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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to celebrate the previous team sport known to man,
where modern day gladiators collide for all the.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Glory on the grid.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Ie, Let's talk some college football on Cougar Sports with
Ben Fripple.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Welcome back Cougar Sports.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
One of three nine ninety eight point three ESBN the
fantom at Crital broadcasting from our Vanderwell Studios. Betterwealth dot Com.
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(00:34):
It is so for little college football segment. We talked
a lot of BYU football, will continue to do that
with Camp Koalani conversations occurring in this college football segment.
Get a welcome in a former BYU wide receiver to discussion.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Also, he's one of our sponsors.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
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(01:30):
ten or Chrome delete. Let's welcome in former BYU wide
receiver five to ten, one hundred and eighty pounds the
hometown of Promo, Utah via Ricks Junior College. Let's welcome.
In the speech they're with big old hands. We got
Jared bledsoe he wrapped numbered zero that swagger right there.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Zero.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
I would like to say I really did rep number zero,
but that's because they didn't put me in at my
real number of eighty six. What what I don't know.
I don't know why this I saw that one. Ti'm
like number zero zero, man, I don't even think you
could play number zero back then.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
They didn't put that. I'm going to talk to Kenny,
Kenny about this. I'm gonna have to, you know, submit
the real number number eighty six.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Jared Pledge. I love that they put the number zero
on there.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I saw that reason look at that picture, look at
that beautiful.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Jaw line, and it was that was the best. That
was a good time back then. Man, it was great. Yeah,
I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Favorite memory of bing b YU football player when you
were down there. This was post ninety six, so ninety seven,
ninety eight seasons, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Yeah, Liberty both delibertable for me back. Yeah, bro, I
grew up a fan as a kid and watched every
every game I could see, uh and and every bowl game.
And having the opportunity to to be there and and
actually get on the field and the Liberty Bowl and
was something that I just dreamed about my whole life.
(02:57):
So it was great. Really really enjoyed my time at
by you Indeed you did.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I still connected to the program, hanging out with your
former teammates and talking with it.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Who do you keep a contact with down there at
b YU.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
So it's it's it's really fun now since almost the
entire staff played in nineteen ninety eight, I mean from
Geno and then then I've got my connections at Rick's
College with Jay Hill and but I mean Gennaro, uh
Kilanne a Rod Justin and and uh Kevin Gilbrid Kevin
(03:35):
Gilbrid was was that was a scout in quarterback is
a left handed quarterback?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Is great and you know, so it's just great.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
It's fun to walk over and just hang out and
the brothers and it's yeah, you just feel welcome to
be back.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And and so it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
It's fun to get over there and and and catch
practice and see where the guys are going what.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
It's just amazing. I can't believe it's almost thirty years.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
But where we were at in the fieldhouse, Lavelle's little office,
our little football ops on.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
What they have today, you know, walking in talking to Shirley.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
I mean, yeah, I mean it wonderful, wonderful person and
and uh and you think back to when it was cold.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Where did we play. We were in the fieldhouse on
the carpet, on.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Our carpet or orange.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
We're running on.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
That basketball court, you know, I mean it just so
the facilities were and everything they have and and I
was talking to our new equipment manager and.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It was great.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
By the way, you scored Josh Wire, Josh is amazing,
and letting him know how how hard it was.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
Mick was like one glove in, one glove out, one
sock in, one sockout.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Like you.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Yeah, you didn't have two pairs of cleats because if
you didn't turn the cleat in, you didn't.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Get a cleat, you know. So it was Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Now they walk in and it's like fourteen pairs of cleats,
ten pairs of shoes.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
It's good stuff. Oh, it's awesome.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Now, Yeah, Mick, I had Mick, and I love Mick
McK hill, but yeah, he.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Ran a touch ship man. Finally, when I was a senior,
I got some. I had a few.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I had a little bit longer leash. I could get
a few nicer things, a few more.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
You get hand your gloves to a kid and not
get yelled at for not coming back with it.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Jared Bledsoe here, the owner of Utah Protector Films, former
b YU wide receiver, talking from Camp Killaani b YU Football. Uh,
how are you feeling about the team this year? By
the way super optimistic. I I you know, the whole
rat soft thing was difficult. You know, we dealt with
a lot some of that in ninety eight with Ronnie
Jenkins and Hashi Robertson and uh mixed feelings on on
(05:41):
somehow how this process.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
How it operates, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I'll tell you this though.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I was I was talking with the general manager BYU Football.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Yes, the way he presented the honor code to me was,
this is a safeguard if you followed this honor code
while you're here at b Y, you you are. It's
a safeguard against so many different things that could ruin
your crew.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Yeah, after BYU, during and after during And I thought
about that a different perspective.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I never really took it into that perspective.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
And and I really like how they're presenting that that
it's really going to protect you through your career at
b YU and after.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
You know, we always talk nil, right, It's like, if
you want nil deals at BYU after b YU, it'd
be wise to obey the honor code. You're not going
to get into nearly as much trouble. You're more marketable,
you're more monetizable.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Especially within the BYU market.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, but even afterwards, like yeah, there are certain personalities
out there that can get away with things and still
get brand deals. But most of the products services major
brands from minor brands, mid brands.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
They want to align.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
With individuals that are not doing crazy things off the field,
off the court. Yeah, they're going to pick apart your
past a little bit before, like are we getting align
with you before we get the money right? So that's
what name image off is all about it. So I
do think it is a safeguard. I I I tend
to when I'm chatting with recruits, I said, look, there's
distractions right in life that take you away from the
(07:20):
best ROI where you get it the best ROI, it's
typically you know, taking care of your body, eating right,
sleeping right, not going out and partying, not delving into
the drama of uh that that that that can can
ensue when you're in a chaotic environment or a chaotic relationship.
(07:41):
So hey, simplify sacrifice, shop success, block out those distractions.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I think the autic code does that.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
It's all about that action of all bad that business.
If you're about that business, come get the business deals done.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
But you know and then back to the back to
the team itself.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
This year, I spent a couple of days at practice
and and and enjoy seeing what they're doing. I feel
like with with the coaches that I talked to on
the on the outside looking in and having had conversations
with them on different years, there's some more relaxed going
into the season this year than I've seen them in
(08:15):
the past, where even even with other quarterback battles, you know,
where the coaches just really trying to pay attention, really
highly focused.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Not to say that they're not highly focused this.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Year, but there's a different confidence.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah, And I haven't watched these guys go through their
coaching careers, and it's a difficult career, it's not, no,
and so I'm happy to see where where these guys
are at. And when I talked to them, there there's
a lot of optimism with the guys that we have.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
So you're a wide receiver, that's what you did. You
caught footballs from quarterbacks. That's all you did all day,
every day growing up. Okay, what do you like about
these three quarterbacks? McKay Hill, State, Tracy Borgay, bear Bachmeer.
What stands out to you about their individual skill sets.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
And so from what I have seen, I like the
mobility that McKay offers, and and he does a great ball.
It doesn't he really really does. I'm not super concerned
about his height, you know. I don't think that that
factors in as much as people outside of football maybe
look at it. The guy's been playing with tall linemen
(09:22):
his entire life.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Sky Ridge has some big dudes. He played at Utah State.
Looked fine there. As far as getting the ball out,
I'm sure that you get some batted balls down even
if you are six two six three six four quite honestly.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Yeah, Yeah, it's more of the defensive line than making
a play and being in.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
The right spot to bat that thing down.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
And you see guys in the NFL that have played
long careers and not having the height. So I don't
look at that as a disadvantage at all. He knows
how to play at his size. Uh, Trace And I
I don't know much about Tracey. I haven't seen a
whole lot other than the few practices, and and he
can he can run. I've seen him break something than
people give him credit for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yeah, Bear.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Lots of unknowns, but what he brings and having come
in from junior college and having to learn an offense
at Norm Chow's offense, which was not the easiest offense
to learn. Uh, I think Aaron Rodericks' offense is just
if not more difficult to learn because there's so much
more entailed in it and to watch him make plays,
(10:21):
make reads. Maybe the ball isn't perfect on some of these,
but he is making the right read and making the
right throw. And I just look forward to see what
he can do when they let him run, you know,
and actually play and scramble and see if the guys
can actually take him down.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Because he's a big kid.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Six two two twenty five. I mean, he looks thick,
and he can run, he's nimble. You bring up a
good point. A Rod stated that he's told these quarterbacks
he does not want them to scramble. He wants them
to stay in the pocket, make the right reads, try
to throw the ball on time, and at the last
resort scramble right last resorts scramble. But he's trying to
(10:58):
keep him in the pocket, trying to make them play
traditional football rather than backyard football.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, but give him.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
But let's get in a game where the opportunity arises
and they see that hole and yeah, that's that's where
I'm excited to see.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So I don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Some people would say McKay because of his uh, his speed,
his quickness, his agility, is uh is going to be
the better runner. Bear Bachmeyer is a good runner. He's
six two to twenty. Right, what have you seen as
far as escapability and running ability?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I know it's been limited, but any idea, they're.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
They're both quick.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
I mean they're both they both can find the opportunity
to make it through the hole when they need to.
And uh, yeah, what a battle. I mean two years
in a row. You know, you get too great now
that I actually message Gary, I said, if we might
be able to petition and bring him back, let's go.
I sure wish I could.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
But if Gary was on the roster, would he be
the guy? Yeah, it wouldn't even be a question. Yeah
he would. I think that was such a close deal
last year. And uh but yeah, it's it's gonna be
a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
You know, I would be more concerned if we didn't
have such an experienced receiving corps an experienced tight end
and a line that line. You know that although they
haven't all worked together in game situations. I mean, you
look at Gentry, come on, you know, he said, he's
like reminds me of John Tate when we played you know,
a leader. You look at him and you just want
(12:28):
to listen. You know, the guy's intimidating and he's out
there playing. You know, he's played with the best. He
has won at the highest level, and you can't replicate
that without bringing it to the table.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So what he brings to the team.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Is it's just a whole other level of winning, you know,
and and so it's it's tona be funny. Then you've
got the running backs, you know. I I hope the
NBA will make some decisions pretty soon. Regarding a Falow.
I would love to have him back. Man, it would
be huge to have Hinkley back.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Falow would be a boon for BYU this year. I
love l J. He's transformed, He's different. His top end
speed has been much improved. He's ripped now, he's actually
like defined. I'm like, bro, Like before I'll be honest,
like thick dense, I would say he was like, you know, defined.
Then all of a sudden, I see this, he's some definition.
(13:21):
He's yeah, okay, I see you, bro, He's gonna.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Have a great year. Cody Hagen okay, so.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
I my eyes were on him last year, just kind
of when you played that spot and you see him
run his routes and they're like, this kid's quick for
for us. From ninety eight Ben Horton okay, So Ben
had those same quick quitch muscles where it was like
he'd run a he would run a curl route and
when he broke down, it was two steps out of
(13:48):
his break.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I couldn't I couldn't even figure out, like, how do
you do two steps and stop and get out of
your break? That's what Hagen does. I saw it.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
I mean today he made an amazing catch over the
middle behind him, had to jump back, but his quickness
in and out of breaks. People are going to be
blown away by what this kid can do. I loved
number five.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
For those that are trying to find him on the
on the field, look for number five.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
And then of course I mean Chase Parker. You know, Jojo,
you can't go wrong with any of those guys. Yeah,
you know so, But yeah, I think Cody Hagen's gonna
turn some heads this year. I'm interested to see tiger
back Mayer. You know, I watched some of his stuff
at Stanford, And and where is he going to fit in?
I know he's going to play where you're going to
fit him into this this rotation.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
But what a deep receiving core we have.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
And so as a quarterback you're going into that with
all the confidence in the world in your group running backs,
your line got a great tight end transfer. Uh you know,
so you couldn't There's no way you can't look at
the team and see potential. And that's just the offense,
the defense. You know what Jay has been able to do.
(14:58):
You know, I love Jay I he was he was
that guy. I think I've told you before we'd run
one on ones, the hype man. He's in your face.
