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August 19, 2025 • 23 mins
Ben Criddle talks BYU sports every weekday from 2 to 6 pm.

Today's Co-Hosts: Ben Criddle (@criddlebenjamin)

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mean to Cougar Sports with Ben Krettle, and it's time
for crewing the Cougars and inside look at the latest
news on the recruiting trails surrounding Cougar Athletics.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN The Fan. I'm been crital broadcasting from
our Bandwilth Studios, Bandwealth dot Com. Get on a free
Q and A no obligation to invest Q and A
with our tax mar Wealth Advisors, certified financial planners that
can aid you and support you in your quest for
financial stability and sustainability. It is time for Little Recruit
and the Cougars getting an update on all the Utah

(00:30):
Prep recruits that balled out over the weekend. We'll tap
into the mind of those that cover Utah Preps here momentarily.
It's going to be brought to you by Big Otires
in American fort. If you're looking for an honest, hardworking,
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Tires in American Fork. All right, let's get out to
the hotline. Welcome in Walker, Texas Ranger Sean Walker of
KSL dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Sean, how the are you, buddy.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Dan Ron. I'm doing great right now because I just
barely heard from a source that I trust extremely well
that I have a shocking level of riz. I think
as the kids saying, I shall have no idea what
the word means, but I'll accept an the compliment.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
Again right now.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Ill A, I don't know what it means either, but
it's always nice to get compliments. G Man gave me
a compliment earlier saying I like to gloss myself, and
I was.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Like, oh, thanks you man.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
I appreciate that I compliment. Thanks for the compliment. G Man,
that was a compliment. You said, I like the gloss
you like to gloss yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Ben, that's from Jim Row.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
I know you said you like to gloss yourself, and
that's a compliment. No, okay, I'm taking it as a compliment.
Sean Man what happened this past Friday night lights, just
get an update on all the Utah Preps ballers shot
collars that are going to Brigham.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah. Opening weekend of the twenty twenty five UTI high
school football season this week.

Speaker 5 (02:11):
And yeah, guys, opening weekend of the twenty twenty five
Union High school football season was this weekend.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
I don't know how many games you got out to catch.
I know t Man was at a game by your.

Speaker 6 (02:34):
Side there, and there were some there were a lot
of baller shot callers that I think our BYU commits
and on opening week and it just submitted this idea
that I had that I think we talked about a
decent amount criddle that this BYU recruiting class for the
twenty twenty six year, the twenty twenty five twenty twenty

(02:56):
six academic year, if you will, could be one of
the best in the modern era, like since the recruiting
service has really kind of became cemented and established. I mean,
when when you go down the line, obviously everybody knows
the like some writer Lions and brought Harris down to
Pine of Piny I think as a baller, I got

(03:16):
a chance to watch bot Moly Talo, the six foot
fourth hundred five pound offensive tackle out of one Peak,
and that dude is going to be an absolute mover
for this recruiting class. Really really good, really big, really physical,
and he's not the only one at all in this group.

(03:37):
So I'm i'man you guys know me, like I love
college football. I'm an excitical collegeblee season as anybody, but
this high school football season should be pretty epic.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
If you're a BYU.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Football man, Yeah, it's gonna be awesome. Let's start off
with a few wide receivers. Graham Livingston, I thought he
had a fantastic performance.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Uh, up North, what did you? What did you?

Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think you reported on his productivity? What type of
wide receiver is he? And how productive was he over
the Friday night lights.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, Graham Livingston I think is one of my favorite
recruits right now. Not necessarily because he has the most
top end talent as we like to talk about. Right
he's probably he's maybe not the most talented player in
this BAU recruiting class, but by the two four seven rankings,
he is the lowest rated commit according to twenty four
seven sports dot Com in this BYU class. I think

(04:33):
he's got like an eighty two or in eighty three
rating overall, which so you think, oh, he's the three
star you know, kind of in there plays at a
four A school up at words On High School. This
kid is extremely underrated though, like exceptionally underrated. I don't
know if he should be a four star recruit or
anything like that. Like I don't really get into those
arguments or those conversations because the guy's over A two,

