March 25, 2025 • 26 mins
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you give a former NFL QB 2 hours of radio in one dau? This show makes that happen with former 12-Year NFL Veteran Scott Mitchell from 10-11am on ESPN 700 & 92.1 FM and 1-2pm on 103.9 & 98.3 ESPN The Fan. Scott w
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You were tuned of the Down in Jurney with Scott
Mitchell on Kall North Salt Lake k x R k
HD three, ESPN seven hundred and ninety two to one
a FM. This is the Down end Jurney with Scott Mitchell,
the Utah football legend and twelve year NFL veteran, on
Utah's number one sports Talk ESPN seven hundred and letty
(00:23):
two one AFM, A Cloud part of Utahs ESPN Rady on.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hello sports fan, welcome on in.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
This is the down of Dirty here with Scott Mitchell
on ESPN seven hundred ninety two one FM.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We've got an amazing show today.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
We've got coach Kyle Whittingham joining us along with Dan Pompeid,
longtime writer in the NFL. And I think I'm actually
winning the the March Madness bracket. I got fourteen of
the sixteen Sweet sixteen teams in. So this is a
good day. Good day to talk to none other than
Kyle Whittingham. Coach Whittingham joint this right now.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
How are you Kyle doing well?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
How you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Oh? I'm doing wonderful. I get to talk to you today.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's not every day I get to talk to you,
and I actually I actually really enjoy our conversations.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
So thank you, me too.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
I appreciate that. I agree.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So you finished your first year in the Big twelve.
What was your impression of the conference? What's your takeaway
from year one?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah, good question. I would say nothing really surprised us.
I mean, we obviously had the whole off season to
scout the teams and do the advance work on each
of the teams we've played. I think it's a physical conference.
You know, if you're comparing it to the Pac twelve,
maybe not as much perimeter speed and skill, but more
(01:49):
physicality in the box. Quarterback playing the Pac twelve the
last few years was just insane, and so there was
a little drop off there, you know, when you got
Caterblelliams and bow Nix and Pinnix and all the guys
that we faced and in the Pact, well that's the uh,
you know, the elite of the elite, and and so
so that was a little bit of a difference. But
(02:12):
but overall, I mean football's football offensive schemes maybe a
little more run heavy, but other than that, uh, you know,
you just got to line up and block and tackle
every week and that will never change no matter what
league you're in.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You know, I had to coach you one more games
than anyone in UH in football in the NFL coach Ula,
and that's what he said, he does. This game just
comes down to blocking and tackling. It's a simple game, right.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
No doubt, no doubt. It's all about fundamentals and and
of course the most important thing we do is recruit.
I mean, the players that you have or the are
the absolute most critical element. And then you get those
players and you teach them and develop them and make
them fundamentally and technique sound, and and you should be
successful if you can do that at a high enough level.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Obviously, how is that? How has that changed with Nil?
With the portal? Uh is your? Is your?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I mean, but you know, because for you, it's always
been about relationships and you have you have a player
that you're looking for, you know, the type that fits
in your program.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
How much of that has changed you're laughing at my question.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
That's because it's all it's all about Nil. I mean,
you know you still get the kids in your office
and their families and talk and talk about your program
and graduation rates and this and that. But the bottom
line is ninety percent of the time, they're going to
go where the where the money is. And if you've
got an offer, you know, if you're able to offer
the kid X, and then you know other school is
(03:42):
exceeding that by you know, fifty percent or whatever the
case may be, that's where they're going to go. And
so recruiting has now become you know, whoever has the
most resources in the NL space is going to get
the players. And that's just how it is. And you
look at the teams that are in the top ten
in recruiting every year, they're the teams, you know, with
(04:03):
the top ten biggest NIL budgets. I mean, that's that's uh.
And you can't really blame the kids. I mean, it's
it's life changing money for most of them. And they're
not gonna you know, they've never had most of it
or not most, but a lot of these kids come
from pretty meager existences with with you know, with their
families and and not a lot of not a lot
of resources. And and when you have a chance to
(04:25):
to make that type of money that they can make nowadays,
and and if it's you know, a million bucks at
one school and five hundred thousand another. Where are you
gonna go? I mean, it's it's it's almost without exception,
they're gonna they're gonna follow the money.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Is Is there some gamesmanship that goes on with kind
of you have this back and forth negotiation with these
players and it's like you maybe know the other team
that they're they're working against.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
You try to try to raise the price.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And then does it Does any of that happen in
the in the back room discussions of finances.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Yes it does. There there's a lot of gamesmanship to
it and trying to figure out what what the other
schools are offering and what what you know, what what
you hear is oftentimes not quite the you know reality,
and so you got to cut through a bunch of
the the bs, I guess you could say, and and
see where you know, see where you really need to
(05:19):
be at as far as the offer. And and that's
that's ongoing, and that's why we have everyone has general
managers now that that is their job. Their function is
to is to negotiate with the agents of these players,
because ninety five percent of them have agents now and
if they don't at the beginning of the recruiting process
they do before it's over with. You know a lot
of them, a lot of them will come in your
(05:40):
office and hey, we're we're not about nil. We're just
about this, this and that, and that's all fine and
dandy until you know, you get deeper into it, and
then almost invariably, it all turns to nil.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Like I said, how, how when you talk about these
general managers.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I know some some teams have hired, you know, former
NFL general managers.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I mean, how how important is that position?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And and is that something that you look to I mean,
it almost seems it would it would be the most
as important as a coordinator position or any any any
position you have on your in your on your staff.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Absolutely, and there's no doubt about it. They play a
vital role. And you better have a guy that is
very savvy and and very well connected and knows, you
know the agents and and knows how to deal with them.
