Latest / The Jake Wimberly Podcast / David Murray Interview

Transcript

David Murray Interview · The Jake Wimberly Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And action!
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: We got that. And a whole lot more around here.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: It's the Afternoon Drive with Jake Wimberly. What's the score?
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  Speaker 2: He's got that. Along with the hottest sports stories of
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  Speaker 2: That's 662-792-4201. Corbin Greer Construction. today.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: David Murray, you can get him at jeans page, two
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: four seven sports.com. And of course I'll get them on
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: X David. Welcome in, sir.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: I'm about to four paragraphs into my feature on Anthony Evans.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: After this morning's interview during, um, coach Jeff Lovey's weekly
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: press conference. And he's talking about his end zone celebrations.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: And now he's starting to plan them. Um, I hope
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: that doesn't jinx anything by him going public with the
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: word there, but, uh, Hey, First, you've got to stop
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: the guy because he's already one quarter of the way
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: to his 1,000-yard season. At this pace, we'll smash his
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: teammate Brennan Thompson's receiving record for a single season at State.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: So I'm having fun writing this one up. Also, we
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: got the comments from Jeff Levy this morning. We spoke
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: to Jardine Gilbert, spoke to Will Whitson, and Cannon Boone,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: of course, who's the SEC's Lion of the Week, and
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: well-deserved because if you watched first and second quarter's, and
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: saw how Mississippi State was ripping it open in the
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: middle for Fluff Bothwell to crash straight through, sometimes even untouched,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: which I'm not sure he enjoys being untouched, but he
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: took it. You have to say, the interior line as
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: a whole deserved it, but Cannon Boone, only one could
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: be recognized, and well done for the senior center there.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, look, Mississippi State looked polished. They looked
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: good defensively. They look athletic. Kamario Taylor is continuing to
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: He got a lot of run on the national circuit.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Nick Saban caught him last week, the truth and the light.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: So far, David, this offense you mentioned, Anthony Evans III, very,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: very entertaining end zone celebrations.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I will give him that. But Mississippi State looked the part.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, looked really, really good at Minnesota, a place
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: they've never been, and against a quality opponent.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and as I commented this morning on a show
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: in Atlanta, Jeff Levy has made a further stride here
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: as a play caller, but also as a head coach.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: And I want to hit that up each point as
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: briefly as possible. That first half was as good a
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: play calling combination as I've seen him have. And he's
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: had a couple of good games, but there he just
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: totally had Minnesota wrong footed, run, pass, whatever. But that's
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: also a little simpler to call plays when you have
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: Camario Taylor just coming into his own. a respectable offensive
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: line now, and the skill position players has to work with.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: So now you're seeing what Jeff Levy's offense is intended
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: to be. His previous quarterbacks just didn't have what it
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: took to run this offense. Camario Taylor definitely does. And
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: one other thing about, you know, I've been somewhat critical
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: about making the transition from coordinator to coach. I saw
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: a moment there in the first half when there was
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: a mistake made. Now, it didn't hurt anything. It did
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: no damage. But State is running away with the game,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: and the head coach openly displays his displeasure with that
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: and lets the team know that's not acceptable. That's a
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: head coaching move. That's what you do to make sure
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: teams stay sharp and on their game there instead of, okay,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: we'll just let this one slide because it didn't hurt anything.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: We're running away with this game. So I just think
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: that was one of Jeff Levy's best all-around games since
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Mississippi State and probably a promise of better things to come.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: David Murray talking Mississippi State.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: They defeat Minnesota over the weekend 38-13 and will stay
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: on the road at South Carolina this weekend. They're a 3.5-point
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: underdog on the road. David, Camario Taylor just looks comfortable.
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  Speaker 2: He looks polished.
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  Speaker 1: He's making great decisions with the football and the offensive
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  Speaker 1: line is giving him protection. It'll be interesting to see
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  Speaker 1: now as they move into SEC play this weekend. I
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: would say the pressure is on South Carolina. There was
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: a stat out there. Obviously, there's pressure on both teams,
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  Speaker 1: but I believe Shane Beamer, and this is from Brad
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Powers with CBS Sports and 247sports. com, that I believe Shane
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  Speaker 1: Beamer is 2-7 versus his, no, 2-9 in his last
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  Speaker 1: 11 games against powerful opponents. So, I mean, the pressure
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  Speaker 1: is squarely on Shane Beamer and Lenore Sellers in South Carolina.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: What do you expect to see in Columbia? Yeah.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: In that regard, I agree. I think the home team
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: has more pressure this weekend. Mississippi State's pressure, though, is
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: different because the Bulldogs have to come out of September 3-1,
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  Speaker 3: and much preferably 4-0. But to do that, you've got
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  Speaker 3: to beat South Carolina, which I think the original line
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: opened up just over a touchdown. Now it's down to
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  Speaker 3: basically the three-point home field advantage. So it's going to
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: be fascinating to me to see which team handles their
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: differing types of pressure better. Because this is a situation that,
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: let's be honest, Kamario Taylor has not been in before. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it was a road game at Minnesota, but they were
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: able to establish things early there. The Egg Bowl, the
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: bowl game, you can't really say he's under pressure because
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: he's a new guy and so much forgiven. This is
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  Speaker 3: when you start saying, okay, now it's time to truly
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: be a quarterback of the capital Q in all the
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: weekday stuff, all the pregame, all the between series stuff,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: things like that. I'm fully confident that he will be
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: able to handle things. He'll get better as he gets older.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: But now here comes a test and kind of a
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: turning point as well in his career and his advancement there.
