Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Bill Riley on how we'll feel at Utah's portal class during the 2026 season, Runnin Utes host TCU tomorrow at noon + more
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: This is the Sean O'Connell show. You were home of
- 0:08Speaker 1: the best inside of your utes. Let's get back to.
- 0:11Speaker 2: OC from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred
- 0:16Speaker 2: and ninety two to one. A f am.
- 0:21Speaker 1: When you hear that music, you know who's coming out
- 0:23Speaker 1: the tunnel. It's the voice of the youths. Bill Riley
- 0:27Speaker 1: kind enough to join us here on a Friday. Welcome Bill,
- 0:29Speaker 1: how are you OC?
- 0:31Speaker 2: It is great to talk to you. What's going on?
- 0:34Speaker 1: You know, we're just processing or we're not actually processing anything.
- 0:38Speaker 1: We're predicting how we're going to be processing this transfer
- 0:42Speaker 1: portal as the window comes to a close today and
- 0:45Speaker 1: you know, Morgan scally embarks on this new job as
- 0:48Speaker 1: the head coach instead of the defensive coordinator, and he
- 0:51Speaker 1: finalizes what the roster is going to look like for
- 0:53Speaker 1: next year. I'm trying to remember how we felt this
- 0:57Speaker 1: time last year, and of course there was another spring
- 1:00Speaker 1: window that affected things, but trying to remember where we
- 1:04Speaker 1: were at with like, Okay, is this team better than
- 1:06Speaker 1: it was? Did you replace everything that you needed to replace,
- 1:09Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. And obviously this has been a
- 1:11Speaker 1: tumultuous time for Utah football. But the question is out
- 1:15Speaker 1: there net gain, net loss, net neutral when we look back,
- 1:19Speaker 1: like halfway through, I'll say, halfway through the twenty twenty
- 1:22Speaker 1: sixth season, how are we going to evaluate the way
- 1:24Speaker 1: that this transfer portal window worked out for Utah?
- 1:28Speaker 2: Let me start with this first, and then I'll answer
- 1:31Speaker 2: your question or at least attempt to give a thought
- 1:34Speaker 2: on it. What I still don't understand why the transfer
- 1:38Speaker 2: window is in early January. Don't get that. Why not
- 1:43Speaker 2: just make it in May. Make it the first week
- 1:46Speaker 2: of May, the first two weeks of May. Make these
- 1:50Speaker 2: kids commit to a school for a full year. You'll
- 1:54Speaker 2: still have summer, You'll still have fall camp. There's just
- 1:58Speaker 2: so much chaos. I know that, But I mean, if
- 2:00Speaker 2: we're really and truly still going to call these kids
- 2:03Speaker 2: student athletes and they're going to school, you know most
- 2:06Speaker 2: school starts back in early January, let them go to
- 2:10Speaker 2: with school. There's nothing going to be lost. You don't
- 2:12Speaker 2: have to be in spring for another Get you can
- 2:15Speaker 2: get there in May and June and do workouts and
- 2:18Speaker 2: then go to fall camp and still be an impactful player.
- 2:22Speaker 2: There's just way too much chaos going on with this
- 2:25Speaker 2: right now. I'm all for kids going to play where
- 2:27Speaker 2: they want to play. I'm okay with the transfer portal
- 2:30Speaker 2: to an extent, but why we have it in January
- 2:33Speaker 2: and not just do it a one time in may
- 2:36Speaker 2: make them stay in school, make them focus. You're still
- 2:39Speaker 2: working out with your football team, doing all that stuff,
- 2:42Speaker 2: and then after you've completed a full year of school,
- 2:45Speaker 2: whether it's fall and then spring, then you can look ahead.
- 2:48Speaker 2: It just it makes zero sense to have this thing
- 2:53Speaker 2: in early January and not do it in late April
- 2:56Speaker 2: or May.
- 2:56Speaker 1: Bill. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I made the same point,
- 3:00Speaker 1: and it was announced that it was going to be
- 3:01Speaker 1: this January window, and I was like flummoxed. When the
- 3:06Speaker 1: coach's convention where they kind of decided what proposal to
- 3:10Speaker 1: put forward, the coaches themselves were like, no, we want
- 3:14Speaker 1: it to be this window instead of a post springball window.