You always wanted to run against Jacs. He was the
best player, and when he made a play on you,
he would rub in your face and you wanted to
make a play on him, you know. And that same
energy is on the field every day, you know. And
and uh, Gennaro Guildford, that's if you that when that
(15:22):
kid walked in him and Trey to me, looked identical,
real skinny, just amazing athletes and and he brings that
energy as well. And I I justin Enna. Yeah, what
a great group, you know, and and what they've been
able to do that defense.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I it's amazing.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
I don't remember in as as long as I've met
a BYU fan having such an exciting playmaking defense. But
we had the number five defense in the nation with
Rob Morris, Jason Walker. He led the it was our
free safety who led the UH the country and interceptions
for a while that year. And I still did. Watching
(16:02):
this defense fly around is amazing. I love that breakdown.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
You mentioned the wide receivers we discussed yesterday with the four,
five and six wide receiver spots will go to Cody
Hagen was brought up, Tat Nakula, Reggie Frish, Frish connect Uh,
the Weaber State transfer, Tiger Bachmeyer, le Mason Waller, Dominique
McKenzie another legacy player UH. And then you have others
that are more walk on type, our own way, Keela
(16:28):
Ke and Trey Roberts, the brother of Chase Roberts. But
you know that that battle, to me is very intriguing.
Four five and six you mentioned Cody.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Cody's got to be in there.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Yeah, there's no doubt, right, Like I saw Cody. I mean,
I've been high on Cody for a long time. In fact,
first day of fall camp, I'm like, Ronnie, go go
interview Cody Haign because that dude, he's gonna be a dude.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
He's gonna be.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
What we did we interviewed him, was fantastic, great kid
as a returner. If you can get him on the
are you gonna put him at kick return of part
return because.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
Parker Parker's gonna Parker is gonna put return. Parker is
gonna be a number one kid. But with that ability
to just change directions that quickly and to be that fast,
he's hard to tackle on a on a on a
punt or a kickoff.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
And I'm sure he was the return guy in high school,
right I.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
I I don't know if he did return kick return
off to pull up his max Prep stats because Corner
Canyon was so.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
Many guys, right, They may not have because he played
with Jackson Dark.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
They had so many guys, so I don't know how often.
I mean, they may have had him as the punt
returner kick returner, but he was so productive offensively. I
think he had like it seemed like he had over
like a hundred receptions thousand yards in high schools insane.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
To add the little tidbit when I caught up with
he mentioned Parker Cody as some of the guys for kickoff. Yeah,
Parker and Cody, who do you kick it away from?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
You know?
Speaker 5 (17:56):
And well they'll kick it to Cody, try to kick
it away from Parker until they realize is that that
he can return the same thing.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Bro, do you remember Tim Dwhite? Tim Dwhite, Tim Dwight
Atlanta Falcons like the fastest. Yeah, yeah, he was a
kick yeah yeaheah. I'm like, you got Parker and Cody
Bank there, man little well that that was like the
Ronnie Jenkins of my day.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
So, so, Ronnie was the fastest football athlete I've ever
played with.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
He he was hit a whole two steps full speed, right.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
I mean, I don't know if you know his background
in California when he rushed for seven hundred and something
yard still holds that record.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Uh, but uh in the NFL, that's what he did.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And I remember in an overtime game at the Chargers
and it was a kickoff and they put him back.
Nobody else and everybody up for it, and it was
and he he ran that thing back to the other
forty four yard line or something like that.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
It almost broke it to winning. It was, you know,
but that kind of when.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
You have a special teams that that can make plays,
it changes the entire game.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Yeah, it does, you know, the dynamics and that that
that kind of leads me into that the philosophy that
many bau Fans have had heading into the season is
that even without Jake and question marks surrounding the quarterback position,
the defense, and the special teams unit, they're great to
even possibly elite, they can win football games this way.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, I will throw out.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
So not only did I play receiver, but at Rick's College,
we didn't have a punter, right, so I punted.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
In high school.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
So we did punting tryouts, right with coach Ron Hahn
to have a punter, we're gonna punch tryal So I
became the punter. We threw three fakes for ninety five yards.
I was three for three, three first downs as a quarterback.
Running fakes change the game, change the opportunities that we
had for our offense. And for our team and watching
(19:46):
what the special teams did last year, you know, replacing
keeling tough. But I think when I see Cody and
when we know what Parker can do these guys is
these guys are going to do really well.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And then then the blocking U up front, as you know,
that's the key.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I mean, these guys could run all around the field,
but these guys aren't setting up that line and getting
to the sideline, and uh, they wouldn't be making those touchdowns.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
So love that sounds like you're pretty optimistic win loss
prediction for the regular season.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
What do you got and why?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
How you feeling tough? On how you feeling eight and four?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Nine and three?
Speaker 5 (20:20):
I mean ten two? We have the potential to run
ten and two. I think that that would be an
an amazing year. I wouldn't be disappointed at nine and three,
but I think we're better than eight and four.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Wow, I think we have over under right now or sorry,
the win total for per Vegas for six and a half.
So you like the over obviously and getting two and
a half doesn't make sense to me. Well, I mean, look,
b yu is uh and I actually like this? Yeah, underrated?
Typically I would much rather have that. I'd rather be
(20:54):
doubted than than overhyped.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I agree, I agree, I just disagree with that with
the stat Yeah, but I.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Think that and Clonie's really good at bringing that energy
of the they think that they're that were this and
let's prove who we really are. And then they had
that that going last year for him, you know, and
I'm it is nice that you can come in like
that and and being underrated is it's fun to win
and prove people wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Love that.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Jared Bledsoe, owner operator of Utah Protective Films. Let's talk
a little bit on what you do over at Utah
Protective Films. What services you provide. I've mentioned this fifteen
percent off guys, all you listeners out there that need
window tinting, chrome deletes or wraps, and these are all
manner of wraps, but the expel is so it's xp
L expel wrap. You guys can do a little due
(21:41):
diligence on it. But tell us a little bit about
Utah Protective Films.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Yeah, so we our main product is paint protection film
for automobiles and windows tint ceramic windows tent. The heat
rejection is phenomenal, but Yeah. We we opened this shop
January of twenty four. We've we've got the ideal Low.
We're right next to the Tesla dealership and Pleasant Grove
right off the freeway, and we're lucky to be the
(22:06):
contracted Tesla Expel dealer here in Utah County.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And it's been great.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
I've always wanted to come back from southern California and
bring the business here with the connection I have with
with having BYU, with having grown up with in Provo,
and so it's been really fun, really fun to be back,
really fun to make new connections. And then it's been
exciting to be able to do things for the players
(22:33):
now and.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
So especially that yeah, with Nil and being able to
create some synergies there.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yeah, so it's good. Business is good and we're happy
to be here. And yeah, we'd love to take care
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Speaker 2 (22:51):
And yeah, give us a shot and give us a
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Speaker 5 (22:54):
And absolutely mentioned ESPN and the fan and so we
can give you that discount. I'm happy to give the discut,
even if we've had two customers calling I heard you
on on on on Ben's show, and and I don't
need the discount.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I'm like, you're going to get it though.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, that's your thing that I tell people.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
I'm like, look like Jared gives back to the players,
the coaches. He's heavily invested. He's there right, he's lifting
where he stands. So like, give Jared an opportunity if
you're in the market for any of these services, give
Jared an opportunity any business. That's all I'm asking. Uh,
that's what we do here at ESPN the Fan. I'm
a former Cougar myself. I like to support former Cougars
(23:33):
that you know, blood, sweat and tears, gave that to
the program and continue to give back.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
So that's all I'm asking.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Utah Protective Films, Utah Protective Films dot com. Let them
know I Sencha mentioned ESPN the Fan mentioned myself. Head
on over to Utah Protective Films dot Com. There and
a pleasant grove. Give him a call, and Jared's going
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love it. Eight oh one, eight hundred ninety seven six seven.
That's eight one, eight hundred and nine seven sixty seven.
Well can coued to chat with you, Jared throughout the
(24:01):
fall camp and throughout the football season. Thanks for hopping
on today. Thank you my guy, Jared Blachell. We'll take
a brief time out, don't go anywhere more to get
to on a August eighth edition of Cougar Sports.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Here on it's time to celebrate the previous team sport
known to man, where modern day gladiators collide.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
For all the glory on the grid.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I let's talk some college football on Cougar Sports with
Ben Cripple.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN the Fan.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I'm in Criital broadcasting from our Banterwealth Studios Batterwealth dot Com.
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welcome in the CEO and Big Cougar sports Fan in
Cougar Sports Insider. We got braidon Day on the line, Braidon,
(25:29):
how you live.
Speaker 6 (25:30):
In I'm doing awesome?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
How are you guys doing doing fantastic? Camp Koalani is underway.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
We got football to discuss twenty twenty five the seasons here, brother, I.
Speaker 6 (25:40):
Know it's the best. Oh Man Football's in the air,
greatest time of the year by far.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Who's your favorite quarterback right now, Braidon, are you? Are
you team Hillstead, Team Borge or team Bachmeier.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
I don't know, Ben, This is so hard. I go
back and forth every day. I think I'm probably I
think I'm team Hill said. I think from the clips
I've seen from practice and just you know, some of
the rumors scroll around. I think McKay's doing a really
good job. I think Bear's doing better than a lot
of people expected him to do. So I think I'm
probably team hill said. With team B being team.
Speaker 7 (26:16):
Bachmeyer, Braden, whoever starts the season at quarterback, do you
believe they will finish the season at quarterback or will
it be someone else?
Speaker 6 (26:27):
So, oh, that's a good question. So here's here's my
thought on that. I've heard people say, well, let's have
hell said start until Bear's ready, and then we'll have
Bear take it because he has a higher upside, And
I don't like that take because this schedule play the
way the schedule plays out, I think if you're gonna
let Bear play if he's if you're planning on starting
him at some point in the season besides injury issues,
(26:47):
I think you start the game one because you have
the first three games that are games that could get
him ready for the later parts of the season. But
if all of a sudden, you first the first game
reps you give him is in conference on purpose, I
just don't see how that's a benefit thing. So I
personally think unless obviously if there's like I don't think
we're gonna have the same starter all year, just because
the statistic show that we're gonna have injuries enough that
(27:08):
somebody can have another starter. But I don't think they
should plan on starting one like the Tanner Mingam Zach
Wilson thing, where it was like, yeah, Tanner's gonna start,
but if an any point Tenners are struggling, we'll throw
Zach in.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
I don't.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
I hope that's not the case of this one, because
if you think Bear's gonna be the guy, our independent
schedules work that way. The new schedules in the Big
Puff don't work that way. The new news schedules. We
should have our guy. If we think he could be
the guy by the end of the year, let him
be the guy from.
Speaker 8 (27:34):
The first of the year.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Yeah, I'm with you on that one. You invert a
little bit with strength of schedule. You should be five
and one, no matter who the quarterback is through UH
through six games UH this year, whereas during Independence you
were going through a Gauntlin preseason or pre you know,
so you know the first.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Four or five six games.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
So I'm with you on that one Brandon day we
get into more of this talk. I've been discussing this
with Cougar fans, like in twenty twenty four was a
remarkable season, a favorite season amongst many in Kugarnation. Did
you have a favorite moment as a fan in twenty
twenty four?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
You know, did you have a favorite moment?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
What was it?
Speaker 6 (28:16):
I think that Kansas State game was so fun. It
was so great that I had one one of my kids.
I have triplets, and one of the triplets game with
me in that game. And he's only five, but he
remembers it like crazy. He talks about it all the time.
It was just one of those cool experiences. It was
crazy loud, so that one probably up there. The Oklahoma
State game was really fun also just with the the
(28:37):
great finish, But I would probably say Kansas State was
my favorite favorite given the season. Favorite moment.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
See this goes to show that Kugarnation is maturing at.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
A high level.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Because I put this out there on social media and
there are some that picked the Utah game.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
But many did not. Many picked yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
The Kansas State game or in and he picked other games.
Thought it was interesting, we're maturing, guys. This is a
good this is a good shign.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
I was gonna say Utah, but I knew you wanted
me to say something else. Now as kidding, I definitely
I loved the Utah game, and I always want to
beat Utah. But I've never been one that believes that
I'd rather go one and eleven and beat Utah than
going eleven and one and losing to them. I've never
been something like that, Like I I'd rather win the
rest of the games, and if that game is always
gonna be a toss up and things gonna happen.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
So you also, I don't think you want Utah to
be like like, we don't want that to be our
super Bowl, right Like BYU wants to have other games
that matter, And if you pick Utah every time, then
it's like, all right, well, Utah's your super Bowl because
you're not that good.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
That's not the case with the U. But what's interesting
when you pose that question.
Speaker 7 (29:43):
I was curious to see what Brayden would say, and
then the more I thought about it was Okay, you
could pick Oklahoma State because I was at that game
and the fourth quarter finish was incredible.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
You could pick Utah. You could pick Kansas State.
