Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Eric Weddle on Utah FB games a week away, Scalley's 1st fall camp, His son Gaige going against Troy Polamalu's son Paisios last week + mo...

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Eric Weddle on Utah FB games a week away, Scalley's 1st fall camp, His son Gaige going against Troy Polamalu's son Paisios last week + mo... · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: This is the Sean O'Connell Show, your home of the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: best inside of your Utes. Let's get back to OC
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: from the Murdoch Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Our next guest is a Utah football legend, I believe
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: a future NFL Hall of Famer, but most importantly, he
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  Speaker 2: is the head coach of the Rancho Bernardo Broncos.
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  Speaker 3: In sunny San Diego.
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  Speaker 4: They are 1-0 with a contest against Brawley, the hated
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: Brawley Wildcats, coming up this Friday at 7.15 Pacific time.
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  Speaker 3: Eric Weddle, kind enough to join us. Coach, how are you?
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: Murph, a.k.a. the real O.C., a.k.a. Sean O'Connell, my brother.
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: What's going on?
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: You tell me. What's the best thing about being 1-0?
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: The best part is the chance to go 2-0, baby.
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  Speaker 5: So we've got the Brawley Wildcats coming to town. You know,
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  Speaker 5: they're going to be mighty. They're going to be fierce.
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: They're going to be accustomed to the heat that we're
• 1:18
  Speaker 5: experiencing down here. I'm not sure how it is up
• 1:20
  Speaker 5: there in the Great Salt Lake, but, man, hitting 100
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: digits out here is kind of very seldom. So... They're
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  Speaker 5: going to come out here from out in El Centro,
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  Speaker 5: and they're going to come and bring it. So we've
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  Speaker 5: got to match it and take it to them.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Close game in week one, right, against St. Augustine, 28-24.
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  Speaker 3: How did it play out?
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  Speaker 5: Holy smokes. Yes, we had to score 21 in the
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  Speaker 5: fourth to pull it out. And honestly, like, you know,
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: we're honest on this show, and– for one, Gage did
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  Speaker 5: not play quarterback very well for about three quarters. And
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  Speaker 5: I don't like to make excuses. Others do, but wasn't
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: seeing it, wasn't processing well, was playing more of a
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  Speaker 5: running back than he was a quarterback, which we've been
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  Speaker 5: trying to work on for two and a half years now.
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  Speaker 5: But when his best was needed... We got it. And
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  Speaker 5: on that, you know, the last three scoring drives, he
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  Speaker 5: was five for five on the last drive and ran
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  Speaker 5: and threw the game-winning touchdown and really, like, settled himself
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  Speaker 5: down when we needed it. And it shows a lot
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  Speaker 5: of character and grit. He's playing both ways and was
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: cramping and separated his shoulder and this and that. But
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  Speaker 5: dude's a warrior. Our team staying together, staying connected, not–
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  Speaker 5: not collapsing and pointing fingers, just stay in the course.
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  Speaker 5: And so didn't play our best, but we found a
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  Speaker 5: way to win. And on the flip side, I got
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  Speaker 5: to give a shout out to Paul Amalu's son. It was, Sean,
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  Speaker 5: it was the single best performance I've ever seen a
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  Speaker 5: high school kid player have, like watching it live. He
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  Speaker 5: played running back. The team had 230 total yards. He
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  Speaker 5: had every yard of it. He had two rushing touchdowns.
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  Speaker 5: He ran for 180. He had 40 yards receiving. He
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  Speaker 5: played defense. He probably had eight to 10 tackles. He
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: had a sack force fumble. He had two PBUs and
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  Speaker 5: he had a part return for a touchdown. So this
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  Speaker 5: guy single-handedly, uh, which I told going into the game,
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  Speaker 5: there's a reason he's a Stanford commit and a legit
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  Speaker 5: football player on all fronts. Uh, But, again, got to
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  Speaker 5: give our props, got to give our kudos. But at
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  Speaker 5: the end of the day, the Broncos won, and it
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  Speaker 5: was closer than it should have been. But those type
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  Speaker 5: of games will help us in the long run.
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  Speaker 3: That's a wild thing. I mean, I love our Utah
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  Speaker 3: high school football.
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  Speaker 4: There's not a lot of occasions where you're going to
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  Speaker 4: be able to go to a random game on a
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  Speaker 4: Friday night, and Eric Weddle's on one sideline coaching his son,
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  Speaker 4: and Troy Polamalu– is on the other sideline, and both
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: the Suns are on the field. That's pretty bananas, what
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  Speaker 4: Southern California provides on that front.
