards should be handed

(01:05:35):
out that way. PS you should be like, all right,
Who's who's the best. Uh, who's the best wide receiver
in the land and you have defensive backs and defensive
back coaches make that determination. Yeah, the ones that actually
game plan and play against them, makes perfect sense. They

(01:05:57):
won't do it that way because uh so good news
for University of Utah. Another player appearing on you mentioned
did you say the Maxwell Award as one of the
I didn't. Anyway, I would say that that's that's up
there for one of the most prestigious non Heisman awards. Obviously,
you have a couple, you have a lou Groza, you

(01:06:19):
have a couple of ray Guys. You have three Ray
Guy Awards in the old Utah Trophy case. BYU's got
a Heisman Trophy, they got an Outland Trophy, they've got
a Doak Walker Trophy, And much to my chagrin, that's
a that's a more decorated trophy case. I don't like
that so way. Sean Parker has been named to the

(01:06:39):
Doak Walker Award list preseason. That's the good news. The
bad news is this list is insanely inflated. Take a
wild guest, James at how many total players there are
on the preseason Doak Walker Award list. Which of course
is given to the best running back in the country

(01:07:00):
every year. You found the list, then, no, I didn't
find the list. I just found you found how many?
I just found reference to how many players are on
the whole list? Okay, uh what ninety one hundred and three?
Oh my gosh, you said? You said way inflated. So
I was like, well, it's gonna be more than some

(01:07:20):
of the others. I thought ninety was gonna be way
over it. Dang, one hundred and three, one hundred and three.
Thank you to the Liberty Flames website they put the number.
They're running back. Julian Gray is one of the people
on the twenty twenty five Doak Walker Award preseason watch list.
All Right, USA has Jackson State's Cam Cook, Western Kentucky's

(01:07:45):
George Hart, and Delaware's Joe Silver to go along with
Julian Gray. And maybe one of those guys. Maybe one
of those guys is Ashton Genty. They like the guy.
We didn't think someone from this conference would would be
the best running back in football, but there we go.
I know that today's not the day to air grievances,
but I will make a point that if you go

(01:08:06):
to the official dok Walker Award website, the last thing,
the most recent thing posted is not the twenty twenty
five preseason watch list, because that would make too much sense.
It's stuff about Ashton gent winning it last year. So
the most recent post from them on their own website
is from late twenty twenty four. Thank you. I mean,

(01:08:30):
I mean, at least it's not from late twenty twenty two.
I guess seventeen running backs from the ACC I'm able
to glean that information. Alabama's got a guy, of course.
I mean, that's almost every school in the country that
has a guy. If it's one guy per teams. Oh,
here we go. There's a dispute happening, all right. Conflicting information,

(01:08:55):
breaking news, conflicting information. According to Alabama's website, jam Miller
is a part of eighty eight running back a group
of eighty eight running backs on the preseason watch list.
Who do you trust more, Alabama or Liberty? Because Alabama
they're like whatever, Doak Walker doesn't matter. Liberty's like, we

(01:09:16):
got a guy on the Doak Walker list.

Speaker 4 (01:09:18):
I actually trust them.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
To be a little bit more accurate here, Yeah, I mean,
I generally trust Liberty as a concept more than I
trust an elephant. An elephant, okay, an elephant that talks
about that refers to somehow refers to a red wave.
I don't know. Carson Hansen from Iowa State and Abusama

(01:09:43):
the third from also from Iowa State, were named to
the list. I would say, one of five Big twelve
schools with two running backs on the watch list. So
we know that there are at least five Big twelve
schools with two running backs on the list. Oh, we
just can't find the whole list to save our life
because I'm bad at boolean operators in uh in the

(01:10:04):
search engine, I guess. But also like, why doesn't the
website just have the list? It's just so and it's
not the only award, by the way I've been telling me,
there's it's almost all of these awards are the same way. Yeah,
you can't find the whole list, But the way that
you get the whole list is you click on the
articles that say, hey, we're Mississippi State. We've got Devon

(01:10:24):
Booth and Fluff Bothwell, which, by the way, Fluff Bothwell
that is first team All Name squad for sure. Fluff
is his government name or is that a nickname Fluff Bothwell.
That is absolutely I don't know either way. Either way,
that's amazing that that's the one that he's officially Is

(01:10:46):
this a is this a Booby Hobbs situation? Full name
is Damian Bothwell? Okay, also a really cool name. Not
as cool as fluff. Yeah, that is. It's an It's
an Arius Bailey situation. That is so fantastic, love Bothwell.
I can't wait until we get the uh who puts

(01:11:07):
it out of here? The all named teams Feltman Right, No, No,
that's the freaks List. That's a freaks list. It's like
on three or somebody does they get you know, it's
like general Booty is the quarterback every year? Yeah? Anyway,
uh so, yeah, if you're eight seven seven three five
three zero seven hundred, I will give ten James Peterson
bonus points to anyone who can text us the link

(01:11:30):
to the official Doak Walker Award List, the full thing,
not not a bunch of links from from a bunch
of teams social media. Is like one link with all
of the names. Yeah. Also the official the official University
of Utah. The junk mail Yeah from Kailer mcjunkin doesn't

(01:11:54):
have the full list in it. Somebody has to have
the full list in order to know that their guy
is on the list, Like did he get sent the
whole list and say, guess what somebody's on here?

Speaker 4 (01:12:06):
You might want to see?

Speaker 3 (01:12:07):
Or does the Dope or does the dok Walker and
all these other preseason awards do the same thing that
these social media accounts do for each school and just
send who they send to the individual sids for each
individual school. This is this is who on your team
is on the list? And then the SID at Alabama's like,
could you tell us how many guys are on it?

Speaker 4 (01:12:28):
At least?

Speaker 3 (01:12:28):
And the person sending out the email has no idea
because they don't compile the actual list. They're like, eighty eight,
I don't know. Liberty Guy says the same thing. How
many people on the list? I ain't even one hundred
hundred and three? Who knows? How the hell do we.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Have two different answers to the same question on the
same day about how many total players are on the
Dope Walker list and how more importantly do we not
have an easy way to debunk the wrong answer by
just pulling up the full list?

Speaker 3 (01:12:59):
Yeah, who's the spreadsheet? Joke walker. This is an SMU thing,
that's who. That's who hands out the doke walker. Oh,
the SMU Athletic Forum. You're going to send a strongly
worded email to their communications department. Hey, SMU, you are
now deducted one hundred James Peterson bonus points. That'll show them.

(01:13:24):
You'll be like, oh no, that's a that's equivalent to
the death penalty. Each point is worth one one hundredth
of a cent, so that's a lot of that's like
one cent you just lost. Have you ever seen did
you ever when you were like a kid, uh in,
maybe your mom clipped out coupons? Yeah, did you ever
read the fine print on the coupon? The fine print

(01:13:47):
on the old newspaper coupons that they used to have,
was like, the actual monetary value of this coupon is
like one twenty thousandth of one cent or something like that. Wow,
And I was like, wait a second, So if you
got enough of these you could actually turn them in

(01:14:08):
for real money. Now, is that like the wait? Is
that real? Or is that like the Tutsi pop rapper
when you find the cowboy shooting at the Star, you
get a free Tutsi Pop that thing. I believed that
when I was a small kid, by the way, I mean,
I heard lots of people say they did it, but
I never actually saw someone. I bet that was a

(01:14:28):
real promotion that that Tutsi pops did in like nineteen
forty eight, and so it just got passed down. I also,
speaking of conflicting information with the Tutsi prop the Tutsi
pop thing, I heard from other of my friends that said, no,
it's not the cowboy with the star, it's you have
to have three full Tutsi pop logos on the roll.

(01:14:50):
Stop it. Do they do products still do that thing?
Where like do you buy an Arizona iced tea or
like a so Be remember the Soby's Yes and you
loved you pop the top off and you look on
it and under the lid. It was just like, oh,
you get one free soby or oh you get I
think I think I think McDonald's still does it in

(01:15:13):
Monopoly game time you want anything in the Monopoly game, Yeah,
I want plenty of free food. I won five bucks
in the Monopoly game. Oh. Also, have you watched the
Monopoly documentary about the people who cheated? No, dude, I'm
gonna have to check that out.

Speaker 4 (01:15:27):
It's good.

Speaker 3 (01:15:28):
What's it on? I think it was on Netflix. Maybe
it was on Amazon Prime. I don't know, but it
was like the people who cheated the Monopoly game and
got like the million dollar prize or something absolutely insane.
That's probably why Monopoly is like, we're just gonna do
QR codes from now on. Yeah, but I last time,
I love getting the free free fries, free hash brown

(01:15:51):
uh Monopoly game to Seriously though, eight seven seven three
five three zero seven hundred, is there any product out
there now that like you buy I uh Totsy pop
and that you might get a free something. You buy
a can of mountain dew and you peel off something
and I'll look at that. I get a Mountain Dew car.

(01:16:11):
I think I get a monster truck. I Do they
even do this stuff anymore? Honestly? I think it because
it wasn't Monopoly game, but other fast food places did
a you know, pull off, pulled off your cup, pulled
off your fry box. Yeah, get something free, chance to
get something free. I think that that may be the
last of them. This is someone is the fast food

(01:16:34):
places doing promotions like that. This was a staple of
my childhood. I loved I loved Monopoly game time a McDonald's.
That was one of my favorite times of the year.
I could tell you this as a marketing plan, as
an advertisement that worked because absolutely McDonald's all right, but
McDonald's Monopoly time, Yeah, I'm going I'm trying to win something.

(01:16:59):
The allure of potentially being awarded something free is enough
to make me spend way more money than the value
of the free thing. That's just how I am. We're
pathetic that way, aren't what is gone? What it was
gone on with the products they used to They used
to suck us in with the potential, and now they

(01:17:19):
stopped trying. Maybe because it's too easy to counterfeit now.
Maybe the Monopoly game taught everyone that, like, hey, if
you can hack the Monopoly game, nobody's safe. I read
a thing the other day that there was a kid
who there was like Mountain Dew Points or Dorito's Points
or something that one of the prizes you could redeem

(01:17:41):
the points. If you had seven million points, you could
get a fighter jet. Oh yeah, there was there was
a there was a Pepsi. There's a documentary. There's a
documentary about Pepsi. Hey, Pepsi, Where's my Jet? On Netflix?