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  Speaker 3: And for the entire offense as well, because South Carolina
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: is going to seriously come after Cabrillo. So he's going
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: to make more plays with his feet. But his skill
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  Speaker 3: position players, they're going to have to create on their
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: own in their individual matchups. So there's that. And, of course,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: we talk about Lenore Sellers. This– Zach Arnett only blitzed
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  Speaker 3: a couple of times, a serious blitz at Minnesota, even
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: after they committed wholeheartedly past. And Jeff Levy said today,
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  Speaker 3: basically they were given the dink and dunk underneath as
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: long as they can make sure tackles. And, you know,
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: it didn't produce any touchdowns. South Carolina is not going
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  Speaker 3: to settle for that. They're going to try to force
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: things downfield. They're going to try to force things in
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: second and third progressions there with the Norse moving on
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  Speaker 3: his feet. So it's going to be staying integrity in pursuit,
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  Speaker 3: not letting him get by you. But once you get
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  Speaker 3: within arm's reach, you get a hand on him, you've
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  Speaker 3: got to bring him down. That's easier said than done
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: because this is a big, healthy guy. But that's going
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: to be the test for Arnett's defense. And I think
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: he's– this will be the game I think, and again, repeat,
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  Speaker 3: just think, that Arnett is going to turn his guys
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  Speaker 3: entirely loose to go get him. That means some plays
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  Speaker 3: will get blown as a process by being aggressive, but
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: there's going to be some plays made in the process.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: It's which one counteracts the other more that will determine
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: the course of this game for State's defense.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: David, I know history, you know, I guess you kind
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: of throw history out the window in this era of
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: transfer portal because, you know, in name, image, and likeness
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and pay for play. But the series has been really close.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: South Carolina owns a 10-7 edge over Mississippi State. They've
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: only played 17 times. The last time they played was
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  Speaker 1: 2023 in Columbia. South Carolina got a 37-30 win. And
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: prior to that, Mississippi State got a win in 2016, 27-14.
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  Speaker 1: Your thoughts on that building, it is one of the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: tougher places to play. It will be a game where
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the first SEC game for both teams, the first big
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: SEC crowd. But I think we can kind of throw
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: history out. But traditionally, this has been a close ballgame
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: between State and South Carolina.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you can toss that out because history
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: is whatever each year's transfer class is. That's basically what
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: it's turned into. But the other side story to this,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: and several media wanted to pursue that angle this morning,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: is the obvious Jeff Levy versus Kendall Bryles matchup today.
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  Speaker 3: They're brothers-in-law, obviously, very good friends.
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  Speaker 2: They compare notes.
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  Speaker 3: And Levy said, yeah, there's a lot of similarity in
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  Speaker 3: their style, but in the actual play systems they run,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: there are differences. And I didn't bother to go into
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: what those differences are. But he said, regardless, yes, the
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: familiarity will play into how the defenses play. But here
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: he said both defenses have the same advantage. they both
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: practice against this kind of offense all the time as well.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: So neither team is going to have really that much
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: of a scouting advantage or style advantage in practices there.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: So this is going to be a really good straight-up test. And, man,
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: if this was on a neutral field, I honestly do
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: not know how anybody would pick it because it's going
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: to come down to probably who gets the first really
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: big break and makes it hold up there. You know,
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: I thought State's biggest response the other day was after
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Minnesota went on that 10-minute drive, ate up a ton
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  Speaker 3: of clock, kind of harking back to the old Brett
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Bielma Arkansas teams, that even if they didn't score in
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: a drive, they made you feel like you had to hurry, hurry,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: hurry to score and got you out of their game.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: State responded just fine. They stayed calm. They pounded the ball.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: They hit the passes when they needed to and went
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: to a two-touchdown lead. And from there on, they were
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: just in control. So this is going to be a
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: totally different game. It's going to be a bunch of
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: short possessions. It's going to be a bunch of big plays,
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: big attempts, big sacks, big turnovers probably. It's just going
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: to be all kinds of rowdy fun to watch.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Make sure to get him at jeanspage247sports. com. Get the podcast.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Find him on X. He's David Murray. David, enjoy the week.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: It should be a good one. We'll do it again
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: next week.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: By the way, a reminder out there that fall baseball
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: starts this week. weekend, and I believe Brian O'Connor is
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: opening things up on Friday for the public to watch
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: his 2027 roster practice for the first time out there.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: So they'll announce the time later, but fans in the
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: area who aren't hitting up high school football or not
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: making the road trip to South Carolina, Join us at
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: the stadium there, and let's get a look at the
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: Diamond Dogs already.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Very good. Fall baseball is here. David, thanks so much.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: We'll talk next week.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Jake, Ben, good to hear from you.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much.
• 10:27
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• 10:30
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• 10:39
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• 10:41
  Speaker 1: More coming up in just a bit.