Softy & Dick 7-31 Hour 3: Hugh Millen, Hardball Show, Phil Steele

In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with Hugh Millen about the M’s and their hitting struggles, the first full week of Seahawks Training Camp, Byron Murphy standing out, and the departure of Klint Kubiak, then they get to their Hardball Pregame Show on the Mariners before Phil Steele previews the coming college football season.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
How about this.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Judge Charlotte Sweeney has ordered the NCAA to declare eligible
all class of twenty twenty two athletes who exhausted four
seasons this last spring. Any seniors you want back from
last year's Husky football team that are not playing in
the NFL.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Not the ones that aren't in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
And by the way, it's July thirty first. How many
guys are going to take advantage of that? By the way, yeah,
we'll ask you about that in a minute.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Sounders injury updates.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Christian Roldan Jordan Morris both out three to four weeks
with quad injuries. Yamar out with a calf injury. He'll
miss at least a month.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
And the Hall of Fame game is six days from today.
Carolina Arizona and Canton Tony Romo CBS placed on leave
following his arrest last week on suspicion of Duy and Milwaukee.
JJ Watt will step in and take his place for now.
All right here, he is a little live at five
on the radio show on a Friday night. All kinds
of things he could be doing, hanging out and joining himself,

(00:59):
partying with his hanging out with his lovely wife and
Steady's talking to us on the air at five o'clock
on a Friday night, our friend Huey Millan, how are.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
You, man, I'm doing good. I'm doing good. What's what's
to say? We can't do all of that? After a second,
that's true, that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
You know, I just want to make sure that you
make time for everybody, all right, and whatever, generous guy,
whatever role we can play in that regard, just wherever
I Before we get into football, you spent some time
at training camp, obviously, I want to ask you about this, uh,
this ruling from this judge regarding these class of twenty
two athletes and in the NCAA. In a minute, but

(01:36):
we've spent a lot of time, Dick and I and
Jackson have talking memon Is in the first two hours
of the radio show. It's funny for a team that
people are so angry about. We we've spent two hours
talking about him. Man, I know you've been tuning in.
What's your take on what's happening with the all of
a sudden listless Mariners?

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Man, Well, my nerdy, geeky self, I just couldn't help
myself and and I kind of commented about how the
Mayrin have a disproportionate share of their slugging with home runs.
We always say the Mariners are dependent on the home
run ball, and so those type of topics just kind
of send me straight to Microsoft Excel and just crunch

(02:15):
the numbers and sore here what we have up to date.
So the Mariners they have a combined doubles and triples
of one hundred and forty four and then their home
runs are one twenty nine. So the percentage take all
teams who take extra base hits and say the home

(02:35):
run is the percent of all extra base hits, and
the Mariners have a forty seven point three percent of
their extra base hits our home run. That's the highest. Yeah,
so they have they have the lowest when you add

(02:56):
doubles and triples, they have the lowest total of doubles
and triples. They have the highest percentage of their their
extra base hits are home runs. And by the way,
now I ran correlation numbers. It it isn't a strong
correlation to run score or winning. But the top three

(03:17):
Milwaukee the teams that have the home runs as the
lowest percent of their extra base hits. Milwaukee Obviously, they're
the second best record in in all of baseball. Arizona
and Boston are in the top ten. So so it's
something to think about. And and some numbers there. The Mariners,
I can tell you as of right now, they are

(03:38):
officially that they have the highest percentage of extra base
hits that they have come from the home run.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
They rely on home runs a lot.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
They were home runs, and last it did last in
doubles and triples.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
So look at Ra's batting average on balls and play
last year versus Aaron Judge. It's not even close. Yeah,
I mean Judge was like one hundred points higher than
him Dick. So yeah, that's that's a roster flaw for sure.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
And they don't win period when they don't hit a
home run. I mean, it's unbelieve their wins are in
the single digits this year when they don't hit a
home run. You I was just wondering about Dan Wilson's
just consistent. You can call it even keel demeanor, you
can call it milk toast demeanor. And I'm wondering, I
think back in the coaches that you played with, because

(04:26):
I'm wondering, is he red assing these guys behind the scenes,
because he's certainly not doing it in front of the scenes.
So when you've had coaches in the past where they
usually whatever they were in front of the camera, they
were kind of the same with the team. Or did
you have guys that were completely different off the camera
as they were on the camera.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
No, you generally got a sense of their personality. There
was nobody was fooling anybody. And and you know, to
the extent that that I come on with you guys
and talk about the Mariners, I always temper myself because
I say, look, baseball is a different sport. It's aunt
obviously one hundred and sixty two games. You can't be
pressing too much up in the batter's box and what

(05:07):
have you where a lot of times football the effort
that you give it's a combination. There's a lot of
players on that field that, granted extra adrenaline is going
to help them. Defensive linemen chasing the ball, linebackers, running backs.
Right now, there's some positions quarterbacks, receivers. If you're trying
to catch the ball, you want a good amount of adrenaline,

(05:29):
but too much a kicker, for example, you know you
can be counter productive to the skill set that you're
trying to bring to the game.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
So, but.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
You know, Dick, I understand kind of where you're angling.
I played for, you know, six Hall of Fame coaches,
either in the College Football Hall of Fame or NFL
Hall of Fame, and you know, most of them, it
was very clear that they were going to jump up
in you if there was any perceived you know, lack

(06:01):
of focus, lack of effort, last alcoh hustle, even lack
of execution, which oftentimes can be a result of trying
too hard.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
But but I I.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
Would say this, the successful football coaches that I've played for,
and I've observed I've been curious about this topic for
fifty years plus years, they don't have that Dan Wilson
laid back, you know, affect and projection. And again, I'm
perfectly willing to concede the difference between baseball and football.

(06:32):
And you want to tell me it's it has zero
relevance Football, I wouldn't dispute that. I'm not sure I
would agree that has zero relevance, but I do try,
and you know, acknowledge that there is a different in
the sports for the reasons that we've been discuss.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
All right, let's go back to football and your thoughts
on camp. Anybody that impressed you last week? Well excuse me, yeah, yeah, well,
you know the first day of pads. You know, I
went over and watched the one on one pass rushing
and the guy at the end of the session. Had
there been an MVP of that session on either side

(07:11):
of the ball, it unquestionably would have been Byron Murphy.
I mean, he just got into Gray's Abel on a rep,
just fork lifted him. As if Zabel was like like
a JV player in high school.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
It was.