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  Speaker 5: It was very surreal. You know, I saw Troy after
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  Speaker 5: the game, and we visited. Just an amazing, I've looked
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  Speaker 5: up to him. And to have our boys basically going
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  Speaker 5: back and forth, like Gage, like, you know, Gage played well,
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  Speaker 5: didn't play his best, but he ran for 150 yards
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  Speaker 5: and two touchdowns, like, had a pick on defense and
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  Speaker 5: eight tackles. Like, he did his thing and kept us
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  Speaker 5: in it. And then Troy on the other side, it
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  Speaker 5: was like, Troy with the carry, tackled by Weddle. Then
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  Speaker 5: it was like, Weddle running the ball, tackled by Paul.
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  Speaker 5: It was really insane, if I'm being honest. And then
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  Speaker 5: to have come full circle and have our boys after
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  Speaker 5: the game and talking to Troy and just reminding, like,
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  Speaker 5: what we're trying to do with the community and kids.
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  Speaker 5: and then obviously helping out our own kids, trying to
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  Speaker 5: be their very best.
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  Speaker 3: I also love that story.
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  Speaker 4: What I don't like is the standard, right, when you're like,
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: I didn't play that well, and then you rattle off
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: stat line that would be anyone else's career game. Okay,
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: so flag on you for saying that, but here we are.
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  Speaker 3: It's totally fine.
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  Speaker 5: We're just honest, you know. We tell how it is,
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: and we coach it up, and we improve, and I
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: expect him– to play better this week, which you will.
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  Speaker 5: All right.
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  Speaker 3: Love it. Let's move on.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: Let's talk a little bit of Utah football. So all
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: reports coming out of camp, both publicly and in private conversation,
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  Speaker 4: that they were really happy with the way that things
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  Speaker 4: kind of came together, the pace at which things were
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: coming together. what were you hearing from the guys you
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: talked to and what do you think of what you know,
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  Speaker 4: obviously not having been able to watch a ton of it,
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: about a new coaching staff, some important remaking on the
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: roster and things like that, but a successful camp in
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: Morgan Scali's first year?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think from talking to the guys, I think
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: I talked to Morgan maybe once a week, just checking in,
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: just seeing how he's doing, how the guys, how he
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: and his family are doing, just being a friend to him.
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  Speaker 5: I know he probably doesn't get that a whole lot
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  Speaker 5: and just someone to vent to and bounce ideas off.
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  Speaker 5: But I know he loves this team. He loves the players.
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  Speaker 5: He loves the direction that they're going. He loves the connection.
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  Speaker 5: He loves the physical nature that they are becoming from
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  Speaker 5: winter workouts to spring to summer. And now at camp,
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  Speaker 5: he's confident, a silent confidence. He likes that they're being overlooked,
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  Speaker 5: like most of us over the course of our careers,
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  Speaker 5: and using that as motivation and inspiring the guys. And then,
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  Speaker 5: you know, talking with position coaches, and they're pumped, man.
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  Speaker 5: They're excited. They like where they're at. And they're ready to,
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  Speaker 5: I mean, honestly, they're ready to, to shock the world
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  Speaker 5: and remind everyone who we are, but also what our
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: aspirations are. And that's national championship.
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  Speaker 4: So when you're, when you're going into a camp where
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: there are questions, right, you did it at every level.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: How do you make sure, right?
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: When the question is not about you, cause it never
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: was about Eric Weddle, right? It's like, in this case,
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: it's about the offensive line, the defensive line. What are
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: you doing as a teammate to help get those questions answered,
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  Speaker 4: even if it's not something that you and your position
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  Speaker 4: room directly control?
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  Speaker 5: Well, yeah, you like, you do it in a way
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  Speaker 5: where you're highlighting those question marks per se as a team,
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: like the inexperience at this position group, how are they
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  Speaker 5: going to handle the adversity on the road, the first game?
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  Speaker 5: And it's like, well, yeah, that's what leadership's for. That's
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  Speaker 5: what myself or the older guys or the coaching staff, like,
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  Speaker 5: there are things that you don't put a burden on
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  Speaker 5: those players or position groups or the young guys, and
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  Speaker 5: you put it more on yourself. So you try to
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  Speaker 5: highlight that and try to keep it positive, keep it moving.