Speaker 9 (01:17:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:17:55):
So good, seven million Pepsi points. Maybe that's why they
stopped doing that of stuff. Yeah, because they never thought
they were gonna have to give away a jet. I'd
forgotten about the PEPs Hey, Pepsi, where's my jet? Yeah?
I actually so after after a jazz game, Jordan Clarkson
was talking about Pepsi for some reason, so I said,

(01:18:16):
I had just watched the documentary. I'm like, hey, did
you see because it was it's a lot about the Philippines,
of course, Jordan Clarkson Filipino heritage. So I'm like, did
you do you watch that? Like they really screwed over
some of the Filipinos and he goes, he goes, yeah,
so messed up. So anyway, it was I had had
a nice little conversation with Jordan Clarkson about the Pepsi points.

(01:18:39):
Zero nine one zero says, there either of you old
enough to remember the old glass Doctor Pepper bottles with
the thin layer of styrofoam around them. When they did
the twist. The twist the Pepper game, you twist off
the battle cap from the glass bottle and look underneath
to see if you want, you want another Doctor Pepper,
That's what I'm talking about. It sounds cool. I don't
remember that. It sounds cool. Yeah, we need to bring

(01:19:02):
back toys being in boxes of cereal. Yes, those things
were never good though. Those toys always sucked. Yeah, except
for somebody. Cocoa pebbles Maybe fruity pebbles had a color
changing spoon one time. Oh that, like the temperature of
the milk would make the spoon change color. Not bad,
not bad? So what color would you have to be

(01:19:25):
really concerned about it. I'm not eating I'm not drinking
this milk, a cereal milk. I'll drink cereal milk of
any color. There's absolutely no color that Cereal could turn
milk that I would not drink it. Like, oh, that's
fluorescent blue. That's fine. I'm sure those dyes and parabins
are not hurting me at all. Yeah, Cereal milk man

(01:19:46):
one of the best things in the world. When my
brother lived in Brooklyn, there was a restaurant that would
called Cereal Milk. I forgot what it was called, but
there was a name. There's a restaurant where you could
order stuff made with cereal milk like ice cream with
cereal milk, you could just order a glass of cereal milk.
I'm sure it was very short lived because that is

(01:20:06):
a gimmick that just has no saying power at all.
And you probably for a few people that are like
this fresh milk, like what are you doing? How are
you making? If you're just taking actual cereal and you're
pouring milk through the cereal like you didn't eat the
balls cereal and then pour it into How many times

(01:20:26):
did your saliva get on the spoon that you dunk
back in here? Anyway?

Speaker 4 (01:20:31):
All right?

Speaker 3 (01:20:32):
Uh? Sean O'Connell show continues next with Jeff Schwartz, our
guy to talk a little Utah football, especially the offensive line.
He's on the Joe Morre Committee, meaning he helps select
the winners of the Joe More Award, given every year
to the best offensive line in college football. Does you
have a chance to win it? We'll ask Jeff Schwartz

(01:20:52):
next on ESPN seven.

Speaker 4 (01:20:56):
You were listening to.

Speaker 1 (01:20:57):
About Sean O'Connell's show. Your source for the best huge
football copy. Here's oc from the Murdoch Hundai Studio of
ESPN seven hundred ninety two one half.

Speaker 2 (01:21:08):
An Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell show.

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
Welcome in Jeff Schwartz. It's been way too long since
we caught up with our guy, a longtime NFL veteran,
former Oregon Duck. We forgive him for that, though, now
that Utah and Oregon are no longer in the same conference.
A football insider. Jeff Schwartz, how are you.

Speaker 4 (01:21:34):
I'm good. I missed you, but I will actually see
you next week. Maybe I haven't decided if I'm gonna
go at all to the fights, but I will. I
will see you on Thursday, and looking forward to it.
I know the kids are as well. I told them.
They asked, They said, Shawn who I said, exactly exactly,
exactly exactly. We did radio together for six years. Anyway, Yeah,

(01:21:55):
looking forward to that.

Speaker 3 (01:21:57):
I most look forward to you, you know, making dinner,
doing whatever the plan is on Thursday night, and then
like five minutes before I'm supposed to show up, texting you, hey,
not gonna be able to make it. That's good.

Speaker 4 (01:22:08):
I mean it's possible. Actually have we have a back
to school thing that night too, And I was like, Marathon,
I'm leaving early. Cashan's coming over. So it's a great
excuse to leave an event. I don't want to go
to early perfect, glaud You're in town.

Speaker 3 (01:22:19):
Love it. PFL is in Charlotte where Jeff lives. Next week,
gonna be awesome. Three title fights that Jeff may or
may not decide to grace us with his presence Friday night.

Speaker 4 (01:22:31):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (01:22:32):
All right?

Speaker 4 (01:22:32):
How long is like? What's the give me? Like the sketch? Like,
what's like?

Speaker 3 (01:22:36):
If you cool? People like you are not? They typically
don't show up for the preliminary fights. They don't go
to the early card. If you come to the early card,
it's like six seven hours of fights. If you just
go to the main card, it's two and a half
three hours.

Speaker 4 (01:22:53):
What time is the main card?

Speaker 3 (01:22:56):
I think it's gonna be in nine eastern.

Speaker 4 (01:22:59):
Oh boy, yeah, feeling. I'm a going to make nine eastern.
Make it work.

Speaker 3 (01:23:08):
Oh you're the worst. Anyway. I brought you on today
not to talk about PFL fights that you probably won't
end up attending, but to talk about the upcoming college
football season. The coaches Poll, the preseason Coaches Poll came out,
and you know, Big twelve seas their highest ranked team,
Arizona State at number eleven, and then it's teams down

(01:23:30):
in the twenties after that. Uh utah, not in that
mix right now. According to the coaches, your Oregon Ducks
are highly thought of heading into the air. Yeah, well
let's start there. What did you think of Oregon's placement
in a lot of these preseason conversations?

Speaker 4 (01:23:46):
What's about? Right? I don't get people that don't want
the polls like this is great for business. It is
awesome to talk through these things every year. I don't
understand people. It doesn't really if you win all your games,
yues what you'd be runing pretty high. That's the that's
the way the system works. And and so I love

(01:24:06):
these polls. I love to see where people think teams
are supposed to be at. I think Organs just about
where they're supposed to be. I then there's some skepticism
with some of the younger players that are gonna have
to play this year. Right, we're new at a lot of positions.
There are a lot of portal players. I think that's fine.
I like where we went with the portal, but I
understand there's some skepticism when it comes to to where
to put some of these organ players. And and uh

(01:24:29):
you know, new newish quarterback right, and new offense alignment
and new wide receivers and young on the defensive line,
young linebackers. I get a little bit of that, and uh,
Organ's gonna have to look Week five, Penn State, we
go to Happy Valley. I mean, that'll be a good
test immediately to see how good we are.

Speaker 3 (01:24:45):
Are you a believer in Penn State? This is the
most hype we've seen Penn State in a preseason that
I can remember. And I'm just not a disciple of
the James Franklin hype trading. Where do you stand on
Penn State being able to follow through with some of
this out?

Speaker 4 (01:25:00):
So I think there's a difference between like what they
might do in conference and what they might do in
in in the championship realm. Like I for me, I
think they're a great bet to win the conference. Right.
What what James Franklin does every year he beats the
teams he should, which is which is important. Look at

(01:25:21):
their schedule. That's ten, that's ten of the games they're playing.
Ten of the games are playing the other one, you know,
Oregon at home, like they should. I would imagine play
pretty well against Oregon at home, they go to Ohio State.
That'll be tough game. But Ohio State, just like a
lot of teams, sort of has to replace a lot.
So I'm curious what what Ohio State is is going
to be this year. The question is do I believe

(01:25:42):
them to win the championship? Right, which is what aspirations
they have, And the answer is no, I don't because
they have to do it before I believe it right.
They're again, the issue with them is they just don't
win that big one, and that big one does include
winning the championship and I need to see it happen
before I back Penn State. Are they talented enough to

(01:26:03):
do it? Yes? Their offensive line is good like like
like good good team right, good off. It's a lot
of good running backs, good quarterback. They replaced guys on defense.
But I like the gym knowles higher like there's a
legitimate reason to be excited for this team. But they
haven't won the big one right, And that's what concerns
me about backing the change. And to be fair, I
think every team this year has a lot of questions.

(01:26:24):
I think it's not just a Penn State thing. I
think a lot of teams you're looking at and like,
you know what, there's there's this issue I have. There's
that issue I have. Can they do it? Yes, if
it all breaks right, if all everything works out well,
so it's not just a Penn State thing. A lot
of teams feel like that right now. I don't if
you guys right now, who was a championship? I don't
know if I've a great answer for you.

Speaker 3 (01:26:42):
Well, I don't think we have great answers for those things.
My predictive powers have never been great. And last year
was the ultimate like you don't know what you're talking
about kind.

Speaker 4 (01:26:51):
Of Well, the Big Twelve is hard for everyone. I
think that's if you're judging yourself on the Big Twelve,
and it's probably not fair because that was a you know,
everyone sort of was in the same boat. I mean,
the Big Twelve last year was so all over the place.
No one predicted that. I think it's okay to give
yourself a pass on on the Big Twelve.

Speaker 3 (01:27:09):
Transfers are a big story in college football right now,
transferring and being expected to, you know, I don't know,
resurrect a program like Devin dan Pier is being expected
to at the University of Utah or to bring Oklahoma
back to glory, as John Mattiers being expected to do. Yeah,

(01:27:29):
we we just we kind of just paint those with
the same brush, like, yeah, yeah, you're you transfer, you
start playing in a new place. These guys have an
unbelievable amount of pressure on them. Where do you stand
on the ability for young players to meet expectations that outsized?

Speaker 4 (01:27:49):
Well, look, it's it's very hard. But the thing that
I think you know you have going for these young
these young players is some of have done it before.
First of all, right, they've grown up up in this
must win now culture a little bit, right, Sean Like
they sort of they sort of get that vibe early
on because of the sports they play. But also, you know,

(01:28:10):
the the difference with some of these ones you mentioned
is the offensive coordinator also went with them, right, So
you know you're Pier has coordinator go with him. John
Matis coordinator went with him. Uh, those are those are
important for success to have those guys with you. If
it's just the If it's just the player, I think
it's it's much tougher transition. But you include the coach

(01:28:31):
in that, and you should at least be very comfortable
with the offense, which obviously is important for success. So like,
there's a lot of things I think that you can
take and be excited for because they came as a pair.

