Latest / Champions of Life / Champions of Life: Episode 1

Transcript

Champions of Life: Episode 1 · Champions of Life

welcome to the champions of life podcast where 3 orangeblooded Tennessee alums discuss how there's always next year Here's my concern.
Go going into the season.
Bobby and Laney is that we, who was the coach? Offensive coordinator.
He's, the head coach down in Florida somewhere.
Was great when Golish.
Yeah, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
We have not recovered since he left.
We haven't.
You're right.
So I'm worried that we're still gonna have the same mediocre offense.
We're gonna have a great defense probably.
And they're gonna keep us in game, but we won't be able to run up the amount of points and touchdowns we did.
So I'm worried it's gonna be a repeat of the last two or three years.
Good season, but not great.
I agree.
We also don't know who our center is yet, right? We, we don't have that locked ins.
Until our offensive line is decent and shows up, I'm gonna be concerned about it.
We don't know what the quarterback situation is, and we don't have Dylan Samson back there.
We don't have Samson.
We don't have receivers like, I mean, we've got some good ones potentially, but they're untested, right? For the most part.
For Brazel, Brazel.
Mike Matthews, you know, maybe I'm even more worried now.
38 seconds in, I'm doubling down on my worried level.
Yeah.
Eight and four, that's, that's gonna be a good season.
Eight and four.
I agree with that.
I wish I could say nine and three.
I hope they surprise us, but it's not based on all those factors.
Too worse.
The good news is the SEC is fairly.
George is coming back with an untested quarterback as well.
You know, they're gonna have a good defense.
They're gonna have athletes.
Florida is a huge question mark.
Billy probably should have gotten fired last year, but they didn't.
Mm-hmm.
They got a superstar quarterback, which we've seen this before.
And then from there it's like Alabama at their place.
To me he is a toss up Millrose was probably better than people gave him credit for and he probably bailed them out of a lot of bad situations.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Um, so I do, I think it's, I think it's fairly open.
I think all of those concerns are valid as far offense of line is plagued us for years.
You gotta get your tackles figured out.
I think Dylan Sson did the same for us that Millrose did for Bama and bailed us out of a ton of, you know, not great situations, but yeah.
Based on the quarterbacks we've seen in the last, like, you know, the last four eras of quarterbacks.
Like I feel like these guys, they are capable of doing something that's adequate to win US football games just based on the offensive line.
But I do think that there is a lot of concern that goldish was covering up a lot of our sins.
I think I'll stop talking, but there's been a change in heel's.
Mm-hmm.
Coaching strategy over the last three years.
When he came in, he was aggressive.
He was a risk taker.
Right.
We're going for it on fourth down.
There's no hesitation in that man's eyes.
It's rush to the line.
Punch it through.
Right.
And I don't know if his quarterback change, you know, Joe couldn't handle it or Nico was too young to have the command of it.
But, or, or he's gone more conservative.
But there's more deliberation on the sidelines.
We're punting the ball more often.
We're not going for two.
And the speed getting back to the line is not there like it was, right? Mm-hmm.
We had people on their heels.
You've lost a little bit of that competitive advantage, and I do think that like some of the negative recruiting against Tennessee has been.
Offensive lineman, elite offensive linemen don't wanna play that offense because they don't wanna be up and down.
The defense doesn't wanna be on the field that much because offense is either gonna go three and out, or they're gonna score and you're back out on the field.
You're getting exposed, you got more risk for bad tape getting out there for your, your pro level.
I think that's been a negative recruiting tactic and maybe he's been more concerned about that than he should be, but.
Hmm.
Hadn't thought of that.
Those are good points.
What are you guys concerned about going this season? I mean, this year's gonna be a redo of what we saw last year.
Last year our defense won games for us and Dylan Sampson, defense, for the most part is still there, but.
Samson's, not now.
Bishop could be great.
Peyton Lewis.
Um, who's the third, third string star? Anyway, I think it's gonna be, um, our schedule is be, is better, right? It's not as difficult as last year, but I still say we're losing to the main three.
Georgia, Florida, Alabama.
Then we always lose one.
We shouldn't lose.
Right.
So maybe that's Oklahoma.
Maybe it's Vanderbilt.
Hopefully not Vanderbilt.
Um, yeah, hopefully not because Van's at home.
Right.
So yeah, that would be terrible.
That's where I'm at.
Until we beat Florida in Gainesville.
Mm-hmm.
I just don't have a lot of faith.
Who was the, the kid that beat us on that awful Hail Mary three years ago.
That quarterback that was like 40 years old.
Oh, you know who Grant, uh, grant Merch was Merz.
No, Mertz was last year.