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  Speaker 5: And also I felt like when you get to a
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  Speaker 5: certain point in your career, you understand the big picture, right?
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  Speaker 5: You understand that it's not about me. And you try
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  Speaker 5: to instill that early on, especially like high school and
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  Speaker 5: then college, like, you're always trying to, like, be the
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  Speaker 5: best player individually. But it comes to a point where
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  Speaker 5: you're just like, man, I got to make sure, like,
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: everyone else around me can be their best so we
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: can win and have the best shot at winning. And
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: so I feel like as a player, a lot of
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: those guys, like, case in point with Fano and Verse, right? Like,
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  Speaker 5: that is a perfect example of iron sharpening iron, good
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  Speaker 5: on good, getting each other better, like, An older guy,
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  Speaker 5: not really that old, like you're three or four perverse,
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: but prepping and preparing his teammate to go out and
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  Speaker 5: play great on Sundays. I feel like that's how Utah is,
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  Speaker 5: how we compete, but also how we pick each other
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  Speaker 5: up and push each other. And so I feel like
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  Speaker 5: as a team, that's, that is our identity. That's how,
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: why this team feels so close and so connected because
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  Speaker 5: it is about the team and always be about the team,
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  Speaker 5: but also they're there for each other.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: I don't want to curse anything.
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  Speaker 4: So I'm knocking on wood as I say this, but Morgan,
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  Speaker 4: made the point of, hey, we came out of camp
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  Speaker 4: pretty healthy. Yes, there are some bumps and bruises, but
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: there's nothing season-ending. There's nothing catastrophic that has happened from
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: an injury standpoint.
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  Speaker 3: And obviously that's deliberate.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: There's some part of the injury situation you can't control,
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: but it's also good nutrition, smart practicing, the proper movement
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: in the weight room and things like that. And everybody, E-Dub,
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: that we talk to, everybody we talk to from the
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: player standpoint, said that their bodies feel great and that
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: they felt a big difference because of a guy that
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: you recommended getting elevated to be the head strength and
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: conditioning coach.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: And I feel like I have to say it every
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: time because I love Argus.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: And the caveat, you never want to see somebody get
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: pushed out in order for other things to happen. But
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: you also have to give credit where it's due. And
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: I haven't had a chance to interview Argus. coach Saunders yet,
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: but the players themselves are volunteering that without being talked to,
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: without being asked saying, Hey man, this has been really
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: good for my body. I've changed my body composition. I
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: feel healthy. I feel flexible. I feel strong. And I
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: know that's, that's why you were passionate about this in
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: the first place, but I feel like it's something that
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: we have to be talking about as this team gets
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: ready to actually play real football.
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you recognize that and people
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: are understanding the difference Steve has made in such a
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: short amount of time. And there's just, when it comes
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: down to it, like, there's good and then there's great.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: There's levels to every profession. And you all, like, in coaching,
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: if you're only around one system, right, and you never, like,
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: allow yourself to learn new ideas or learn new concepts
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: or coaching strategies or leadership like if you're never growing
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: and adapting then you don't really know right and i
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: think over time like what we've done here is good
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: but it could be improving improved and so uh We
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: were lucky to get Steve on staff as an assistant,
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: and then Morgan felt a change needed to happen, and
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: the change happened, and we've just improved and continued to
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: build from... Really, it's Coach Scali's vision of what he
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: wants his players to be, and then Steve implementing it
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: and having the ability to do that, right? And so
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: I was out there in the summer watching them work,
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: and every... I mean, it brought back flashbacks to when
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: I was in Baltimore, not loving what we were doing.
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: But it's not supposed to be easy, right? It's not
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be hard. You're
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: supposed to feel sore and tired and worn out after
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: you work out, lift, and run. Like, that's the point,
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: because you're preparing your body for football. You're not preparing
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: your body for anything else other than doing what is
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: needed on Saturdays. And, no, I think that has been
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: a philosophical change on how we've worked these guys and
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: the guys are showing it. And I think it is
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: a direct correlation. Like you're, you're not, you're going to
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: have injuries that are just freak injuries, but I believe
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: wholeheartedly because I know it because it did it to
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: me in my career that you're going to see a
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: physical explosive bunch, which they've already said to a man.