And and uh, it's you're You're one hundred percent right
when you say it's as important as a coordinator spot.
It is. A coordinator is the coordinator of the personnel essentially,
(06:36):
And and it's a remarkable you know, some of these
guys are making over a million dollars a year, these
these gms. Wow, And that's that's how important it is.
You know, you always, you know, you put your money
where your mouth is. And and the GM position is
a very highly paid position at most schools. And uh,
you're right, there's NFL guys coming down to the collegiate
(06:57):
level to serve of those capacities.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
You just started spring practice.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I imagine it's got to be so exciting to get
on the field and just kind of get started.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
You kind of have a new direction this year.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
What's been your you know, your initial impression of spring
spring practice, well, very good so far.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I've we had two practices and both of them non padded.
Due to n C two A rules, you have to
have the first couple of practices just in helmets. But
we're putting in a new offense. We've got a new
offensive staff. For the most part, Jason Beck really excited
about what he brings to the table. The players are
excited about it as well. They've really embraced the new offense.
(07:38):
And now with the way the NC two A rules
have changed, you were able to have walked throughs and
so forth prior to spring ball. So we we've made
a lot of progress with the offensive install and getting
our guys up to speed prior to the first practice.
And we hit the field of the first practice, they
had been exposed at the entire offense and so we
(07:58):
obviously didn't run the entire office. It's the first day,
but it was very smooth. It could couldn't have been.
We couldn't have been as far ahead now under the
old rules because you just couldn't do it. I mean,
but now now with the way things are structured, like
I said, you have a chance to really spend more
time with them in the football space. Used to just
(08:19):
be you're in the strength and conditioning space with them
during that offseason. But when the n C two A
allowed you to to carve out some time for the
meetings and and the walk throughs, that really was a
big help.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So it's it's it's like OTAs then in the pros
where where they get to spend more time.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Is it enough? I mean, do you need would you
need more time after spring or is it? I mean?
Because I ye? Well but it's hard though, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I mean you changed you I mean you've changed fifty
percent of your roster or somewhere around that, and and
these guys need to get acclimated. It seems like that
the only way to do it is to get more reps.
And and I don't know, is it enough? Do you
do you think you need more?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
We could all coaches are always going to want more.
I mean, whatever the rules are, we always wish there
was a little bit more that we had as far
as access to the players and time to spend with them.
But you're you're one hundred percent right in the fact
that our roster, and I think a lot of rosters
across the country probably the majority, will be approaching or
exceeding even fifty percent of new players in the fall
(09:26):
as opposed to what they had the fall previous. And
so a lot of our new players are here already,
which is which is a big positive. They came in
at the mid at mid or mid year in January
at the break, but a lot of them are still
scheduled to come in the summer. And by the time
we line up in the fall and fall camp, we'll
have over half of our roster that's new. So you know,
(09:47):
that's that's a challenge in and of itself for a
lot of reasons, chemistry wise, for the team, schematics, and
we've had to streamline I guess is the right word
schematically what we do because when you get guys, you know,
get it's plug and play. You better have a system
that you can get these guys in here and teach
them in a short amount of time and be able
to get them to function quickly because because there is
(10:09):
so much turnover and and that's that's something that you know.
The Again, the change in the nty two rule, the
NCAA rules has allowed a little bit smoother transition in
that regard. But no longer do you have the luxury
of having complicated systems on both sides of the ball
and needing the players to soak in that system for
(10:30):
two or three years before they're ready to play. That's out.
It's it's hey, you get here and you be ready
to play, because because that's just the nature of the beast.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Now, does that affect the play? You think is the
quality of the game? Do you think it affects it?
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I think it does to a certain extent. And and
you know, we've made a living for years, you know,
with the development of players and we we go out
recruit the raw material and guys that maybe you need
to put on you know, thirty or four pounds or
whatever the case may be. They are quite ready to play,
but you know, get them, get them developed in a program,
(11:06):
and then two or three years later they're ready to go.
And and that is challenging now because like I said,
it's it's instant gratification. If these guys aren't playing right away,
they're almost immediately looking for looking for somewhere else, and
especially at the quarterback position. And there's a statistic where
I think it's sixty something percent of starting P four
quarterbacks are portal guys. You know, they did not come
(11:29):
up through the system of the pool and they're starting
at so and so it almost is to the point where,
you know, you know, why take a bunch of money
into a high school quarterback, because odds are you're going
to be playing with the transfer guy at some point.
And so, I don't know, there's it's still evolving and
there still needs to be well, I don't want major tweaks,
(11:53):
but some tweaks to the system and putting some guardrails
on the on the portal situation. I mean Essentially, you
have free agency twice a year in college, at the
end of the season in December, and then you got
to get after the end of spring ball in April,
and so you really don't know what your roster. You
build your roster twice a year, and you know, replenish
(12:15):
it and go hit the portal for guys that you lost,
and so there's so much transition. There's so much transition
where you used to have you get about one hundred
and twenty guys in your roster, and you might lose
twenty over the course of the year through graduation, everything,
and you get twenty new guys, and now it's fifty
plus new guys because of the the atrician and just
(12:35):
the way things shake out. And then the other thing
now that's coming into play this fall is roster size.
They're limiting the roster size to one oh five. Whereas
before everyone was right around one hundred and twenty five.
