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Steve Saunders on his philosophy and approach to his role as the Utes' Director of Sports Performance + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: You're listening to The Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hyundai Studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: We are lucky enough to welcome in a guy I've
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: been wanting to talk to since he was promoted to
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  Speaker 3: the director of football sports performance, Steve Saunders, kind enough
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: to give us a few minutes here on a Wednesday,
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: getting ready for big 12 play with the university of
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Utah football team, coach Saunders.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. How are you, sir?
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing great. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: So, uh, I'm not just gassing you up. I've been
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: wanting to talk to you for a very long time,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: partially because we have a mutual friend who speaks incredibly
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: highly of you. Eric Weddle and I were on the
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: team together back in the day and have maintained a
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: good friendship. you know, Eric, like I do, it's not
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: easy to impress that guy and you impressed him and
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  Speaker 3: continue to apparently. And he, he was the first person
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  Speaker 3: when we heard about you being promoted that I reached
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  Speaker 3: out to, because I knew you guys had a relationship
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  Speaker 3: and he sang your praises. And I just want to
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  Speaker 3: start this conversation with a conversation about him and about
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  Speaker 3: your relationship with a Utah football legend and a guy
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  Speaker 3: you met in the NFL circles. And obviously he's part
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: of what brought you to the university of Utah. Just,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: you know, you watched him like we did inducted into
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  Speaker 3: the ring of honor. Tell me your experience with Eric Weddle.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Eric's probably, you know, one of the best human
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  Speaker 2: beings that I know is a father, a husband, a coach,
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  Speaker 2: a player, just an incredible human being and incredibly disciplined
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  Speaker 2: athlete who gives us all, whether he's playing, whether he's coaching, uh,
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  Speaker 2: I really can talk for the next hour about Eric
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  Speaker 2: and my thoughts on him. And, and as we all know,
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  Speaker 2: Eric's an opinion, any guy, and he's not afraid to
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  Speaker 2: share it for better or for worse. So I'm certainly
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  Speaker 2: glad he had good things to say. And I'll say
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  Speaker 2: from the beginning with the Ravens, this is a guy
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  Speaker 2: who he came in and signs a free agent. And
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: literally we crossed paths for five minutes and I had
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  Speaker 2: just started and I said to him and just, well,
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  Speaker 2: what time are you flying out tomorrow? And it was
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: some fairly early flight. I want to say 9 00 AM.
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  Speaker 2: And I was like, Hey, do you want to grab,
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  Speaker 2: do you want to grab a workout before you go
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  Speaker 2: fully expecting him to say, no, I'm going, I'm doing
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  Speaker 2: whatever he didn't have the time. He looks at me
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  Speaker 2: and goes, sure. Let's do it. What time? He said, Hey,
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  Speaker 2: I'm here at 5 00 AM. That guy from West
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  Speaker 2: coast time just signed less than 24 hours ago. is
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  Speaker 2: there at 5 0 AM. We pass coach horrible on
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  Speaker 2: the parking lot. And he goes, what the hell are
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: you guys doing? And I said, well, we're going in
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  Speaker 2: for a workout and that's day one with Eric. And
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  Speaker 2: that's how he wants to be great. He wants to
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  Speaker 2: be better than anybody else. And that just speaks to
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  Speaker 2: his work ethic and what type of person he is.
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  Speaker 3: Everyone,
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  Speaker 3: to a man that we talked to post-summer in camp,
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  Speaker 3: offensive linemen, defensive backs, wide receivers, whether it was solicited
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  Speaker 3: or not, everybody.
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  Speaker 1: Mentioned, you know what, my body feels great.
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  Speaker 3: I've put on good weight or I've taken off bad
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  Speaker 3: weight or whatever it is.
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  Speaker 1: And, you know, you had to do a lot of
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  Speaker 1: work in a short amount of time.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm sure that you've got plans when, you know,
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  Speaker 3: you're a little bit more settled in and you get
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  Speaker 3: an entire, you know, full season than an off season
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  Speaker 3: program and things like that. But just if you can
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  Speaker 3: give me your philosophy and the work that you put
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  Speaker 3: in and in a relatively short time to get this
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  Speaker 3: team ready for this season.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I really, with the whole team had, had eight
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  Speaker 2: weeks in training camp, heading into training camp, then training
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  Speaker 2: camp to, to get them ready. And I really looked at,
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  Speaker 2: I wanted specificity and I wanted individualization and these Utah
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  Speaker 2: football players have always worked hard and that's well known,
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  Speaker 2: but I really looked at them. I wanted to stop
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  Speaker 2: just having them lift weights. And I wanted to start
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  Speaker 2: training them as football players by position, by individual structural needs.