Speaker 3 (01:28:43):
Is Texas Tech going to be this year's Texas A
and M Where the big headline is just like, oh man,
look how much money they spent on their roster, the
transfer portal they're getting all these big time guys. They
had the best transfer portal class in the country according
to some metrics. And you know they're Texas Tech. They
haven't there's no proven recent track record of excelling at

(01:29:06):
the most important level, the conference championship level. How are
we going to be talking about the Red Raiders halfway
through it at the end of the season.

Speaker 4 (01:29:13):
I would lean toward not living up to the hype.
That's just it's typically one year to sort of get
in in, one year to sort of then you become
sort of the staple of what people will expect from you.
It just feels like they're just not there right now.
I get the hype. They've rebuilt some of the roster. Look,
I'm always skeptical, skeptical about like being really good at

(01:29:37):
a much a portal player. I think it's really hard
to do. I think we look at it, I think
it's easy to do. It's hard and to adapt all
those players immediately is really tough work. Show and everyone
things are going to do it easily, which I think
is sort of the issue for me. Like everyone's like, yeah,
it's gonna be easy. I'm like, I don't. I don't
know if it's gonna be easy. So I would lean
toward I think probably not as high, not as good

(01:30:00):
as the hype makes it out to be.

Speaker 3 (01:30:04):
Jeff Schwartz my guest here on the Sean O'Connell scho
talk at all Things college football, and now we get
to the part that I really wanted to pick your
brain about. Utah football is expected to have the best
offensive line Kyle Whittingham has ever had his twenty one
year tenure. They're talked about as having one of the
best offensive lines in the country. You are one of

(01:30:25):
the thought makers. You are one of the shapers of
that conversation as a part of the Joe Moore Committee.
What do you think of this Utah offensive line as
a whole? First, and then we'll get to the pieces.

Speaker 4 (01:30:37):
I think it's really good when you have the tackles
that you have and then just add in the other
players starting with that base, it's always a good place
to be. And it's very clear that the tackles are
elite level players, and then you can sort of basically
build your offense on around those guys, which I think

(01:30:58):
they've done a lot of veterans. I mean, look at
the depth chart right now, senior senior, senior inside. I mean,
having those you know, the veteran leadership there is good.
I think it's a really good offensive line. And that
also like for the you know, for the for the
for the dam Pierre discussion, you know, having a group
like that around him early in his you know, early
in his tenure at Utah, well, I think take a

(01:31:19):
lot of pressure off him because he won't have to
do it all right. They'll let the offensive line be
the offense early in the season, and that will lead
I think to his lost of success. It it the
offensive line is the heartbeat of a team. And if
your offensive line is good, it's very rare to find
a bad team, if that makes sense, right, John, Like

(01:31:42):
just hard to find that. And I think the offensive
line in Utah is one of the best in the
country right now. I don't know if people realize that
I've watched them enough because I was trying to pick
in the tackles to to understand that and they're gonna
be Look, I pick Utah to win the Big twelve.
I put them in a playoff thing. I think that
Utah can be good this year if the offense line

(01:32:05):
place of their success. If if Dan Pierre can you know,
play in a more hopefully open Utah offense. A question
always becomes as we know, is you know, is the
wide receivers you know, can they do their part for Utah.

Speaker 3 (01:32:18):
Yeah. I've been sitting over unders on some of what
I think are important numbers for Utah, And today's number
was twenty nine and ninety nine point five yards passing
for this Utah offense, which you know, in conference championship
contention years going back to the PAC twelve, they were
three thousand, thirty one hundred thirty two fifty that kind

(01:32:41):
of thing. It's never going to be a four thousand
yard offense. It's just not the way that Kyle Whittingham
teams do things. And twenty last year, New Mexico's offense
was basically twenty seven to sixty and Utah's offense was
like twenty three forty. So would you take the over
under projecting devinder this offensive line question mark, Like you said,

(01:33:02):
at the wide receiver spot, obviously better competition, et cetera,
you go over under on just you know, the three
thousand yard mark.

Speaker 4 (01:33:10):
Basically, I would probably lean under just because of what
they're I think gonna want to be this year. If
they have to throw the ball that much, it's probably
not great, right, But again, I mean I think that Look,
I think you would love if you threw for three
thousand yards. I think that would be great. But I

(01:33:31):
just don't know that offense is gonna be that way, right,
And so I just don't know. That's what New Mexico
they ran the ball a toon your offensive line, you
lean on those guys, and you know, maybe there's a
big play potential from you know, from this group where
you know the yards are very chunk yardage. But the schedule, look,
I mean, you have to throw the ball a little
bit in this with the schedule, though, I'll tell you

(01:33:53):
that you got it's not an easy schedule.

Speaker 3 (01:33:56):
All right, Let's get back to this offensive line because
you know, I love to pick your brain about O
line play, especially We'll start with Spencer Fano. He's considered,
correct me if I'm wrong, one of the best run
blocking tackles or maybe the best run blocking tackle in
the whole country. And in this upcoming draft cycle, what
does he need to improve in his past sets from

(01:34:17):
the film you've been watching.

Speaker 4 (01:34:19):
So this is a really fun discussion to have because
this is a problem that I think is the entire
college football landscape. When you offensive lineman sean, they just
don't have a ton of reps at true pass protection.
Like there's just not a lot of opportunities in a
game where you are dropped back passing on third and

(01:34:43):
eight and you have a pass rusher in front of
you that can actually rush the passer and it mimix
what you would do in the NFL. I think that's
where Fino just does. There's not a lot of reps
of that, right, and so if you know a lot
of reps, that's hard to be good at it without
the reps, right. I think that that that's what he
just needs more reps to sink up his hands and

(01:35:05):
his feet and be able to do that. I think
that we don't prioritize pass protection enough and we buyed
offensive linemen. It's really hard to do, and so I
think that's where just more reps, more working the technique.
And then again it's it's hard because you're not getting
a ton of chances. I mean you look at you
look early on like you know you're not gonna you know,

(01:35:28):
cal Pauly, you get zero chances for that U c
l A right now. I know it's Week one. I
like you ta a lot in that game. The Bruins
have to replace a lot. Forty two guys leave their
their program, and I like Deshaun Foster is on the
right path. But early season you're at Wyoming and how
much you were going to have to pass protecting that game,
and that that to me, is it right? It's just

(01:35:49):
you just need he needs more reps to refine.

Speaker 3 (01:35:51):
His technique right on the other side, left tackle spot.
You actually, I think we're the first one who said
anything even resembling this when we have a conversation. I
don't know if it was Bowl season last year, but
that you know that Lomu actually might be a guy
that projects as high or even higher in the NFL
because of the more natural past set, because that is

(01:36:13):
the skill that is prioritized at the NFL level kind
of to the point that you were just making Yeah,
but you know you get both of them. He got
both and and Lomo has been a guy who's been
certainly stepped into the spotlight a little bit more this
season this offseason, I should say he's been more vocal,
and you know, he checks every box that us you know,

(01:36:35):
mere mortals can see what about you with the offensive
line lenses on.

Speaker 4 (01:36:40):
Yeah, So I think that relative and it's interesting. So
I think Fan is overhyped. That makes sense. I don't
think he's I don't think he's any worse than people
say he is, but I think that he is getting
I think he's a little overhyped. I think Lomu's under hyped.
Like I when I watch him play, I'm like, oh, yeah,

(01:37:04):
Like that's what would your like, that's what left tackles
in the NFL. Like it just it looks like it should.
I think I even just text you that. I don't
even know if we talked about on the air. I
think when the season's done, Lobo's going higher in the draft.
I just his size, his movement, skills his pass protection.

(01:37:25):
You can always sort of teach someone to run block
better technique wise, get more power. You can train that
you can't sometimes train being a smooth pass protector, And
that is really where I see the big difference in that.
So I'm excited to watch him play this year and

(01:37:45):
just see how much better he can get in he
can he's a legit passpector, like a like a first
round top type of tackle pass protector.

Speaker 3 (01:37:54):
Is there any potential downside to having, you know, a
line like this one that has played so many reps together,
if you know, someone gets banged up and then trying
to plug someone in there, is it like now that
guy's a fish out of water because he doesn't have
like the verbal and non verbal chemistry that some of
these other guys have. I mean, is there is there
any way that this becomes an issue for Utah aside

(01:38:17):
from like, yeah, no, this is a great thing to
have this offensive line.

Speaker 4 (01:38:21):
You mean, it's bad if someone gets hurt and the
line is or in the shuffle guys around, Like what.

Speaker 3 (01:38:26):
Do you Yeah, I guess I'm just trying, like because
we're so high on this offensive line that I'm worried
we're getting unrealistic about what it means for the offense.

Speaker 4 (01:38:36):
So yeah, I mean yeah, I think it's it's fair
to feel that that hype early on right now, and
I think you should have eye expectations. But look, injuries,
they hurt everyone. It's not just you know, so if
guys get hurt, then it's not gonna be what you
want it to be. But that's where you hope that

(01:38:57):
the Jim Harding has had those backups ready to go.
And this is why you hope and early in the
season you get the backups in for a couple of
plays or two, a couple of drivers at the end
of games, get them season ready to go. And if
you lose one guy, you should be able to be
okay enough you can scheme up some help. You lose
a couple guys, you kind of get into problems there.

(01:39:19):
But I think that if this line stays healthy, the
offense should be able to do what they want to
do to most opponents.

Speaker 3 (01:39:28):
I don't know how much you know individual tape you've
been able to watch yet, But there's other guys right
Lomo and Fano are on the Outland Trophy watch list.
There's a bunch of guys on that list, and you know,
you look at the other preseason kind of Hey, look
for this dude, Isaiah World the transfer to Oregon is
a name that you see all the time. Jordan Seaton,
who's at Colorado and he's good. Like your thoughts on

(01:39:51):
some of those guys.

Speaker 4 (01:39:52):
Yeah, I thought you were gonna mention that Utah center.
I'm not watching the Utahs in tear off its line
very much as on the Remington Award watch list, because
the Remington Award is the one for the centers, right,
they have like one hundred and ten centers in the
in the preseason watch list, and I've always don't imagine
being like one hundred and eleventh center.

Speaker 3 (01:40:11):
Yeah, it's every returning starter.

Speaker 4 (01:40:16):
We've talked about it for a year. Sean on or show.
I'm not kidding. Go go look it up, guys. It's
like a hundred centers on the Remington Award watch list.
It's insane. Look Jordan's seen at Colorado.