- 3:17Speaker 1: It's like, why would they want that? And it's funny
- 3:20Speaker 1: because now there's a lot of coaches complaining about the
- 3:22Speaker 1: fact that this is when the window is happening. So
- 3:25Speaker 1: I guess it's a be careful what you wish for
- 3:26Speaker 1: a situation. For some of those guys. One thing that
- 3:30Speaker 1: gives me solace and comfort is if we get to
- 3:34Speaker 1: a situation where this spring summer the coaches gather again
- 3:38Speaker 1: and talk and are just like, you know what, that
- 3:39Speaker 1: actually kind of sucked having to figure it all out
- 3:43Speaker 1: in that new year's Christmas break. Let's reevaluate this thing. Now.
- 3:49Speaker 1: College sports have been a lot more nimble in just
- 3:52Speaker 1: adopting new policies, like with this singular window, like with
- 3:57Speaker 1: an expanded college football playoffs. So if it's her by
- 4:00Speaker 1: the people who actually are affected, they will end up
- 4:04Speaker 1: changing it quickly.
- 4:06Speaker 2: And I get it. Some of these kids, you know,
- 4:08Speaker 2: their coaches leave, they go to other jobs. They're not
- 4:11Speaker 2: that's okay, nobody's saying you cannot transfer, but doing a
- 4:16Speaker 2: mid year thing, I mean, some of these kids are
- 4:18Speaker 2: going to be enrolling in class semester has already begun.
- 4:21Speaker 2: I just it makes zero sense. If you want to
- 4:24Speaker 2: follow your coach to his new destination. You guys can
- 4:27Speaker 2: talk offline, you can go through spring football, you can
- 4:31Speaker 2: do a lot of things. You can have more meaningful
- 4:34Speaker 2: meetings with the coaching staff that you're currently playing for
- 4:37Speaker 2: or a new coaching staff coming, and nothing is preventing
- 4:40Speaker 2: these kids from being able to transfer. It's just that
- 4:44Speaker 2: it's chaos. It's chaos for the kids, it's chaos for
- 4:48Speaker 2: the programs. It's just general chaos. And I just think
- 4:51Speaker 2: a lot of that can be cleared up if you
- 4:53Speaker 2: make it in late April, early May. Hey, we're in
- 4:57Speaker 2: an immediate We're in a society sean where everything has
- 5:01Speaker 2: got to be immediate gratification. It does not have to
- 5:04Speaker 2: be immediate gratification. These kids can still get to where
- 5:07Speaker 2: they want to be, but it just doesn't have to
- 5:10Speaker 2: be right now. It can be later, and then you
- 5:13Speaker 2: might be able to make a more i don't know,
- 5:17Speaker 2: a more honest, a more clarified decision on where you're
- 5:20Speaker 2: going and what your future is, and not get caught
- 5:23Speaker 2: up in the emotions of the moment by letting some
- 5:26Speaker 2: time go by. So that's that's my soapbox for now.
- 5:30Speaker 2: I don't mind the portal. Just tweak the portal a
- 5:34Speaker 2: little bit, and I think it could be good for
- 5:36Speaker 2: both sides. Anyway. The question again was.
- 5:40Speaker 1: When we look back on it halfway through next year,
- 5:44Speaker 1: are we going to say, oh, yeah, we panicked for
- 5:46Speaker 1: no reason. This was at least a net neutral or
- 5:49Speaker 1: maybe even a net positive, or we'll be looking back
- 5:51Speaker 1: on it saying, all right, Morgan's got some work to
- 5:54Speaker 1: do this coming January in the transfer portal to make
- 5:57Speaker 1: sure that we get this roster back to where it
- 5:59Speaker 1: needs to be. Will will we be judging positively or
- 6:01Speaker 1: negatively what has happened so far?
- 6:04Speaker 2: I'm going to say for now, I'm going to go
- 6:06Speaker 2: net neutral for now. And I say that and that
- 6:10Speaker 2: that sounds like I'm copying out just a little bit.
- 6:12Speaker 2: But the portal, the portal closes today, but that just
- 6:16Speaker 2: means you can't enter in the portal. There's still a
- 6:19Speaker 2: couple of thousand kids in there, and I don't think
- 6:22Speaker 2: that Morgan and his staff. I think you're going to
- 6:25Speaker 2: see more names added to this Utah roster in the
- 6:28Speaker 2: coming weeks. That's just my guess. Today's portal closing just
- 6:33Speaker 2: simply means you can't put unless you're a graduate transfer,
- 6:37Speaker 2: you can't put your name in. If you're a freshman
- 6:38Speaker 2: or a sophomore, a junior, you can't go into portal
- 6:42Speaker 2: after today. So I still think there's going to be something.
- 6:45Speaker 2: I want to let it play out a little bit.
- 6:47Speaker 2: But I just think it's too soon to know. You know,
- 6:50Speaker 2: there have been certainly names that have left the program
- 6:53Speaker 2: that have have apparently committed to other programs, and I
- 6:56Speaker 2: get that, and there's been names that have come in.