Speaker 7 (29:54):
Again to punt return, everything involved with Kansas State, big
new kickoff was there that day. Or you could even
pick Colorado and taking down Dion and Travis Hunter and
Shodari Sanders. And it's just incredible to think that there
are so many memories that you could have from last
season and say that's my favorite one and no one
(30:14):
could really argue you.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
Yeah, it was. It was such a fun year. I'm
a little bugged at some of the fans right now
with we're trying to now that Jake's gone, and we're
trying to talk about how well last year's team was,
like because we're losing seven starters on defense also, and
we're kind of downplaying what they were and what they did.
And I don't think that has been mutual excusive to
be able to be positive about this year. I can
still look and see how good we were last year
(30:39):
and how amazing the season.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Was for US.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
So I love what Jake Retsloft did for us last year.
I love what Isaiah Vanya and that, you know, all
the defensive linemen with John Nelson and Blake Mangleson and
I was obviously tyled batty, but I think, yes, we
may have upgraded in talent, but that doesn't mean last
year wasn't incredible. It was so fun.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Brydon Day see Odeon men's were here talkings of Cougar football.
Who are going to be the most impactful players on
this year's team?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Do you think Brandon and why?
Speaker 6 (31:11):
I think offensively, I think l J is going to
be super impactful. I think it's as long as he
can stay healthy. Like I think the run game in general,
I think him MOA and then if Kinkley gets cleared,
I think, you know, Preston Rex, I know they's been
talking about that. I think he could be something there.
I think those guys on really the running game is
(31:34):
gonna We're gonna depend on that. And then obviously the receivers.
I don't know honestly everywhere on the On the offense
I think is kind of We've got some studs, but
also it's unknown. I think you have to say Isaiah
Glaster and Jack Kelly on defense, I think you're gonna
end up seeing CLIs Era play similar to them, and
you're gonna say that by the end of the year.
But I think ConA Tonavas is going to be the
one that is the biggest difference maker from what we
(31:56):
had last year to this year. Is the chaos he's
gonna create. I think our eventsive lineman last year did
really good in their jobs of bringing up space for
the linebackers and playing within the scheme. I think Kana
can do that, but I think he's going to create
more chaos from the d tackle spot than we've had
in years and years and years.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Who's the most underrated underappreciated guy on the roster right now?
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Offensive or defensively? You could pick.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
Both if you'd like, Oh, underrated.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Underrated, underappreciated right now, it's gonna be balling out for
the break up.
Speaker 6 (32:31):
That is a tough question. I think I'm gonna go
Tanner wall Hm. I think I think from the he's
under underappreciated or undervalued. From the keen side, obviously he's
a captain like this, but the fans, I don't think
we talked about Canna Wallberry as much as we should like.
I think he's a really, really good player, and I
(32:51):
think he's probably the most underappreciated just because he doesn't
have the stars. He was a walk on who played
offense and then came out of the defense, so we
just don't count him like we would if he was
a same exact play. But he was a higher recruit
in high school.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
Great pick, I'd agree with that one. I think he's
very much underappreciated, underrated on this roster.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
No censor butch about it.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
As we get closer to the season and you've you've
been able to you know, view reports, connect with your
other insiders, and as well as maybe get eyes on
some of these guys down at practice. Braden, Uh, what's
your win lost prediction for the regular season?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Where do you stand right now?
Speaker 6 (33:31):
I mean I drink the koolaid and I have the
thickest bluegoggles in the world, So I we're twelve, We're
twelve and zero until we're not. Like that's just the
way it is for me. Well, like realistically, if I
had to put money on it, I would say I
think we're an eight or nine win team. Like that's
a pretty good goal to have this year, and I
think we could. I wouldn't be surprised if we, you know,
(33:54):
won ten or eleven. I wouldn't be surprised if we
won seven or eight. I think seven is probably low.
I think we're probably more. I think eight or nine
is really where I sit.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Eight or nine I like it.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Hey, look, if you if you get eight or nine
wins regular season, you get to know if it's nine
and three and you get to ten in a bowl game,
to me, that'd be a tremendous season.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Tremendous season.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
A lot of people are like, nah, man, you know
what's interesting is over the last sixty years, I think
BYU fans, we've gotten a little bit spoiled, right. We
expect quota. Quota is eight wins in a season. If
you don't get eight wins, you failed. It's an f
You know what I mean? Am I right in that?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
If you don't get day wins, it's not bowl game.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
It's not bowl game. It's eight wins for kugarnation. Otherwise
it's a failed season.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
And that's how it was a Bronco. I mean, people
got so stagnant Bronco because he was just winning eight
or nine games every year, and that just wasn't enough.
They wanted some sort of a higher ceiling. And I mean,
I love and I'm glad we we've got what we've got,
but I do think Kugarnation it's a little on the
spoiled side, and expectations are a little high naturally. I
do think this year we have the talent to win
aight nine games, and I think that's a pretty normal
(35:10):
goal for that for the team where we're at, and
hopefully obviously there's a big twelve such an up and
down league with competition wise, but I do think in
the conference that we're in, with the competition we're playing,
we can't keep our expectations where they are always. I
do think the high expectations they'll lead to now it
finally is coming around with the investment on the back
(35:31):
end from bau Site is now getting there, so I'm
hoping that the resources now match up with the expectations.
So we actually can't expect that, and it's a realistic
expectation rather than what it's been for the last forty years.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Jerem Jordan I Guess earlier today stated that if the
quarterback race is even close, go with Bear Bachmeyer. I
think you were leading that way that direction as well.
If it's even close, do you go with the Bear Bachmeyer.
Let's say you know McKay Hillstead, you know just the
nose better, you know a little bit better than Bear.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Do you go? Do you go McKay or do you
go Bear?
Speaker 6 (36:11):
I'm I'm totally. I'm not any saying like, if they're
equal or some similar to equal, then you go with Bear.
I'm more than If you think Bear could be better
by the middle of the year, you go with Bear now.
But if you if you think that McKay is is
a little ahead, you go with the guy who's gonna win.
They are the most amount of games up front. But
I just don't want the whole Let's start McKay with
(36:33):
the option of Benjing in for Bear later in the year,
because because that's probably where Bear's gonna be by that time,
just because I'd rather have him get his feet wet
and learn through the easy part of the schedule. But
if if McKay's leading, let McKay win. I want to
win over anything else. I want to win, so whatever.
But I was gonna give us the best likelihood of
winning now is what I want. So if that's McKay
(36:53):
goes with McKay.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
I think the concept here for b YU fans is like, look,
I'll take a loss versus stance if I can get
a win versus TCU.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
On the back end with.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Bear, I'll take a loss early in the season, two
losses all. I'm willing to go four and two on
the front end so I can go and I can
become you know in that four game stretch, right that
that four game stretch with that that is full of
of of great football teams and great football games that
(37:24):
you can win maybe three out of those four, right,
that's what they're saying they want to win.
Speaker 6 (37:30):
On the back end, yep, if it takes, if it
takes being rough and barely squeaking out of win to
Portland State, because we're breaking in a freshman who's going
you have the potential, who's pretty much there. You just
need some game experience. I'd rather squeak out a win
at Portland State to have him ready for later in
the year than not start him until we get into
conference play and then where he doesn't have the experience
(37:52):
he needs.
Speaker 7 (37:53):
Brandon, how patient do you think fans would be and
what I mean by that? Okay, So that that's my point.
So I don't know if you've watched any given Saturday.
It's the new SEC docu series on Netflix, and they
were going through last season when Graham Mertz for Florida
is walking onto the field and he has a crappy
first drive the for public games and all the fans
(38:14):
want a DJ Lagway because he was the five star,
he was the number one guy and he's and Graham
Mertz sucks the first two games as a six year
senior and all the fans are chanting DJ Lagway and
I just and obviously being a number one guy is
different than what Bear is, but I think the principle
of where both guys are is the same to that situation,
(38:35):
and I guess I'm just curious, Like I almost feel like,
whoever they start, if they don't perform, the fans are
gonna be asking, Like if Bear comes in the first
couple of weeks and shows his youth, I feel like
the fans are gonna be asking for McKay and vice versa.
If McKay goes out and he's not winning the game
in sexy fashion, and it's like a one or two
(38:56):
point game or loss or win every game.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
I feel like fans are gonna be wanted bear.
Speaker 6 (39:02):
Yeah, and I and I think one thing I think
a Rod has done well in the past and car
competitions and especially last year, is he didn't overreact with
a few mistakes, and I don't I hope he doesn't
do that again. The fan base will do that. The
fan base is going to overreact and they're going to
call for whoever is not the course. The GV two
is always the most popular, right, But I think last year,
(39:23):
you look at it after that SMU game, and I
was a Jake defender, but even I was kind of like,
maybe it's time to move to GBO, like let's let's
maybe think about this, and they didn't. And look at
what I'm obviously we didn't know that SMU was gonna
be a playoff team and all those different things, but
that if we would have just jumped ship, right then
maybe we don't have the special season we had last year.
And I'm glad he was patient and I hope we
(39:44):
do that. Whatever. If we decided McKay is the best
best fit, the best guy, let him play. He may
have some you know, hiccups, and there's gonna be things
along the way, but let him play unless like it
really is fifty to fifteen years coin flipping it. If
you feel like he's the best, let him show it
and let him some struggles. Because every quarterback you look
back at that, you look back at Jared, you know,
you look look at John Beck back in the day.
(40:05):
Like besides, Max Fall and Max Hall had such a
you know, good supporting cast, and this team has you know,
really good supporting guests. But everybody else had to struggle,
had to make mistakes, had to lose games because of
they were young. And I think that's fine. Let let
McKay struggle, Let Fair struggle if they come in, and
that's just fine. And fans are gonna call for call
(40:26):
for the next guy. But whatever, they're fans. We're all
we're all fans. We all complain and we all wine,
and that's just who we are. We care about We
care about nineteen year olds and how they perform perform
on the field more than other things in life sometimes.
Speaker 7 (40:38):
So if Gary Bohannon was still in school, would you
have him as your starter? You brought up I'm curious
I think again, that's uncontrary, not a conversation we can have.
But somebody brought that up and I heard it and
I thought, you know what are.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
They shared blood show?
Speaker 4 (40:56):
And uh, you know we were talking a little bit
with him Utah for films.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Have you met Jared yet? By the way, Branden, I
don't think so.
Speaker 6 (41:03):
I don't think it's better than person anyway, I've heard
him on the radio.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
I think, sure, No, he's fantastic.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
Yeah, you know, he brought up Geebo and we were
discussing that. I think I think most would pick Gibo.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
I'll be honest, I.
Speaker 6 (41:17):
Think I probably. I don't know. I think I think
having the upset long term is that that. That was
one of my things with last year with Jake, because like, hey,
if they are pretty equal, if you want to go
to the younger guy, if it's like exactly the same.
But I think whoever shows. My thing is I trust
the coaches. I've never been one to like something I've
learned through life pulse in my you know, in callings
(41:38):
in the church, in my positions that were things like
that is, until you understand how the sausage is made,
it's really hard to start questioning decisions because people question
decisions I make all the time, and if they understood
what was going into them, maybe they would have made
it better a different decision than I did. But most
of the time it's because you don't have the contact
on what's going on. And so, yes, Gibo might be
the guy, but I just trust that Aro to put
(41:59):
the right out there, whether it's Giebo, whether it's Nickay,
whether it's Bear, whether it's Trason. So I'm a pretty
trusting in the coaches guy of like, hey, if they're
if what they're seeing is what they're seeing, then then
go with the They know more about football than I do.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
So in closing out here, Brandon, appreciate you joining Gus.
You're the CEO of odeon Men's where give us some
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Speaker 6 (42:26):
Yeah, so we've got a lot of things going on
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Speaker 6 (42:47):
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(43:08):
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Speaker 8 (43:13):
It's more busy or.
Speaker 6 (43:14):
Thankful for all of you that listen to the show,
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Speaker 3 (43:49):
We'll see you again soon. Thanks for hopping off, brother,
Thanks for having guys go Kogies, Let's go. That was
a great segment.
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Speaker 3 (44:37):
We'll take a brief time out.
Speaker 4 (44:39):
Please don't go anywhere more to get to here on
your Utah ESPN Radio Network one O three, nine nine
to two point three, you.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Are listening to Cougar Sports with Ben Krittle and it's
time for.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
A Cougar Insider report.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Now, let's get that proprietary inside scoop on Cougar Sports
from Crittle.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Welcome back Cougar Sports.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
One O three nine ninety eight point three ESPN The Phantom,
then Krital Broncat sting from our Banterwillth Studios, Band Banterwealth
dot Com list band together, build well today, get a
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rather than you always working for your money. Let's invest today.