Some of the bigger schools had more players than that,
but we were always around one twenty five. And now
when you go down to one twenty, that kicks out
(12:56):
twenty walk on player opportunities. And not only is it
bad for the walk Ons, because there's there's far less opportunities,
but it makes it a big bigger challenge to practice
right and you've got to go to UH work. We're
going to go to a hybrid uh it's like a
college slash NFL hybrid system because you can't really have
full on scout teams to service the on the d
(13:17):
because there's not enough bodies, and so you're gonna have
to spend part of your time in practice servicing each other,
you know, where the one offense will be serviced by
the two defense and then flip flopped and and so
that takes more time to do that because you're not
you're not servicing each side of the ball simultaneously with
scout teams. And so that's presenting another challenge that you know,
the will be UH in the fall for the first
(13:40):
time ever. That's going to cause a lot of teams
to do things differently.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Well, that's that's really interesting. That's really interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Uh So I've noticed a trend in college football and
you talk about being you know, you have a you
have free agency twice a year, and and you have
and you literally could go anywhere, I mean, you go
to any program and you know players have the potential
to move. And I see, like a Bill Belichick who
spent his entire career in the NFL, all of a
(14:09):
sudden he's in college football and you see coach Prime
at Colorado and a lot of people are beckoning him
to go into the pro game. Do you think some
of these pro coaches are saying, wait a minute, like,
the only way I can get better is I hope
through the draft and if we can, you know, make
some trades and whatever. But we're limited with a salary cap.
(14:31):
Whereas in college football, if I have a donor with
a deep pockets or you know, I mean, you know,
resources are I could literally build and buy my own
team every year, and it almost seems like it'd be
easier in some regards in college football. Am I crazy
seeing this or do you think that's maybe some of
the thought process of someone like Bill Belichick going to
(14:51):
college football and Dion staying he has a.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Lot of truth and what you just said, and you're
absolutely right. If you get the reco then you can
build yourself a roster, you know, year by year and
really have you know, just a huge advantage over other programs.
And some of the programs have spent in excess of
thirty million dollars on their roster, and then some P
(15:19):
four programs have five million bucks, and so that I mean,
there's always been disparity. There's always been disparity. Some programs
have always had better facilities and bigger stadiums and that
type of thing. But in the past you were able
to overcome that a certain percentage of the time because
you know, it just depends what the player was looking for.
But now the common denominator is the cash. Everybody's looking
(15:40):
for that, and so the disparity is even harder to
overcome because you know, the almighty dollar is what's going
to ruin. And you know, you can talk about graduation rate,
like I said, winning, tradition, your culture, your environment, all
those things that used to be really strong selling points,
and they're just they all take a backseat to the
(16:02):
to the payday.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
So interesting, what do you try to get out of
spring practice? Like, what's your goal? What's if you could say,
may you know wave the wand oh this is what
I'd love to get out of spring practice.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Well, just the overarching goal is to make every single
player in your program better fundamentally and technique wise. That's
and that's something we talk about every year. It's something
I stress to our coaches. We're not We're not here
to outschem each other in the spring or try to
trick each other and get the upper hand. We're here
to make every player in the program better from a
(16:37):
fundamental and technique standpoint. And that's the bottom line, you know,
Like we said at the onset of this conversation, if
you if you don't have the fundamentals and techniques, and
then you're not going to win. And so that is
something that you really need to be paying attention to
and not trying to have your coordinators outdo each other.
And we we've got a really good staff here and
(16:58):
and Jason's a really good fit for what we're doing.
He's brand new, but that's always been how we've operated,
and our coordinators has been a really good job of
staying sticking to that and adhering to that philosophy and
not trying to sit there and game plan for each other,
because it's not about the game planning. It's about making
every player better. And I think that's something that we've
been able to do here.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I've been in situations like that where the offense and
defensive coordinator are battling each other and and they'll put
stuff in that they weren't supposed to. I know how
that how that all goes And yeah, it's kind of yeah,
that's the funny one. What what sold you on Jason back?
What was it that you said, Man, this is my guy.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Just watching the tape? First of all, I mean his
offense is so dynamic and multifaceted, and uh, just and
doing it without necessarily great personnel. Not not to knock
any of the personnel and the places he've been, but
they've been very prolific with guys that you know aren't
necessarily all blue chip recruits. I mean, they're just they
(18:01):
spread the field. It's a it's a spread offensive attack,
like ninety percent of the people are running nowadays. But
but there's just so many little wrinkles and and twists
that he's put on it, and uh it's you know,
it's very apparent. And every place he's been has seemingly
or been successful and and moved the football and and
(18:22):
uh so that was the number one thing. And then
of course you do a deep dive, you know, with
people that he's worked for and talked to them and
get input and you know, how how is he to
work with and this and that. So you do your
homework and you do a you know, you drill down
really deep as far as you know what he's done
in other places. And and when all was said and done,
it was you know, pretty much pretty much the obvious choice. Now,
(18:45):
he wasn't the first guy we offered the job too,
I would admit to that, but he was right there
in the top two or three. And and we came away,
in my opinion, with the best guy.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah. I've been very impressed with him so far.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
So yeah, and and and it's again, you know, with
the change and and just how you have to run
your system, it becomes such a even a more important
position that was as already very important. There's some talk
in in college football about not having spring football games
(19:19):
just because you don't want to expose your players to
being you know, poached. I mean, how much of a
concern do you have of you know, having open practices
or scrimmages or spring games, And how how much of
an impact really does that have on on players being
taken from the program.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Well, there is there is a certain amount of impact
in that and and truth in that philosophy. I guess
you could say and but you can't just yeah, you
can't be scared of everything. I mean, you gotta you
gotta develop your players, you gotta let them play and
and uh, you know, the shroud of secrecy that some
coaches are trying to create, I'm not really on board
(19:59):
with that. I mean, we we got to do our
thing and make our guys better and hopefully, you know,
most of them want to stay here and be a
part of what we're doing. But but it's inevitable that
a few guys will be poached, you know, at the
end of each cycle. But but I think what you're
going to see, Scott, I think you refer to the
spring game. I think spring football in and of itself
(20:20):
is going to go by the wayside the next couple
of years, and you're going to see more of an
NFL OTA model completely where you have certain chunks of
time to work with the players and and maybe you
won't even be able to pad up and and uh,
you know, whar the gear, but you'll have uh, you know,
maybe six weeks of OTA prep between uh, you know,
(20:40):
April first and in the beginning of camp and so
I really believe that's coming. I really believe that spring
football is as the days are numbered and uh, you
know where there's a couple of years, three years down
the road, but I think you're going to see a
major overhaul of that and like I said, more of
an NFL type of an approach to the season.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Uh do you like, I mean, would you prefer that
or necessarily?