(04:55):
four seven rivals on three. Like they're way smarter than
I am. They've got algorithms and they use hashtag math
that I don't know about. So like I don't call
those guys out. I don't know what ratings are like.
But Graham Livingston is extremely analytic. He got seventeen passes
for one hundred and seventy something yards three touchdowns for

(05:18):
the river Hawks on opening weekend against a very good
three A power and Morgan actually snapped Morgan's twelve game
winning streak up there in Cash Valley. So this is
a really good team. I know you're looking at a
lot of your listeners are probably thinking, O A three
A team or four eighteen? What does it really mean?
Graham Livingston is legit. I think Ridsmine actually has a

(05:39):
chance to be very good. They may be the team
to beat, at least up North when it comes to
the four A classification in Utah, and I think a
large part of it is going to be because of Graham.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
I think he had what sixteen receptions over I want
to say, one hundred and seventy six yards, receiving three
touchdown one I and T that ended up being called
back due to a penalty, But great play by Graham Livingston.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Who else did out to you from Friday Night Lights?

Speaker 3 (06:13):
I mean, we have to talk about Brock Harris, right.
The dude literally took his first pass of his senior
year at Pineview and took it on a little end
around and just blitzed all the way into the corner
of the enz for a touchdown. Like he literally his
the first touch of his senior season was a touchdown.

(06:33):
He finished with two hundred ish yards of offense and
three touchdowns in the first half for Pineview. I can't
remember what his final numbers were, but I don't think
he played too much in the second half. Pineview, however,
needed every bit of him. They barely held off Mantai
in their season opener. So got a lot of skill,
got a lot of talent. Brock Harris is a big

(06:55):
part of it. I think pine View maybe needs to
work a little bit on that defense being forward. But
Brock Harris is everything he's been advertised and more. He's
he's big, he's fast, he's super twitchy. He's already like
he's trending towards the body of an NFL tight end
right now as a senior in high school. And I
think he's only going to get better and better.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Really, like Brock Harris starting off your season properly with
a tuddy little little action to the flat and he
galloped up that sideline. Truly a remarkable talent in my opinion.
He's a more refined Dannish Pitt coming to Brigham Now.
The twenty twenty six classes, you've pointed out one of

(07:37):
the best in BAYU football history. And a lot of
these guys are in the state of Utah. How about
kawai Akana. They're at Orum, Utah two way player, wide receiver,
defensive back, linebacker, you name it. I don't know if
you got eyes on this guy and what he was
able to do over the weekend but he's a unique
asset to BYU in the twenty twenties class.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
And Cawi was actually one of my favorite players last
year because he did quite literally a little bit of
everything for Orum. He played like some situational quarterback for
the Tires. He was a he was a wide receiver,
he ran out of the backfield, he played defensive back
on defense, some safety. I even saw a game where

(08:25):
he hunted a couple of times, or no, he kicked.
He kicked a couple of times, like he literally did
or almost literally.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
I should not overused literally that's a millennial, sorry guys,
but he almost literally did everything for this ORM team.
And I'm really intrigued to see where by coaches see
him fitting in when he gets to bring him in
a couple of years, because he I just I think
he can play so many positions, and I think he

(08:53):
can play them extremely well. That pigeon holing him into
one is gonna be a really unique challenge for sure.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Sean walkerksl dot Com here on ESPN the Fan discussing
the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven prospects or commits
from the BAU classes how they fared under the Friday
Nights Lights. Also La Peti Moala really good football player
there at Orum. Man, that team is stacked. They have

(09:21):
so much freaking talent there at Orum. And that's not
a typical. Over the last I want to say, ten years,
they've trended in that direction, but they continue to turn
out high level talent. Pety Moala is one of the
next at that edge spot.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Yeah, and a quarterback who just recently the summer committed
to Alabama in Tanna Kallis. So obviously, you know, if
you've got a quarterback that's going to one of the
premiere most premiere premiere programs in college football like Alabama,
you're probably going to bring up and develop and attract
a lot of talent to play around you. Absolutely. I