Band together with us, big BYU fans, competitive competent in
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(45:17):
at Batterwealth Batterwealth dot Com.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
I got Brent always bringing the hammer by my side.
Speaker 4 (45:21):
Ronald the three man weaver in the house. We're gonna
get into a little Cougar insider report. Interesting news drop
earlier this week BYU Athletics launched gokoogs dot Travel in
partnership with Waypoint to support student athletes in the new
NC DOUBLEA era. Supporters of BYU Athletics can now create
(45:44):
a free account and access exclusive savings at more than
eight hundred and fifty thousand hotels worldwide. A portion of
every dollar spent through the platform goes back to support
BYU Athletics, cool outside the box thinking in the new
NIL transfer portal era. To discuss it all, let's welcome
(46:07):
in CEO of Waypoint. We got Matt Sanders on the line. Matt,
how that are you, buddy?
Speaker 8 (46:12):
Oh that's great, So grateful to be on. Thank you
for having me.
Speaker 9 (46:16):
It's a great, great time to be a Cougar and
we're thrilled for the opportunity to be working with BYU.
They're truly a class organization and setting the tone in
so many ways. You know, they've all eyes around the
country or on BYU and in a lot of ways
wondering how in the world are they pulling us off?
Speaker 8 (46:32):
And here's another example.
Speaker 9 (46:33):
They're just so great to work with, innovative and I'm
grateful Ben that you would have us on today.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
Grateful for you you're a BYU cougar, got your bachelors,
I believe from Brigham back in the day in the nineties,
went on to I think Harvard Kennedy School, and now
have been in the corporate business world and now part
of Waypoints team. Excited to watch this partnership between BYU
and Waypoints. So tell us a little bit about the platform,
(47:01):
what you guys were trying to accomplish in, what are
you know, and then we'll get into what our listeners
and our fan base are going to benefit from.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
All of this.
Speaker 9 (47:11):
Now, you bet I grew up a rabid BYU fan
in the land of Hans Olsen of all plays, we's
right out. I remember listening to radio with Paul James
up on top of a mountain to get signaled, and my, my, my,
the world of college sports has changed so significantly, And
(47:31):
just a couple of years ago I was looking at
these major changes of the NIL shock to the system
where we're in college athletes can be paid by outside parties.
And then the transfer portal, of course, made those short
term contracts and really uncertain, and then the House settlement,
the NCAA ruling is the one that we've had our
(47:54):
eyes on for a couple of years now, and that's
where we're targeting actually is working directly without departments to
help them kind of heal the breach of what they
have to now cough up every year, which is beginning
this year, twenty point five million a year of the
out of their athletic department revenue pay.
Speaker 8 (48:13):
Pay athletes directly.
Speaker 9 (48:14):
So that was the problem we were looking at, is
how do we go and and be a partner in
solving this this funding gap without beating donors to death,
without raising prices on student tickets, without putting qr cos
in the back of helmets like Oklahoma State did, and.
Speaker 8 (48:34):
All kinds of really interesting things that people have tried.
Speaker 10 (48:37):
We thought, what's a what's a resilient, long term solution
that we can bring that comes from a really, really
big spending pattern among fans.
Speaker 8 (48:49):
So that's where we started. That was a question like,
how do we solve how do we become.
Speaker 9 (48:53):
Party to solving this for BYU and others, And what's
a great, big spending a budget item that we can
go after.
Speaker 4 (49:01):
Well, it's I think the concept, the idea is sound.
I'm excited to see how this is ultimately effectuated. I
was reading through the press release Casey Staffer, who's over
you know the corporate B to B relationship between b
YU and and these these entities that want to lift
where they stand and align themselves with with BYU stated
(49:24):
this at BA, W are committed to solutions that reflect
our values of community, integrity and stewardship. He's the BA
Associate Athletic Director over corporate sponsorships. We're proud to be
pioneers in crowd commerce, inviting fans and alumni to make
a lasting impact through something they already do.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Travel.
Speaker 4 (49:44):
This initiative not only helps sustain or athletic programs, but
also supports our student athletes in this new era now
BYU fans they want to support the student athletes, they
also would like a little benefit. What what are we
talking about here as far as a discounts our turn
in utilizing gokoogs do travel.
Speaker 9 (50:04):
Yeah, the way that we've structured this is just a
quick tutorial. Traditional online travel agencies like Expedia, now, Airbnb
and others, they spend an awful lot of money to
try to track you to their website, the book and
to get you to come back. They spend between fifteen
and seventeen billion dollars a year to market to you.
(50:25):
So the math that we really worked out is really simple.
BYU and other universities already have significant loyalty, they already
have massive audiences. And so the way that we've structured
it is we brought together a platform that acquires hotel
nights at wholesale rates and then we mark those up
(50:46):
at less than typically almost always less than what you
would get on Expedia or some of the other platforms,
and those average seventeen percent and savings per hotel night,
but in some circumstances can be up to fifty percent.
I'll give you a personal example. My son was in
Denver for an internship.
Speaker 8 (51:07):
I went over to ski with them.
Speaker 9 (51:08):
I booked our hotel nights in Keystone, three nights of
hotels stay, and I saved enough in those three two
hotel nights to pay for his lift ticket. So they're
real savings and we're already using them. So so seventeen
to fifty percent. Sometimes the hotel that you're looking.
Speaker 11 (51:29):
At may be on par with the competitor, but we're
almost one hundred percent as good and most of the
time significantly better than others that you can see out there.
Speaker 8 (51:39):
So we deliver savings.
Speaker 9 (51:41):
Bas could committed to help their help their fan base,
committed to deliver savings while also being the fans get
to bless the life of BYU and student athletes.
Speaker 4 (51:52):
And so doing Yeah, what's the percentage that ultimately go
to the student athletes through I guess any sort of
NIO revenue through the athletic department.
Speaker 9 (52:03):
Yeah, that's up to b YU. That's up to the
Athletic department. What we are we become a funding source,
a revenue generating source into the athletic department budget. So
each month, whatever BYU fans spend via gokug dot Travel,
we cut a share. About half of our profits go
(52:25):
back goes to b YU in a check and then
they distribute that how they how they see fit, depending
on the contracts they have with the student outlets.
Speaker 8 (52:34):
But we have real hopes that this could.
Speaker 9 (52:36):
Become a long term, resilient, recurring revenue source for BYU
so that they can not only sustain the major revenue sports,
but also continue to stay committed to the other Olympic sports.
Speaker 4 (52:51):
Love this Cougar Nation go to go Koog's dot travel
and allow fans to book hotels and accommodation with exclusive
discounted rates while also giving back to bo athletics had
no additional cost, and with even modest participations one or
two per year, fan and alumni usage of the platform
is projected to generate a significant amount of revenue and
(53:14):
recurring annual, recurring annual revenue, so helping fund student athlete compensation,
program growth, and other department priorities. Because you know, with
Revgen and the House ruling, there is now a gap,
a void, a lack of twenty million in the in
(53:35):
the P and L statement, Now that Revgen statement from
all these athletic departments that have signed up to distribute
the twenty million dollars to their student athletes, they got
to figure out other ways to support their athletic department
and their efforts through NIO.
Speaker 8 (53:51):
That's exactly right, you know.
Speaker 9 (53:53):
The if you look at the overall gap among the
Key four university it's just a one point for a
billion dollar hole at those sixty nine universities including Notre Dame,
are facing this year. That's a and in all while
major universities are facing budget cuts, and so it's a
(54:14):
really uncomfortable moment for universities and the rise of the
digital era, METEA rites in the future aren't guaranteed.
Speaker 8 (54:22):
It's a different world that we're living in. So universities
have to find new revenue streams. And if you.
Speaker 9 (54:28):
Think about the scale of global travel, there are opportunities
even at small percentages.
Speaker 8 (54:34):
If we just can convert.
Speaker 9 (54:36):
Two percent of dyu's alumni global travel, that's about about
a trip a year for a BYU alumni, that's.
Speaker 8 (54:45):
About two million, two to three million a year in
revenue share that will flow to BUYU.
Speaker 9 (54:50):
So so the big numbers that you're dealing with, and
that's a good place to start, but it takes a
lot of a lot of twomitted cougars then to participate
so that those numbers get big.
Speaker 3 (55:01):
Love that, Matt, We appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 4 (55:04):
Tell us a little bit more about what Waypoint does
and what you do on the daily over at Waypoint.
Speaker 9 (55:10):
Yeah, it's really it's really a marketing technology company. H
We've structured it and it's going to get a little
bit geeky, but we've structured it as a multi tenant platform.
We've got a great technologist, a phenomenal partner, our CMO.
Scott Stevens came out of the world of building major
ad campaigns with the likes of Nike and has worked
(55:32):
with you know, Messi and and Lebron James and he's
down with the Rams right now finishing up a project
that he had still his ties into. So he is
world class and uh and he's at the heart of
what we call Loyalty Lab to work with universities to
structure and ide eate and create campaigns that will be attractive.
Speaker 8 (55:54):
To their their fan base and our technologists. Spencer Lee as.
Speaker 9 (56:01):
The one who's helped construct this for us through all
local guys and all couper fans, and so that's been
a lot of fun. As we grow each university we
add actually adds to the creative capabilities because dare I
say it a campaign that we run to attract BYU fans,
(56:23):
I can take that same campaign and go to the
University of Utah and and structure that for them same say,
you know, different colors, but the fan bases don't have
a lot of overlap and the weather they're spending money
on their schools, and so it gives us a lot
of efficiencies which also allows us to pass more profits.
Speaker 8 (56:40):
Off the university.
Speaker 9 (56:41):
So so what's called the multi tenant platform and uh,
and we're really happy with where we're where we are.
We can add a new school in about a day.
If they can move fast, we can move faster.
Speaker 4 (56:51):
Love it, well, appreciate you joining us to tell us
a little bit about the Goku Travel platform and partnership
with the Point and how these uh, these Cougar fans
can save some money on their travel. Also, shout out
to your son Josh. He's balling out it as you
is he not he.
Speaker 9 (57:11):
Is And and big thanks to you and your practice.
Speaker 2 (57:15):
Ben.
Speaker 9 (57:15):
You're you're a real pro in helping young athletes get healthy,
stay he stay healthy, get to know how their bodies work.
You're like the ultimate mechanic of human performance.
Speaker 8 (57:27):
Working with other partners in the in the area like
p One. You've been so good to Josh.
Speaker 9 (57:32):
And yeah, he's back from his mission in Columbia and
he's down there in full ball right now, first to
year freshmen, twenty one year old freshman.
Speaker 8 (57:40):
But he's having he's having a good camp. He loves
it down there.
Speaker 9 (57:43):
Love it.
Speaker 4 (57:43):
Can't wait to watch number eighty four ball out for
the t Birds. And UH and have a great career. Well,
we appreciate you. Thank you so much, Matt. We uh
will catch up with again soon. Thanks for joining us
for a little Cougar insadur report.
Speaker 8 (57:57):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (58:00):
All Right, we'll call that a segment, and we'd invite
you to head on over to go kougs dot travel
today to book all of your travel accommodations and give
back to Kugar Nation, give back to bo Athletics and
the BYU Cougar football team and all of the athletics
for that matter. All Right, we're going to take a
brief time out. Guys, don't go anywhere. Still a lot
to get to On a Friday, August eighth edition of
(58:21):
Cougar Sports, here on one of the three nine ninety eight
point three
It's time to celebrate the previous team sport known to man,
where modern day gladiators collide for all the.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Glory on the grid.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Ie, Let's talk some college football on Cougar Sports with
Ben Fripple.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Welcome back Cougar Sports.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
One of three nine ninety eight point three ESBN the
fantom at Crital broadcasting from our Vanderwell Studios. Betterwealth dot Com.
Get on a free q and a no obligation to
invest QNA with our tax smart wealth Advisors, let's band
together build some wealth. You need a vision for your finances,
why not give Blaine Anderson and his screw a call
and get your finances in line with that vision today?
(00:34):
It is so for little college football segment. We talked
a lot of BYU football, will continue to do that
with Camp Koalani conversations occurring in this college football segment.
Get a welcome in a former BYU wide receiver to discussion.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Also, he's one of our sponsors.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Shout out to Utah Protective Films Utah Protective Films dot Com.