Speaker 3 (01:40:28):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:40:28):
You know when there was last week there were rumors
Dion was gonna step down. That was the rumor before
his press conference, and you know I was I think
the portal opens up immediately if if you if you
your coach steps down, I mean, if your coach, your
portals open. Like now I think it doesn't. I know,
it's not portal season. I think I think if your

(01:40:49):
coach leaves, it opens up for those players on that
on that squad. He would be the guy, the left
tackle for Colorado that people would call about immediately, like
the number one player who teams would be like, I
want you to come play for me. He is a
very good football player, you know, it's a true freshman.
It's very hard to play. He made some freshman mistakes.
The thing that really hurts Colorado's offense and offensive lineman,

(01:41:12):
you know, by you know, I guess my extension is
they just have a bad offensive design. It's just not
good sean and they don't run the ball enough. They
don't do things with formation that really throw off a defense,
and they sort of set it and forget it, which
I don't think is a great way to build a
functioning offense. And so it is, it's tough for the
offensive lineman in Colorado to be good under those circumstances.

(01:41:35):
And he's good anyways, So he's legit Isaiah world is
I said I had a crush on the other day.
He's the left tack. I went to Oregon from Nevada
duken ball man. Oh my god, he he he looks
like Tyron Smith when he passed sets. He's not as
strong yet, but his arms go down to his knees. Dude,

(01:41:56):
he's such a he's so oft. He's gotta work on
his run game. That's he's gotta get strong grid play
with better hips and leverage. But he he's a very
very good pass protector and so it's fun to watch
him on film.

Speaker 3 (01:42:06):
So can we count on because you're in that room,
you're in that you're on the group train. Yeah, Like,
can we count on you to be pushing Utah as
a Joe More Award squad this year?

Speaker 4 (01:42:17):
Yes, I've already. I've already alerted the staff to Utah's
that's of success this season, and so yes, that will
be one. I am looking forward to Oregon being the
runner up for the fourth year now and Joe Moore. Moore,
we've been a running up three years. Three At three years,
I've been in the committee like five years, worn up

(01:42:37):
three times, which is not fun. But I'll be happy
if Utah wins. It's a it's a great award. I
know it matters a lot for offensive lines and the
rooms in you know, off its linemen in there. I
know coach Harding wants to win the award. So look, man,
just if they play like they should, they will be
in the discussion to win this award.

Speaker 3 (01:42:59):
Who else is in that discussion? We have been joking
about the watch list. The dok Walker came out today
and there's one hundred and three guys, I guess insane,
although Alabama's website says there's only eighty eight, so we
can't get a real number. But in any case, we
compey teams are actually up for it in your mind,
in this Joe Moore Award in twenty two.

Speaker 4 (01:43:20):
Yeah, so we haven't done any preseason watch list yet
and so but I'll tell you the teams I think
just from talking to guys. Utah is one of them.
Alabama's offensive line is gonna be really good this season.
Illinois returns all their offensive linemen. I'm kind of curious
to see how that how that looks this year with
an older, better offensive line, or we're going to be

(01:43:41):
in that discussion as well. I'm pending on who other
who you know, Texasus return texts returned so much to
we loses so much from last season. The one thing
about our award that makes it unique is is really
the preseason hype does not matter to us. I mean,
for example, Army one last year. Do you think we

(01:44:01):
had an Army on our preseason watch list? No, we
just we watched the film and teams pop up and
if they're good enough, they'll be considered. But those are
a couple off top I'm sure I'm missing a couple
off the top my head. That oh, Penn State, Penn
State's offensive line, that they were turned four guys, that
running back room is really really good. So those are
a couple of teams that I think I have my
early in this season. But again, you can work your

(01:44:23):
way into this. There's no you can you can work
your way into it. There's no stopping anyone from being
a team that we look at because again, we're watching
the film every week and so we evaluate week by week.

Speaker 3 (01:44:38):
How was Armies offensive line last year smaller than most
offensive lines because there's you know, there used to be
at least that thing in the service academies. You had
to be like small enough to fit in the Navy
ship or in the helicopter, in the air Force plane.
But I'm looking at their roster right now, and their
offensive line looks like they're you know, normal side for

(01:45:00):
offensive linemen.

Speaker 4 (01:45:01):
I mean they're yeah, I mean they're not. They're on
your size. I would I think, I mean, they're not.
Like it's not where I think your point, like they're
so little. But I do wonder if Army is different
than Navy. I think Navy the guys are a little
smaller because I think that's where it matters more about
like the planes and being able to fit in stuff.
Air Force Josh Schwartz was no, not going to be Army.

(01:45:25):
I could not fit any I have to be like
infantry or intelligence, no in between. I don't fit anything.

Speaker 3 (01:45:32):
Well, you don't have what it takes for intelligence.

Speaker 4 (01:45:34):
We know that. Yeah, that's why I never joined. Definitely,
I know it's just I just I just I just
couldn't do it.

Speaker 3 (01:45:41):
What's going to be on the menu when I come
over for dinner in Charlotte?

Speaker 4 (01:45:45):
You want to know, like a very sort of JEFFH.
Schwartz Meredith types thing. So like a couple months ago,
Marat said, Hey, this guy like knocked on our door
and he's selling meat and poultry and seafood out of
a truck. I bought some stuff from him. I said, okay,
it was actually been really good. So the guy came

(01:46:06):
back yesterday and I just bought so much stuff like
pork chop, steaks, shrimp, And then Marri said, you negotiate
with him. I was like, no, you know, I'm bad
at that. I just I just whoever told me the
price was, I just bought it. So I had these
beautiful steaks like these cowboy rabbis. I'll probably just make.

Speaker 3 (01:46:21):
Some of those, all right. I'm looking forward to that.

Speaker 4 (01:46:24):
I mean, I can make whatever you want a dietary restruction.
Do you fight the next stage?

Speaker 3 (01:46:27):
You have to?

Speaker 7 (01:46:28):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:46:28):
You know me?

Speaker 4 (01:46:29):
Do you don't want to bloat? Do you want to
make sure you don't like?

Speaker 3 (01:46:31):
Yeah, I'm gonna bloat either way, so I won't blame you.

Speaker 4 (01:46:36):
Do you have any special uh you look a special
uh guess for that? Like, do you guys have a
week by week like a special commentator for each week?

Speaker 3 (01:46:46):
No? Do you want to be one?

Speaker 4 (01:46:49):
I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Put you
on the desk, I mean, who's I I can't pronounce
the names though either. It would probably would be an
absolute disaster. That's why it would be on for Yeah,
for you guys. I mean, I'm in, I am probably coming.
I just I want to see it.

Speaker 3 (01:47:05):
I never do say probably coming, Jeff, I've never I've
never talking about I'm probably coming.

Speaker 4 (01:47:10):
I've never gone to a fight fight before, and I
think it'd be fun. Are you gonna Are you gonna
bring your wife? I think there they might beat the beach,
but otherwise I would bring her. Yes, she's so anti
I just she's so anti fighting. It's kind of weird.
Considering her personality, you would think she'd be like, very
pro fighting, but she's anti fighting.

Speaker 3 (01:47:33):
What what former Carolina Panthers can you?

Speaker 7 (01:47:35):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:47:36):
Can you invite to make us look cooler for having
all of them in the audience? O.

Speaker 4 (01:47:40):
Hey, Jonathan Sewart's probably he'd probably be in.

Speaker 3 (01:47:42):
I think, Okay, can you get Luke Keigley there?

Speaker 4 (01:47:45):
I can ask John, I can ask Jonathan about it. Yeah.
I don't know Luke, but he does.

Speaker 3 (01:47:50):
I wanna I want to have I want to have
Jeff Schwartz and uh any other massive offensive lineman that
you can find and the rest.

Speaker 4 (01:48:01):
We don't wonder if the Panthers are all Maybe the
Panthers are off that night too, and we just like
get a team function. I'll text a player engagement guy
like the retire who does all retire hands up with
the entire players, ask him if like open end by
anyone who wants to go Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:48:13):
Perfect. I love that. Actually, in all seriousness, really looking
forward to coming down and hanging out and appreciate you
joining us on the show today. The plan is I'm
putting pressure on Jeff by saying this publicly. The plan
is we're gonna try to get Jeff to join us
weekly like we did this pass fotball.

Speaker 4 (01:48:29):
So I said I would do it. I have to.
My schedule is not completed yet for football since I
come on your show, I don't know. Probably on Tuesday,
I would imagine, is the best time to do it.
Are you? Are you on the Utah hype train like
I am. I think you're talking me good this year.
I am on the Utah hype train.

Speaker 3 (01:48:45):
And I know that it probably sounds disingenuous coming from
a guy who's on the Home of the Utes and
who graduated from the University of Utah. But like there's
everyone jumped off the bandwagon thinking that Kyle Whittingham forgot
how to coach or something because they had, you know,
they were decimated by injuries. I look at this year
and I say, that's the only thing that can give

(01:49:06):
them a terrible year. I think that if even if
you have like a couple injuries, like a normal amount
of injuries, you're in the conference championship hunt because the
Big Twelve is wide open and the schedule, like you said,
is not easy, but it's not really punitive either. So
I and I love what I hear, I hear and
see about Devin Dan Pierce. So I just I'm really optimistic.

Speaker 4 (01:49:26):
I should optimism. I think BYU is ranked two highest
start the season. That's on. That probably fire up everyone up.

Speaker 3 (01:49:32):
Everyone's gonna love that. I actually am upsetting people because
I have been telling them they're gonna be fine without rets.

Speaker 4 (01:49:39):
Laugh.

Speaker 3 (01:49:39):
But there are a lot of people who don't feel
the same way.

Speaker 4 (01:49:42):
Interesting, I maybe I come on next week we can
talk about that. I think that's a big loss for them.

Speaker 3 (01:49:47):
Okay, Well, I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:49:48):
They don't have a Jewis quarterback anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:49:50):
It's it's hard, Yeah, I know that's that was the
most important part about his game for you. Yeah, yeah,
it was all right, thanks buddy, appreciate you talk to it.
But Jeff Schwartz, you heard here Utah in the hunt
for the Joe More Award. We got a guy, we
got a mole. We have an inside man. He loves

(01:50:10):
Jim Harding, he loves U tough football. Our equipment guys
may or may not have sent a hoodie or two
to Jeff Schwartz at some point, so we are we're
making a case and he and he loves Caleb Blomo.
He's the higher on Cale Blomo than he has Spencer Fono.