Speaker 4 (21:02):
No? No, I think spring ball is, like I said,
such a great time to just focus on fundamentals and
technique because you're not prepared for any games, you don't
have an opponent coming up. I mean, it's just a
time where you can devote every minute essentially of every
practice to to just getting better at the fundamentals. And
so I'm gonna I'm going to say that the college
(21:25):
athletes need that certainly more than the pro athletes. You know,
I'm not saying it's not a good thing in the
pro game, because those guys are they're pros. I mean
they you know, they're at that the highest level, and
you know they don't they don't really necessarily need to
focus as much on the development of that because it's
already it's already you know, happened for those.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Guys going into the fall. Then would you ever think
that having maybe a scrimmage or a non conference game
during that month in the in the fall, because I
know as a former player, to practice for an entire
month can really get old and almost the concern of
(22:04):
you know, you could even get into bad habits where
you or you don't really know where you are as
a team because all you're doing is practicing, and you're
practicing against your own team.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
And whereas when you get a chance to go get
someone else, you kind.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Of get a feel for where you are as a program,
and and and and even better prepare yourself for the season.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Would that be something that would ever be considered.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I think there's a lot of merit to that, and
I don't know logistically how you'd go about it. I mean,
there's some teams that are isolated and don't have you know,
another P four team you know within mile, you know,
hundreds of miles of them. But I know that I
would be in favor of it and being able to
practice against another team as well as have a game
(22:46):
against them in the in the fall. And you're right,
in college, it's a long grind of playing you know, nobody,
no games, just just beating up on yourselves. And and
that's not the way in the NFL and the NFL
you're in a camp for a couple of weeks and
you are those preseason games and or at least practicing
against other teams. And so I would be in favor
of that coach Sanders over Colorado. We would like to
(23:07):
even you know, you read that he wants to see
that in spring ball, which which there's probably an argument
for that as well, to be able to work against
another another university and and maybe have the spring game
against somebody else. But but anyway, yeah, bottom line is
I think that would be a positive. But I'm not
sure you know how they're going to how they would
implement that if they do start to go down that road.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
So I've been spoiled.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I've been to you know, numerous conference championships games here
and Rose Bowls. What's what's the biggest challenge to get
back to the conference title game?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
And il resources? I mean playing, playing and simple playing
and simple I mean it's that's that's what it's all about.
That's the whole ball game right now. And you know
that's assuming that you have, uh, you know, decent facilities
and a good coaching staff. I mean there's other things
that have to be in place as well, but the
most important thing is your resources in the NAL space
(24:06):
to get the players in the program. It's all about
the players. Players are eighty percent of your success or
lack thereof is what kind of players you've been able
to recruit?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Last question here before I let's go on and thanks
again for doing this.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
It has been awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I could actually do this all day, but I'm sure
you have a few things to do. So who do
you expect to make a big jump from from last
year to this year on the team? A player that's
that's been there, but you really see I'd really see
a big jump from this guy.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Wow, Okay, let me think about that. I can tell
you obviously our QB is a vital part of what
we're doing. Devin dan Pier. He's a tremendous athlete. Now
you know, it doesn't really answer your questions for you
wasn't here last year, But as far as a guy
that's going to make an impact, that's probably the guy
you'd start with. Biggest jump, she's off. One of the
(25:00):
candidates would be Zach Williams. He saw him really pop
in the central Forwarida game at the last game of
the year last year, did some really good things and
he's off to a great start this spring and really
working towards me in that wide receiver one for US.
Dallan Bentley is playing exceptionally well and moving around really good.