Speaker 4 (07:25):
It was astonishing how fast and how how violent he
won that rep. And and he had some others on
the other side against Bradford and and what have you.
So he you know, and and and watching him, you
look at his body. And when I coached high school
football at the four A level in Washington, you'd look
across uh the field and from a distance, you know,

(07:48):
every team kind of had a big, kind of sloppy,
bad body guy, you know, And and almost always those
guys are slugs you don't really worry about. They come
into the game, you don't get you know, they're strong,
but they're just they're just so uh slow twitched that
they don't really make an impact that there there's a
there's a correlation to the body type that those those

(08:10):
those relatively short, bad body uh defensive lineman. You know,
you just you don't give a lot of thought to
Byron Murphy is very unique. He has a bad body.
He's short, he seems to be as round as he
is tall. That there's nothing about him that's ever gonna

(08:31):
be a jockey underwear model. But he has this rare
uh twitch that that again generally does not correlate to
that body style. He is ferociously strong, of course, and
and just like like awesomely quick, and he is he
is a flat out load when he wants to get

(08:53):
it going. I mean, he can stand out in a
drill against the you know, amongst the Super Bowl champions
as dominant in that drill. So it's just he's an
interesting study. Again, Mike McDonald has a vision about how
he wants to play defense. But I tell you, this
is a guy in Murphy's only twenty three years old,

(09:14):
and you know, there's there's so much great football ahead
of him. You know, the knock on him come one
of the knocks coming out of college guys of four
and thirty seven snaps at Texas Is last year, that's
only forty seven percent. And we spent a lot of
time talking about, hey, is there a durable durability issue?

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Well, last year he.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
Had seven eighty six snaps, a little over seventy percent.
So he's kind of answered that. You know, it's it's
a cool story. It's a it's a great football player
in a bad body, but by god, he can be
breadthaking when he really wants to turn it on.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Hugh, how will we see him use this year and
will it be at all noticeably different than his first
two years?

Speaker 4 (09:59):
Well, that, of course is yet to be seen. We'll
see how Leonard Williams if he can stay healthy, and
and Riley Mills and some of that internal rotation with
the defensive tackles. But I think it's very important, guys.
I don't think I've done my job in my capacity
at kg R if I haven't connected the dots to

(10:21):
how important Byron Murphy is. And and let me let
me try and explain it like this, Seattle is number
one or number two with the vikings, depending on how
you want to define the coverages. But but in terms
of their use of of the too high defense. So
you think of a year ago you had you had

(10:42):
Julian Love as a back end safety and Kobe Bryant
as a back end safety, and they now they are
number one in a coverage called cover six, which means
you it's a zone, you roll uh into one side,
put a safety over the other top. But then the
the corner on the opposite side is not rolled and

(11:03):
and can be there to the boundary of the field.
But Seattle's number one in that coverage. But the important element,
so I don't confuse people, is that it's a too
high structure. So what you're doing is you're taking a
defender out of the box. They get like a cam chancellor,
and you're having them back to help the corners and
stop the passing game. To do that, you're losing a

(11:25):
gap up front. So so when when you start to say, okay,
we want Byron Murphy, you uh you know and big
Cat Williams, you guys are gonna just you got you
got the B gap, You got the gap. Just just
run up and and penetrate as much as you can't.
Well guess what you're gonna run out of gaps. And
so the way Seattle plays it is they say, okay,

(11:46):
here's what we want of you, Byron. We want you
to get into a gap, let's say the B gap
that's between the guard and the tackle on this defense.
We're gonna get into the gap, but we're not gonna
have you penetrate. We want you to build a wall.
We're not gonna have you penetrate the way the Vikings
do and the and the Broncos do, and and like

(12:08):
like Demico Ryans in Houston and get a field. We
want you to help build a wall up front to
stop the run. So when you get into that gap,
that B gap, don't penetrate and be in a position
to throw guys away. And so being able to play
a gap and a half defense with big Cat and

(12:28):
Byron Murphy those guys and stuff, build a wall inside,
force the running back to go to the outside, and
then you have fast safeties. Big of that you got,
you had. Kobe Bryant was a corner, you know. Julian
Love and Notre Dame was a corner.

Speaker 5 (12:42):
You know.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
Bud Clark is a is a lightis said, I don't
I don't think he played much corner, but he's a
light safety at about a buck ninety. Like, we don't
have two hundred and five and ten pound safeties back.
We got fast dudes that they play deep, but they
fill fast and they're agile in space. And so so
what you're asking Murphy and Leonard Williams to do with

(13:05):
in conjunction with the scheme is really vital, and it
starts with that ability to play a gap and a half,
have the quickness and the strength to handle it.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Well.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
You got Bier Murphy's got three years left on his deal.
One of them is the fifth year option. So you
would think if they do him like they did Witherspoon
and JSN a year from now, they're going to be negotiating,
right an extension with Biyer Murphy. Leonard Williams contract is
also up at the at the end of this year.
And we know that Jalen Carter just set the market

(13:33):
here thirty eight million dollars a year with Philadelphia. I mean,
what's Bier Murphy getting in a year?

Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yeah, and Jeffrey Simmons was not far back behind that
Tennessee three years, one hundred and six million. I think
you're going to have right now, Bier Murphy's going to
take four point four million of the salary cap this season.
He's going to get a contract I would say north
of thirty five pushing forty million dollars.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
I do not think that.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
Mike McDonald wants to let Byron Murphy out that door whatsoever.
So at any event, it's something to admire his skill set.
There's a reason why they can play nickel with Eamon
worry And even though you're going thirteen personnel, those three
tight ind sets from the Rams and the forty nine
ers are trying to play hardball and get you out

(14:24):
of the nickel. And it's like Mike mcdonald' says, I
don't care how heavy loaded you want to be. We've
got the personnel. Not only that you're gonna put all
these tight ends and fullbacks in, we're still gonna have
our little safeties, are fast flowing safeties back helping the
pass coverage, taking away the big play. Because we got

(14:46):
these cats up front that can play without the extra
man helping them in the gap. They do it in
the manner I described. It's really important. It's interwoven. It's
the tapestry of how Mike McDonald's sees professional football on
defense played the best way, and I think Murphy's a
lot more integral to that than maybe we discuss Hugh

(15:08):
for better.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Or for worse.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
I watched these national shows with the you know, some
pundits that know what they're talking about, some that they don't.
But there is a drum beat that I feel is
pretty consistent that I've been hearing, and that's that the
Seahawks are prime for regression this year. Now, obviously you
have to go down if you're the Super Bowl champions,
you can't go up. But the number one reason cited
is the loss of Clint Kubiak. How valid is that

(15:33):
should that concern be for Seahawks fans?