- 6:58Speaker 2: I like some of the names that I've seen that
- 7:00Speaker 2: have come in. I think the biggest portal news for
- 7:04Speaker 2: Utah is the return of not one, but two quarterbacks.
- 7:08Speaker 2: You have a guy and I said this on my podcast.
- 7:11Speaker 2: By the way, The Crimson Corner drops today where you
- 7:13Speaker 2: get your favorite podcasts every week, so jump on there
- 7:17Speaker 2: listen to listen to some of that. But I think
- 7:20Speaker 2: returning Devon Dampier, who was the Big Twelve Newcomer of
- 7:23Speaker 2: the Year and the third team All Conference quarterback Sean,
- 7:28Speaker 2: I think they've built some nice pieces around him and
- 7:31Speaker 2: have some nice pieces coming back. And I think there's
- 7:34Speaker 2: a very good chance if Devin makes the kind of
- 7:37Speaker 2: progress maybe it's not as big as it was from
- 7:39Speaker 2: New Mexico to Utah year one, but even if he
- 7:42Speaker 2: makes incremental progress, he's going to be a close to
- 7:45Speaker 2: a three thousand yard passer and close to one thousand
- 7:48Speaker 2: yard runner again, and his interceptions are down. But there's
- 7:52Speaker 2: no reason in the world Devin shouldn't be in the running,
- 7:54Speaker 2: if not the favorite, to be the conference quarterback of
- 7:57Speaker 2: the year next year, based on what he's got surrounding him.
- 8:00Speaker 2: So that and having Bird Fickland there is not only
- 8:03Speaker 2: just an insurance policy, but Bird's going to be I
- 8:06Speaker 2: figure Kevin mcgiven is going to find a way to
- 8:08Speaker 2: work him in. I think the offense has a chance
- 8:13Speaker 2: to be actually better next year than it is than
- 8:16Speaker 2: it was this year. And it was really good this year.
- 8:19Speaker 2: I don't know if they'll run for as many yards
- 8:21Speaker 2: as they did next year, we'll see. That offensive line
- 8:24Speaker 2: was unbelievable. I mean it was an NFL offensive line,
- 8:28Speaker 2: and I think Jordan Gross is going to be a
- 8:29Speaker 2: good coach. He'll fill in nicely for Jim Harding, but
- 8:32Speaker 2: you know, it's hard to replace two NFL tackles. I
- 8:35Speaker 2: think all five of those guys have a chance to
- 8:37Speaker 2: be on NFL rosters next year. But I think that
- 8:40Speaker 2: there's enough in the program and enough coming in to
- 8:43Speaker 2: know that Utah's offensive line, at worse next year will
- 8:47Speaker 2: be good. At best could be really good again. So
- 8:50Speaker 2: I think the offense is good and on the defensive side, yeah,
- 8:52Speaker 2: there were some key losses some guys that might hurt
- 8:55Speaker 2: a little bit, some guys that may have out kind
- 8:58Speaker 2: of you know, kind of run their course in the system.
- 9:02Speaker 2: Haven't been as many big names coming back in the
- 9:05Speaker 2: portal right now. But the thing about Utah on defense
- 9:08Speaker 2: is that's where you've really always seen that great development
- 9:11Speaker 2: over the years. Defensive line, linebackers, secondary guys. It's what
- 9:16Speaker 2: the head coaches fort is. I heard you talking about
- 9:19Speaker 2: Colton Swan. I'm so happy for Colton to get this opportunity,
- 9:25Speaker 2: really excited to have Derek Odom, who's been a defensive
- 9:28Speaker 2: coordinator for a number of years, come back to his
- 9:31Speaker 2: alma mater and coach the position that he coached when
- 9:34Speaker 2: he was here the first time. Guys like Eric Weddell
- 9:36Speaker 2: and Steve Tate and Casey Evans were playing for Derek Odam.
- 9:41Speaker 2: So I'm going to go net neutral for now. But
- 9:45Speaker 2: I don't think some of the losses that we've seen
- 9:47Speaker 2: in the portal for right now might be as big
- 9:51Speaker 2: as we think they are. I think we kind of
- 9:53Speaker 2: get caught up in the emotion of the moment. I
- 9:55Speaker 2: don't know if some of those guys are going to
- 9:58Speaker 2: be as impactful at their nets stop as a war
- 10:01Speaker 2: at Utah.