(25:20):
The tight end who really is starting to come into
his own defense let me think here, pul Fitzgerald defensive
end that was kind of quiet last year. He was
behind some pretty good players, is really showing up as
well as John Henry Daily those two defensive ends. And
again we've got really good players that are doing a
(25:41):
great job. But as for you, guys, you would expect
to be there. So to answer your question, probably those
guys and maybe Rabbit Evans at safety. He was plagued
by injuries last year and never really got a lot
of tracks. He started to towards the end of the year,
but he is completely healthy now and really really starting
to make some place for us.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Well, Kyle, really appreciate your time. Hope you have a
great rest of you today and good luck with everything.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Appreciate your time, you bet Scotty, great to be on
with you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
All right, there you having folks. It's coach Kyle Whittingham
from the University of Vitam. Interesting stuff that's fascinating to
hear him and really appreciate
You were tuned of the Down in Jurney with Scott
Mitchell on Kall North Salt Lake k x R k
HD three, ESPN seven hundred and ninety two to one
a FM. This is the Down end Jurney with Scott Mitchell,
the Utah football legend and twelve year NFL veteran, on
Utah's number one sports Talk ESPN seven hundred and letty
(00:23):
two one AFM, A Cloud part of Utahs ESPN Rady on.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hello sports fan, welcome on in.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
This is the down of Dirty here with Scott Mitchell
on ESPN seven hundred ninety two one FM.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We've got an amazing show today.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
We've got coach Kyle Whittingham joining us along with Dan Pompeid,
longtime writer in the NFL. And I think I'm actually
winning the the March Madness bracket. I got fourteen of
the sixteen Sweet sixteen teams in. So this is a
good day. Good day to talk to none other than
Kyle Whittingham. Coach Whittingham joint this right now.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
How are you Kyle doing well?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
How you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Oh? I'm doing wonderful. I get to talk to you today.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's not every day I get to talk to you,
and I actually I actually really enjoy our conversations.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
So thank you, me too.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
I appreciate that. I agree.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So you finished your first year in the Big twelve.
What was your impression of the conference? What's your takeaway
from year one?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah, good question. I would say nothing really surprised us.
I mean, we obviously had the whole off season to
scout the teams and do the advance work on each
of the teams we've played. I think it's a physical conference.
You know, if you're comparing it to the Pac twelve,
maybe not as much perimeter speed and skill, but more
(01:49):
physicality in the box. Quarterback playing the Pac twelve the
last few years was just insane, and so there was
a little drop off there, you know, when you got
Caterblelliams and bow Nix and Pinnix and all the guys
that we faced and in the Pact, well that's the uh,
you know, the elite of the elite, and and so
so that was a little bit of a difference. But
(02:12):
but overall, I mean football's football offensive schemes maybe a
little more run heavy, but other than that, uh, you know,
you just got to line up and block and tackle
every week and that will never change no matter what
league you're in.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You know, I had to coach you one more games
than anyone in UH in football in the NFL coach Ula,
and that's what he said, he does. This game just
comes down to blocking and tackling. It's a simple game, right.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
No doubt, no doubt. It's all about fundamentals and and
of course the most important thing we do is recruit.
I mean, the players that you have or the are
the absolute most critical element. And then you get those
players and you teach them and develop them and make
them fundamentally and technique sound, and and you should be
successful if you can do that at a high enough level.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Obviously, how is that? How has that changed with Nil?
With the portal? Uh is your? Is your?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I mean, but you know, because for you, it's always
been about relationships and you have you have a player
that you're looking for, you know, the type that fits
in your program.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
How much of that has changed you're laughing at my question.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
That's because it's all it's all about Nil. I mean,
you know you still get the kids in your office
and their families and talk and talk about your program
and graduation rates and this and that. But the bottom
line is ninety percent of the time, they're going to
go where the where the money is. And if you've
got an offer, you know, if you're able to offer
the kid X, and then you know other school is
(03:42):
exceeding that by you know, fifty percent or whatever the
case may be, that's where they're going to go. And
so recruiting has now become you know, whoever has the
most resources in the NL space is going to get
the players. And that's just how it is. And you
look at the teams that are in the top ten
in recruiting every year, they're the teams, you know, with
(04:03):
the top ten biggest NIL budgets. I mean, that's that's uh.
And you can't really blame the kids. I mean, it's
it's life changing money for most of them. And they're
not gonna you know, they've never had most of it
or not most, but a lot of these kids come
from pretty meager existences with with you know, with their
families and and not a lot of not a lot
of resources. And and when you have a chance to
(04:25):
to make that type of money that they can make nowadays,
and and if it's you know, a million bucks at
one school and five hundred thousand another. Where are you
gonna go? I mean, it's it's it's almost without exception,
they're gonna they're gonna follow the money.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Is Is there some gamesmanship that goes on with kind
of you have this back and forth negotiation with these
players and it's like you maybe know the other team
that they're they're working against.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
You try to try to raise the price.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And then does it Does any of that happen in
the in the back room discussions of finances.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Yes it does. There there's a lot of gamesmanship to
it and trying to figure out what what the other
schools are offering and what what you know, what what
you hear is oftentimes not quite the you know reality,
and so you got to cut through a bunch of
the the bs, I guess you could say, and and
see where you know, see where you really need to
(05:19):
be at as far as the offer. And and that's
that's ongoing, and that's why we have everyone has general
managers now that that is their job. Their function is
to is to negotiate with the agents of these players,
because ninety five percent of them have agents now and
if they don't at the beginning of the recruiting process
they do before it's over with. You know a lot
of them, a lot of them will come in your
(05:40):
office and hey, we're we're not about nil. We're just
about this, this and that, and that's all fine and
dandy until you know, you get deeper into it, and
then almost invariably, it all turns to nil.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Like I said, how, how when you talk about these
general managers.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I know some some teams have hired, you know, former
NFL general managers.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I mean, how how important is that position?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And and is that something that you look to I mean,
it almost seems it would it would be the most
as important as a coordinator position or any any any
position you have on your in your on your staff.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Absolutely, and there's no doubt about it. They play a
vital role. And you better have a guy that is
very savvy and and very well connected and knows, you
know the agents and and knows how to deal with them.