(09:57):
think I think Orum's going to be one of the
ten best teams in the state of Utah this year
and maybe evens meet somewhere into that top five for
a little while. They're they're absolutely loaded once again.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Sean Adam Bywater a legacy player up at Olympus. He's uh,
you know, we got an eye on him up there
in Salt Lake City. Been Bywater is his brother, older
brother who bawled out at brig him not too long ago.
Adam Bywater, do you have any update on him, how
he fared in his first night on the Friday Night Lights.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
I didn't get a chance to go up to Olympus
this past weekend, so I don't really get my eyes
on Adam. I know he's He is also a somewhat
late commit to BYU. And I don't just mean that
by the calendar. He committed, you know, right there late
on late July when we talked about it back on
the show that day. But he had quite a few

(10:55):
teams that were after him and a lot of teams
that wanted him at least as much b Yu Utah
made a really really hard push Ford super late. I've
been told by several people in that program, uh and
also down to b Yu like they really wanted they
really wanted to add them. Bywater, I think his floor
might be another version like I hate comparing kids to

(11:17):
their brothers too much because simply rivalry is the thing.
You know how that is with you and Matthew right,
don't have a yeah, yeah exactly, We're all love. But
I think I think I Addam Bywater's floor could be
his older brother Ben, and the BYU simply gets another

(11:38):
Ben Bywater without the injuries. Obviously, I don't think that's bad.
I don't think that's a bad recruit to Reling.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
I want to bring g Man into this conversation and
get both of your your opinions on this. B YU
has twenty hard commits in the twenty twenty six class.
Eight of them are from the state of Utah. Is
that the right ratio that we're looking for right now
the BYU football team? I think I want to say

(12:07):
it's like fifty three or fifty six of the roster
players right now are from the state of Utah, So
that would kind of lend credence to that number. About half,
maybe a little less than half. About forty percent of
your roster is comprised from the state of Utah.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Do you like that? Is that the right number? Guys?
Is that the right percentage?

Speaker 7 (12:29):
I think it's about right, But honestly, I'd like it
to be a bit more, just because I'm a big
fan of what the state's developing, and I think with
the growth and the continuation of these football programs, which.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Are just tremendous.

Speaker 7 (12:41):
B way, he puts out a very I mean, the
state of Utah puts out a very very good product
relative to this population year and in year out.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
As far as recruits.

Speaker 7 (12:49):
We've had Brandon upin on the program. He says, per capita,
there's few states that produce as much as Utah does.
I think Utah might be number one as far as
per capita with athletes that get competitive offers at the
next level. But like, I like the fifty fifty split.
But but I'd like to see it even more than that.
I b way he's getting tad you want you.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Want sixty forty or you want forty sixty.

Speaker 7 (13:12):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
It goes by year to year. Let's see.

Speaker 7 (13:14):
Yeah, yeah, let's seeho's developed and all that. But I
I think outside of the well, what the state produces,
it produces linement, that's what the state produce. Offensive and
defensive in linebackers is what the state's going.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
I would have I would say, yeah, yeah, I say,
you're right. I think that's what they in tight ends.
Don't see the tight ends.

Speaker 7 (13:35):
Yeah yeah, tight ends as well. I'd throw that in
is but not like linemen. You talk about the state
of you tell you're talking about Lineman. What's and I'm
gonna kind.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
Of deviate here.

Speaker 7 (13:46):
I think the Bob Mooie Tallow experiments really interesting. There's
a lot of people that believe Boh is making a
bad decision by switching to offensive line. I've heard from
people people I respect, But he is committed to it.
He's basically Toll Loan peak. Yeah, I'll go in situationally,
but I'm not playing two ways. I am committed to

(14:06):
this offensive tackle position. He wants to be that guy.
It's going to be notable to watch how he fares
throughout the season. He's going against tough competition, he's going
against Region three. But I'm very interested to see how
he acclimates to this because as a defensive tackle, he's
gonna wreck guys at the next level. He's going to
be very, very good. And I'm just wondering if this