Speaker 4 (15:36):
Well, honestly, Dick, I really think the only sensible answer,
and I said as such to Mike McDonald when when
we interviewed him on Ian's show. I think the only
sensible answer is we don't know until we see. Because
so much of what is important about being an offensive coordinator. Yeah,
you can have a cool playbook and you can be

(15:56):
a good teacher. We can assess that. Now. Then as
we get close to the season, we say, okay, you've
got an entire week to build a game plan. You
can take your time. You're not under the gun. I
mean you're gonna probably you know, sleep in the office
like Clint Koopiak did. I'm not going to say you're
not uh uh you know, have unlimited time. But until

(16:18):
Sunday you can kind of try and uh, you know,
fine tune that game plan. But now what we don't know,
And what I said to coach McDonald say you don't
know either. You don't know how Brian Florey is going
to set up a game and call a game. You know,
the call sheet. Anybody can just look down and look

(16:39):
at a play and say, well, let's call that one.
But do you set those plays up and you call
them in the right spot? Are you attacking the the personnel,
are you attacking the coverage? Are you are you calling
are you calling five out protections? Are you calling max protections?

Speaker 1 (16:54):
All of this?

Speaker 4 (16:55):
So these decisions have to be made in in in
often six or seven seconds. So good play callers, good
offensive coordinators, they really they show their chops in those circumstances.
So for me to say a guy who's never called
a play as a play caller, to me to say hey,

(17:17):
there's no concern that I have. Then then your proper
question would be on what basis on what I'll and
I will answer that question. I have one basis for
why I'm I'm okay with it, and and not totally
okay because until I see it, I'm I still as
a fan, I'm a little bit concerned. But the one
thing that gives me the most, you know, I don't

(17:39):
say confidence or assuages my concerns the most is the
fact that Mike McDonald ran, you know, had a lot
of different people he could have chosen, and whatever boxes
Mike McDonald need to have check when in his discussions
with LORI, those boxes were obviously checked and so it
meets his approval. So therefore, if all of us we

(17:59):
just say in Mike, we trust, well, we really don't
know until you know, the second quarter of that first
game against the Patriots, what kind of play caller this
guys here?

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Milling? Great stuff? Love it and we will talk on Monday.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
All right, pass man, hammerdown, guys, enjoy.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
All right, buddy here milling with us. We've gotta break.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
We'll hear from the skipper, Dan Wilson coming up five
point forty five. Tonight Phil Steele Phil Steele's College Football Preview,
the official unofficial kickoff to the college football season at
six right here on ninety three three KJRFM.

Speaker 6 (18:35):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
it at Duke's Night tonight. Reserve your table today at
dukeseafood dot com. Now back to Safty and Dick on
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
All right, I wanted to get this with Millan, but
didn't have time to sneak it in. A report came out,
by the way, just moments ago. I saw it from
our friends at on three. I Judge Charlotte Sweeney, who
I believe is in Colorado, has ordered the NCAA to
declare eligible all class of twenty twenty two athletes who

(19:11):
exhausted four years this spring to be immediately eligible to play.
So if you had any seniors whose eligibility was up
at the end of last year and you want to
bring them back, you can. The problem is in football,
all the seniors that you'd want to have back are
either a in the NFL or b probably all of
a sudden fat and not in game shape anymore because

(19:33):
the season starts in five weeks. Yeah, I mean, I
don't think this affects football as much as it might basketball, right.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
I mean, but if you're just looking at overall student athletes, right,
I mean, it's probably affects ninety eight percent of them,
right because they're either.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
In sports where if they want to come back.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
If they want to come back, or they're in sports
that haven't really started yet. But yes, football is the
one that, Okay, if you're leaving, you're either probably done playing,
sure you've been beat up, or you're in the NFL,
or you've.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
Got a job and you're actually starting a career in
a family. So I don't think this will affect a
lot of kids, to be honest with you. If they
would have announced this maybe in I don't know, January
of February that hey, by the way, everybody going to
the college football season can now come back like before
the draft, before you know, the entry deadline. If all
of this had happened six seven months ago, it may

(20:25):
have affected a lot more college football and a lot
more college basketball players. But I don't know, I mean,
unless there's a couple of stragglers out there that believe
they can still make some nil money in the NCAA.
You know, if they're still in shape and they haven't
moved on, i haven't found a real job and started
their professional life, then maybe there are a couple of
guys and gals that may come back.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
But it's not going to be that big a deal.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
I think when it's all said and done, I think
the bigger deal is Dick, is that the five or
five thing is happening, and a guy like Landon Hatchett,
who we thought going into this year was going to
be out of eligibility, is now now not. Yes, he
can come back next season. He can come back in
twenty twenty seven. Now his brother garn can't because Garan's

(21:08):
played seven years.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
Now of college football, so he's done.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
But you want to bring back Landon Hatchet next year,
John Mills, Cody Green, and bring back your entire left
side of your offensive line for next season, you might
be able to do that.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Well, here's the bummer, Right, if we had that rule,
Jacob Menu plays more than four games last year, absolutely right?
They held him out for the four games they wanted
him to play and the Bowl game because they didn't
know there was gonna be the five or five.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
We could have had him for a lot more, no,
no doubt.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
I mean, if they would have known, he could have
played the Orgon game and he ended up playing. Remember
the game he played was UCLA, which they really didn't
even need him anyway because they kicked their ass. But
he's from La jed Fish knew all along that he
wanted to play in that game, and he decided to say, Okay,
we're gonna give you that favor and let you play
against the Bruins and the Rose Bowl. Now would't have

(22:02):
made a difference in the Oregon game, probably not walk
down pass. They were much closer than they were two
years ago, but they still I think offensively weren't close
right to getting it done. So do I think the
Huskies lost the game because Jacob Maneu did not play
in that game?

Speaker 1 (22:20):
No? I do not.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
Now again, you know, we've got an opportunity here, obviously
with Washington bringing back a ton of guys from the
offensive line, ton of guys from the front seven. I
I I think that I was talking to Lannon Hatchett
about this there day that I think they are as
prepared as they've been since Jedfish showed up here to
compete in the pack or the Big ten.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
What does that mean?