(01:50:30):
That's right, Which is very interesting to me because as
he said, Fanald has been getting by far the most
of the hype between the two Lomos. It started to
grow as time has gone on. Jeff is one. He's
one of those guys I know this for having worked
with him for a decent amount of time that like
he he just kind of trusts what he sees. And

(01:50:54):
when he says that you watch Caleb Blomo pass block
and it looks like an NFL tackle, that's what he
says that. So the point of the matter is Utah
football fans. That's a guy who played nine years of
NFL football on the offensive line telling you that you
got one of the best offensive lines in the country,

(01:51:14):
and a guy who's used to watching Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State,
Wisconsin these offensive lines. So good news all around. All right,
gotta take a quick one hour Number three starts with
Trey Fitzgerald. We'll talk some RSL Soka on ESPN seven
hundred ninety to onefl.

Speaker 9 (01:51:31):
B is American.

Speaker 1 (01:51:35):
You're tuned to the Shan O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety one.

Speaker 4 (01:51:42):
Am drinking whiskey and ride sing in this sold the
Day that I Die.

Speaker 3 (01:51:49):
Shato'condall Show on ESPN seven hundred and ninety Twoe f e.
We welcome in, Frey Fitzgerald, RSL Insider, Friend of the Program.
RSL Back in the Western Conference playoff hunt in earnest
and of course League's Cup group stage game tomorrow night,
get a title seven thirty at America First Field. Ray,

(01:52:12):
Welcome back to the show.

Speaker 7 (01:52:13):
How are you, oh see good buddy?

Speaker 3 (01:52:15):
How are you doing all right? How has the how's
the League's Cup been so far for you.

Speaker 7 (01:52:20):
It's been exciting, it's been fun. It's always a little
different to play these Mexican teams, with their style of play,
their implementation of what Dounny likes to call the dark arts,
how they try to work over the referee and the
opponent and just all the the extra It's been good

(01:52:41):
for us obviously, starting off the Phase one as they
call it. You can't call it a group stage because
everybody doesn't play everybody, but Club America is one of
the biggest clubs in concer CAF in the Western Hemisphere.
We were fifteen seconds away from getting the full three
points against them, give up a late goal which was
quality from them, and then our man Rafael Cabral stepped

(01:53:06):
up massive in the shootout. And then three days later,
you know, we get the early goal against Athletico San Luis,
we get the late goal to tie it up and
send it to a shootout, and then that shootout did
not go our way. Shootouts are crazy. I feel like
I'd love them, except when it involves our team, and
then I start questioning my my heart, like if I

(01:53:28):
can if I'm just getting old too quick and I
can't handle it. So but it's been fun, man. And look,
we go into the match day three tomorrow against carrettro
we still have a chance. We need we need to win,
and we need like six other MLS teams to fail
to win, so either an outright loss or a shootout loss,

(01:53:51):
and then we can be one of the top four
out of eighteen MLS teams to get to the quarterfinals.
So chances are slim, but we've got a lead game
on Sunday in New York that's going to be important.
We've got new players that were hopefully going to be
able to integrate soon as well. So it's a lot,
a lot of good stuff going on.

Speaker 3 (01:54:09):
Uh. Before we move on to anything, I want to
I want to go back to these these shootouts because
we've I've had lots of conversations with lots of soccer
people about shootouts versus run a play, and it feels
like I enjoy watching a shootout, but it feels like
that's kind of a new sort of opinion, like it
the soccer purist is always like, no, no, no, you got

(01:54:31):
to let the match be decided by run a play.
It's not the same thing. And it feels like I'm
shamed for enjoying a good shootout. But you're someone who
just said you you even like a shootout as as
it doesn't involve our cell, So where are we supposed
to fall on these things?

Speaker 7 (01:54:46):
So the shootouts after ninety minutes is a very.

Speaker 10 (01:54:49):
Saying, right with some of these tournaments lately, with League
Cup and Conker Cap and other other tournaments you may remember,
Oh see, you probably don't, but when am I, let's
have the All Star game here at what was then
Rio Tinto Stadium In two thousand and nine, RSL and
MLS hosted Everton and it did go straight to a
shootout after ninety minutes.

Speaker 7 (01:55:11):
It was a very new unique concept then, and our
old owner day Check had said, you know what, I
hate ties, there's no emotional resolution from a regular season tie.
Maybe every game should go to a shootout. So he
was roundly mocked and criticized and all that fun stuff.
So I actually just kind of tweeted at yesterday because
I've been watching a lot of Leagues Cup. It's fun

(01:55:33):
to be able to see other teams that you don't
get to see with all the MLS games all stacked
up on each other on a typical Saturday night, at
seven thirty Mountain. But I don't know, man, I guess
I'm in the Nordy. Maybe you are too, you know.
I just I Sometimes I go home from a tie
and I'm like, you know what, I would have rather
us lost, because then I would know how to emotionally

(01:55:55):
process what I just saw over the last ninety minutes.
But maybe I'm just a and I'm not a newb
I've been in this dumb game for thirty years, So
that's my opinion.

Speaker 3 (01:56:04):
So emotional resolution is a great way to put it.
It's one of the obstacles for soccer's popularity with American
sports fans, in my opinion, where it's like, what do
you mean there's ties. We watched this whole game and
all this back and forth of this craziness and it's
nil nil, and I'm supposed to be excited about that.
So the shootout does offer that resolution.

Speaker 7 (01:56:24):
Well, you know, some of those ties feel like wins
and some feel like losses.

Speaker 10 (01:56:28):
You just never know.

Speaker 7 (01:56:29):
On That's part of why we love this marathon. Ten
and a half month season and thirty four games in playoffs,
I guess, and all these other cups they're played concurrently.

Speaker 3 (01:56:39):
Well, let's talk about where ourselves at in the Western
Conference right now, unbeaten through several matches, five wins, building
up the points, and back really in the thick of
that playoff race. And the last time we talked, we
were touching on this with oursel kind of on the
outside looking in, but within striking distance because of how

(01:57:01):
much there still is left to play. Where do you
feel the team's at right now? With the schedule ahead
and like you said, you know your RSL campaign being
interrupted by some some league cup and things like that.
Is this team in the spot it needs to be
as the playoffs do approach.

Speaker 7 (01:57:18):
Yeah, look June in July, and good to us. We've
we've lost one out of our last nine games. We've
moved from thirteenth up to eight in the Western Conference standings.
The top nine go to the playoffs. We've got one
game skewer plays than some of the teams surrounding us.
So I think everybody's pretty optimistic. You know, we do

(01:57:40):
go to New York Sunday, We go to Charlotte weekend
of the sixteenth, so you got to take cars, some
business on the road, and then you're then you're back
at home for five of your final final eight. So
we think it's all there ahead of us, and I
think everybody's feeling super super optimist, thick about the you know,

(01:58:03):
the stretch run. We've got a rescheduled game from earlier
in the year against LAFC that has moved down to
September seventeenth, and if Seattle or US go to the
league's Cup final on August thirty one, that August thirty
trip up to play the Sounders will also be rescheduled,

(01:58:26):
so it could end up being a really congested you
know what am I trying to say September? I guess.
But we feel like we're a really deep team. We
feel like we're healthy right now. We're bringing in some
new forwards to up the level of competition. We got
a Mecca and Nelly back. We've got a Brian o'hada
who had two goals in his first seventy five RFL

(01:58:49):
games and now has three in his last three. So
there's a lot of reason to believe that maybe if
this team gets super hot, we can get a top four,
top four Western Conference home field advantage seed. Calm late October.

Speaker 3 (01:59:08):
Trey Fitzgerald, our guest here on the Sean O'Connell shotalk
in RSL. They are right now in eighth place in
the Western Conference playoffs. Transfer windows we're talking about, you know,
a free agency in some sports, you talk about the
trademarket being open. Transfer window right now in MLS. What

(01:59:30):
is RSL looking to do while it's helping?

Speaker 7 (01:59:34):
So the transfer window opened on pioneered Ay, July twenty fourth,
we announced a new designated player from Brazil. His name
is Juan Cruz. Played for both to Fogo, one of
the bigger clubs over there, played in.

Speaker 6 (01:59:51):
Bota.

Speaker 7 (01:59:51):
Fogo actually spent ten million dollars on him in February
to get him out of Bulgaria where he was a
prolific goal scorer, so we're excited to have him. It
looks like, hopefully by the end of the week we'll
be able to announce the other very heavily rumored target
named Victor Olatunji from Sparta Prague. Trying to get that
paperwork and work visa and all that stuff done, so

(02:00:13):
hopefully both of these guys might even be able to
see the field for US as early as Sunday against
New York. There's maybe a five percent chance we can
even see Crews tomorrow night against the Carretturo if his
work visa comes in. And the reason that these visas
may happen a little more quickly is they both had
US visitor visas, which are easier to convert to a

(02:00:36):
work visa than having to start from scratch with the
interview and the State Department and all that kind of stuff,
which you can understand that the immigration process is extremely
complicated over the last six months.

Speaker 3 (02:00:49):
Well, what about other additions or other moves that you
could see RSL engaging in in this all the transfer
windows open?

Speaker 7 (02:00:59):
Yeah, Look, Smid has until August twenty third. I think
he and Pablo have talked about maybe adding some depth
in the back line or maybe on the wing. I know,
I know Kurt's got a lot of irons in the fire,
so you know, maybe we'll get him on with you
in the next week or two and talk about where
that is as we maybe get a little closer to
close the window and see what our roster is going

(02:01:20):
to look like down the stretch.

Speaker 3 (02:01:22):
I hope I asked this the right way. But is
OURSL a plug and play organization? I mean in other sports?
And I have a better understanding of other sports than
I do of soccer. Right, you have to make sure
that whoever you bring in fits with the chemistry of
the locker room, that they fit with the style of

(02:01:43):
play in this case, with formation and how you plan
to attack and things like that. In basketball, it's not
in football. It's not always just about all right, is
this a good player and does he fit you know,
because we need a forward. Let's go get a forward.
Everyone's always trying to bring in the right guys and

(02:02:04):
the personalities in that locker room. Right now, how easy
is it to fit other people in and make sure
that that is the right guy for the situation that
RSL has with you know, a team on the rise.

Speaker 7 (02:02:17):
Yeah, that's a good question, right. Just like any interview
process for any job, there's a there's a lot of layers.
And I know Pablo and his staff and Kurt and
his staff, they all, you know, they spend a lot
of time talking to guys on zoom, having multiple interviews,
not just the player and his agent, but his current

(02:02:38):
and former teammates. Is trying to figure out that personality
piece and figure out, you know, how somebody is going
to integrate and sometimes you just don't know, and you
think everything's perfect and and then you know, they they
show up and it doesn't work out, But a lot
of times it does. And we think, especially these two guys,
with what they've done in Europe and South America in

(02:03:01):
their past careers, that they should be able to hopefully
integrate quickly. And then, you know, every coach will tell you, you know,
for the summer transfers that when they have a good
preseason with the team in January or February, that's really
where they're able to kind of get into the nuance
of the game model and all that stuff. But there's

(02:03:22):
a universal aspect of the game that sometimes we all
probably make a little too much out of some of
that stuff.