(14:28):
is going to pay dividends. I think it will. I
think he's a serious person. I think he's thought about
this and he has some smart people around him. But
it's going to be interesting to see how this develops
as he tries to become an offensive player in new
way with the defense.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, Shan, you want to chime in on this, Yeah,
I think that's actually a really good point. Gem An.
I had the chance to catch up with bobai Tylo
a little bit after then Lomanpeaks game against Crimson on Friday,
and we talked about that some, about making the switch
from D line to O line. He was all in it.
He's been all in it in the offseason. He's got

(15:03):
a personal trainer, away trainer, and then he didn't give
me the exact title, like a dietitian nutrition is type guy.
He's got him on a mill plan to gain a
whole bunch of weight. He's already gained some twenty or
thirty pounds. He's up to three oh five right now
on that six four six y five frame of his
which is up twenty plus pounds from where he was
last year. But he still got He's not like a

(15:25):
like a bloaded three h five either, Like he's still
pretty spelt. He's cut pretty well for a big lignement,
and he moves exceptionally well. I think he was actually
probably when he kind of made that decision in the
offseason the spring, going into the spring and summer, he
was Bob was almost more in playing offensive tackle than

(15:46):
maybe some of his coaches at Lone Peak and some
of his future coaches at BYU almost wanted it to
be because you kind of like to see a guy
who at the very least plays both directions and kind
of knows, you know, multiple positions, so when they when
their offense playing against defense, they can kind of play
towards that experience or vice versa defense, kind of playing

(16:06):
into their experience on offense. He was so good against
Crimson that they kind of low people was kind of
slow in the first half. You know, this is a
depending for his state champion crips of glitz like no
one to totally nothing to totally slouch against right low
Beat's got all sorts of talent, and they didn't start
bought at defensive end right away, Like he didn't come

(16:27):
in right away and play defensive end. But I think
sometimes the second or the third drive coaches turned to
him and they're like, hey, go in there. And he
played he played DM, he played edge rusher, he had
his he Actually it was kind of funny. There was
one play I was looking over my photographer and he
he lined up without his hand in the dirts, so
just straight up off of the edge. Uh, and came

(16:49):
in for a play, made a tackle for loss on
that play. So I almost like he is so all
in on playing offense and tackle that I don't blame
the kid. I think he looks great out there, and
with the added weight, good weight that he's been able
to put on, I think it could be a good
move for him. But he's so talented, like you're you're
absolutely right to and he's so talented at defensive end

(17:11):
that at the very least for his senior year in
high school, I don't know if you can get away
with not playing playing him there at least some And
I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing to have
kind of some of that situational experience as he goes
out to college.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
Either.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Sean Walker Kisel dot com. You're on the show talking
Utah prehaps Let's transition though gems takeaways from media availability
earlier today. What did you make of the comments from
the coaches and players?

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah, I thought it was interesting that I thought I
had done is pushing uh pushing will parent for that job.
That was the biggest news to come out of.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
It, right? What? What's No?

Speaker 3 (17:52):
That wasn't that wasn't that wasn't the biggest hands that. No,
of course it wasn't cute. You're talking about the starting quarterback, right,
of course we all want to talk about Bear Backmeier.
It's official. It was Pete Bamil official earlier this morning.
Is now officially official. The quarterbacks were told this morning
in a meeting. The team now knows. They've seen that,
they've seen the reports. Bear bag Meyer will be the

(18:13):
first Crew freshman to start a season opener in BYU
programmed history. And I think it finally got down to
the point, guys, where Bear was impressive enough through training camp,
especially when you realize when you when you remember that
this is a guy who's only been who's been in
pro over less than three months to know the playbook
as well as he's done. By all accounts, He's connected

(18:33):
with his teammates very well. He's a very smart player.
He's also incredibly athletic. He was contending for the certain
quarterback job at Stanford before he transferred amid their coaching
change when they when they fired Pro Taylor. The guy
who recruited in there like this is this is a
guy who always stood a really good chance at playing
right away. And I kind of like seeing this BYU

(18:57):
coaching to have not afraid to sort of rip that
band aid off and hey, let's see where. Let's see
where this goes. I mean, if you really think about it,
the front really, the front half of this BYU schedule
is pretty favorable, and at the very least, the first
three games provide a nice opportunity for a new player,
like a through freshman starting quarterback, to sort of dip