- 10:01Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Yeah, I know exactly what
- 10:04Speaker 1: you're saying. For the sake of time, I want to
- 10:06Speaker 1: switch things to basketball here, because you had a big
- 10:10Speaker 1: rivalry game right where I think Alex Jensen's crew accounted
- 10:13Speaker 1: pretty well for themselves against a stacked Cougar's roster. Ultimately
- 10:17Speaker 1: they come up short and you know, it's not good enough.
- 10:20Speaker 1: And then I don't know if that performance there was
- 10:24Speaker 1: fatigue associated when you went and you took on another really,
- 10:27Speaker 1: really good Texas Tech team. But I mean, that's a
- 10:31Speaker 1: that's a nasty little one week, two week stretch they
- 10:33Speaker 1: had even leading up to the BYU game and then
- 10:35Speaker 1: finishing it with Texas Tech. And that's just the nature
- 10:38Speaker 1: of things in Big twelve play. Winless so far in
- 10:41Speaker 1: Big twelve Play. But is this team making the incremental progress?
- 10:47Speaker 1: Are you seeing the things that you need to see
- 10:49Speaker 1: because you're closer to it than any of us are
- 10:51Speaker 1: that that makes you feel like Alex Jensen's going to
- 10:54Speaker 1: get this figured out sooner than later.
- 10:56Speaker 2: Well, three of the first four games were against top
- 10:58Speaker 2: fifteen teams, and the best team in the country. I
- 11:01Speaker 2: think Arizona is the best team with the fewest flaws
- 11:04Speaker 2: if any in the country, and Texas Tech and by
- 11:08Speaker 2: You are both Final four caliber teams. I'm not saying
- 11:10Speaker 2: they'll be there, but they've got the horses that they
- 11:13Speaker 2: could get there. That's tough. Tomorrow's TCU at noontime and
- 11:19Speaker 2: you've got Kansas State. There are wins on the schedule.
- 11:22Speaker 2: But for Utah to win this year, yeah, you ask
- 11:25Speaker 2: a questions, is there an incremental progress, Yes, but you
- 11:28Speaker 2: know they're still making some of the mistakes they've kind
- 11:31Speaker 2: of made in some of these big games. You've got
- 11:33Speaker 2: to kind of clean those up. You make those mistakes
- 11:36Speaker 2: against the number one, the number nine, and the number
- 11:38Speaker 2: fifteen team in the country, those teams can really punish you.
- 11:43Speaker 2: You clean up some of those, and then you get
- 11:46Speaker 2: into stretches against you know, teams that are good but
- 11:49Speaker 2: maybe not elite, or teams that are middle of the pack.
- 11:52Speaker 2: Then you've got some chance to stack some wins. I
- 11:55Speaker 2: am seeing progress where I really like to see the progress.
- 11:58Speaker 2: Sean is with some of these younger guys Oba mante,
- 12:00Speaker 2: Abby Kendall Sanders, two guys that are freshmen that they
- 12:04Speaker 2: didn't really think would play huge roles this year are
- 12:07Speaker 2: turning out to be really good players, you know, Terrence Brown,
- 12:10Speaker 2: Don McHenry, good scorers that could continue to do some
- 12:13Speaker 2: of that stuff. But yes, some of the stuff. You
- 12:16Speaker 2: can really see the improvement from week one to where
- 12:18Speaker 2: we are now. But to be really good in the
- 12:21Speaker 2: Big twelve, you've got to eliminate those little mistakes in
- 12:24Speaker 2: those small stretches. Utah was twenty four to twenty three
- 12:29Speaker 2: on the road at Tech the other night, which was
- 12:31Speaker 2: a great atmosphere. They made a couple of small mistakes.
- 12:35Speaker 2: All of a sudden, it's an eighteen to one run
- 12:38Speaker 2: and they're down. Those are the things you can't have
- 12:40Speaker 2: happen home or road against good teams in the Big twelve.
- 12:45Speaker 1: Bill Riley for another minute or two here on the
- 12:47Speaker 1: Shot O'Connell show, talking all things Utah athletics. So you've
- 12:51Speaker 1: got a Utah football program that is in a state
- 12:56Speaker 1: of change and flux. You've got a basketball program that
- 13:00Speaker 1: is now embarking on its first season after a change.
- 13:03Speaker 1: You've got a women's basketball program that's doing pretty well.
- 13:06Speaker 1: Red Rocks are going to be what the red Rocks
- 13:09Speaker 1: are going to be. And now you've got this this
- 13:12Speaker 1: private equity thing that was a huge story when it launched.
- 13:15Speaker 1: It and all of us are kind of like waiting
- 13:17Speaker 1: and looking to see what kind of effect it's going
- 13:20Speaker 1: to have on the programs and on the university and
- 13:24Speaker 1: things like that. How soon do you think it is
- 13:28Speaker 1: before people can tell and see the fruits of those.