Speaker 3 (02:03:28):
From a team chemistry standpoint, is there is there anyone
in this locker room right now who you're like, Oh,
that person is the one who's gonna walk over. They're
going to greet the new guys. They're going to be
the ones that are like, Hey, this is what Utah's about,
this is what Sandy's about, this is what salt Lake's about.
Is there is there that ambassador type personality already in
the locker room.

Speaker 7 (02:03:50):
Sure, we're lucky, we got a lot of those guys.
Our goalkeeper Rapa Cabral is a big leader and a big,
big captain. We've got five in the leadership group that
you know in Mecca, and Nelly's another one of those guys.
Justin Glad's been part of the club for eleven years.

Speaker 6 (02:04:10):
We got a lot of.

Speaker 7 (02:04:11):
Guys that are able to do that. Poplar Weez has
been around. So you know, that's one of the things
that makes my job a lot of fun and really
easy is we have so many quality humans and people
in our locker room that these new guys coming in, man,
they are greeted like family. In fact, Cruise's agent told

(02:04:32):
me the other day, he's like, look, I've been around
a lot of clubs with a lot of different players,
and nothing quite has the vibe that you guys have created.
And you know, there's sometimes, I guess, at certain places
a standoff, standoffish attitude right for the new guys, and
everybody's been really welcoming, even the guys that have to

(02:04:52):
compete for jobs with the new guys.

Speaker 3 (02:04:55):
What has the adjustment been like for the franchise now
that you know we are a growing sports market, there's
a hockey team in town. In my opinion, the Jazz
role in town has changed pretty drastically because of how
bad the team is right now, and you know, the
ownership change and things like that. And of course, when

(02:05:17):
you're talking about the sports landscape of our state, RSL
was like the Jazz were the first mover professional sports.
RSL's been here a long time. They're a well established club.
So is the what is the move? What's the adjustment
to accommodate, you know, the Mammoth, to accommodate the changing
landscape with the Utah Jazz, to accommodate an eventual and

(02:05:40):
Major League Baseball team. It seems like that's probably an
eventuality here. Like where does the MLS and RSL specifically
kind of fit into that picture? Because I know it
doesn't just happen passively. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (02:05:53):
No, Look, I think twenty years ago when Dave Checkets
brought RSL to town very much, the feeling was, hey,
another professional organization that rising tide lifts all boats. Our
presence could enhance you know, the attractiveness of the Jazz
and the college football scene and all that. And that's
certainly how we have felt with you know, the Mammoth
and hockey coming in. It's the best hockey league in

(02:06:15):
the world, the NHL, and we all, we're all sports fans, right,
So seeing that now with the Miller group and Steve
Stark's kind of leading the charge and the Miller family,
you know, they're excited about baseball, which makes us excited
about baseball. And having more facilities, more energy around professional
sports and high end entertainment. That's good for everything. And yeah, sure,

(02:06:39):
I think there's a certain level of competition right for eyeballs,
for fans, for busts in the seats, for corporate dollars,
all that stuff. But you know, we feel like we've
carved out a great niche. We have fifteen thousand Seaton
ticket holders, we have a young, diverse audience. Soccer is
going to get a massive jolt with the World Cup
being here in North America next year, as you and

(02:06:59):
I have talked about in the past. So it's just
it's extremely exciting time. We're all Jazz fans, we're all
Mammoth fans, We're all you know, major League baseball fans.
I can't wait to go see my Giants come to
town here in four or five years out there, hopefully
off at North Temple and enjoy a beer and a
broad and take in some Major League baseball.

Speaker 3 (02:07:18):
Here's what I need. I need mammoth sweater in the
Claret and Cobalt, and I need an RSL shirt in
the mammoth blue like that the little crossover. That's what
we need. It's right. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (02:07:33):
We actually had an item of the game, probably right
around the time Utah Hockey Club played its first game
a little over a year ago, and those claret and
cobalt hockey sweaters sold out in twenty minutes. I think
at our team store two hundred and eighty eight of them.
So hopefully we can reissue that because that was a
really cool item and people were pretty psyched to throw

(02:07:56):
those on.

Speaker 3 (02:07:57):
Yeah, it's a great idea to have that. Appreciate you
giving us time whenever you're able. Thank you for today.
We'll talk again soon.

Speaker 7 (02:08:04):
Oh fit, We got to get you out to a game, man,
So just let me know when you want to come.
Get a press bath, sit on the sideline and see
how fast and strong and athletic these guys are.

Speaker 3 (02:08:13):
Let's do it all right, talk soon. Yeah, I do
need to get out. It's been I haven't been to
a game this season and you know, you know how
I am James. If you start winning and your playoff bound,
I'm going to jump on the bandwagon. So absolutely, Oh
my gosh, we're in the playoffs. Soccer is a cool sport.

(02:08:34):
Let's go Yeah. Absolutely, and I I haven't been in
a few years now to a game out in Sandy,
so I definitely need to go back. It's a great time.
It is one of the things that we're very lucky
for you're in the state of Utah, is like we've
got these beautiful facilities that are relatively accommodating there, Like

(02:08:57):
there's ample parking near the stadium there you can It's
not as painful to go to a game in Sandy
or in you know, Salt Lake at Rice Eycles, or
in Provo at at LaBelle Edwards or obviously at the
Delta Center. It's not nearly as painful as it is

(02:09:18):
to get to some of those venues as it is.
Like I mean, I reference it all the time, but
living and working in the Bay Area, that was it's
an undertaking to get to the coliseum at the time
we're the Raiders' flagship to go to at and T
Park at the time to get to a Giants game,
it was a mess. It was a nightmare. I mean

(02:09:40):
it's like the traffic first, the lack of parking. Second,
at the expense of trying to park, the public transit
is like kind of geared to help out, but not
in a perfect way. So we're super lucky. And every
time I go, every time I go to Sandy, that's
right across the street from my high school, so it's like,
you know, the old stomp, It's great. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

(02:10:02):
And another one I was just talking with Smitty about this.
He he was telling me he was recently this a
few weeks ago now, beginning of the month he was in, Uh,
he was in he was at Wrigley for Cubs Red Sox,
and he was talking about, yeah, yeah, the trains go
right next to Wrigley, but like it's still like don't

(02:10:25):
even bother driving, Like we do not have that problem
here in along the wahsatched front. So sometimes it's still
it's still frustrating game day traffic whatever, But like we
got to counter blessings with it. Certainly certainly a good
good spot for us to have all these teams and
be able to get there relatively quickly. It's it's a

(02:10:46):
good spot. Uh. Not only do we need to get
down to Sandy for an RSL game, we need to
get out to Stansbury Park golf Course. You know what,
clear your slate making a plan for this weekend. Not
that far away out in Tuila County, the historic golf
cart Stansbury Park golf Course. They've really stepped up. There's
water on almost every hole, the greens roll true, the layout.

(02:11:11):
It's not the easiest course, I'll tell you. So you're
gonna get out there and you're gonna be playing with
your buddies. It's gonna provide you ample trash talking opportunities.
You canna have a couple of great shots, Okay, gonna
stripe one right down the center of the fair where
you're gonna feel good, and maybe the next shot goes
into a water trap and then it's your turn to
take the ribbing. Either way, they're gearing you up for

(02:11:32):
an incredible day of golf. No long waits, no overpriced
green fees. It's pure golf. Eighteen holes for forty five
dollars on weekdays, fifty dollars on weekends. Right off I eighty,
super easy, easy to get to. Should be your go
to spot out there in Tuila County at Stansbury Park
golf Course. Great rates, gorgeous greens, minutes away. Totally worth it.

(02:11:54):
Book your tea time now at Stansbury Park dot golf
excuse me, park dot gov slash golf course. That's Stansbury
Park dot gov slash golf course. Sean O'Connell Show continues
on ESPN seven hundred ninety two one FM.

Speaker 1 (02:12:19):
You were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show from the
Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
to one A F.

Speaker 3 (02:12:27):
M oh Man. I think you know what. I think
that ESPN's college football coverage, the website specifically is going
to lose me. I know there's a vested interest with
ESPN and certain conferences over the Big Twelve. For example,

(02:12:53):
you know, I'm a list guy. I'm a I'm a
big time list guy. Embarrassingly big time list guy. Quite frankly,
the forty most important players in college football in twenty
twenty five lifts not a single Big twelve player on
it until they get down to the uh Okay, Well,
here's a category specifically for the Big Twelve so they

(02:13:13):
feel included. I don't know how you can say they
don't have enough of a vested interest in Big Twelve.
You saw Matthew Berry at Big twelve Media Day. They
sent the ESPN was there, right, James, Your sarcasm is
not appreciated in this moment. The Big twelve is just

(02:13:39):
is it for the thought maker in sports right now?
Is an afterthought in the upcoming college football season. Now
there are reasons for that that it go beyond the
network affiliation with these conferences, and there's just you know,
there's the financial issue here that creates a real gap

(02:14:03):
for college football fans and more importantly, the college football
programs in the Big twelve conference, like a real actual
you don't have the same starting point does other teams
have kind of gap. The salary cap that effectively has
been implemented by the revenue share is completely meaningless. It
doesn't do a dang thing to close the gap, to

(02:14:25):
even the playing field, to level the playing field. There
was you know, the College Sports Commission had all of
two weeks where it looked like they were actually going
to enforce some things, and then they were just like
just kidding, never mind and it's fun. The powers that
be and the billions of dollars associated with the powers
that be made that determination and we we I found

(02:14:46):
it very predictable. However, this the only way out of
it is you have to have teams do what like
Boise State did last year, right where nobody wants on
the network level, nobody wants to pay attention to Boise
State at the level that the Broncos got attention paid
to them last year. It was Ashton Gentee, it was

(02:15:07):
a good coaching job. It was solid play from the
rest of that team that forced people to be like, wow, okay,
I mean this is a playoff team, and yes, it's
a playoff team because of the rules of the new
expanded College Football Playoff, meaning that a group of five
champion was going to be allowed into the College Football Playoff,
and then the rules made it so that the debate