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Well, I think they should be in the playoff conversation
in November period. We'll talk to Phil Steele about this
at six o'clock. I'm curious to know what Phil thinks.
The land Mines are between a week one and week
ten Dick before the Indiana and Oregon game, I would
think Iowa would be one, Nebraska would be one, USC
would be one. But there's gonna be these little moments,

(23:05):
not little, but big games like Nebraska, like Iowa, like
USC that if you dub is going to be a
serious contender to be at least in the talk for
the CFP in November, those are the games that would
decide what way that goes.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
Yeah, it's just amazing than looking they're they're dealing with
two phenomenon they're both against them. One, they're obviously in
a better conference than they were a few years ago, and.

Speaker 4 (23:26):
That ups the you know, the competition.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
But then also college football players are just better now
than they were five ten years ago. They're older, they've
been in there longer, and so You've got a team
with really no superstars or no preseason all Big ten
first or second team members, and yet you're a team
that you still think, and I think rightfully so can
be a ten and two football team and make the

(23:50):
College Football.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Play I think ten and two is gonna be hard.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
I think I think that's the I think that's the
that is the highest potential record.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 7 (24:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
I mean I think again, you go ten and oh,
you lose to Indiana Oregon, you still might make the
CFP correct, but ten and o is going to be
really hard to do. I think it's really hard to
win every week for ten weeks in a row.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
There's very few teams that do that.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
I mean, if Washington is ten and oh, they're likely
in the top five of the CFP in mid to
late November, and you probably.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Don't fall out of the twelve just by losing in Indiana,
who at that point might both be in the top five.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Also, I think all of this is great, but I
think they have a long way to go before they
get to that point. I mean, Demon Williams has got
a show that you can go to a place like
Nebraska and win. DeMont Williams has got a show that
he can go play a defense like Iowa and win.
He's got a show we can go to usc and
beat the Trojans in the coliseum. Petros and I were
talking about that yesterday on the radio show, and you know,

(24:47):
he thinks the Trojans right now are better than Washington,
and you know what, they probably should be. Lincoln Riley's
in like year six already. For God's sakes, if Lincoln
Riley's program is not on stronger footing after six years
than Jed Fishes after three, then they got a huge
problem down there.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
And they might have a huge problem to have a
huge problem down there, because I don't think Lincoln Ronley
can coach one side with the ball. And the good
thing about Jed Fishes he's an offensive coach, and yet
his defense is better than his offense and has been
the whole time he's been there.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
Well, but that's not necessarily a good thing, right I mean,
Jackson and I I think we talked about this yesterday,
Jackson that when you play a team like in Ohio
State or Michigan or Penn State, whoever, I'm not asking
the Huskies offense to go score thirty five points against
those guys. What I'm asking those guys is is to
show up, showing it, being it right, don't get held

(25:36):
the six points, don't get held the thirteen Yes being it,
you know, bring something to the table.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
And there's just too many games in the last couple
of years. And there's reasons for it. Man, this was
a massive rebuilding job. I get it.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
I understand exactly why the Huskies in year one with Jed,
and even to some extent last year had some issues
because Jed had to rebuild the entire flipping thing. He
had seven offensive lineman on the roster when he showed up,
and now he's got seventeen. This is just totally different.
So I understand. But now it's year three. Now you've

(26:11):
got the best roster you've had since you've been here.
You got a bunch of guys back from last year,
including your quarterback.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Now it's time to show up in games like that.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well, and I think if you had ask any logical
Husky fan when that roster was completely stripped down, Okay,
what's your expectations for the next twenty four to thirty
six months, you would have said, right around five hundred
and this with this depleted team, then you would have said,
got he get me, give me the good Bowl game,
eight nine wins in year number two and have great

(26:41):
recruiting classes in twenty twenty six and twenty twenty seven.
Well guess what box checked?

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Box check, box checked.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Now we just gotta see if he's gonna check the
next box and get them to a playoff.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Well, we're gonna see if the nil thing is a
real problem though for them, because you heard Jed yesterday
maybe And before I even got done asking the question,
he cut me off about nil. Did you hear that?
By the way, And I asked him, are you are
we where we need to be?

Speaker 1 (27:05):
And he said no.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Immediately some people I'm okay with it, but some people
are like, well, he shouldn't have to worry about it,
just coach the team up right.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
No, because he's the general manager and you can spend
whatever you want on third party in IL. I mean,
do we want the guy to lie and say they're fine?
I mean, first of all, some people.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
What I'm saying is some people think he's just using
it as an excuse.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Well, I don't think.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
That potentially could be one if they don't win those games,
then he's thrown it out there that they don't have
the money that those other teams have. I mean, I
could see how some people would say it behooves him
to say that because it gives him it out if
things don't go well in some of these games against
the best teams in the country. I also think if
there's anybody who should be responsible from motivating the fan base,

(27:52):
it's the coach. And if he's saying they don't have
the money, then give the fans a reason to donate.
But the problem is what comes first? Right, it comes first.
We've got a break. We'll do a little pregame show
for the m set the lineup here from the skipper,
Dan Wilson before tonight's game one to three against Minnesota,
and then Phil Steele joins at six on ninety three
three KJRFM.

Speaker 5 (28:16):
Welcome to Saftie and Dick's Hardball pregame Show, presented by
PEMCO the Insurance You get learn more at pemco dot
com on Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
All right, boys and girls, we're back right here on
ninety three to three kjr FM. It's time for Saftiands
Hardball pregame show brought to you by our friends at Pempco.
By the way, big thanks to our friends over at
Pemco Insurance for sponsoring this thing all season long. PEMCO
helps make insurance less challenging. And a quote today at

(28:52):
pemco dot comor call one eight hundred Go Pemco, Pemco
the insurance you get Pemco Mutual Insurance Company. Seattle, Washington,
Game one of three with the MS and Minnesota. Don't
you know Bryce Miller versus Zebbie Matthews. Tonight lineup for
the MS is as follows. Cole Young batting leadoff, playing
second base, Randy A. Rose Arena in left in the

(29:13):
two hole, Dom cown Zone at d H in the
three spot, Judio hitting clean up in center, Josh Naylor
at first base, Kyle Rowley hitting six tonight against Zebbie Matthews,
followed by the best third basement in the history of baseball,
Weston Wilson at third base, Cold Emerson at shortstop, Victor
Robless and right field with Bryce Miller, who was supposed

(29:34):
to pitch yesterday got pushed back a day because of
I don't know what which meant Brian Wu had to
go yesterday, and the Mariners have now lost seven consecutive
road starts with Brian Wu on the mound. So Mariners
in Minnesota starting tonight, game one of three. Let's see
what the Skippers said, Dan Wilson before tonight's game one.