- 13:30Speaker 2: Labors that I don't know, Sean. I think they're in
- 13:35Speaker 2: the works of finalite you know, I'm not at that
- 13:39Speaker 2: level of meeting. I think they're in the process of
- 13:43Speaker 2: finalizing the deal. And I think once they finalize the deal,
- 13:48Speaker 2: then I think you'll begin to see more of a
- 13:50Speaker 2: timeline as to when, you know, Otrow and the university
- 13:54Speaker 2: become kind of partners, when it's on campus, when it
- 13:58Speaker 2: gets rolled out. So I think, and from you know,
- 14:01Speaker 2: some of the information that I've been told, I think January,
- 14:05Speaker 2: where we're at right now, and we're midway through January,
- 14:08Speaker 2: was the month that they were looking to work out
- 14:10Speaker 2: the details and finalize the deal. And then I think
- 14:14Speaker 2: after that's done, I think we begin to see some
- 14:16Speaker 2: of the some of the more, you know, more intricate
- 14:19Speaker 2: stuff on how the inner workings of it will work
- 14:21Speaker 2: and how it will roll out coming after that, so
- 14:24Speaker 2: I obviously it'll probably be by summer or fall for sure,
- 14:28Speaker 2: But I think once the deals finalize, more details probably
- 14:31Speaker 2: come out.
- 14:33Speaker 1: Which NFL teams are emerging victorious this weekend.
- 14:37Speaker 2: Well, sadly, for the first time in more than a decade,
- 14:41Speaker 2: I do not have a team to root for in
- 14:43Speaker 2: the playoffs this year. I'm not complaining. I will be
- 14:48Speaker 2: just fine. My rule of thumb is you're not allowed
- 14:51Speaker 2: to complain about your team within five years of a
- 14:54Speaker 2: Super Bowl win. Well, I had three in five years,
- 14:57Speaker 2: so I can't complain for like the rest of my
- 14:59Speaker 2: life about anything Chansas City related.
- 15:02Speaker 1: The winning multiple Super Bowls, they reset your complaining clock,
- 15:06Speaker 1: Like Philip Rivers coming out of retirement, you know what
- 15:08Speaker 1: I mean, Like he's pushed.
- 15:11Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to look at it this way. Bronco
- 15:19Speaker 2: fans are gonna think I'm hating on the Broncos because
- 15:21Speaker 2: I'm a Chiefs fan. They have an outstanding defense that
- 15:25Speaker 2: didn't play great down the stretch. I don't fully trust
- 15:30Speaker 2: Poe Nicks, and I think if Josh Allen is ever
- 15:34Speaker 2: ever going to have an opportunity to win a Super Bowl,
- 15:36Speaker 2: it's this year. With no Mahomes, no Burrow, no Lamar
- 15:40Speaker 2: Jackson in his way right now. So I'm gonna say
- 15:45Speaker 2: Buffalo pulls an upset. I think your Bang Bang Niner
- 15:49Speaker 2: gang probably run into a little bit of a brick
- 15:52Speaker 2: wall against the twelfth Man tomorrow. But I think what
- 15:54Speaker 2: Kyle Shanahan did this year with the Niners has been phenomenal. Boy.
- 15:59Speaker 2: The game that it's hard for me with is this
- 16:01Speaker 2: Houston New England games, because the Houston offense stinks.
- 16:06Speaker 1: CJ.
- 16:06Speaker 2: Stroud has gone backwards. They stink, but their defense is
- 16:11Speaker 2: like nine eighty six Bears ninety nine Ravens level defense.
- 16:18Speaker 2: But I like Brabel and I like Drake May and
- 16:20Speaker 2: I think that's like a ten to seven game in
- 16:23Speaker 2: New England. And then I think the Rams and the
- 16:26Speaker 2: Bears run because I think Stafford and He's got his
- 16:29Speaker 2: healthy team, and I think the Bears have been a
- 16:32Speaker 2: fun story and they're a great great but I think
- 16:35Speaker 2: the luck kind of runs out this weekend. So I'm
- 16:38Speaker 2: the one big upset I'm picking is Buffalo at Denver
- 16:41Speaker 2: and and then I think I take the home teams
- 16:43Speaker 2: after that, all right, I'm sorry, the two home teams
- 16:45Speaker 2: and then the Rams on the road.
- 16:48Speaker 1: That's Bill Riley. Our conversation with the Voice of the
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- 17:37Speaker 1: Bill, thanks for your time, Talk to you soon.