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  Speaker 2: And really I'm so fortunate to Matt, the coach Scali's
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  Speaker 2: vision matches up with mine and everything we do should
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  Speaker 2: have a why behind it. Everything we do should transfer
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  Speaker 2: the field. And although it was a content time and
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  Speaker 2: we laid the foundation, we got the guys strong, explosive, fast,
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  Speaker 2: feeling great heading into training camp. And really it just
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  Speaker 2: carried over from there. And we're still building, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to keep building through the entire season. The
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  Speaker 2: goal never changes. We want to be stronger and faster,
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  Speaker 2: more physical in January than we were in September. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, this whole thing's just a process to me
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  Speaker 2: and working with these kids who are just the best
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  Speaker 2: kids ever.
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  Speaker 3: So a big narrative around Utah football in, in recent
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  Speaker 3: years has been injuries, injury prevention, maybe a lack of
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  Speaker 3: injury prevention. We don't know where, you know, the observer,
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  Speaker 3: the fan, it's just like, Hey, what's going on? Why,
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  Speaker 3: why are all these things happening? Some of it obviously
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  Speaker 3: has to be bad luck, but how much of the
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  Speaker 3: injury and injury prevention component shapes your program, your individual workouts,
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  Speaker 3: the specificity you're talking about by position group and by individual,
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  Speaker 3: because obviously a healthy football player and available football player
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  Speaker 3: is the kind that you need.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't really know. I don't know if I
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  Speaker 2: ever used the term injury prevention. I mean, I think we're,
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  Speaker 2: trying to prepare the guys for the field as best
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  Speaker 2: we can. I usually found that the newest injury has
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  Speaker 2: a root in the oldest injury that really wasn't rehabbed
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  Speaker 2: or taken care of as well as it should have,
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  Speaker 2: or the athlete's still compensating for it. So I think
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  Speaker 2: that's a factor and you have to look at that
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  Speaker 2: stuff and take it into account. And that's where we
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  Speaker 2: get into the individualization of the program. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this is, you can't take injuries out of football. I mean, gosh,
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  Speaker 2: you look at the injury report for the NFL or
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: college on any, after any given weekend. And it's just
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  Speaker 2: a control car wrecks on every single play. So all
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  Speaker 2: we can do, these guys are race cars and we're
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  Speaker 2: just trying to build them up, get them as prepared
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  Speaker 2: as they can to just absorb the game and the season.
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  Speaker 2: And I think a big part of that, those in
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  Speaker 2: season workouts, you can never take your foot off the gas.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: And I think it's, what stands out differently from, from
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  Speaker 2: my program here. And I think a lot of other
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  Speaker 2: programs is just this mentality of this goal is not changing.
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  Speaker 2: This isn't an end season maintenance stronger. We are continuously
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  Speaker 2: getting better and you will be stronger and faster in
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  Speaker 2: January than you are now. And, And that evidence is
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  Speaker 2: itself every, every day. I mean, we had two players
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  Speaker 2: last week that hit PRs in speed in practice on
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  Speaker 2: the GPS system. So two guys, you know, say Wayshawn
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  Speaker 2: Parker and Hunter Andrews, who ran faster in practice than
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  Speaker 2: they ever had before off season, in season, anything. And
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  Speaker 2: that's pretty impressive. And that's really what we're working towards
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  Speaker 2: every day.
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  Speaker 3: Steve Saunders is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell show,
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  Speaker 3: the director of football sports performance, more commonly referred to
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: as the strength coach at the university of Utah. Um,
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  Speaker 3: obviously you came from an NFL background, uh, How much
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  Speaker 3: adjustment in there? How different is it working with an
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  Speaker 3: 18-year-old body versus a 32-year-old body like you did in
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  Speaker 3: the NFL?
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  Speaker 1: How much do you have to change things?
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  Speaker 3: And referring back to that specificity component, when some of
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: these guys are coming in with that great Dane puppy
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  Speaker 3: body and you've got to add 30, 40 pounds to
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  Speaker 3: them before they're ready to play, I imagine that's a
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  Speaker 3: challenge in and of itself.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there are upsides and downsides to both certainly. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you're getting, you know, you get a 32 year old
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  Speaker 2: in the NFL. I mean, he already might've had quite
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  Speaker 2: a few injuries, joint issues, things you're working around and
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  Speaker 2: you have the same in college for the same time
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  Speaker 2: you get a, a Kelvin Obach who comes in here
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  Speaker 2: at 17 years old and you're like, my God, this
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  Speaker 2: kid's just a piece of clay. We can, you can
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  Speaker 2: mold them, get them better. And you know, Kelvin's put
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  Speaker 2: on 20 plus pounds and just, you know, continuously amazes
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  Speaker 2: me how he's getting stronger and better every single workout.