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the fan when you head on over for a Wrap
(01:30):
ten or Chrome delete. Let's welcome in former BYU wide
receiver five to ten, one hundred and eighty pounds the
hometown of Promo, Utah via Ricks Junior College. Let's welcome.
In the speech they're with big old hands. We got
Jared bledsoe he wrapped numbered zero that swagger right there.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Zero.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
I would like to say I really did rep number zero,
but that's because they didn't put me in at my
real number of eighty six. What what I don't know.
I don't know why this I saw that one. Ti'm
like number zero zero, man, I don't even think you
could play number zero back then.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
They didn't put that. I'm going to talk to Kenny,
Kenny about this. I'm gonna have to, you know, submit
the real number number eighty six.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Jared Pledge. I love that they put the number zero
on there.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I saw that reason look at that picture, look at
that beautiful.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Jaw line, and it was that was the best. That
was a good time back then. Man, it was great. Yeah,
I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Favorite memory of bing b YU football player when you
were down there. This was post ninety six, so ninety seven,
ninety eight seasons, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Yeah, Liberty both delibertable for me back. Yeah, bro, I
grew up a fan as a kid and watched every
every game I could see, uh and and every bowl game.
And having the opportunity to to be there and and
actually get on the field and the Liberty Bowl and
was something that I just dreamed about my whole life.
(02:57):
So it was great. Really really enjoyed my time at
by you Indeed you did.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I still connected to the program, hanging out with your
former teammates and talking with it.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Who do you keep a contact with down there at
b YU.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
So it's it's it's really fun now since almost the
entire staff played in nineteen ninety eight, I mean from
Geno and then then I've got my connections at Rick's
College with Jay Hill and but I mean Gennaro, uh
Kilanne a Rod Justin and and uh Kevin Gilbrid Kevin
(03:35):
Gilbrid was was that was a scout in quarterback is
a left handed quarterback?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Is great and you know, so it's just great.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
It's fun to walk over and just hang out and
the brothers and it's yeah, you just feel welcome to
be back.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And and so it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
It's fun to get over there and and and catch
practice and see where the guys are going what.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
It's just amazing. I can't believe it's almost thirty years.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
But where we were at in the fieldhouse, Lavelle's little office,
our little football ops on.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
What they have today, you know, walking in talking to Shirley.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
I mean, yeah, I mean it wonderful, wonderful person and
and uh and you think back to when it was cold.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Where did we play. We were in the fieldhouse on
the carpet, on.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Our carpet or orange.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
We're running on.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
That basketball court, you know, I mean it just so
the facilities were and everything they have and and I
was talking to our new equipment manager and.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It was great.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
By the way, you scored Josh Wire, Josh is amazing,
and letting him know how how hard it was.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
Mick was like one glove in, one glove out, one
sock in, one sockout.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Like you.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Yeah, you didn't have two pairs of cleats because if
you didn't turn the cleat in, you didn't.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Get a cleat, you know. So it was Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Now they walk in and it's like fourteen pairs of cleats,
ten pairs of shoes.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
It's good stuff. Oh, it's awesome.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Now, Yeah, Mick, I had Mick, and I love Mick
McK hill, but yeah, he.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Ran a touch ship man. Finally, when I was a senior,
I got some. I had a few.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I had a little bit longer leash. I could get
a few nicer things, a few more.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
You get hand your gloves to a kid and not
get yelled at for not coming back with it.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Jared Bledsoe here, the owner of Utah Protector Films, former
b YU wide receiver, talking from Camp Killaani b YU Football. Uh,
how are you feeling about the team this year? By
the way super optimistic. I I you know, the whole
rat soft thing was difficult. You know, we dealt with
a lot some of that in ninety eight with Ronnie
Jenkins and Hashi Robertson and uh mixed feelings on on
(05:41):
somehow how this process.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
How it operates, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I'll tell you this though.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I was I was talking with the general manager BYU Football.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Yes, the way he presented the honor code to me was,
this is a safeguard if you followed this honor code
while you're here at b Y, you you are. It's
a safeguard against so many different things that could ruin
your crew.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Yeah, after BYU, during and after during And I thought
about that a different perspective.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I never really took it into that perspective.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
And and I really like how they're presenting that that
it's really going to protect you through your career at
b YU and after.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
You know, we always talk nil, right, It's like, if
you want nil deals at BYU after b YU, it'd
be wise to obey the honor code. You're not going
to get into nearly as much trouble. You're more marketable,
you're more monetizable.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Especially within the BYU market.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, but even afterwards, like yeah, there are certain personalities
out there that can get away with things and still
get brand deals. But most of the products services major
brands from minor brands, mid brands.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
They want to align.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
With individuals that are not doing crazy things off the field,
off the court. Yeah, they're going to pick apart your
past a little bit before, like are we getting align
with you before we get the money right? So that's
what name image off is all about it. So I
do think it is a safeguard. I I I tend
to when I'm chatting with recruits, I said, look, there's
distractions right in life that take you away from the
(07:20):
best ROI where you get it the best ROI, it's
typically you know, taking care of your body, eating right,
sleeping right, not going out and partying, not delving into
the drama of uh that that that that can can
ensue when you're in a chaotic environment or a chaotic relationship.
(07:41):
So hey, simplify sacrifice, shop success, block out those distractions.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I think the autic code does that.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
It's all about that action of all bad that business.
If you're about that business, come get the business deals done.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
But you know and then back to the back to
the team itself.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
This year, I spent a couple of days at practice
and and and enjoy seeing what they're doing. I feel
like with with the coaches that I talked to on
the on the outside looking in and having had conversations
with them on different years, there's some more relaxed going
into the season this year than I've seen them in
(08:15):
the past, where even even with other quarterback battles, you know,
where the coaches just really trying to pay attention, really
highly focused.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Not to say that they're not highly focused this.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Year, but there's a different confidence.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah, And I haven't watched these guys go through their
coaching careers, and it's a difficult career, it's not, no,
and so I'm happy to see where where these guys
are at. And when I talked to them, there there's
a lot of optimism with the guys that we have.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
So you're a wide receiver, that's what you did. You
caught footballs from quarterbacks. That's all you did all day,
every day growing up. Okay, what do you like about
these three quarterbacks? McKay Hill, State, Tracy Borgay, bear Bachmeer.
What stands out to you about their individual skill sets.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
And so from what I have seen, I like the
mobility that McKay offers, and and he does a great ball.
It doesn't he really really does. I'm not super concerned
about his height, you know. I don't think that that
factors in as much as people outside of football maybe
look at it. The guy's been playing with tall linemen
(09:22):
his entire life.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Sky Ridge has some big dudes. He played at Utah State.
Looked fine there. As far as getting the ball out,
I'm sure that you get some batted balls down even
if you are six two six three six four quite honestly.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Yeah, Yeah, it's more of the defensive line than making
a play and being in.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
The right spot to bat that thing down.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
And you see guys in the NFL that have played
long careers and not having the height. So I don't
look at that as a disadvantage at all. He knows
how to play at his size. Uh, Trace And I
I don't know much about Tracey. I haven't seen a
whole lot other than the few practices, and and he
can he can run. I've seen him break something than
people give him credit for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yeah, Bear.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Lots of unknowns, but what he brings and having come
in from junior college and having to learn an offense
at Norm Chow's offense, which was not the easiest offense
to learn. Uh, I think Aaron Rodericks' offense is just
if not more difficult to learn because there's so much
more entailed in it and to watch him make plays,
(10:21):
make reads. Maybe the ball isn't perfect on some of these,
but he is making the right read and making the
right throw. And I just look forward to see what
he can do when they let him run, you know,
and actually play and scramble and see if the guys
can actually take him down.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Because he's a big kid.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Six two two twenty five. I mean, he looks thick,
and he can run, he's nimble. You bring up a
good point. A Rod stated that he's told these quarterbacks
he does not want them to scramble. He wants them
to stay in the pocket, make the right reads, try
to throw the ball on time, and at the last
resort scramble right last resorts scramble. But he's trying to
(10:58):
keep him in the pocket, trying to make them play
traditional football rather than backyard football.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, but give him.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
But let's get in a game where the opportunity arises
and they see that hole and yeah, that's that's where
I'm excited to see.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So I don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Some people would say McKay because of his uh, his speed,
his quickness, his agility, is uh is going to be
the better runner. Bear Bachmeyer is a good runner. He's
six two to twenty. Right, what have you seen as
far as escapability and running ability?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I know it's been limited, but any idea, they're.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
They're both quick.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
I mean they're both they both can find the opportunity
to make it through the hole when they need to.
And uh, yeah, what a battle. I mean two years
in a row. You know, you get too great now
that I actually message Gary, I said, if we might
be able to petition and bring him back, let's go.
I sure wish I could.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
But if Gary was on the roster, would he be
the guy? Yeah, it wouldn't even be a question. Yeah
he would. I think that was such a close deal
last year. And uh but yeah, it's it's gonna be
a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
You know, I would be more concerned if we didn't
have such an experienced receiving corps an experienced tight end
and a line that line. You know that although they
haven't all worked together in game situations. I mean, you
look at Gentry, come on, you know, he said, he's
like reminds me of John Tate when we played you know,
a leader. You look at him and you just want
(12:28):
to listen. You know, the guy's intimidating and he's out
there playing. You know, he's played with the best. He
has won at the highest level, and you can't replicate
that without bringing it to the table.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So what he brings to the team.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Is it's just a whole other level of winning, you know,
and and so it's it's tona be funny. Then you've
got the running backs, you know. I I hope the
NBA will make some decisions pretty soon. Regarding a Falow.
I would love to have him back. Man, it would
be huge to have Hinkley back.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Falow would be a boon for BYU this year. I
love l J. He's transformed, He's different. His top end
speed has been much improved. He's ripped now, he's actually
like defined. I'm like, bro, Like before I'll be honest,
like thick dense, I would say he was like, you know, defined.
Then all of a sudden, I see this, he's some definition.
(13:21):
He's yeah, okay, I see you, bro, He's gonna.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Have a great year. Cody Hagen okay, so.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
I my eyes were on him last year, just kind
of when you played that spot and you see him
run his routes and they're like, this kid's quick for
for us. From ninety eight Ben Horton okay, So Ben
had those same quick quitch muscles where it was like
he'd run a he would run a curl route and
when he broke down, it was two steps out of
(13:48):
his break.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I couldn't I couldn't even figure out, like, how do
you do two steps and stop and get out of
your break? That's what Hagen does. I saw it.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
I mean today he made an amazing catch over the
middle behind him, had to jump back, but his quickness
in and out of breaks. People are going to be
blown away by what this kid can do. I loved
number five.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
For those that are trying to find him on the
on the field, look for number five.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
And then of course I mean Chase Parker. You know, Jojo,
you can't go wrong with any of those guys. Yeah,
you know so, But yeah, I think Cody Hagen's gonna
turn some heads this year. I'm interested to see tiger
back Mayer. You know, I watched some of his stuff
at Stanford, And and where is he going to fit in?
I know he's going to play where you're going to
fit him into this this rotation.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
But what a deep receiving core we have.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
And so as a quarterback you're going into that with
all the confidence in the world in your group running backs,
your line got a great tight end transfer. Uh you know,
so you couldn't There's no way you can't look at
the team and see potential. And that's just the offense,
the defense. You know what Jay has been able to do.
(14:58):
You know, I love Jay I he was he was
that guy. I think I've told you before we'd run
one on ones, the hype man. He's in your face.
You always wanted to run against Jacs. He was the
best player, and when he made a play on you,
he would rub in your face and you wanted to
make a play on him, you know. And that same
energy is on the field every day, you know. And
and uh, Gennaro Guildford, that's if you that when that
(15:22):
kid walked in him and Trey to me, looked identical,
real skinny, just amazing athletes and and he brings that
energy as well. And I I justin Enna. Yeah, what
a great group, you know, and and what they've been
able to do that defense.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I it's amazing.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
I don't remember in as as long as I've met
a BYU fan having such an exciting playmaking defense. But
we had the number five defense in the nation with
Rob Morris, Jason Walker. He led the it was our
free safety who led the UH the country and interceptions
for a while that year. And I still did. Watching
(16:02):
this defense fly around is amazing. I love that breakdown.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
You mentioned the wide receivers we discussed yesterday with the four,
five and six wide receiver spots will go to Cody
Hagen was brought up, Tat Nakula, Reggie Frish, Frish connect Uh,
the Weaber State transfer, Tiger Bachmeyer, le Mason Waller, Dominique
McKenzie another legacy player UH. And then you have others
that are more walk on type, our own way, Keela
(16:28):
Ke and Trey Roberts, the brother of Chase Roberts. But
you know that that battle, to me is very intriguing.