Speaker 8 (29:53):
Feels really good to be home. You know, tough road
trip for sure, you know, a late one last night,
but feels good to be home starting a series today.
And uh, you know, as we talked about last night
after after the game, you know, got a good after
it and and it's nice, you know, a good way
to start at Bryce Miller on the hill for us,
and and uh you know Bryce is is ready to go,

(30:16):
and and you had the extra day and and it's
is ready to get after against the Twins tonight. And uh,
you know, offensively, we talked about, you know, some of
the bats that we had late in that ball game
yesterday and and uh, you know, positions to to get
you know, add on some more runs to what we did.
Just didn't get the big hit, but you know, good
at bats and and uh, you know, hoping to carry

(30:39):
that into the day's game and and uh, you know,
I think a big key for us would be getting
on the board.

Speaker 4 (30:43):
Or yeah, it's pretty tough for other sharing by mentally,
where do you think the guys are at?

Speaker 8 (30:48):
Yeah, I mean it was it was tough, you know. Uh,
I think you know, after after.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
A short night.

Speaker 8 (30:54):
I think these guys were, you know, back at the
ballpark today and they're ready to go. I think certainly
coming home and and being here in this ballpark and
front of the fans. Uh, you know, here at home
is always a good thing. It's always a positive lift.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's a big energy boost.

Speaker 8 (31:07):
And you know, I think that that will that will
go a long way as well. But you know, we
know there's a lot in front of us yet, and
it's just you know, if it's time to get get started.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
When you're coming out of a stretch like that, internally,
does the messaging change it all?

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Does it need to? What? How do you kind of
frame that to the guys?

Speaker 8 (31:27):
Well, I mean I think, you know, I mean we've
talked about it and and and and they know it's
still out there and uh, you know, now now it's
a matter of us just you know, putting it all
together and and uh, you know, like we said offensively,
things that have been on a trend in terms of that,
in terms of our bats and what we look for
and you know, confident that that you know, as we

(31:51):
get home here we get this energy. Uh, and then
we get in front of and our our group here
at home, we're we're going to be in good shape.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
Yeah, well extend at homest that you're still try your
back in the division. I would think energy should be
given like that.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
There's is there an urgency now with where you.

Speaker 8 (32:08):
Guys are at and given where we're at in the calendar,
we're going into August here.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
In a day.

Speaker 8 (32:12):
Yeah, I mean I think, uh, you know, as you know,
we have kind of talked about as as we've gone
along all season, there's urgency to it. You know, there's
urgency to finding that consistency that we that we want
and that we feel like what we know is there
and and uh, you know that's where that's where the
urgency lies. And and we know once we get to

(32:32):
that point, we're going to be where we want to be.
And and uh, you know, I think that's you know
what we're looking to start tonight here at home against
the Twins.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
What are some of the challenges the twins present that
may not be reflected in their record.

Speaker 8 (32:45):
I mean, you know, they're they're they're a team that
right now is is hot, and that they're coming off
a good streak and and coming off a big home
one yesterday, and you know that they've got some confidence,
they got some momentum, and uh seem to be uh
you know, in somewhat of a groove themselves and playing well.
So you know, that's a you know, I think that's
a definitely something that we that we think about as

(33:07):
we get start on the home stan tonight.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Sorry, man, that last question from Neil Scott. You guys
heard that right there. Can you imagine Neil Scott? I'm
just thinking Dan Wilson, Dan, would you elect to know
the first signs of a rectiger?

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Fuck? I mean, I'm sorry. I've known you guys know
that I've known Neil for forty years, right. He's the
reason why I got in radio.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
I mean, his ex wife, one of them, and my
dad used to work together way back in the day.
And Neil Scott obviously is famous for his very sometimes
graphic commercials that we air on the radio station. So
I don't know, man, I mean, I did every time
I hear him talking to Dan Wilson, I just gotta
chuckle that he's gonna one day just morph into ed

(33:56):
mode there in front of Men's Health tonight at seven o'clock.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
All the entire team needs the little blue pill.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Yes about that, I.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
Mean, especially like there's only there's only two teams in baseball,
or at least in the American League that have near
the home road splits to the Mariners, do you release
they are nine games better at home than they are
on the road.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
They're thirty and twenty three at home. Yes, they are
twenty games over twenty three and thirty four on the road.
Eleven game eleven games under five hundred on the road.
And you know, Dan mentioned it there. He kind of
threw that in, you know, quick turnarounds a late night
last night. So let's see if that affects him now.
Shouldn't affect Bryce Miller because he flew home early, right,
so he's been.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
Here for twenty four hours or more already.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
We'll see if we see a sleepy baseball team that
didn't get until a wee hours of the.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Morning line, if they lose by four runs or more, tonight.
You know what will happen?

Speaker 3 (34:43):
What's that.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Differential? Wow?

Speaker 2 (34:46):
For the first lose by four runs or more, they're
a negative run differentials time forever, first.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
Time in a while.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Well, they're also they're five games behind last year's pace,
when they were fifty eight and fifty two after one
hundred and tw games. But they're also closer to first
place in the West than they were at this point
a year ago. They were four and a half games out.
Now they're two games out, two and a half games out.
So that's the disappointing thing for me is that, my god,

(35:12):
if I would have told you at the start of
the year, on the thirty first of July, the Rangers
are going to be a game over. The Astros are
five hundred, the A's are nineteen under, and the Angels
are twenty five under. The ms are running away with
the West. Yes, they're seven eight games up. Well, and
I'll take instead they're two games back, and I'll kind
of twist it a little bit.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
If I would have wouldn't have told you anything about
the records and just said on July thirty first, you're
two and a half games out right, and your buyers
at the deadline. Now, you probably wouldn't have signed up
for it, but I don't think you would have thought
it was a disaster.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Either, because you could have been two games out and
been eight games over five hundred. Well, the Rangers and
Astros are playing the night, by the way, so something's
got to give in that regard. All right, we'll get
a break. Phil Steele. Phil Steele's college football preview. Here
we go with the official unofficial kickoff to the college
football season. What does he see happening on Mott Lake?
Who wins the title? Who wins the Heisman? Who wins

(36:06):
the Big Ten? Coming up on ninety three three KJRFM.
All right, here we go the unofficial official kickoff to
the college football season. Always love having this guy on
the air because it means it's close. Our friend, Phil Steele,
how are you man?