And and uh, it's you're You're one hundred percent right
when you say it's as important as a coordinator spot.
It is. A coordinator is the coordinator of the personnel essentially,
(06:36):
And and it's a remarkable you know, some of these
guys are making over a million dollars a year, these
these gms. Wow, And that's that's how important it is.
You know, you always, you know, you put your money
where your mouth is. And and the GM position is
a very highly paid position at most schools. And uh,
you're right, there's NFL guys coming down to the collegiate
(06:57):
level to serve of those capacities.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
You just started spring practice.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I imagine it's got to be so exciting to get
on the field and just kind of get started.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
You kind of have a new direction this year.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
What's been your you know, your initial impression of spring
spring practice, well, very good so far.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I've we had two practices and both of them non padded.
Due to n C two A rules, you have to
have the first couple of practices just in helmets. But
we're putting in a new offense. We've got a new
offensive staff. For the most part, Jason Beck really excited
about what he brings to the table. The players are
excited about it as well. They've really embraced the new offense.
(07:38):
And now with the way the NC two A rules
have changed, you were able to have walked throughs and
so forth prior to spring ball. So we we've made
a lot of progress with the offensive install and getting
our guys up to speed prior to the first practice.
And we hit the field of the first practice, they
had been exposed at the entire offense and so we
(07:58):
obviously didn't run the entire office. It's the first day,
but it was very smooth. It could couldn't have been.
We couldn't have been as far ahead now under the
old rules because you just couldn't do it. I mean,
but now now with the way things are structured, like
I said, you have a chance to really spend more
time with them in the football space. Used to just
(08:19):
be you're in the strength and conditioning space with them
during that offseason. But when the n C two A
allowed you to to carve out some time for the
meetings and and the walk throughs, that really was a
big help.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So it's it's it's like OTAs then in the pros
where where they get to spend more time.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Is it enough? I mean, do you need would you
need more time after spring or is it? I mean?
Because I ye? Well but it's hard though, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I mean you changed you I mean you've changed fifty
percent of your roster or somewhere around that, and and
these guys need to get acclimated. It seems like that
the only way to do it is to get more reps.
And and I don't know, is it enough? Do you
do you think you need more?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
We could all coaches are always going to want more.
I mean, whatever the rules are, we always wish there
was a little bit more that we had as far
as access to the players and time to spend with them.
But you're you're one hundred percent right in the fact
that our roster, and I think a lot of rosters
across the country probably the majority, will be approaching or
exceeding even fifty percent of new players in the fall
(09:26):
as opposed to what they had the fall previous. And
so a lot of our new players are here already,
which is which is a big positive. They came in
at the mid at mid or mid year in January
at the break, but a lot of them are still
scheduled to come in the summer. And by the time
we line up in the fall and fall camp, we'll
have over half of our roster that's new. So you know,
(09:47):
that's that's a challenge in and of itself for a
lot of reasons, chemistry wise, for the team, schematics, and
we've had to streamline I guess is the right word
schematically what we do because when you get guys, you know,
get it's plug and play. You better have a system
that you can get these guys in here and teach
them in a short amount of time and be able
to get them to function quickly because because there is
(10:09):
so much turnover and and that's that's something that you know.
The Again, the change in the nty two rule, the
NCAA rules has allowed a little bit smoother transition in
that regard. But no longer do you have the luxury
of having complicated systems on both sides of the ball
and needing the players to soak in that system for
(10:30):
two or three years before they're ready to play. That's out.
It's it's hey, you get here and you be ready
to play, because because that's just the nature of the beast.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Now, does that affect the play? You think is the
quality of the game? Do you think it affects it?
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I think it does to a certain extent. And and
you know, we've made a living for years, you know,
with the development of players and we we go out
recruit the raw material and guys that maybe you need
to put on you know, thirty or four pounds or
whatever the case may be. They are quite ready to play,
but you know, get them, get them developed in a program,
(11:06):
and then two or three years later they're ready to go.
And and that is challenging now because like I said,
it's it's instant gratification. If these guys aren't playing right away,
they're almost immediately looking for looking for somewhere else, and
especially at the quarterback position. And there's a statistic where
I think it's sixty something percent of starting P four
quarterbacks are portal guys. You know, they did not come
(11:29):
up through the system of the pool and they're starting
at so and so it almost is to the point where,
you know, you know, why take a bunch of money
into a high school quarterback, because odds are you're going
to be playing with the transfer guy at some point.
And so, I don't know, there's it's still evolving and
there still needs to be well, I don't want major tweaks,
(11:53):
but some tweaks to the system and putting some guardrails
on the on the portal situation. I mean Essentially, you
have free agency twice a year in college, at the
end of the season in December, and then you got
to get after the end of spring ball in April,
and so you really don't know what your roster. You
build your roster twice a year, and you know, replenish
(12:15):
it and go hit the portal for guys that you lost,
and so there's so much transition. There's so much transition
where you used to have you get about one hundred
and twenty guys in your roster, and you might lose
twenty over the course of the year through graduation, everything,
and you get twenty new guys, and now it's fifty
plus new guys because of the the atrician and just
(12:35):
the way things shake out. And then the other thing
now that's coming into play this fall is roster size.
They're limiting the roster size to one oh five. Whereas
before everyone was right around one hundred and twenty five.