Four five and six you mentioned Cody.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Cody's got to be in there.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Yeah, there's no doubt, right, Like I saw Cody. I mean,
I've been high on Cody for a long time. In fact,
first day of fall camp, I'm like, Ronnie, go go
interview Cody Haign because that dude, he's gonna be a dude.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
He's gonna be.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
What we did we interviewed him, was fantastic, great kid
as a returner. If you can get him on the
are you gonna put him at kick return of part
return because.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
Parker Parker's gonna Parker is gonna put return. Parker is
gonna be a number one kid. But with that ability
to just change directions that quickly and to be that fast,
he's hard to tackle on a on a on a
punt or a kickoff.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
And I'm sure he was the return guy in high school,
right I.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
I I don't know if he did return kick return
off to pull up his max Prep stats because Corner
Canyon was so.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
Many guys, right, They may not have because he played
with Jackson Dark.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
They had so many guys, so I don't know how often.
I mean, they may have had him as the punt
returner kick returner, but he was so productive offensively. I
think he had like it seemed like he had over
like a hundred receptions thousand yards in high schools insane.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
To add the little tidbit when I caught up with
he mentioned Parker Cody as some of the guys for kickoff. Yeah,
Parker and Cody, who do you kick it away from?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
You know?
Speaker 5 (17:56):
And well they'll kick it to Cody, try to kick
it away from Parker until they realize is that that
he can return the same thing.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Bro, do you remember Tim Dwhite? Tim Dwhite, Tim Dwight
Atlanta Falcons like the fastest. Yeah, yeah, he was a
kick yeah yeaheah. I'm like, you got Parker and Cody
Bank there, man little well that that was like the
Ronnie Jenkins of my day.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
So, so, Ronnie was the fastest football athlete I've ever
played with.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
He he was hit a whole two steps full speed, right.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
I mean, I don't know if you know his background
in California when he rushed for seven hundred and something
yard still holds that record.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Uh, but uh in the NFL, that's what he did.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And I remember in an overtime game at the Chargers
and it was a kickoff and they put him back.
Nobody else and everybody up for it, and it was
and he he ran that thing back to the other
forty four yard line or something like that.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
It almost broke it to winning. It was, you know,
but that kind of when.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
You have a special teams that that can make plays,
it changes the entire game.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Yeah, it does, you know, the dynamics and that that
that kind of leads me into that the philosophy that
many bau Fans have had heading into the season is
that even without Jake and question marks surrounding the quarterback position,
the defense, and the special teams unit, they're great to
even possibly elite, they can win football games this way.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, I will throw out.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
So not only did I play receiver, but at Rick's College,
we didn't have a punter, right, so I punted.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
In high school.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
So we did punting tryouts, right with coach Ron Hahn
to have a punter, we're gonna punch tryal So I
became the punter. We threw three fakes for ninety five yards.
I was three for three, three first downs as a quarterback.
Running fakes change the game, change the opportunities that we
had for our offense. And for our team and watching
(19:46):
what the special teams did last year, you know, replacing
keeling tough. But I think when I see Cody and
when we know what Parker can do these guys is
these guys are going to do really well.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And then then the blocking U up front, as you know,
that's the key.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I mean, these guys could run all around the field,
but these guys aren't setting up that line and getting
to the sideline, and uh, they wouldn't be making those touchdowns.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
So love that sounds like you're pretty optimistic win loss
prediction for the regular season.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
What do you got and why?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
How you feeling tough? On how you feeling eight and four?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Nine and three?
Speaker 5 (20:20):
I mean ten two? We have the potential to run
ten and two. I think that that would be an
an amazing year. I wouldn't be disappointed at nine and three,
but I think we're better than eight and four.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Wow, I think we have over under right now or sorry,
the win total for per Vegas for six and a half.
So you like the over obviously and getting two and
a half doesn't make sense to me. Well, I mean, look,
b yu is uh and I actually like this? Yeah, underrated?
Typically I would much rather have that. I'd rather be
(20:54):
doubted than than overhyped.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I agree, I agree, I just disagree with that with
the stat Yeah, but I.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Think that and Clonie's really good at bringing that energy
of the they think that they're that were this and
let's prove who we really are. And then they had
that that going last year for him, you know, and
I'm it is nice that you can come in like
that and and being underrated is it's fun to win
and prove people wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Love that.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Jared Bledsoe, owner operator of Utah Protective Films. Let's talk
a little bit on what you do over at Utah
Protective Films. What services you provide. I've mentioned this fifteen
percent off guys, all you listeners out there that need
window tinting, chrome deletes or wraps, and these are all
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(21:41):
diligence on it. But tell us a little bit about
Utah Protective Films.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Yeah, so we our main product is paint protection film
for automobiles and windows tint ceramic windows tent. The heat
rejection is phenomenal, but Yeah. We we opened this shop
January of twenty four. We've we've got the ideal Low.
We're right next to the Tesla dealership and Pleasant Grove
right off the freeway, and we're lucky to be the
(22:06):
contracted Tesla Expel dealer here in Utah County.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And it's been great.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
I've always wanted to come back from southern California and
bring the business here with the connection I have with
with having BYU, with having grown up with in Provo,
and so it's been really fun, really fun to be back,
really fun to make new connections. And then it's been
exciting to be able to do things for the players
(22:33):
now and.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
So especially that yeah, with Nil and being able to
create some synergies there.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yeah, so it's good. Business is good and we're happy
to be here. And yeah, we'd love to take care
of your cars. You know, so Windotent ceramic coatings, paint
protection film. We have about one hundred and fifty different
colors of color paint protection film.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
And yeah, give us a shot and give us a
chance to earn your business.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
And absolutely mentioned ESPN and the fan and so we
can give you that discount. I'm happy to give the discut,
even if we've had two customers calling I heard you
on on on on Ben's show, and and I don't
need the discount.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I'm like, you're going to get it though.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, that's your thing that I tell people.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
I'm like, look like Jared gives back to the players,
the coaches. He's heavily invested. He's there right, he's lifting
where he stands. So like, give Jared an opportunity if
you're in the market for any of these services, give
Jared an opportunity any business. That's all I'm asking. Uh,
that's what we do here at ESPN the Fan. I'm
a former Cougar myself. I like to support former Cougars
(23:33):
that you know, blood, sweat and tears, gave that to
the program and continue to give back.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
So that's all I'm asking.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Utah Protective Films, Utah Protective Films dot com. Let them
know I Sencha mentioned ESPN the Fan mentioned myself. Head
on over to Utah Protective Films dot Com. There and
a pleasant grove. Give him a call, and Jared's going
to take care of you. No offense or us about it. Yep,
love it. Eight oh one, eight hundred ninety seven six seven.
That's eight one, eight hundred and nine seven sixty seven.
Well can coued to chat with you, Jared throughout the
(24:01):
fall camp and throughout the football season. Thanks for hopping
on today. Thank you my guy, Jared Blachell. We'll take
a brief time out, don't go anywhere more to get
to on a August eighth edition of Cougar Sports.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Here on it's time to celebrate the previous team sport
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Speaker 2 (24:18):
For all the glory on the grid.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I let's talk some college football on Cougar Sports with
Ben Cripple.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN the Fan.
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welcome in the CEO and Big Cougar sports Fan in
Cougar Sports Insider. We got braidon Day on the line, Braidon,
(25:29):
how you live.
Speaker 6 (25:30):
In I'm doing awesome?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
How are you guys doing doing fantastic? Camp Koalani is underway.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
We got football to discuss twenty twenty five the seasons here, brother, I.
Speaker 6 (25:40):
Know it's the best. Oh Man Football's in the air,
greatest time of the year by far.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Who's your favorite quarterback right now, Braidon, are you? Are
you team Hillstead, Team Borge or team Bachmeier.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
I don't know, Ben, This is so hard. I go
back and forth every day. I think I'm probably I
think I'm team Hill said. I think from the clips
I've seen from practice and just you know, some of
the rumors scroll around. I think McKay's doing a really
good job. I think Bear's doing better than a lot
of people expected him to do. So I think I'm
probably team hill said. With team B being team.
Speaker 7 (26:16):
Bachmeyer, Braden, whoever starts the season at quarterback, do you
believe they will finish the season at quarterback or will
it be someone else?
Speaker 6 (26:27):
So, oh, that's a good question. So here's here's my
thought on that. I've heard people say, well, let's have
hell said start until Bear's ready, and then we'll have
Bear take it because he has a higher upside, And
I don't like that take because this schedule play the
way the schedule plays out, I think if you're gonna
let Bear play if he's if you're planning on starting
him at some point in the season besides injury issues,
(26:47):
I think you start the game one because you have
the first three games that are games that could get
him ready for the later parts of the season. But
if all of a sudden, you first the first game
reps you give him is in conference on purpose, I
just don't see how that's a benefit thing. So I
personally think unless obviously if there's like I don't think
we're gonna have the same starter all year, just because
the statistic show that we're gonna have injuries enough that
(27:08):
somebody can have another starter. But I don't think they
should plan on starting one like the Tanner Mingam Zach
Wilson thing, where it was like, yeah, Tanner's gonna start,
but if an any point Tenners are struggling, we'll throw
Zach in.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
I don't.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
I hope that's not the case of this one, because
if you think Bear's gonna be the guy, our independent
schedules work that way. The new schedules in the Big
Puff don't work that way. The new news schedules. We
should have our guy. If we think he could be
the guy by the end of the year, let him
be the guy from.
Speaker 8 (27:34):
The first of the year.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Yeah, I'm with you on that one. You invert a
little bit with strength of schedule. You should be five
and one, no matter who the quarterback is through UH
through six games UH this year, whereas during Independence you
were going through a Gauntlin preseason or pre you know,
so you know the first.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Four or five six games.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
So I'm with you on that one Brandon day we
get into more of this talk. I've been discussing this
with Cougar fans, like in twenty twenty four was a
remarkable season, a favorite season amongst many in Kugarnation. Did
you have a favorite moment as a fan in twenty
twenty four?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
You know, did you have a favorite moment?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
What was it?
Speaker 6 (28:16):
I think that Kansas State game was so fun. It
was so great that I had one one of my kids.
I have triplets, and one of the triplets game with
me in that game. And he's only five, but he
remembers it like crazy. He talks about it all the time.
It was just one of those cool experiences. It was
crazy loud, so that one probably up there. The Oklahoma
State game was really fun also just with the the
(28:37):
great finish, But I would probably say Kansas State was
my favorite favorite given the season. Favorite moment.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
See this goes to show that Kugarnation is maturing at.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
A high level.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Because I put this out there on social media and
there are some that picked the Utah game.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
But many did not. Many picked yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
The Kansas State game or in and he picked other games.
Thought it was interesting, we're maturing, guys. This is a
good this is a good shign.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
I was gonna say Utah, but I knew you wanted
me to say something else. Now as kidding, I definitely
I loved the Utah game, and I always want to
beat Utah. But I've never been one that believes that
I'd rather go one and eleven and beat Utah than
going eleven and one and losing to them. I've never
been something like that, Like I I'd rather win the
rest of the games, and if that game is always
gonna be a toss up and things gonna happen.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
So you also, I don't think you want Utah to
be like like, we don't want that to be our
super Bowl, right Like BYU wants to have other games
that matter, And if you pick Utah every time, then
it's like, all right, well, Utah's your super Bowl because
you're not that good.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
That's not the case with the U. But what's interesting
when you pose that question.
Speaker 7 (29:43):
I was curious to see what Brayden would say, and
then the more I thought about it was Okay, you
could pick Oklahoma State because I was at that game
and the fourth quarter finish was incredible.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
You could pick Utah. You could pick Kansas State.
Speaker 7 (29:54):
Again to punt return, everything involved with Kansas State, big
new kickoff was there that day. Or you could even
pick Colorado and taking down Dion and Travis Hunter and
Shodari Sanders. And it's just incredible to think that there
are so many memories that you could have from last
season and say that's my favorite one and no one
(30:14):
could really argue you.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
Yeah, it was. It was such a fun year. I'm
a little bugged at some of the fans right now
with we're trying to now that Jake's gone, and we're
trying to talk about how well last year's team was,
like because we're losing seven starters on defense also, and
we're kind of downplaying what they were and what they did.
And I don't think that has been mutual excusive to
be able to be positive about this year. I can
still look and see how good we were last year
(30:39):
and how amazing the season.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Was for US.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
So I love what Jake Retsloft did for us last year.