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: And you're going to, you're going to see that. And
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: you're only, and you're going to, also see it in
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: November and December when teams are falling off. You're going
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: to see us continuing to climb that mountain because of
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: the work and the program Steve is putting together.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: Eric Weddle is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell Show,
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: talking all things Utah football as we are a week
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: away from the season kicking off. Seven days from today,
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Utah versus Idaho on a Thursday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Good?
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: You fall out of your truck or something? What just happened?
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: I'm right here. I'm right here. Got a little excited,
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: that's all. Got a little excited.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: All right, so I'm putting out these predictive numbers on over-unders,
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: stat targets I think this team needs to try to hit,
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: things like that. One of the big question marks that
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: we found last year was what happened to the run defense?
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: Utah's always been so good at stopping the run. Last year,
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: when the season was over, Utah ranked 110th in rush
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: defense in the country. That's bananas. So don't throw up.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: It's going to be okay.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: Uh, so I set the, I set the over under
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: at one 25.5. And that is a, that is a
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: five year average of Utah's run defense. If you hit
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: the under a, your top 25 ish in the country,
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: anything more than that. And now you're having to find,
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: you know, stops elsewhere in the run game. So, uh,
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: First of all, are they going to hit the under
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: or the over on that? More importantly, talk to me
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: about how crucial improvement of this year's run defense is,
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: because last year you were still a really good team.
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: You won 11 football games. If you had been better
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: at stopping the run, you probably win a few more.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you can't win a championship if you
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: don't stop the run and run the football or at
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: least control the line of scrimmage, and You look at
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: the past, I don't know, handful of national championships, they're
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: usually top 10 run defense or at least yards per carry,
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: and they're able to be efficient running the ball. They
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: still could air it out, but when they're running the
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: ball yards per carry, it's up there at least top 20.
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: And I think I heard this from Coach Smart at
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: Georgia talking about why they do things and how they
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: play football, and it just reminds me of Utah. And so...
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: The over-under, I 1,000% believe it's under, will be under,
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: not just because of the improvements and the focus and
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: how we practice and whatnot, but also I feel like
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: we're going to be up in a lot of games,
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: and they're going to have to be throwing the ball.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: When you say we're going to be up in a
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: lot of games, what gives you that confidence?
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: Well, the quarterback play. I see improvement. I saw work.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: I saw... footwork and just timing. And I think the
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: offensive creativity and just a little bit of, you know,
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: like I think coach Beck is a really good coach.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: And I think some, I think a little bit last year,
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: I think the limitations of just a drawback passing game
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: was maybe correlated to Devin and not being comfortable in
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: that aspect. So I think a year better and him
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: being understanding and seeing the field and just process. I
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: just see a huge jump, and he was really good
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: last year, but I see a huge jump as the
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: quarterback throwing the ball for the Utes. And so I
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: see that. I see the skills on the perimeter being
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: a huge asset. I see our running backs with Wayshon
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: and those guys. So I see a talent– that maybe
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: not necessarily we've had over the years. I don't know. Like,
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: it's not a flight. It's just reality. Like, you got
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: some studs on the perimeter. And so, and I think
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: our offensive line is going to surprise everybody because I
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: know the work, not just in the weight room, like
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: with Steve. Steve's had those guys since spring, right? Like,
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: he was identified to get the O-line, D-line guys going. So,
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: I know the work that they've been– he's had on
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: them for four months, five months. And I think they're
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: just a good group of guys with Jordan getting them right.
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: And I believe in that. Like I believe in work.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: I believe in a group sticking together and playing for
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: each other. And I think that matters. And so I
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: believe that they're going to be a strong unit and
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: only going to get better as the weeks progress and
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: watch out.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: So a lot of the conversation about position battles has
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: been about that offensive line, and that drew the bulk
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: of the focus for obvious reasons. But you have an
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: interesting situation also in the safety room, and I think
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: it's a good problem to have. But how would you
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: as a coach solve this problem? Because there's four guys
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: that have been starters at one point or have been
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: tabbed as potential starters or the future or whatever. And
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: then there's a couple of guys kind of around them
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: that also probably good enough to play and be quality backups.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: When you've got four dudes, do you rotate them through?
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: Do you want one guy on the field or two
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: guys on the field, the bulk of the reps, because
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: you've got to get into kind of a rhythm and
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: a communication sort of comfort? How do you handle that
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: at a position you know better than anyone?
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, it comes back to... I mean, it
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: doesn't come back to you, but I feel like if
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: a guy has been warranted playing time, then they deserve
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: playing time. That's through spring ball, through the past, through camp.