(02:15:29):
centered around, well, whether or not they deserve to have
a buye, which I mean, I guess at the end
of the day, Arizona State lost their game after the
bye and Boise State lost their game after the bye,
and so you can look back and say they didn't
deserve that spot. Well, Ohio State didn't even win their
conference championship ended up winning the national championship. So the

(02:15:53):
whole deserve conversation around the college football playoff is something
that gets a little bit convoluted. But this Big Twelve
Conference is at such a dire strait right now when
it comes to the perception around college football that we've
been geared as a people and as individuals, don't care

(02:16:17):
what other people think about you. What other people think
about you is not what matters. It's your character, it's
your actions. It's like, okay, yes, from an individual level,
that's probably still true. But what people think of your
conference and what people think of the universities in that conference,
or what people think of the competitiveness of the conference,

(02:16:38):
and whether or not the conference is capable of producing
elite competitors for the national championship, that is something that matters.
It's not just opinion. It is something that translates to
concrete differences in the competitive playing field. If the Big

(02:16:59):
Twelve Conference continues to be looked at the way the
Pac twelve Conference was looked at for several years, the
fate of the Big twelve Conference will probably be the
same as the fate of the Pac twelve conference, and
there's not an immediate danger for that. But the now,
the here and now, is what we need to talk

(02:17:21):
about because SEC and Big ten powers are already trying
to manipulate whatever the next college football playoff iteration. Looks
like they're already trying to say, well, we get five bids,
they get five bids, we get four bids, they get
four bids, you get two bids, and that's where the

(02:17:43):
gap widens. And Clemson is kind of doing the thing
in Miami, are kind of doing the thing in the
ACC that somebody in the Big twelve conference needs to
do has not done yet. Maybe it'll be Arizona State,
maybe it'll be Utah. Perhaps BYU can make this leap

(02:18:06):
Kansas State, Good luck, Iowa State. Sorry, you haven't won
a conference championship since World War One. It's not gonna
happen for you, most likely. But what you're seeing from
Miami and from Clemson and well because of the money
from SMU, is they're kind of inserting themselves into the
national conversation. Despite the public opinion of the ACC, the

(02:18:32):
public opinion of the ACC is not widely different than
that of what people think of the Big Twelve. But
Clemson has given this credit as an outlier. But yeah,
we know that their investment and their talent and their
homegrown talent sometimes by the way, and they're coaching, puts
them in a conversation for a national championship. There's not

(02:18:56):
a single person. There's not The websites reflect it. Now. Wow,
there's not a person that we have talked to that
believes that the Big twelve Conference has a national championship contender.
You will hear people say Clemson could do it this year,
fewer people, but some will say Miami is a dark horse,
an outlier in that conversation. Try to find me someone

(02:19:20):
nationally who's willing to say Arizona State could win the
national championship, or Kansas State could win the national championship,
or that Utah will be in the conversation for the
national championship. You will not find a single person. And
by the way, that wasn't even a problem the PAC
twelve Conference had. Because the PAC twelve Conference had people

(02:19:43):
talk about USC in that regard every single year, even
when it was totally unjustified. USC was given that benefit
of the doubt for a decade of mediocrity in the
Pac twelve Conference because they are USC and then Oregon
inserted themselves into that conversation towards the tail end. And
of course, the very last year of the conference existence,

(02:20:05):
Washington boom in the national championship game. But Oregon was
in that as you said, they were in that conversation
that last that last season as well a few years
ago they did. Washington beat them in the in the
uh Packdell Championship game. Last year of the fourteen playoff,
they didn't have a chance to prove it. And what
you have in the SEC is you have people saying, well,

(02:20:29):
there's six teams that could win not just the Big
the SEC championship, but if you can do that, you
can win a national championship. And in the Big ten,
hey you got Ohio State, you got Penn State, you
got Michigan. Like these teams could win a national championship.
Notre Dame because of who Notre Dame is, gets that credit.
And I already told you about the ACC teams like

(02:20:51):
the as we get what, we're twenty five days away
from the season kicking off. You're twenty five days away
for either a step forward for the Big twelve Conference
or a long drawn out slow bleed beginning for the
Big twelve Conference as they try to remain competitive against

(02:21:15):
the juggernauts that are SEC and Big Ten conferences and
the individuals in those conferences and Notre Dame and the
eventual decision made about what the reconstructed college football playoff
is going to look like. Rightt Your Marcus said, give
us the five and eleven because I think we could
have two or three teams every year. Well, guess what

(02:21:38):
I'm looking at ESPN's every list that they make. Go
for the three guaranteed spots if you can get them.
Go for the two guaranteed spots if you can get them.
Because the preseason coaches poll and the AP pole is
going to be reflective of this as well. Your best
team is going to come in somewhere between ten and fifteen,

(02:21:59):
and the rest of them are going to be twenty
to twenty five. And that's the perception problem that you
have that yes, you can fight against and you can
disprove through your performance on the field, but do we
realize that it's only getting more and more difficult as
the years go by. So the level playing field of

(02:22:21):
level ish, it's never been truly leveled, but the more
level playing field of five years ago still has some
effect on what your team is today. If you go
another five years without teams really making their case at
a national championship, what happens, well, decisions are made to

(02:22:42):
disband a conference, to continue to bolster and boost the
revenues and widen the gap that you then don't have
any control over. So like the University of Washington in
that last year of the PAC twelve's existence, if that
had happened five years soon, if that had happened three
years sooner, if that had happened one other time, meaning

(02:23:07):
Oregon doesn't lose to Arizona State before they beat Utah
in the Pac twelve championship game, or Utah beats Oregon
in that Pack twelve championship game and is in the
College Football Playoff, or USC just in any of those
years acts like their USC and makes decisions like their USC.
We're having a completely different conversation that the window is closing.

(02:23:31):
We got twenty five days between now and the college
football season kicking off a college football season in which
the national landscape predicts the best team in your conference
is going to be right on the borderline of even
making a playoff. Not the best team in your conference

(02:23:52):
could be the best team in the country. Not a
single damn person thinks that outside of the Big twelve footprint,
and most people in the Big twelve footprint don't think it.
I'm saying this even as I tell you I don't
think the Big twelve conference is fielding a national championship
contender this year. It's gonna get harder next year, and
harder the year after that, and harder again, and harder again,

(02:24:12):
and harder again and harder again until something happens where
maybe some of your teams get invited to be part
of the next iteration. Not all of them, some of them,
and please, please, please let you tell me one of them.

(02:24:33):
It's crazy that we're twenty five days away with from
this insanely important season, and I, like everyone else, is
just like, well, let's get to the football. I want
to see the football. The football scares me too, as
much as I'm excited about it. If your conference champ
is a three loss team like I think they will be,

(02:24:57):
it's rough. Yeah, it's gonna be any even steeper climb
that perception, that climb to good national perception is going
to be even steeper if you if if that's the case,
so you got it. If you're a Utah fan, if
you're a BYU fan, if you're a fan of a
team in the Big twelve, if you want the Big
twelve to stick around you, you better hope that the

(02:25:21):
champion is a is an undefeated team or a one
loss team, which like you said, probably not happening this year,
and that there's another there's another one loss team that
meets him in the conference championship game, or undefeated or
two undefeated teams, because that's the only way Big twelve
makes any gains this year, oh see, is if you
get more, if you somehow get more than one team

(02:25:43):
in the playoff, and you're not doing that with a
bunch of teams with two or three losses near the tops.
As competitive as that is, as as entertaining as that is,
more entertaining than most years in the in recent years,
in the Big Ten and SEC, the perception is going
to be well because you don't have a because you

(02:26:05):
don't have a dominant team, your your conference altogether must
be mediocre. You know, it's really crazy, as I'm as
I'm thinking about this, and I'm saying, okay, well, who
is who is that outlier Washington team from the Pac
twelve's final year. Who's a team that's got a great

(02:26:26):
coach and an experienced quarterback and a bunch of veterans
on the offensive line. You talk checks those boxes. That's
what Washington was. It's not the only way to win.
The big difference there is Pennix had was it was

(02:26:48):
it just the one year, yeah, one one other year
at Washington under the with that coaching staff. This is
obviously new to the program quarterback, but he is offense,
same offense. Not a new quarterback in college football. Now,
there's some important differences between Utah and that Washington team. Right,

(02:27:10):
that team had roma doonsa Jayalen McMillan. That team had
one of the best wide receiving cores in the was
so fun to watch. They were so good, right, they
were unbelievable. But that was a team though, that was
like they had a bunch of guys that could have
gone to the NFL that decided to come back to
try and chase a national champions They were They were
one or two losses away the year before from doing so. Yeah,

(02:27:33):
so they that was a team that again those there's
some important differences. But yeah, I look at Iowa State,
I look at Rock Obeck, that look at Matt Campbell.
I look at them bringing a lot of talent back.
But like, there's just not a I mean, you could
direct analog. You could say Arizona State, except we we
don't know. If we don't know, I think it's fair

(02:27:55):
to ask, is Kenny Dillingham able to sustain the success
as a head coach? I think for them just one year,
because he still is so he's gonna have more than
one year. I just don't know that. Like I think
Kenny Dillingham is a really, really good coach, But Kenny
Dillingham as a head coach has not had to do
the thing that he's going to have to do this year,

(02:28:16):
where you lose your best player and then you're expected
to perform at or better than you know the year
before that. And by the way, they lost their best
offensive lineman. Also, like Arizona State brings back a ton
on both sides of the ball, they bring back a
ton of things, but two of the foremost important players
on the entire team are gone. So all right, did

(02:28:40):
we bring in something in the transfer portal to replace that.
Did we bring in something from high school recruiting to
replace that? Maybe Arizona State kind of checks that box
less established of a coaching history, like you said, But man,
there's just and look, there's other ways to skin a cat.
It's that you don't have to be Washington in order

(02:29:02):
to have that outlier season. You don't have to look
exactly like Washington, but you do have to have a
good coach, you have to have a good offensive line,
and you have to have a quarterback who could do
special things. Yeah, and I mean that seems to be
the quickest way to do it. Anyway, the most obvious
way to connect those dots is by looking at those

(02:29:22):
three areas the head coach, the quarterback, offensive line. I
would say Kansas State somewhat fits that model too. With
Avery Johnson, he's still got to prove that he can
that he's just like we talked just like we talked
about with Devin Dan Pierre. He's got to even probably
even more so, he's got to prove that he's not

(02:29:43):
just a runner, but he's a now a veteran quarterback
with who's had a lot of hype and had shown
some good moments, good team around him, that Kansas State
could be that. But that's that's what we've been talking about.
You've been you rightfully comparing the Big twelve to what
the PAC twelve was for so many years. Parody conference

(02:30:06):
does not help the national perception. It's so much more
fun to watch week in and week out until you
get to the end of the season and then you're
not part of the big party. Like week seven, when
the Big ten has one matchup that you think might
actually be a good game, you're like, oh, we have
five of those, yeah, in the Big twelve. When the

(02:30:28):
SEC in week ten is playing a bunch of nobody's
at the Citadel and to come to State or whatever,
you're just like, all right, well, we have good games here.
We don't know who's gonna win this BYU Kansas game.
We don't know who's gonna win the game between Utah
and UCF or whatever. It's just it is different. But
then you get left out of the party at the

(02:30:50):
end of the year that everyone wants to be in.
That's the hard part. All right, we got to take
a break. We'll wrap it up with giving away some
tickets on the other side. O'Connell show comes to an
end in about seven minutes on ESPN seven hundred ninety
two ONEFM.