I love what Isaiah Vanya and that, you know, all
the defensive linemen with John Nelson and Blake Mangleson and
I was obviously tyled batty, but I think, yes, we
may have upgraded in talent, but that doesn't mean last
year wasn't incredible. It was so fun.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Brydon Day see Odeon men's were here talkings of Cougar football.
Who are going to be the most impactful players on
this year's team?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Do you think Brandon and why?
Speaker 6 (31:11):
I think offensively, I think l J is going to
be super impactful. I think it's as long as he
can stay healthy. Like I think the run game in general,
I think him MOA and then if Kinkley gets cleared,
I think, you know, Preston Rex, I know they's been
talking about that. I think he could be something there.
I think those guys on really the running game is
(31:34):
gonna We're gonna depend on that. And then obviously the receivers.
I don't know honestly everywhere on the On the offense
I think is kind of We've got some studs, but
also it's unknown. I think you have to say Isaiah
Glaster and Jack Kelly on defense, I think you're gonna
end up seeing CLIs Era play similar to them, and
you're gonna say that by the end of the year.
But I think ConA Tonavas is going to be the
one that is the biggest difference maker from what we
(31:56):
had last year to this year. Is the chaos he's
gonna create. I think our eventsive lineman last year did
really good in their jobs of bringing up space for
the linebackers and playing within the scheme. I think Kana
can do that, but I think he's going to create
more chaos from the d tackle spot than we've had
in years and years and years.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Who's the most underrated underappreciated guy on the roster right now?
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Offensive or defensively? You could pick.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
Both if you'd like, Oh, underrated.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Underrated, underappreciated right now, it's gonna be balling out for
the break up.
Speaker 6 (32:31):
That is a tough question. I think I'm gonna go
Tanner wall Hm. I think I think from the he's
under underappreciated or undervalued. From the keen side, obviously he's
a captain like this, but the fans, I don't think
we talked about Canna Wallberry as much as we should like.
I think he's a really, really good player, and I
(32:51):
think he's probably the most underappreciated just because he doesn't
have the stars. He was a walk on who played
offense and then came out of the defense, so we
just don't count him like we would if he was
a same exact play. But he was a higher recruit
in high school.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
Great pick, I'd agree with that one. I think he's
very much underappreciated, underrated on this roster.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
No censor butch about it.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
As we get closer to the season and you've you've
been able to you know, view reports, connect with your
other insiders, and as well as maybe get eyes on
some of these guys down at practice. Braden, Uh, what's
your win lost prediction for the regular season?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Where do you stand right now?
Speaker 6 (33:31):
I mean I drink the koolaid and I have the
thickest bluegoggles in the world, So I we're twelve, We're
twelve and zero until we're not. Like that's just the
way it is for me. Well, like realistically, if I
had to put money on it, I would say I
think we're an eight or nine win team. Like that's
a pretty good goal to have this year, and I
think we could. I wouldn't be surprised if we, you know,
(33:54):
won ten or eleven. I wouldn't be surprised if we
won seven or eight. I think seven is probably low.
I think we're probably more. I think eight or nine
is really where I sit.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Eight or nine I like it.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Hey, look, if you if you get eight or nine
wins regular season, you get to know if it's nine
and three and you get to ten in a bowl game,
to me, that'd be a tremendous season.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Tremendous season.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
A lot of people are like, nah, man, you know
what's interesting is over the last sixty years, I think
BYU fans, we've gotten a little bit spoiled, right. We
expect quota. Quota is eight wins in a season. If
you don't get eight wins, you failed. It's an f
You know what I mean? Am I right in that?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
If you don't get day wins, it's not bowl game.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
It's not bowl game. It's eight wins for kugarnation. Otherwise
it's a failed season.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
And that's how it was a Bronco. I mean, people
got so stagnant Bronco because he was just winning eight
or nine games every year, and that just wasn't enough.
They wanted some sort of a higher ceiling. And I mean,
I love and I'm glad we we've got what we've got,
but I do think Kugarnation it's a little on the
spoiled side, and expectations are a little high naturally. I
do think this year we have the talent to win
aight nine games, and I think that's a pretty normal
(35:10):
goal for that for the team where we're at, and
hopefully obviously there's a big twelve such an up and
down league with competition wise, but I do think in
the conference that we're in, with the competition we're playing,
we can't keep our expectations where they are always. I
do think the high expectations they'll lead to now it
finally is coming around with the investment on the back
(35:31):
end from bau Site is now getting there, so I'm
hoping that the resources now match up with the expectations.
So we actually can't expect that, and it's a realistic
expectation rather than what it's been for the last forty years.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Jerem Jordan I Guess earlier today stated that if the
quarterback race is even close, go with Bear Bachmeyer. I
think you were leading that way that direction as well.
If it's even close, do you go with the Bear Bachmeyer.
Let's say you know McKay Hillstead, you know just the
nose better, you know a little bit better than Bear.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Do you go? Do you go McKay or do you
go Bear?
Speaker 6 (36:11):
I'm I'm totally. I'm not any saying like, if they're
equal or some similar to equal, then you go with Bear.
I'm more than If you think Bear could be better
by the middle of the year, you go with Bear now.
But if you if you think that McKay is is
a little ahead, you go with the guy who's gonna win.
They are the most amount of games up front. But
I just don't want the whole Let's start McKay with
(36:33):
the option of Benjing in for Bear later in the year,
because because that's probably where Bear's gonna be by that time,
just because I'd rather have him get his feet wet
and learn through the easy part of the schedule. But
if if McKay's leading, let McKay win. I want to
win over anything else. I want to win, so whatever.
But I was gonna give us the best likelihood of
winning now is what I want. So if that's McKay
(36:53):
goes with McKay.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
I think the concept here for b YU fans is like, look,
I'll take a loss versus stance if I can get
a win versus TCU.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
On the back end with.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Bear, I'll take a loss early in the season, two
losses all. I'm willing to go four and two on
the front end so I can go and I can
become you know in that four game stretch, right that
that four game stretch with that that is full of
of of great football teams and great football games that
(37:24):
you can win maybe three out of those four, right,
that's what they're saying they want to win.
Speaker 6 (37:30):
On the back end, yep, if it takes, if it
takes being rough and barely squeaking out of win to
Portland State, because we're breaking in a freshman who's going
you have the potential, who's pretty much there. You just
need some game experience. I'd rather squeak out a win
at Portland State to have him ready for later in
the year than not start him until we get into
conference play and then where he doesn't have the experience
(37:52):
he needs.
Speaker 7 (37:53):
Brandon, how patient do you think fans would be and
what I mean by that? Okay, So that that's my point.
So I don't know if you've watched any given Saturday.
It's the new SEC docu series on Netflix, and they
were going through last season when Graham Mertz for Florida
is walking onto the field and he has a crappy
first drive the for public games and all the fans
(38:14):
want a DJ Lagway because he was the five star,
he was the number one guy and he's and Graham
Mertz sucks the first two games as a six year
senior and all the fans are chanting DJ Lagway and
I just and obviously being a number one guy is
different than what Bear is, but I think the principle
of where both guys are is the same to that situation,
(38:35):
and I guess I'm just curious, Like I almost feel like,
whoever they start, if they don't perform, the fans are
gonna be asking, Like if Bear comes in the first
couple of weeks and shows his youth, I feel like
the fans are gonna be asking for McKay and vice versa.
If McKay goes out and he's not winning the game
in sexy fashion, and it's like a one or two
(38:56):
point game or loss or win every game.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
I feel like fans are gonna be wanted bear.
Speaker 6 (39:02):
Yeah, and I and I think one thing I think
a Rod has done well in the past and car
competitions and especially last year, is he didn't overreact with
a few mistakes, and I don't I hope he doesn't
do that again. The fan base will do that. The
fan base is going to overreact and they're going to
call for whoever is not the course. The GV two
is always the most popular, right, But I think last year,
(39:23):
you look at it after that SMU game, and I
was a Jake defender, but even I was kind of like,
maybe it's time to move to GBO, like let's let's
maybe think about this, and they didn't. And look at
what I'm obviously we didn't know that SMU was gonna
be a playoff team and all those different things, but
that if we would have just jumped ship, right then
maybe we don't have the special season we had last year.
And I'm glad he was patient and I hope we
(39:44):
do that. Whatever. If we decided McKay is the best
best fit, the best guy, let him play. He may
have some you know, hiccups, and there's gonna be things
along the way, but let him play unless like it
really is fifty to fifteen years coin flipping it. If
you feel like he's the best, let him show it
and let him some struggles. Because every quarterback you look
back at that, you look back at Jared, you know,
you look look at John Beck back in the day.
(40:05):
Like besides, Max Fall and Max Hall had such a
you know, good supporting cast, and this team has you know,
really good supporting guests. But everybody else had to struggle,
had to make mistakes, had to lose games because of
they were young. And I think that's fine. Let let
McKay struggle, Let Fair struggle if they come in, and
that's just fine. And fans are gonna call for call
(40:26):
for the next guy. But whatever, they're fans. We're all
we're all fans. We all complain and we all wine,
and that's just who we are. We care about We
care about nineteen year olds and how they perform perform
on the field more than other things in life sometimes.
Speaker 7 (40:38):
So if Gary Bohannon was still in school, would you
have him as your starter? You brought up I'm curious
I think again, that's uncontrary, not a conversation we can have.
But somebody brought that up and I heard it and
I thought, you know what are.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
They shared blood show?
Speaker 4 (40:56):
And uh, you know we were talking a little bit
with him Utah for films.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Have you met Jared yet? By the way, Branden, I
don't think so.
Speaker 6 (41:03):
I don't think it's better than person anyway, I've heard
him on the radio.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
I think, sure, No, he's fantastic.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
Yeah, you know, he brought up Geebo and we were
discussing that. I think I think most would pick Gibo.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
I'll be honest, I.
Speaker 6 (41:17):
Think I probably. I don't know. I think I think
having the upset long term is that that. That was
one of my things with last year with Jake, because like, hey,
if they are pretty equal, if you want to go
to the younger guy, if it's like exactly the same.
But I think whoever shows. My thing is I trust
the coaches. I've never been one to like something I've
learned through life pulse in my you know, in callings
(41:38):
in the church, in my positions that were things like
that is, until you understand how the sausage is made,
it's really hard to start questioning decisions because people question
decisions I make all the time, and if they understood
what was going into them, maybe they would have made
it better a different decision than I did. But most
of the time it's because you don't have the contact
on what's going on. And so, yes, Gibo might be
the guy, but I just trust that Aro to put
(41:59):
the right out there, whether it's Giebo, whether it's Nickay,
whether it's Bear, whether it's Trason. So I'm a pretty
trusting in the coaches guy of like, hey, if they're
if what they're seeing is what they're seeing, then then
go with the They know more about football than I do.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
So in closing out here, Brandon, appreciate you joining Gus.
You're the CEO of odeon Men's where give us some
of the deals that Cougarnation can take advantage of throughout
the football season and even right now in August.
Speaker 6 (42:26):
Yeah, so we've got a lot of things going on
right now. I've said this last few weeks, but we've
got this is wedding and missionary season, peak season for us.
So we've got our missionary packages like you mentioned earlier
on the on the read, and we try and make
it a one pop shop. We try and be all
of our employees are trained on you know, what type
of materials and what type of different products are best
for different climates on your missions.
Speaker 9 (42:46):
We try and be.
Speaker 6 (42:47):
That that expert for you in those fields, and we
have packages and pricing that really are hard to beat
in terms of when you're buying out everything in one spot.
And then obviously on the on the wedding side, we've
got amazing products there and help you look feel good
and do good for that, and we always got great
prices and we always do different both deals where if
you're paying a suit, you get the second one twenty
five percent off, anything like that. So it's a great
(43:08):
time to buy. This is a time that a lot
of missionaries and weddings are going on, so we're super
thankful this is our peak season.
Speaker 8 (43:13):
It's more busy or.
Speaker 6 (43:14):
Thankful for all of you that listen to the show,
that have trusted us, because it's been I'm a really
helpful thing for us.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Hammer's got a sports performance suit, Ronnie's got a sports
performance suit, Criddle's got a sports performance suit. It's a
game changer, it's a life changer, it's a Sunday changer
if you have to, if you when you reach over
to put on your seat belt before you go to church,
or if you're like I don't even want to wear
my coat in the car because it's too restrictive. I
(43:41):
can't put on my seat belt. You need a elevated
suit and elevate suit from Odeon Men'swear my guy Brighton Day.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
We'll see you again soon. Thanks for hopping off, brother,
Thanks for having guys go Kogies, Let's go. That was
a great segment.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
Want to remind you, guys, okay, want to remind you
that you you can head on over to espnfan dot
com right now for the Beat the Heat five hundred
dollars give card give away. I love rubies In. We
all love rubies In, and I love Bryce Canyon. I
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(44:18):
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five hundred dollars five hundred dollars gift certificate to rubies
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Speaker 3 (44:37):
We'll take a brief time out.