Speaker 7 (36:21):
You know I am doing great? Softy, how about you said.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
I'm doing good man. It's great to have you back
on the show. Like we said, it always means the
college football is getting closer when we talk to you.
So we love having you on because it means good
things are on the horizon. But why don't we, first
of all, just start off by talking about kind of
how wide open this thing could potentially be this year,
or is it not. Is this still maybe a three

(36:45):
or four team race for the national championship in twenty
twenty six, or is there maybe a twenty twenty four
Indiana that's about to maybe come out of the blue
and surprise people.

Speaker 7 (36:56):
I think it is wide open this year. If you
look at the top teams in the country, I could
if you said, hey, make a case for this one
that one. At least ten teams I could make a
case for. And as we saw last year with Miamia, Florida.
The main thing is the playoffs because once you make
the playoffs, anything can happen. So as long as you
make the playoffs, you got a good chat at contending

(37:16):
and sometimes it turns out to be you know, as
playoffs get expanded and expanded, it turns out to be
who's the healthiest at the end of the year. It
helps as well. But yeah, I quite open. I believe
there's three teams definitely in the Big ten, potentially four.
I think there's three teams in the SEC. You've got
the ACC has got a front runner, the Big twelve's

(37:39):
got two front runners, and then you got Notre Dame.
So there's a lot of teams involved here, and you know,
if you're remarkable, if it's not the title year, you'd
have the fourth different Big Ten team in four years
to win a title. I've been doing the magazine quite
some time, remember anything like that.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Yeah, well, let's let's start right there. The Big Ten
seems to have overtaken the SEC in dominance. A lot
of folks, including Nick Saban, don't want to admit to
that yet. Are you willing to maybe be of that
opinion that this is now the Big ten sports and
they are now the king of the hill in a
lot of ways versus the SEC.

Speaker 7 (38:19):
This year in the magazine be answer with USAFTI I
listened him tied for first. I think when you look
at the Big Ten, they've got the strength at the top.
You're Indiana, Ohio State or Oregon. Those three teams are
all right up there. Well, when you look at the SEC,
take a little more strength at the bottom of the SEC.
You know, team's number thirteen, fourteen at fifteen. So I

(38:41):
still think the TV leagues are pretty close. But last
year I gave it to the Big Ten.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
All right, Well, let's talk about the Big Ten. Phil
Steele College Football Preview magazine with us here on ninety
three to three KJRFM on a Friday night, and Phil,
let's talk about the Big Ten. You mentioned three or
four teams that can win the conference. Who are those teams?
And is Washington among them? And if not, are they
getting close?

Speaker 7 (39:05):
Yeah? I think Washington is close. They're not one that
name right at the beginning that they are clearly going
to be a contender this year, especially what happens at
the end of the year. I'll get to Washington in
a minute. I think when you look at Ohio State,
probably the most explosive offense in the country, Julian sands back.
They got a thousand yeared Rushier and Bo Jackson, best
receiving core in the country. And unlike last year where

(39:27):
I rated their offensive line above average, this year I
rated the number two offensive line in football. I think
o Loho State's got the most explosive offense out there.
And you know, you look at all those losses on
defense from the draft. Remember last year they lost a
pair of number one draft picks and number two and
the number five all from the defensive line. This year,
they only lose the number two and the number six

(39:48):
off the D line, so they've got one of the
top D lines. The linebacking Cory is the question mark
of the team because they lose those top two picks
like they did, but overall, solid defense, special teams. They
do play tough schedule. They got to play Texas, Iowa, Indiana, USC,
and Nebraska all on the road. With Indiana, I do
think they'll get good quarterback play this year. Kurt Signetti

(40:11):
always develops an all conference quarterback. He's got a good
player to work with in Josh Hoover. He'll cut down
on the turnovers. With a better run game and defense
that Indiana has, and this team is loaded. The only
game I don't have Indiana favored in this year is
a home game against Indiana, which I have at PICKAM.
I think Indiana's got a great shot to repeat again. Then,

(40:31):
and we talked about the Ducks at least I did.
They've got Dan Temore quarterback. They bring back all four
defensive linemen from last year, a very deep unit. Biggest
question mark probably the offensive line, but I still think
it'll be solid. Almost all their units ranking my top
ten at the front of the magazine, extremely talented Oregon team.
They do have to play Ohio State on the road

(40:52):
November seventh, But as Miami proved last year, the big
thing is making the playoff right, and then the fourth team,
I think there has a shot at sneaking in there
is USC When I went over to the team with
coach Riley, he said it's the best defense he's had
in this five years there. Offensively, they've got my number
five rated offensive line. They got deep running back corp
with King Miller and then Jade Mayava. Coach Riley fields

(41:14):
could be a first round draft pick at the end
of the year that he's going to have a big season.
Now they host Oregon and they host Ohio State. They
went seven to zero at home last year, and if
they win either of those two games, I think they
have a good shot of making the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Let's talk about the Huskies for a second here In
Detailed Phil Phil Steele College football preview magazine, Jed Fish
was on with us yesterday and he's pretty thrilled with
the progress they've made with their offensive line. I mean,
I don't know the up and down the evolution of
the Washington offensive line going from the Joe.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Mord winner, Joe Moore Award winner.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
In twenty twenty three, to then just absolute chaos in
twenty twenty four, and now back this year with five
guys back from last year's team, including thes and maybe
the best young guard in the country and John Mills.
They got a freshman and Cody Green though at left tackle.
But I don't know, is this Washington offensive line is
it now officially gone from a weakness to a strength

(42:11):
in your mind?

Speaker 7 (42:13):
Yeah, absolutely, In fact, it might just be the strength
of the offense or the entire team. I love this
offensive line, what they've got coming back, you guys you mentioned,
and then of course having the supporting cast with a
quarterback like DeMont Williams back as well. Now, they do
lose their top running back and the top receiver from
last year, but I think they filled the well. And
when you've got the quarterback and the offensive line your solid,

(42:35):
you know you got the top three and the Big
ten this year. Softy, I think then you have four
teams contending for that number four spot. USC Michigan, Penn
State and Washington are all in contention for that number
four spot and a potential playoff spot, and In fact,
I think when you look at Washington this year, they've
got a top twenty offense and a top twenty defense.