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: If no one's really separated themselves, then hey, everyone's going
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: to play and then it'll work itself out. On the
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: flip side, I would like a little continuity. I would
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: like more continuity, like the communication factor and just those
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: two guys rotate, be on the field and understanding the game.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: But I know, like, Rabbit and Jackson can move the
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: nickel and can cover and do multiple things. So does
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: one stay at safety so there's a foundation there and
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: the other one moves the nickel or star, whatever that is,
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: and then another guy comes in at safety, like, I
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: don't know how they're going to move those guys around,
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: but at the end of the day, the best play,
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: and if you're an impact player and you need to
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: be around the ball, you've got to do that. So
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: it'll be exciting to see how that unfolds and then
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: who rises up and takes hold of that group and
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: leads them, which I think they already are, but I'm
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: just on the field. We'll see.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: Eric Weddle for another minute or two here on the
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: Sean O'Connell Show. I think I already know how you're
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: going to answer this question, but one of the big
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: storylines of the week has been Big Ten, SEC, now
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: Big 12, having to make eligibility rules about guys that
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: are trying to roll back out of NFL training camps
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: and into college football.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts?
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: It's literally... You know, so I get it. I get
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: it from the players' perspective. I wasn't allowed to have
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: a fifth year. They came down with this. But my
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: point is, like, you've been in the NFL spring, you know, OTAs.
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: You're in camp. And now you're realizing, like, I'm not
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: going to make the team, so I'm going to go
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: back to college. for one more year, one last effort.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: It's like, listen here, man, your time's up. Your time's up.
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: And on the flip side, it's even more alarming that
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: a school would take a kid that hasn't been part
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: of your program for six months instead of believing and
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: trusting the guys that you've been coaching for six months. Like,
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: If that was a program that was recruiting gauge, I'd
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: immediately X them out. Like, not it, sorry. Because it's
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: not who I believe, like, culturally, and how you develop
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: and trust the players and trust your coaches to coach
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: those guys, that it's their opportunity. Like, if you have
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: a clip at some point where they ask Coach Smart
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: about it, he said it perfectly. Like, what's the point
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: of us pouring into these guys If I'm just going
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: to replace them with someone perceived to be better, it
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: doesn't make any sense. So I don't agree, nor think
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: it's the right. And I love that these conferences voted
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: on it unanimously to not allow it. And so hopefully
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: it stays true. Like endless other things with college football
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: right now, with stuff being backwards, hopefully... This isn't allowed.
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: And then on the flip side, I think, I don't
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: know if you read, but the NFL passed that if
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: you go back, now you're not allowed to come back
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: and re-sign in the NFL, nor can you go into
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: the draft of the 2027 draft.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you could sign next year as an undrafted free agent,
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: but you are not draft eligible if you try to roll.
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's nice to finally... that we're putting
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: our foot down and saying, hey, no, this is not okay.
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: The dream is to get to the NFL and make it, right,
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: and earn it. And if you're just not good enough,
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: then it's time to move forward. I mean, come on.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: The dream for most people is not even within reach
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: for these guys that get so close. I mean, I
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: do feel like some level of sympathy that, oh, yeah, dang,
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: that sucks that you almost made it onto the roster,
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: but just. abandoning the possibility of practice squad and every
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: other thing, because there are mechanisms to kind of hang
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: around the league and maybe you make the roster next year, right?
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: And then to say, no, I'm going to go back
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: because Lane Kiffin's offering me 500 grand or whatever.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: I think you made a lot of good points there.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: And sorry, LSU, you can't have Gage Weddle now.
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it just doesn't make sense. okay, I didn't make it.
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: There's a practice squad. Hey, there's the UFL. There's Canadian football. Hey,
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: there's the onus of, I need to improve and get better,
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: not go back to college. Like, no, that's, that's not
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: the way to do it. You, you go the avenues
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: that everyone has done before you, not since it's allotted.
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: Now you're going to go back and take another kid's
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: spot because you weren't good enough. No, that's, that's just not,
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: that's not logical. It doesn't make sense. And Again, I
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: don't think it's the kids' fault. I think they're just
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: the realization, hey, I was supposed to get another year.
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: If I was awarded this, maybe I wouldn't have came out.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: Maybe I would have. I don't know. So I get that.