Speaker 4 (44:39):
Please don't go anywhere more to get to here on
your Utah ESPN Radio Network one O three, nine nine
to two point three, you.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Are listening to Cougar Sports with Ben Krittle and it's
time for.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
A Cougar Insider report.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Now, let's get that proprietary inside scoop on Cougar Sports
from Crittle.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Welcome back Cougar Sports.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
One O three nine ninety eight point three ESPN The Phantom,
then Krital Broncat sting from our Banterwillth Studios, Band Banterwealth
dot Com list band together, build well today, get a
vision for your finances. Let your money work for you
rather than you always working for your money. Let's invest today.
Band together with us, big BYU fans, competitive competent in
their field. Get on a free Q and A today
(45:17):
at Batterwealth Batterwealth dot Com.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
I got Brent always bringing the hammer by my side.
Speaker 4 (45:21):
Ronald the three man weaver in the house. We're gonna
get into a little Cougar insider report. Interesting news drop
earlier this week BYU Athletics launched gokoogs dot Travel in
partnership with Waypoint to support student athletes in the new
NC DOUBLEA era. Supporters of BYU Athletics can now create
(45:44):
a free account and access exclusive savings at more than
eight hundred and fifty thousand hotels worldwide. A portion of
every dollar spent through the platform goes back to support
BYU Athletics, cool outside the box thinking in the new
NIL transfer portal era. To discuss it all, let's welcome
(46:07):
in CEO of Waypoint. We got Matt Sanders on the line. Matt,
how that are you, buddy?
Speaker 8 (46:12):
Oh that's great, So grateful to be on. Thank you
for having me.
Speaker 9 (46:16):
It's a great, great time to be a Cougar and
we're thrilled for the opportunity to be working with BYU.
They're truly a class organization and setting the tone in
so many ways. You know, they've all eyes around the
country or on BYU and in a lot of ways
wondering how in the world are they pulling us off?
Speaker 8 (46:32):
And here's another example.
Speaker 9 (46:33):
They're just so great to work with, innovative and I'm
grateful Ben that you would have us on today.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
Grateful for you you're a BYU cougar, got your bachelors,
I believe from Brigham back in the day in the nineties,
went on to I think Harvard Kennedy School, and now
have been in the corporate business world and now part
of Waypoints team. Excited to watch this partnership between BYU
and Waypoints. So tell us a little bit about the platform,
(47:01):
what you guys were trying to accomplish in, what are
you know, and then we'll get into what our listeners
and our fan base are going to benefit from.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
All of this.
Speaker 9 (47:11):
Now, you bet I grew up a rabid BYU fan
in the land of Hans Olsen of all plays, we's
right out. I remember listening to radio with Paul James
up on top of a mountain to get signaled, and my, my, my,
the world of college sports has changed so significantly, And
(47:31):
just a couple of years ago I was looking at
these major changes of the NIL shock to the system
where we're in college athletes can be paid by outside parties.
And then the transfer portal, of course, made those short
term contracts and really uncertain, and then the House settlement,
the NCAA ruling is the one that we've had our
(47:54):
eyes on for a couple of years now, and that's
where we're targeting actually is working directly without departments to
help them kind of heal the breach of what they
have to now cough up every year, which is beginning
this year, twenty point five million a year of the
out of their athletic department revenue pay.
Speaker 8 (48:13):
Pay athletes directly.
Speaker 9 (48:14):
So that was the problem we were looking at, is
how do we go and and be a partner in
solving this this funding gap without beating donors to death,
without raising prices on student tickets, without putting qr cos
in the back of helmets like Oklahoma State did, and.
Speaker 8 (48:34):
All kinds of really interesting things that people have tried.
Speaker 10 (48:37):
We thought, what's a what's a resilient, long term solution
that we can bring that comes from a really, really
big spending pattern among fans.
Speaker 8 (48:49):
So that's where we started. That was a question like,
how do we solve how do we become.
Speaker 9 (48:53):
Party to solving this for BYU and others, And what's
a great, big spending a budget item that we can
go after.
Speaker 4 (49:01):
Well, it's I think the concept, the idea is sound.
I'm excited to see how this is ultimately effectuated. I
was reading through the press release Casey Staffer, who's over
you know the corporate B to B relationship between b
YU and and these these entities that want to lift
where they stand and align themselves with with BYU stated
(49:24):
this at BA, W are committed to solutions that reflect
our values of community, integrity and stewardship. He's the BA
Associate Athletic Director over corporate sponsorships. We're proud to be
pioneers in crowd commerce, inviting fans and alumni to make
a lasting impact through something they already do.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Travel.
Speaker 4 (49:44):
This initiative not only helps sustain or athletic programs, but
also supports our student athletes in this new era now
BYU fans they want to support the student athletes, they
also would like a little benefit. What what are we
talking about here as far as a discounts our turn
in utilizing gokoogs do travel.
Speaker 9 (50:04):
Yeah, the way that we've structured this is just a
quick tutorial. Traditional online travel agencies like Expedia, now, Airbnb
and others, they spend an awful lot of money to
try to track you to their website, the book and
to get you to come back. They spend between fifteen
and seventeen billion dollars a year to market to you.
(50:25):
So the math that we really worked out is really simple.
BYU and other universities already have significant loyalty, they already
have massive audiences. And so the way that we've structured
it is we brought together a platform that acquires hotel
nights at wholesale rates and then we mark those up
(50:46):
at less than typically almost always less than what you
would get on Expedia or some of the other platforms,
and those average seventeen percent and savings per hotel night,
but in some circumstances can be up to fifty percent.
I'll give you a personal example. My son was in
Denver for an internship.
Speaker 8 (51:07):
I went over to ski with them.
Speaker 9 (51:08):
I booked our hotel nights in Keystone, three nights of
hotels stay, and I saved enough in those three two
hotel nights to pay for his lift ticket. So they're
real savings and we're already using them. So so seventeen
to fifty percent. Sometimes the hotel that you're looking.
Speaker 11 (51:29):
At may be on par with the competitor, but we're
almost one hundred percent as good and most of the
time significantly better than others that you can see out there.
Speaker 8 (51:39):
So we deliver savings.
Speaker 9 (51:41):
Bas could committed to help their help their fan base,
committed to deliver savings while also being the fans get
to bless the life of BYU and student athletes.
Speaker 4 (51:52):
And so doing Yeah, what's the percentage that ultimately go
to the student athletes through I guess any sort of
NIO revenue through the athletic department.
Speaker 9 (52:03):
Yeah, that's up to b YU. That's up to the
Athletic department. What we are we become a funding source,
a revenue generating source into the athletic department budget. So
each month, whatever BYU fans spend via gokug dot Travel,
we cut a share. About half of our profits go
(52:25):
back goes to b YU in a check and then
they distribute that how they how they see fit, depending
on the contracts they have with the student outlets.
Speaker 8 (52:34):
But we have real hopes that this could.
Speaker 9 (52:36):
Become a long term, resilient, recurring revenue source for BYU
so that they can not only sustain the major revenue sports,
but also continue to stay committed to the other Olympic sports.
Speaker 4 (52:51):
Love this Cougar Nation go to go Koog's dot travel
and allow fans to book hotels and accommodation with exclusive
discounted rates while also giving back to bo athletics had
no additional cost, and with even modest participations one or
two per year, fan and alumni usage of the platform
is projected to generate a significant amount of revenue and
(53:14):
recurring annual, recurring annual revenue, so helping fund student athlete compensation,
program growth, and other department priorities. Because you know, with
Revgen and the House ruling, there is now a gap,
a void, a lack of twenty million in the in
(53:35):
the P and L statement, Now that Revgen statement from
all these athletic departments that have signed up to distribute
the twenty million dollars to their student athletes, they got
to figure out other ways to support their athletic department
and their efforts through NIO.
Speaker 8 (53:51):
That's exactly right, you know.
Speaker 9 (53:53):
The if you look at the overall gap among the
Key four university it's just a one point for a
billion dollar hole at those sixty nine universities including Notre Dame,
are facing this year. That's a and in all while
major universities are facing budget cuts, and so it's a
(54:14):
really uncomfortable moment for universities and the rise of the
digital era, METEA rites in the future aren't guaranteed.
Speaker 8 (54:22):
It's a different world that we're living in. So universities
have to find new revenue streams. And if you.
Speaker 9 (54:28):
Think about the scale of global travel, there are opportunities
even at small percentages.
Speaker 8 (54:34):
If we just can convert.
Speaker 9 (54:36):
Two percent of dyu's alumni global travel, that's about about
a trip a year for a BYU alumni, that's.
Speaker 8 (54:45):
About two million, two to three million a year in
revenue share that will flow to BUYU.
Speaker 9 (54:50):
So so the big numbers that you're dealing with, and
that's a good place to start, but it takes a
lot of a lot of twomitted cougars then to participate
so that those numbers get big.
Speaker 3 (55:01):
Love that, Matt, We appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 4 (55:04):
Tell us a little bit more about what Waypoint does
and what you do on the daily over at Waypoint.
Speaker 9 (55:10):
Yeah, it's really it's really a marketing technology company. H
We've structured it and it's going to get a little
bit geeky, but we've structured it as a multi tenant platform.
We've got a great technologist, a phenomenal partner, our CMO.
Scott Stevens came out of the world of building major
ad campaigns with the likes of Nike and has worked
(55:32):
with you know, Messi and and Lebron James and he's
down with the Rams right now finishing up a project
that he had still his ties into. So he is
world class and uh and he's at the heart of
what we call Loyalty Lab to work with universities to
structure and ide eate and create campaigns that will be attractive.
Speaker 8 (55:54):
To their their fan base and our technologists. Spencer Lee as.
Speaker 9 (56:01):
The one who's helped construct this for us through all
local guys and all couper fans, and so that's been
a lot of fun. As we grow each university we
add actually adds to the creative capabilities because dare I
say it a campaign that we run to attract BYU fans,
(56:23):
I can take that same campaign and go to the
University of Utah and and structure that for them same say,
you know, different colors, but the fan bases don't have
a lot of overlap and the weather they're spending money
on their schools, and so it gives us a lot
of efficiencies which also allows us to pass more profits.
Speaker 8 (56:40):
Off the university.
Speaker 9 (56:41):
So so what's called the multi tenant platform and uh,
and we're really happy with where we're where we are.
We can add a new school in about a day.
If they can move fast, we can move faster.
Speaker 4 (56:51):
Love it, well, appreciate you joining us to tell us
a little bit about the Goku Travel platform and partnership
with the Point and how these uh, these Cougar fans
can save some money on their travel. Also, shout out
to your son Josh. He's balling out it as you
is he not he.
Speaker 9 (57:11):
Is And and big thanks to you and your practice.
Speaker 2 (57:15):
Ben.
Speaker 9 (57:15):
You're you're a real pro in helping young athletes get healthy,
stay he stay healthy, get to know how their bodies work.
You're like the ultimate mechanic of human performance.
Speaker 8 (57:27):
Working with other partners in the in the area like
p One. You've been so good to Josh.
Speaker 9 (57:32):
And yeah, he's back from his mission in Columbia and
he's down there in full ball right now, first to
year freshmen, twenty one year old freshman.
Speaker 8 (57:40):
But he's having he's having a good camp. He loves
it down there.
Speaker 9 (57:43):
Love it.
Speaker 4 (57:43):
Can't wait to watch number eighty four ball out for
the t Birds. And UH and have a great career. Well,
we appreciate you. Thank you so much, Matt. We uh
will catch up with again soon. Thanks for joining us
for a little Cougar insadur report.
Speaker 8 (57:57):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (58:00):
All Right, we'll call that a segment, and we'd invite
you to head on over to go kougs dot travel
today to book all of your travel accommodations and give
back to Kugar Nation, give back to bo Athletics and
the BYU Cougar football team and all of the athletics
for that matter. All Right, we're going to take a
brief time out. Guys, don't go anywhere. Still a lot
to get to On a Friday, August eighth edition of
(58:21):
Cougar Sports, here on one of the three nine ninety eight
point three
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