(42:56):
They do have to play USC on the road in
Nebraska on the road, a team that with two games
to go, they host Indiana and travel to Oregon with
two games to go, they're going to be in the
playoff thing. Up beat Indiana at home. Yeah, boom, you
got a great shot at getting there. So I think
jet Fish has done a good job when he took over. Remember,

(43:17):
he took over a team that has depleted. In fact
that that first year he took over, we asked Washington
for give us send us the pictures for the magazine
the guys that played last year, and they jokingly came
back with, we don't have anybody left from last year's roster,
And that wasn't far from the truth. I thought he
did a good job getting at a bowl game last year,
and then last year getting them up to nine wins,
and you could see the improvement each year under Jetfish.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Well, and let's let's go back and talk about that schedule,
because Phil a lot of us have talked about that.
That look, the first ten games of the year seems
fairly manageable, right before Indiana and then before Oregon. So
you mentioned USC Nebraska you think those are the biggest
land mines for the Dogs in the first ten games.

Speaker 7 (43:56):
Yes, the USC game, especially as I talked on, I
think USC's one of the surprise teams this year that
could get there. And they're extremely tough at home. And
you know, we look at Washington. Washington did go three
and two on the road last year, but there's still
a better team at home than they are on the road.
And then Nebraska could be a little bit of a
tricky spot. But yeah, that's a game of Washington. I've

(44:18):
got the game as a toss up right now.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Okay, Phil Steele Phil Steele's college football preview with US.
It's a tradition every year we get a chance to
catch up with Phil before the season starts, and then
Phil joins us every Saturday or, in this case in
some weeks on a Friday in our Husky pregame show.
So looking forward to that as well. But you mentioned
Jade and Maieva, you mentioned Dante Moore. We haven't talked

(44:41):
about Dante well, excuse me, Demon Williams. So this is
a guy that you know at one point during the
offseason was ready to leave Washington and presumably go play
for Lane Kiffin at LSU, and Washington said, uh, you're
you're You're not going anywhere and pulled the plug on that.
So he has spent some parts of the offseason phil
kind of I think, re establishing that trust with his

(45:04):
teammates and also the university and in some ways the
fan base and the media. It's year three for him
now as a starting quarterback. What do you expect out
of Demon Williams, who's now wearing Warren Moon's old number one, by.

Speaker 7 (45:16):
The way, Yeah, that's that's exciting. And I think in
today's era, Softy that with the players and the transfer
portal and the NIL and all this stuff going on,
they forget pretty quickly. And I almost got the feeling
that it was gone, a long gone thing after spring practices.
I remember he was the offensive coordinator during the spring game,

(45:38):
which I thought was interesting. And I think there's complete
buy in that Demon Williams is their guy and is
their leader, and that stuff that happened with the transfer portal.
I think it will be a moot point as the
season goes on. Now, i'd like to have our top
running back back in Coleman and top receiver back in Boston.
But when you look at the talent they have at

(45:59):
both those you that I think you'll get the most
out of it. I like to see, really somebody emergent
at running back might be the biggest question mark on
the team, but there is good talent at that position.
But de Mont William should be one of the best
quarterbacks in the big time.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Yeah, it sounds like Jordan Washington and may not play
this year, by the way, So that's that's a pretty
significant potential blow for them. But we'll see Phil steal
with us on the on the radio program. And and Phil,
you know, we mentioned obviously the matchups or the the
the dominance of the SEC that may be starting to
fade a little bit. But I think, you know, we'd
be naive to not think that everybody's got their attention

(46:33):
on the SEC. Uh, they're loaded as usual. Our old
pal Kaitlin de boor at Alabama. Does does Alabama stay
in the SEC race or they maybe take an even
bigger further step back and get the seat even hotter
in tuscal Lucy, I think, you know.

Speaker 7 (46:51):
Uh, when you look at Alabama. Uh and I think
the recency factor has a very down on Alabama this year.
In fact, they were picked six had the SEC Media
in the SEC Media poll this year because you know,
they got blown up by Georgia and the SC title
game blown up by Indiana, couldn't run the football in
the postseason, they lose their quarterback, Ty Simpson. There's really

(47:13):
nothing to like, right but I'm actually high on Alabama
this year. It's Kaylen de Bori's third year. Calend Bors
still in my mind, the heck of a coach. I
think he stepped into an unwittable situation replacing a legend
like Nick Saban. But he is twenty and six against
ranked teams, and I like both Keelon Russell and Austin

(47:33):
Mackett quarterback. I think whichever guy wins the job will
have a great year and they've got a good backup.
Whoever doesn't win the job. They will have a running game,
Daniel Hill, E J. Crowle, Kevin Riley, Akdar all solid backs.
The offensive line will be good. Ryan Coleman Williams had
a down year last year. He had like eleven drops.
I think he's got chip on the shoulder. This year,
he'll be much better and defensively, there's good talent throughout,

(47:55):
especially in the second area. And when I look at
the schedule, I've got him favored in nine games, have
got three toss up games games where I don't have
my favorite or an underdog that's home against Georgia, and
they did beat Georgia on the road last year at
Tennessee and at LSU. I think Alabama's going to surprise
a lot of folks. In fact, they're not gonna be
in anybody's preseason top ten. I've got miss my number
one surprise team this year.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Yeah, I got to ask you about this new look
PAC twelve, Phil, I mean, I'm even I don't even
know who the hell's in that conference.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
I mean but Boise State State.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
There's no Oregon State, San Diego State, a bunch of
states right in the in the PAC twelve. So the
Coogs man, the Coog's got a brand new coach obviously,
got a brand new locker.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Room, brand new quarterback as well.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
For all the Koog fans tuning in, and they can
say they don't listen, but they do, trust me, Phil,
because I hear from them all the time, What do
you make of what do you make a Wazou's chances
and the new look PAC twelve this year?

Speaker 7 (48:49):
Man, Well, I'm a Kirby Moore fan. I think Kirby
Moore did a great job at Missouri as the offensive coordinator,
and he's stepping in in my mind in the transfer port.
If you're the third head coach in three years, with
rosters shifting like they do, you're in a tough situation.
And one advantage he doesn't have that most coaches have

(49:09):
is when you hire a head coach, you generally you're
going to bring a bunch of players with you. Right. Well,
here you're hiring a guy that was offensive codinator. There's
not that Maszoo exodus come in here from Missouri. So
that's a disadvantage that he has third head coach in
three years. I think it might be a little bit
of a rebuilding year. But I will say this last year,
I thought Washington State's defense was going to struggle, and

(49:32):
they were far better than I expected, despite the fact
they had just four starters back only allowed three hundred
yards per game. They're number one twenty eight overall in
my experience chart. I think it's a rebuilding here for
Washington State. But if the defense surprises again, who knows.
But I'll tell you what, opening up at Washington at
Kansas State is no great thing for our first two games.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Yeah, I was going to ask you.