This was this, I guess this was Butch's last year.
They beat us on that Hail Mary, not Butch's.
Last year.
Maybe it was Pritz.
Yeah.
That's a long time.
It was Pritz.
But we, they were a horrible, horrible team and the quarterback was a transfer and they beat us on a Hail Mary, and we just played it awful.
I mean, our guys were terrified of getting past interference and just let 'em catch it.
Um mm.
Which I think we should all have, the coaches should have like the ability to coach players to be like, Hey, they're not gonna call pi on a hail Mary.
Just, you just gotta, as long as you don't tackle 'em, just don't let 'em catch it.
Yeah, that's a good point.
But Felipe Franks.
Felipe.
Oh yeah.
He did have an arm on him.
But yeah, they threw that bomb and I was like, okay, well we're not gonna beat Florida in Florida anytime soon.
2017.
2017 and then even two years ago with, uh, offense down there, it was, we looked like we had never played football before.
That's rough.
And I think that some of that is night game, and I do think that that's why he is trying to get away a little bit from that.
Uh, hurry up offense 'cause that hurry up offense is extremely effective when you're kneeling and everybody knows the goal.
But when you're in the swamp or Death Valley, I think we lucked out with, um, hookers year where we went to LSU and we got the noon kickoff.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Otherwise, you know, those are just completely, those environments are just not.
They're not gonna help our offense when you're worried about timing and hand signals and calling audibles for receivers on routes that they're seeing.
But 'cause it's all basically a, an option tree for the receivers on a lot of that offense.
And to your point, if the receivers are young and they're not comfortable in that offense, and you don't have a Hyatt that can just run a post or a dig.
They're gonna keep it simple.
It's, yeah, it's complex if you're not aware.
And that's why I think Cedric was so good.
Cedric was extremely effective.
And then Thornton last year, he's basically running highest route tree and got 'em drafted.
So got 'em both drafted pretty high.
So you mentioned Butch a minute ago.
Mm-hmm.
So do you wanna explain why we're calling this podcast Champions of Life? You know, we made it, we're, we're here in Knoxville, Tennessee.
We are champions by default of life.
We live in the great state of Tennessee and America.
But, uh, you know, Butch has done, he's got some real, you know, PTSD for Tennessee fans.
And so I think Amanda deserves a little bit of credit for giving us battered V syndrome.
Um, you know, he's a great, he's a great motivator and rah rah guy, and I think it is, it's a hard job to keep 19-year-old millionaires happy and unified and working as a team, and he's just trying to unite him, let 'em know they are champions of life because they're D one athletes and getting to play us a game for fun.
Wow.
So you're giving them the benefit of the doubt.
He should have never said it.
We, he should have never said it.
This is the, this is the conundrum or the, uh, plight of a Tennessee ball fan where we try to find moral victories because we can't win on the field or the court.
Mm-hmm.
We have to find something like, hey, you know, if we lose, you know, it's not all about winning and losing.
These guys are gonna do great in life.
It's about good family, good friends, and making good grades.
You know, 'cause football won't be here forever.
Basketball.
But this is what we do.
We revert back to that.
So we're gonna have something.
There's so much pride in the ball fan base.
So that's why I think it hit home with, that's an awful thing to do.
Awful feeling to feel like that's all you have is, is moral victories.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
But not wins on the, where it really counts.
It's been rough.
It's been a rough, uh, decade.
So, so just to kinda wrap this one up, this first episode, do you wanna share, why are we doing this podcast? Who we are, our connection to ut just why we're fans, any of that background information? Yeah.
Uh, was there 2002 to 2006.
There were some great mediocre years at ut.
Uh, we had the Clawson brothers there mainly.
Some goods.
I remember driving all the way to the Cotton Bowl 16 hours away to watch us win.
I think it was Rick, was it Rick that won that that year? Yeah.
That was fun.
There's some fun memories, but always wanting more for Tennessee, but falling short.
A lot of hype.
This is also one of the reasons why we picked this name.
It's all so much hype as a tendency fan going into the season, but we fall short, so I'd rather go in.
Not ranked in the top 25 or maybe up in the twenties somewhere 18 to 20.
I think we are this year.
I think we're 18.
Right? This is great.
Perfect.
Okay, now I'm, I'm excited.
Now I'm back.
I'm back.
And did you see South Carolina's 13? This is, that's, that's wonderful, wonderful news.
The more ICC teams that are in front of us, the better, the better chance we have.
I'm with you on this.
I don't even know where I went, but, you know, it was, it was a great year, years, four years.
Mm-hmm.
But, uh, vol fan for life.
Grew up seeing Tennessee win in a lot of different sports.