Speaker 1 (02:31:07):
This is by Sean O'Connell's show. You were home of
the best Inside of Your Humans. Let's get back to
OC from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred
ninety two to one a f.

Speaker 9 (02:31:19):
M uns he used today.

Speaker 3 (02:31:22):
Sean O'Connell show, wrapping things up eight seven seven three
five three zero seven hundred. We've got tickets to give
away all time low is coming to the Union October sixteenth.
We were talking about the over under, I said today
two thousand and nine and ninety nine point five. So
effectively do you think Utah's passing offense gives you three

(02:31:43):
thousand or more yards this year? You take the over
or the under eight seven seven three five three zero
seven hundred. Not to tell me that you can tweet
at me at Real Osi Sports, but to answer this question.
Last season twenty twenty four, Utah's first four a into
the Big Twelve Confentference, their passing offense generated two thousand,

(02:32:03):
three hundred and ninety three yards, good enough for hot
ranking in the Big Twelve Conference. Where did twenty three
to ninety three put Utah amongst the teams of the
Big twelve Conference in twenty twenty four eight seven seven
three five three zero seven hundred for two tickets to

(02:32:23):
all time low? Which is an appropriate band actually for
this ranking. Wink wink nuts nutge Spence check, it's in
the drive coming up next, Hey Spence, is it last
in the conference? No?

Speaker 9 (02:32:36):
Was it close to last? It was very close to last.
Was it next to last?

Speaker 3 (02:32:40):
It was very close to that.

Speaker 9 (02:32:41):
Okay, fair enough. It's an interesting number.

Speaker 3 (02:32:44):
It was fifteenth. Yes, I just wanted to make sure
that we got the correct answer.

Speaker 9 (02:32:48):
Okay, fair enough. So it's an interesting number because I
had the stats from last year pulled up. So if
you go off of two thousand, nine hundred and ninety
nine yards, yeah, and I only have individual quarterbacks to
your point, maybe they're half backed passes, some QB you know,
flea flickers, double.

Speaker 3 (02:33:04):
Quacks in because someone lost a helmet.

Speaker 9 (02:33:07):
Yeah, sure, sure. So last year, noa Fafeita twy nine
hundred and fifty eight yards, Jake Rhetz left two hundred
nine two nine hundred and forty seven yards. The quarterbacks
just over three thousand, the Mendoza kid from cal even
when you look at Sam Levitt two eight hundred eighty
five yards, So I hate to continue to be this guy.

(02:33:27):
I will smash the under once again because we did
the wide receivers yesterday over under I think what like
seven hundred and now passing yards right under three thousand,
which would.

Speaker 3 (02:33:38):
Put them at number nine in.

Speaker 9 (02:33:40):
The conference, Okay, which shouldn't be too much to ask.

Speaker 3 (02:33:44):
It's six hundred something more than you had last year,
and it is an improvement of roughly two hundred and
fifty yards over what New Mexico's offense was last year,
because you have to look at both, right, your coordinator,
your quarterbacker coming from New Mexico, and that offense should

(02:34:05):
be somewhat similar to what you're looking at. So, yeah,
Arizona as a team twenty nine and seventy five passing
yards last year, BYU as a team three thousand and
seven passing yards last year. And as you mentioned, that
was not all Jake redsloff. That's like you know, that
means some garbage time numbers or like Chase Roberts through

(02:34:27):
a pass or something like that. So Kansas State was
a good team who was below that line, and Arizona
State was a good team who was barely above that line.
BYU was a good team who was barely above that line.
There were some teams that weren't great in the conference
that were way above the line. So again, these numbers
are not just like, well does it make you win?

(02:34:50):
You look at the whole picture and knowing Utah's rushing
offense should be pretty good this year, how many passing
yards do you need? Three thousand felt like a good
over under that take the overtake the under one way
or another. We're gonna figure it out. In twenty five days.

Speaker 9 (02:35:05):
Last year, devn dam Pier forty eighth in the country
in passing yards twenty seven hundred and sixty eight, right
ahead of Garber's the kid from UCLA. You know what,
I'm gonna spray a little sunshine on the show. I'm
gonna say over okay. I like that because the way
you outlined it. As far as the incremental improvements, and
maybe it's PTSD the offense. So many moments last year

(02:35:26):
that felt so anemic, just slide improvements all the way around,
including you know O line. I'm still concerned about the
wide receivers, Devin and his familiarity with coach back. I'm
gonna take the over today on a Tuesday one.

Speaker 3 (02:35:39):
That over, by the way, if we're just talking about
Devon Dampier's number, that over is like an extra two
or three first downs a game in the passing game. Yeah,
which obviously changed the whole landscape of Utah's season last year.

Speaker 9 (02:35:52):
For sure.

Speaker 3 (02:35:53):
If you compare that number, even if we just took
Devon's number from last year, if you give this Utah
passing offense twenty seven sixty eight instead of twenty three
to ninety three, now we're talking about three or four
first downs per game extra in the passing game. This
was a team that was five touchdowns away from being

(02:36:13):
a ten win team. So you're really like, just that
incremental improvement can change the whole landscape of your season.

Speaker 9 (02:36:21):
Should be doable based off of how you've kind of
broken it down with just small improvements here there, ep
Pole Monday of next week, Utah, if you kind of
added up for the Coach's Poll thirtieth, thirtieth other receiving votes,
others receiving votes, do you think they're higher in the
AP poll? Because the eight peop pole actually contains voters
that pay attention. I actually texted a coach a couple

(02:36:45):
of years ago in state and I said, off the record,
have you ever filled out your coach's top twenty five poll?
And you said absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (02:36:52):
No, it's my ID.

Speaker 9 (02:36:54):
Yeah, you know, or even like an intern. I feel
like at this point it's even gone past the sid
O Paul doesn't have for this.

Speaker 3 (02:37:00):
Yeah, it's you're right, it's probably like the dude cutting
practice film.

Speaker 1 (02:37:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (02:37:05):
Yeah, Paul's too busy organizing interviews in front of the
drugs machine. He has no time ranking the top twenty
five teams.

Speaker 3 (02:37:12):
So that's keeper's job. Now, that's that's that's our guy. Junk.

Speaker 9 (02:37:14):
Well, then, Junk, come on, man, I only do my
diatribe once a year. As soon as we play sound
on the show and I hear that damn machine in
the background, I'm considering writing a strongly worded letter to
Taylor Randall.

Speaker 3 (02:37:25):
It's actually it's actually a perfect storm of noise where
because there's the stairs where all the players are going
up and getting their nutrition and they're yelling and talking
to each other. That's right behind you, and then off
to your right is the lineup of drugs machines.

Speaker 9 (02:37:41):
Do you think they're trolling on carcophony? Do you think
they're doing this intentionally?

Speaker 3 (02:37:44):
I don't think so.

Speaker 9 (02:37:45):
I know it's oh okay, all right, okay, fair enough,
so it's not going to stop.

Speaker 3 (02:37:49):
They used to do the the the golf cart. Not
the golf cart. They're called gators. They're like the John
Deere six wheeled thing. Yeah, they're just drive it behind
wherever you're at. Yeah, yes, all right, on an accident.

Speaker 9 (02:38:00):
Well, we are a audio medium, so it doesn't look
great for us. It's one thing if you can a
video of the players and that it sound. But we're
a radio show radio station, so you listen to the
audio audio we play and it's quite distracting. But I
only do the die Trab once a year, and so
far I'm like, oh, for fifteen.

Speaker 3 (02:38:20):
It's kind of a comfort thing. Now I like it,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 9 (02:38:22):
I do not like it.

Speaker 3 (02:38:23):
It's like, wait, what did he say?

Speaker 4 (02:38:25):
What did he say?

Speaker 9 (02:38:28):
I like it. It's obnoxious, but what are you gonna do?

Speaker 3 (02:38:31):
I think Utah will be similar similarly, placed somewhere between
like twenty four and thirty. By the AP there are
ap writers like you say to pay a little bit
more attention, and also who are going to be reliant
on like Vegas and see what do they think? Yeah,
and that might elevate Utah a little bit. But there's
just I just went on a rant about this. There

(02:38:54):
is very little respect for even the top teams in
the Big twelve conference, and you Utah is not universally
expected to be that this year. Yep, So it's going
to be Arizona State ten or lower and everyone else
following behind them.

Speaker 9 (02:39:09):
Any any thoughts on the lack of pushback on BYU
despite the quarterback situation being in the top twenty five
or is that about where you thought they'd be?

Speaker 3 (02:39:19):
No, I mean I think I've said this, I've upset
people by saying this. I think BYU doesn't lose all
that much with Jake Retz left being gone.

Speaker 9 (02:39:29):
I agree.

Speaker 3 (02:39:29):
I just think they're a good team for other reasons.
I have as big a question about whether their offensive
line is good as about whether the quarterback situation is good.
You're going to find someone who can give you fifty
seven percent completions or whatever Jake had last year and
be the eleventh best quarterback in the conference. Like if

(02:39:51):
it's Bear Bachmeyer, or it's Borgette, or if it's McKay Hillstead,
that guy is not going to be put in a
situation where it's like, hey, go win us these games
with your arms, Go win us these games with your dynamism.
They're going to be like, look, we have two really
really good running backs and we have a defense that
creates problems for everybody. Don't screw this up for us.
First year starter now.

Speaker 9 (02:40:11):
Well said, no notes is the kids say Sean, no Notes.

Speaker 3 (02:40:14):
Stay tuned for the Drive with Spence check us. Thanks
for tuning in to the Sean O'Connell Show. Let's do
it again tomorrow on Utah is number one Sports Talk
ESPN seven ninety two ONEFM.