Some of the bigger schools had more players than that,
but we were always around one twenty five. And now
when you go down to one twenty, that kicks out
(12:56):
twenty walk on player opportunities. And not only is it
bad for the walk Ons, because there's there's far less opportunities,
but it makes it a big bigger challenge to practice
right and you've got to go to UH work. We're
going to go to a hybrid uh it's like a
college slash NFL hybrid system because you can't really have
full on scout teams to service the on the d
(13:17):
because there's not enough bodies, and so you're gonna have
to spend part of your time in practice servicing each other,
you know, where the one offense will be serviced by
the two defense and then flip flopped and and so
that takes more time to do that because you're not
you're not servicing each side of the ball simultaneously with
scout teams. And so that's presenting another challenge that you know,
the will be UH in the fall for the first
(13:40):
time ever. That's going to cause a lot of teams
to do things differently.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Well, that's that's really interesting. That's really interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Uh So I've noticed a trend in college football and
you talk about being you know, you have a you
have free agency twice a year, and and you have
and you literally could go anywhere, I mean, you go
to any program and you know players have the potential
to move. And I see, like a Bill Belichick who
spent his entire career in the NFL, all of a
(14:09):
sudden he's in college football and you see coach Prime
at Colorado and a lot of people are beckoning him
to go into the pro game. Do you think some
of these pro coaches are saying, wait a minute, like,
the only way I can get better is I hope
through the draft and if we can, you know, make
some trades and whatever. But we're limited with a salary cap.
(14:31):
Whereas in college football, if I have a donor with
a deep pockets or you know, I mean, you know,
resources are I could literally build and buy my own
team every year, and it almost seems like it'd be
easier in some regards in college football. Am I crazy
seeing this or do you think that's maybe some of
the thought process of someone like Bill Belichick going to
(14:51):
college football and Dion staying he has a.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Lot of truth and what you just said, and you're
absolutely right. If you get the reco then you can
build yourself a roster, you know, year by year and
really have you know, just a huge advantage over other programs.
And some of the programs have spent in excess of
thirty million dollars on their roster, and then some P
(15:19):
four programs have five million bucks, and so that I mean,
there's always been disparity. There's always been disparity. Some programs
have always had better facilities and bigger stadiums and that
type of thing. But in the past you were able
to overcome that a certain percentage of the time because
you know, it just depends what the player was looking for.
But now the common denominator is the cash. Everybody's looking
(15:40):
for that, and so the disparity is even harder to
overcome because you know, the almighty dollar is what's going
to ruin. And you know, you can talk about graduation rate,
like I said, winning, tradition, your culture, your environment, all
those things that used to be really strong selling points,
and they're just they all take a backseat to the
(16:02):
to the payday.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
So interesting, what do you try to get out of
spring practice? Like, what's your goal? What's if you could say,
may you know wave the wand oh this is what
I'd love to get out of spring practice.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Well, just the overarching goal is to make every single
player in your program better fundamentally and technique wise. That's
and that's something we talk about every year. It's something
I stress to our coaches. We're not We're not here
to outschem each other in the spring or try to
trick each other and get the upper hand. We're here
to make every player in the program better from a
(16:37):
fundamental and technique standpoint. And that's the bottom line, you know,
Like we said at the onset of this conversation, if
you if you don't have the fundamentals and techniques, and
then you're not going to win. And so that is
something that you really need to be paying attention to
and not trying to have your coordinators outdo each other.
And we we've got a really good staff here and
(16:58):
and Jason's a really good fit for what we're doing.
He's brand new, but that's always been how we've operated,
and our coordinators has been a really good job of
staying sticking to that and adhering to that philosophy and
not trying to sit there and game plan for each other,
because it's not about the game planning. It's about making
every player better. And I think that's something that we've
been able to do here.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I've been in situations like that where the offense and
defensive coordinator are battling each other and and they'll put
stuff in that they weren't supposed to. I know how
that how that all goes And yeah, it's kind of yeah,
that's the funny one. What what sold you on Jason back?
What was it that you said, Man, this is my guy.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Just watching the tape? First of all, I mean his
offense is so dynamic and multifaceted, and uh, just and
doing it without necessarily great personnel. Not not to knock
any of the personnel and the places he've been, but
they've been very prolific with guys that you know aren't
necessarily all blue chip recruits. I mean, they're just they
(18:01):
spread the field. It's a it's a spread offensive attack,
like ninety percent of the people are running nowadays. But
but there's just so many little wrinkles and and twists
that he's put on it, and uh it's you know,
it's very apparent. And every place he's been has seemingly
or been successful and and moved the football and and
(18:22):
uh so that was the number one thing. And then
of course you do a deep dive, you know, with
people that he's worked for and talked to them and
get input and you know, how how is he to
work with and this and that. So you do your
homework and you do a you know, you drill down
really deep as far as you know what he's done
in other places. And and when all was said and done,
it was you know, pretty much pretty much the obvious choice. Now,
(18:45):
he wasn't the first guy we offered the job too,
I would admit to that, but he was right there
in the top two or three. And and we came away,
in my opinion, with the best guy.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah. I've been very impressed with him so far.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
So yeah, and and and it's again, you know, with
the change and and just how you have to run
your system, it becomes such a even a more important
position that was as already very important. There's some talk
in in college football about not having spring football games
(19:19):
just because you don't want to expose your players to
being you know, poached. I mean, how much of a
concern do you have of you know, having open practices
or scrimmages or spring games, And how how much of
an impact really does that have on on players being
taken from the program.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Well, there is there is a certain amount of impact
in that and and truth in that philosophy. I guess
you could say and but you can't just yeah, you
can't be scared of everything. I mean, you gotta you
gotta develop your players, you gotta let them play and
and uh, you know, the shroud of secrecy that some
coaches are trying to create, I'm not really on board
(19:59):
with that. I mean, we we got to do our
thing and make our guys better and hopefully, you know,
most of them want to stay here and be a
part of what we're doing. But but it's inevitable that
a few guys will be poached, you know, at the
end of each cycle. But but I think what you're
going to see, Scott, I think you refer to the
spring game. I think spring football in and of itself
(20:20):
is going to go by the wayside the next couple
of years, and you're going to see more of an
NFL OTA model completely where you have certain chunks of
time to work with the players and and maybe you
won't even be able to pad up and and uh,
you know, whar the gear, but you'll have uh, you know,
maybe six weeks of OTA prep between uh, you know,
(20:40):
April first and in the beginning of camp and so
I really believe that's coming. I really believe that spring
football is as the days are numbered and uh, you
know where there's a couple of years, three years down
the road, but I think you're going to see a
major overhaul of that and like I said, more of
an NFL type of an approach to the season.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Uh do you like, I mean, would you prefer that
or necessarily?