Speaker 2 (49:53):
You know, two years ago, I was concerned about the
Apple Cup when they played it at Lumenfield because that
was the first game the Coops had against the Dog
since the whole thing got blown up, and I, for
lack of a better term, they were pissed right, and
they came here and they had John Matteer wasn't concerned
much last year, and I'm not concerned much again this
year about a Cougar upset in the Apple Cut?

Speaker 1 (50:14):
Should I be?

Speaker 7 (50:16):
I do? After I put the magazine out each year, Softie,
I go through and I put the lines on games
where who's gonna be favorite and who's gonna be an underdog?

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (50:24):
I have Washington a thirty one point favorite.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
Okay, all right, that's nice. That's not gonna make Cougar
fans very happy, but that's fine. Phil Steele's with us, Phil,
before you go cup more, We'll let you go. Phil Steele.
Phil Steele's college football preview We've had a bit of
a run on quarterbacks for the Heisman. Travis Hunter obviously
wanted just a couple of years ago. But I'm wondering
if there's a wide receiver in Ohio state, by the way,

(50:51):
named Jeremiah Smith that we should look at as maybe
the favorite for the Heisman.

Speaker 7 (50:56):
Yeah, Smith's definitely gonna be up there because everybody knows
who he is. Everybody's talking about him, and I think
Jeremiah Smith is probably if you're looking for a non
quarterback as a shot at winning it, it would be him.
He or you know, I think if you take a
look one other guy to mention, that would be a
non quarterback that I think would have a shot to win.

(51:16):
It would be as if you go to Miami at
Florida and take a look at Malachi Tony, because here's
a guy that runs the ball. Last year he threw
seven passes, dangerous receiver, dangerous return man, he does everything,
and Miami has a shot to being up there. So
if you're looking for a non quarterback, that would be it. Now,
I live in Cleveland, Cleveland needs a quarterback and I'm
loving this class of quarterbacks this year. You've got Arch

(51:40):
man ninged Dante Morri CJ. Carr, turned in Chambliss, Julian saying,
Darien Mensa, Josh Hoover, Sam Leave, and it is loaded
this year. I'm going to throw a dark horse candidate
out to you for the Heisman, somebody that's twenty to one.
But keep your eyes on him. Gunner Stockton of Georgia.
Stockton is best in big games. He was sixteen and

(52:00):
two ratio versus ranked teams last year. He's a dangerous
runner and passer, great supporting cast, offensive line running backs,
and Georgia is going to be a national title contender
this year. I feel he does best when the pressure's on.
I'm talking about fourth down, fourth quarter. So add all
that together, I think if you're looking for a long shot,

(52:22):
not one of the big games, twenty to one hons
on Gunners Stockton.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Yeah, he was actually on my ballot last year. Gunnar
Stockton was. I thought he was way underrated. I mean
go back and look.

Speaker 7 (52:32):
At the games.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
Yeah, I mean tell you Tennessee, Texas, Georgia Tech Alabama
the second game. He was tremendous in the biggest games
of the year. So I'm with you on that. But
all right, So who plays in the championship. I mean,
I'm not going to ask you to give us your
entire twelve team playoff. You know, years past we just
asked you, hey, who's the final four? Move on, right,
But who do you think plays for the title? Who

(52:54):
takes the hardware home this year?

Speaker 7 (52:57):
Well, the two teams that I have at the top
this year. One is Georgia, which we just talked about.
I think they're one of the most experienced teams out there,
a homegrown team led by Gunner Stock that I think
they have a great shot. The other one I've got
playing is Notre Dame, and you know our name got
left out of the playoffs last year. Their model this
year is leave no doubt. And I'm a defensive guy, softie,

(53:20):
and they held opponents of ninety five yards per game
below their average last year, and they returned nine starters
off the defense. They have my number five defensive line,
number one set of linebackers, number one dB, so I
feel the best defense in college football. I'm on the
Joe Moore Award Committee, as you know, one of the
twenty one award committees I'm on. I have value offensive
line play. I rate Notre Dame, the number one offensive

(53:42):
line in the country. They've got a veteran now veteran
quarterback and CJ. Carr coming back. Last year he had
a twenty to six ratio as a qbad Notre Dame
as a freshman, and he's back now as a sophomore.
And then you look at the schedule. They play at
BYU and home against Miami. Those are the only two
games that I don't have them a two touchdown favorite

(54:03):
in this year. I think they roll through the regular
season and enter the playoffs healthy and take care of business.
But in reality, like I said, I could make a
case for you throw out a name out. I'll make
a strong case for about ten teams winning the national
title this year.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
Now, I love it all right, Phil, Before you go
Phil Steele's College football Preview magazine. You know me, I've
been carrying around your Bible for the last twenty years,
and by the end of the year it's all freight
and pages are marked up and torn to heck, and
I would not want it any other way.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
Man.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
For those that have not yet experienced the greatness of
Phil Steele's College Football Preview magazine, where do they find it?

Speaker 1 (54:40):
How do they get it?

Speaker 7 (54:42):
Well, I appreciate that, Softie. It's only available at one spot,
Barnes and Noble. So if you're out there and about
driving around, don't waste your gas money. Barnes and Noble
the only place in Washington to get it. Or you
can go online the Phil Steel dot com. And when
you go to Phil Steel dot com, I'm going to
charge your shipping charge. You should be the magaz but
we do give you the digital magazine for free, and

(55:04):
the digital magazine gets updated through September. So Barnes and
Noble or Phil Steele dot com are your two places, Softy.
It is three hundred and seventy six pages this year,
with two full pages on all one hundred and thirty
eight teams.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
Well, the's shipping fees fine. I'm surprised that you're not,
you know, asking people to leave a tip man. Everybody
else is doing that these days, so why not you
have a little tip button on the website.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Fifteen twenty twenty five percent? What the hell? Why not? Phil?
Great stuff man? Always fun to catch you up.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
Can't wait to talk starting in September on game day
and we'll get together soon man, Thanks pal.

Speaker 7 (55:40):
All right, sounds good, softy. Look forward to talking to
you during the season.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
You got it, man.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
Phil Steele from Phil Steels College Football Preview Magazine, the
official unofficial kickoff. You guys know how we roll to
the college football season, all right. We are in Tacoma
for the Rainiers and Sacramento Chuck Powell Riley pay off
the call over on nine point fifty AM at seven
o'clock when