(19:18):
their toe into college football. Starting August thirtieth against ses
Portland State, Right, you shouldn't if you have any desires
to be even a moderately decent FBS football program, you
shouldn't have any trouble with that one. Stanford's coming in
amid all sorts of duress. I think it'll be kind
of interesting when if they're starting for that season opener

(19:39):
against that against his former team, the one that he
played with the older brother Tiger for a couple of
months during spring ball. I think that could be a
really fun storyline. And then going on the road to
East Carolina, that might be their toughest That's probably the
toughest game of non conference play because of the travel,
and I think East Carolina could be pretty decent at
in the American but you also think that by you
may very well be favored in that game to win it.

(20:03):
And then they open up Big twelve play with I
think some very winnable games, notably at Colorado while they're
in transition. I think they got a trip to Arizona
in there as well. So really like the first five
or six games of this season if you are such
a way where you know me, guys, I'd never pick perfection,

(20:25):
and I don't expect perfection. But if you're looking for
the type of schedule to ease in a true freshman
starting quarterback, you can't get a whole lot better, at
least from right now, you know, as we talk August nineteenth,
than what Byu has in front of it for the
twenty twenty five campaign.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
So I like the move.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
I like the bye coaches weren't afraid to make the move. Necessarily,
Bear Bagbyer is obviously shown enough to where they feel
comfortable making that move and that decision and announcing it,
and you know, giving bair Be full first team reps
over the next ten days as they head into that
season opener. So I do I like. I think it's

(21:06):
a good move. I think they've got the schedule to
do something they've quite literally never done before, which is
starting true freshman in a season.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Opener, Crazy Times in Provo Crazy Times at Brigham Sean Walker,
Cash el Dock, I make sure you're following him on
X and ringing all of his stuff at KSHL dot com.
Always a pleasure. Thanks for hopping off for a cougar beat, Sehn.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
Credele g man Ron, I know you're there behind the mic.
Appreciate you guys, and next time we're on, I need
some tips on how to how to up my Ris.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
You got all the riz according to this to.

Speaker 7 (21:42):
Reveal the source that sources me, I said, Hey, everybody
has riz, is just how do you implement the confidence?

Speaker 1 (21:49):
And you know where it's at. Everybody has risk though
he's got the riz, got riz.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Shout out to Shawn's Riz, Sean Walker, the Riz Master.
Appreciate him joining us to break down Utah preps gm
at dot's commentary follow up. As we wrap up this
segment brought to you by Big O' Tires in American.

Speaker 7 (22:06):
Force, I want to get eyes on Brock Harris seeing
that first play that was extraordinary. That's what I look
at when I see highlights. There are guys that do
things that not everyone can do. When you see him
take that passing the flat and granted it's not top competition,
these aren't the fastest guys, but when you're the size

(22:27):
and stature he is to take that corner, go eighty
yards outrun everyone like they're not even there. You want
to see the man among boys, and that's exactly what
that tape was. Just another level hand on the forehead son.
Uh uh no, yeah nah, this isn't your game. This
is me kind of Bryan or Swanson esque, maybe even more.

(22:52):
He looks tremendous. I want to get eyes on Brock
Harris because he looks like everything you want.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
You stole him from Georgia.

Speaker 7 (23:01):
Yeah, Georgia, remember that tight end Georgia had a few
years ago Brock Powers Man, if he could be Brock
Powers who.

Speaker 1 (23:11):
I had brought on my Fantasy team. It was fantastic.
Last year. You're playing fantasy for so we do play fantasy.
I did last year in the family, the Crital family.
But we can do it a little ESPN. The fan
want to get in on the.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Action anyway, Great stuff loved it. It was brought to
you by Big O Tires at American Fork. If you're
looking for an honest, hard working, cost transferent mechanic who's
also a big BAYU fan, hit up my guy Ryan Eldridge.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
He's gonna earn your business today.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Noh sands or butts about a VPY products, VMP service,
VMP discounts. Give him a call. Set up at a point today.
This is Cougar Sports. We're gonna go to break. You're
listening to your Utah ESPN Radio network, one of the
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