Speaker 4 (21:02):
No? No, I think spring ball is, like I said,
such a great time to just focus on fundamentals and
technique because you're not prepared for any games, you don't
have an opponent coming up. I mean, it's just a
time where you can devote every minute essentially of every
practice to to just getting better at the fundamentals. And
so I'm gonna I'm going to say that the college
(21:25):
athletes need that certainly more than the pro athletes. You know,
I'm not saying it's not a good thing in the
pro game, because those guys are they're pros. I mean
they you know, they're at that the highest level, and
you know they don't they don't really necessarily need to
focus as much on the development of that because it's
already it's already you know, happened for those.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Guys going into the fall. Then would you ever think
that having maybe a scrimmage or a non conference game
during that month in the in the fall, because I
know as a former player, to practice for an entire
month can really get old and almost the concern of
(22:04):
you know, you could even get into bad habits where
you or you don't really know where you are as
a team because all you're doing is practicing, and you're
practicing against your own team.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
And whereas when you get a chance to go get
someone else, you kind.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Of get a feel for where you are as a program,
and and and and even better prepare yourself for the season.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Would that be something that would ever be considered.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I think there's a lot of merit to that, and
I don't know logistically how you'd go about it. I mean,
there's some teams that are isolated and don't have you know,
another P four team you know within mile, you know,
hundreds of miles of them. But I know that I
would be in favor of it and being able to
practice against another team as well as have a game
(22:46):
against them in the in the fall. And you're right,
in college, it's a long grind of playing you know, nobody,
no games, just just beating up on yourselves. And and
that's not the way in the NFL and the NFL
you're in a camp for a couple of weeks and
you are those preseason games and or at least practicing
against other teams. And so I would be in favor
of that coach Sanders over Colorado. We would like to
(23:07):
even you know, you read that he wants to see
that in spring ball, which which there's probably an argument
for that as well, to be able to work against
another another university and and maybe have the spring game
against somebody else. But but anyway, yeah, bottom line is
I think that would be a positive. But I'm not
sure you know how they're going to how they would
implement that if they do start to go down that road.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
So I've been spoiled.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I've been to you know, numerous conference championships games here
and Rose Bowls. What's what's the biggest challenge to get
back to the conference title game?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
And il resources? I mean playing, playing and simple playing
and simple I mean it's that's that's what it's all about.
That's the whole ball game right now. And you know
that's assuming that you have, uh, you know, decent facilities
and a good coaching staff. I mean there's other things
that have to be in place as well, but the
most important thing is your resources in the NAL space
(24:06):
to get the players in the program. It's all about
the players. Players are eighty percent of your success or
lack thereof is what kind of players you've been able
to recruit?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Last question here before I let's go on and thanks
again for doing this.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
It has been awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I could actually do this all day, but I'm sure
you have a few things to do. So who do
you expect to make a big jump from from last
year to this year on the team? A player that's
that's been there, but you really see I'd really see
a big jump from this guy.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Wow, Okay, let me think about that. I can tell
you obviously our QB is a vital part of what
we're doing. Devin dan Pier. He's a tremendous athlete. Now
you know, it doesn't really answer your questions for you
wasn't here last year, But as far as a guy
that's going to make an impact, that's probably the guy
you'd start with. Biggest jump, she's off. One of the
(25:00):
candidates would be Zach Williams. He saw him really pop
in the central Forwarida game at the last game of
the year last year, did some really good things and
he's off to a great start this spring and really
working towards me in that wide receiver one for US.
Dallan Bentley is playing exceptionally well and moving around really good.
(25:20):
The tight end who really is starting to come into
his own defense let me think here, pul Fitzgerald defensive
end that was kind of quiet last year. He was
behind some pretty good players, is really showing up as
well as John Henry Daily those two defensive ends. And
again we've got really good players that are doing a
(25:41):
great job. But as for you, guys, you would expect
to be there. So to answer your question, probably those
guys and maybe Rabbit Evans at safety. He was plagued
by injuries last year and never really got a lot
of tracks. He started to towards the end of the year,
but he is completely healthy now and really really starting
to make some place for us.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Well, Kyle, really appreciate your time. Hope you have a
great rest of you today and good luck with everything.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Appreciate your time, you bet Scotty, great to be on
with you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
All right, there you having folks. It's coach Kyle Whittingham
from the University of Vitam. Interesting stuff that's fascinating to
hear him and really appreciate
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