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: But let's put our foot down, baby. Let's continue to
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: move forward on this.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: I'm asking you this question now as dad, as Gage
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: Weddle's dad, because he's going to have five years of
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: college eligibility. He can have five years to play five
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: instead of five years to play four. What are your
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: thoughts on that? It's an extra year of NIL if
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: that's a possibility. It's an extra year of physical maturity
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: and development. It's also another year delaying a potential NFL
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: future if that's, you know, his goal. So what are
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: your thoughts on five years to play five? Because your
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: son's going to be at that level soon.
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: Well, if, you know, everything that goes into it, there's
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: a lot that goes into it. But let's just say
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: the goal is, right, if you're really like a guy
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: that sees, looks ahead, The goal is to be somewhere
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: where you're going to be one of the best in
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: the country at your position by your third year. Right? Now,
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: what does that look like? Where does it look like? This, that,
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: and the other. But really, like, you don't have to
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: play as a true freshman. You do. You want to.
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: But ultimately, by your third year in college, you want
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: to be the guy. And then you want to be out.
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: You don't want to continue playing college and then add
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: more years to your NFL career, because that big picture thinking,
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: you're thinking of a 10 plus year NFL career, right? That,
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: that is the goal. Yes. It's, it's a less than
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: 1% of 1%, but that that's really what you want
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: to do. So in my, in my opinion, in my mind,
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: if you're waiting on your fifth year, you're probably not
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: good enough to make it in the NFL. If I'm
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: being honest at certain positions. And so if you're not
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: the guy at Gage's position by your third year, and
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: a starter a year or two before that, then you're
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: probably not, you're not an NFL type guy. So I
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: would tell them either go to the NFL or stay
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: as long as in college, because you're probably not going
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: to be in the NFL. If that makes sense. I
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: don't know. Am I talking two sides?
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: No, no, no.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: It does.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: It does make sense.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: It's like, you know, it's, I don't think it's quite
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: as binary as that when it comes to the, like,
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: I think there's plenty of guys that stay that fifth
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: year and then, but you're right. I don't think those
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: are like the high draft pick day one NFL type
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: starter type guys.
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: So yeah, I think, I think at the end of
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: the day, like you're just, you've already made that decision
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: for your fifth year, you know, like you're not going
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: back on it. You're either saying, all right, I'm playing
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: my fifth year out and not entering in the draft.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: So it's not even a conversation or you're leaving and you're,
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: and you're saying, Hey, thanks university, Utah for all you did.
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: And I'm out, you know, like, You make that decision
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: is all I'm going to say.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Well, the other crazy part about it, and I don't
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: know if you've looked at those numbers yet, but for
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: a safety, I don't know where it's at, but for
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: a quarterback, right? If you're a quarterback who has an
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: opportunity to come back for another year and play at
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: Michigan or Miami or Notre Dame or a place like that,
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: Or you can be a fourth or fifth round pick
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: in the NFL.
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: Oh, for sure.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: You've got to come back and play college.
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: Even if you think you're good enough to play in
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: the NFL, you're not going to get that money next year.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: It's wild.
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a whole different conversation for quarterbacks. They're not
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: the same. And also, you can kind of, I don't know,
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: for the most part, the shambles kid, I only bring
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: him up because He's an unbelievable college football player. Do
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: I see an NFL future? I don't. So for him,
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: it's like, yeah, it makes sense to go back. If
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: you're going to get paid $ 5 million, where you're going
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: to probably go undrafted in the NFL. Yeah, that makes
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: sense for the rest of your life. You could start
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: your life with that. But for other positions, you're not
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: getting that money, that type of money. I don't know.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: I'm not really keen on who's getting paid what positions, but...
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: It's like, all right, I need to make my jump
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: and go see if I can prove myself in the
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: league because money isn't really what I'm thinking about. It's
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: my career and what I want my career to be.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: That's the Utah football legend, Eric Weddle.
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: Make sure that you subscribe to whatever you have to
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: so you can watch his Rancho Bernardo Broncos demolish the
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: Brawley Wildcats tomorrow night.
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: Right? You know it. I hope, but we just... just
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: win by any means necessary, baby.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: Great talking to you. We'll chat again next week. Thanks, man.
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: You got it, bro.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: That's Eric Weddle. What a legend.
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: One of the funny things about having those types of
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: conversations with somebody... The lens is just a heck of
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: a lot different if you're Eric Weddle than if you're
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: a regular person who didn't achieve a dozen years in
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: the NFL.