Todd Ner, um, Peyton Manning, t Martin, and, uh, lady Vols were winning championships, seemed like every other year.
So thought that was normal.
Mm-hmm.
And then by the time I got to ut, we were starting to be mediocre in most sports.
So that's, that's why I'm here 'cause I love Tennessee and, uh, hopeful, like most fans, hopeful every year that this is the year.
This is, this might be the year.
You never know.
Uh, yeah, I'm here.
I've been working with Joe for over a decade and um, we've got a lot of things in common.
One of it is a love for Tennessee sports and, um, I feel like life is really short and so we try to stay above the go balls.
How's the weather stuff? That doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it is fun to have a distraction from normal everyday life.
And so.
I love Tennessee sports.
Uh, the first game I ever went to was 2001.
Right after nine 11 we played at LSU at at home and I didn't know what I was signing up for.
And when the LSU fans were chanting LSU over the rest of the stadium, chanting USA, I knew, I was like, okay, I'm on the right side of history.
All these other fan bases are trash.
Tennessee is the way to go.
And so.
Um, yeah, seen a lot over the years.
Basketball and football, um, women's sports.
Um, I still, you know, just sticking with LSUI still don't like Rohan Davy for beating us in the SEC championship when we could have gone to the national championship.
Um, I was a sophomore when we went to the SEC championship in oh seven against LSU of all teams and age threw a pick six.
It is still just a dagger of the heart.
Mm-hmm.
Then you listen to LSU team, they're like, oh, we knew the play before they snapped the ball.
So they walked into the end zone.
We lost, could have gone to the national championship that year too.
Pat White and, um, Slaton, West Virginia.
They were gonna go and they lost in the final game.
Anyways, I'm not bitter.
It's all the what ifs and what could have beens.
It keeps, keeps me engaged.
It makes it fun.
But, um, yeah, I was on campus from oh six to 2010, so I had all the, uh, Bruce years, which was a blast being in the, the mosh pit and the shot over to rant and, um, you know, I gotta see Fulmer not end with all the grace in the world, and then Kiffin and Dooley, um, during my time there.
And what a, what a whirlwind of competency levels.
So.
The good and the bad.
I feel like if you make it through all that, it's like you just gotta ride it out.
Yeah.
Uh, so I'm Laney and, uh, worked with Joe and Bobby for the last year or so.
I honestly don't remember the years I was at ut.
I need to go back and figure that out, but I overlapped when y'all were there.
Um, didn't know y'all of course, back then, but yeah, we at work, we ended up talking about Tennessee sports at least once a week, especially during football season.
Basketball season.
So I wanted to do this podcast, just a quick recap of what's going on, day to day, week to week with Tennessee.
Long time.
I know I'm East Tennessee native.
You are too.
Bobby Joe as well.
And so, yeah, we've all been Tennessee fans since birth, essentially.
I don't remember the first game I went to.
That's impressive.
Your, your recall is really, you do topnotch Bobby.
Um, but yeah.
Bleed orange, anytime Tennessee is on TV playing anything.
I'm watching it, so.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think that's it for our first attempt at a podcast.
Y'all have anything else, any parting thoughts? I will say, I'm just gonna double down on LSU and I don't for reason, I don't know why, but it was the year that we were trying to get butch fired, like we wanted him to be, be in, I was at the LSU game where it like just dumped buckets and they kicked the ball off in the second half and nobody could see the ball.
And LSU got the ball back and it was like, why did we do, what did the referee, but anyways.
Throughout the stands, everybody was texting that Gruden was at Calhouns and he was signing a deal.
And I sat there, we got beat by like 40 points and I got absolutely drenched and I was like, hopefully we're showing Gruden who's at Calhouns right now.
He can see this fan base getting our teeth kicked in in the rain and we're not going home.
I'm doing my part.
Horrible decision.
Should have left, should never come to, we couldn't give the tickets away anyways.
LSU forever will be.
Etched in my heart is something that I don't wanna prove of.
But Mabie, we're still here and that's why we're, we're champions of life, right? So life champions baby.
And part of this is just coping as a Yeah.
Golf fan.
There's so much hope going in.
The parting thought is just, there's always next.
Even if we lose to Florida, there's always 20 26, 20 27.
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
So we will look forward to those years to come, even if it's not this year.
Yes.
Because we do bleed orange and we do care about the vols in all sports.
We want 'em to do great, but then.
Sometimes this podcast, we'll talk about the tough things, the things that frustrate us a lot, so mm-hmm.
Maybe tuned weekly.
Yes.
Yeah.
That's fair.
Yep.
All right.
Stay tuned for episode two coming soon.