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  Speaker 2: So I think you have that aspect and then you
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  Speaker 2: have the mental aspect of these guys are hungry. And although,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they're, they're getting paid and it's a different
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  Speaker 2: universe than it used to be. They're still young, hungry, driven,
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  Speaker 2: and it's, And it's fantastic to, to work with somebody
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  Speaker 2: who comes to work like that every day in the NFL,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the guys can, you know, the belly can
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  Speaker 2: get a little full sometimes. And I don't see that here.
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  Speaker 2: Every one of these kids to a T is just
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  Speaker 2: working hard every day. And it's a pleasure to be with.
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  Speaker 3: How, how much data driven stuff is there in your program?
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  Speaker 3: It's been 20 years since I was in a college
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  Speaker 3: football weight training program.
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  Speaker 1: And I, The weight rooms look different. The machines look different.
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  Speaker 3: Thank goodness people like me never had to put a
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  Speaker 3: GPS on and learn how slow they actually were. but
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  Speaker 3: you know like everything now is plugged into a computer
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  Speaker 3: and you get you spit out all these formulas and
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  Speaker 3: things like that you can use that in the media
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  Speaker 3: we can use it or you.
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  Speaker 1: Can just say ah the analytics don't mean anything where do.
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  Speaker 3: You stand on i guess the numbers game and the
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  Speaker 3: analytical component of getting these guys stronger more explosive more prepared.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, all that matters. I mean, you should be data-supported,
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  Speaker 2: but it's culture-driven. So the data, you're just gathering that,
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  Speaker 2: and it's little snapshots of what they're doing, where they are,
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  Speaker 2: which way you're trending. And there's so much to report,
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  Speaker 2: and we embrace all of that. But the culture is
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  Speaker 2: of this working hard, getting better every day. You know,
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  Speaker 2: this RSMB, it's just... what we preach and what we
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  Speaker 2: practice here. So they really go hand in hand. I mean,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: if you want to make yourself feel old, go get
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  Speaker 2: a DEXA body fat screening somewhere, which is basically an
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  Speaker 2: x-ray machine for a fat that these kids have to
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  Speaker 2: do today that you and I never had to do.
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  Speaker 2: And wow, there's nothing to hide on that thing. I
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  Speaker 2: assure you nobody, no male over 41 set DEXA report.
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  Speaker 2: I assure you.
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to, I'm going to steer clear of the Dexa.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: If you don't mind, coach, not something that's going to
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  Speaker 3: flatter me at this point, this might, might be a
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  Speaker 3: dumb question, but is there, is there a lift that
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  Speaker 3: you're like, no, we don't do that. Is there something
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  Speaker 3: where it's, you know, cause again, these programs have evolved
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: so much. And, you know, even back in the day,
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  Speaker 3: there were some coaches who were like, we're not power
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  Speaker 3: cleaning anymore. That's an injury waiting to happen. I heard
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  Speaker 3: about coaches that didn't want you under a heavy squat,
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  Speaker 3: things like that. Is there some, is there a lift
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  Speaker 3: that maybe the, the layman is aware of? And is
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  Speaker 3: that gold's gym, you know, pumping out that you're like,
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  Speaker 3: that does not help a football player.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't really look at it like lifts. I mean,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: all of our programs change every three or four weeks.
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  Speaker 2: We're just wrapping up a program. We're changing the strength
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  Speaker 2: programs next week during the bi-week. And again, whatever If
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  Speaker 2: I'm looking to put in a position or an individual's workout,
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  Speaker 2: there's a specific why behind it. And we break all
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  Speaker 2: the guys into small groups. This isn't the whole team
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  Speaker 2: doing the same thing. So everything, our strength coaches are
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: on top of the guy's form, the technique, what they're doing.
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  Speaker 2: So there's no lift that I'm afraid of as long
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: as it's done in the correct context and it's done
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  Speaker 2: for the right person. We certainly don't need... in my opinion, are,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: are quarterbacks power cleaning or power snatching. There's other stuff
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  Speaker 2: they can be doing for rotational work, for shoulder stability,
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  Speaker 2: for all those things that make them quarterbacks. So again,
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  Speaker 2: it's not, there's, you know, there's not bad lifts. There's
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: bad coaches that give certain athletes lifts, I guess, but
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  Speaker 2: there's nothing I'm wholesale against. I'll say that.
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  Speaker 3: How much does flexibility come into play in, in your program?
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  Speaker 3: And just, I guess in general, that's, that's something that, uh,
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  Speaker 3: you know, it was never a strength of some of
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  Speaker 3: the myself or some of the guys I was around.
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  Speaker 3: And now you see even like these elite, elite, elite,
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  Speaker 3: big time, muscle bound athletes who seem to have a
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  Speaker 3: ton of flexibility.
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  Speaker 1: Is that a point of emphasis?
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  Speaker 2: It's a point of emphasis in a different way. I
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  Speaker 2: think flexibility is a bad word. I think Guys who
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  Speaker 2: are hyperflexible can end up being hurt in that they
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  Speaker 2: can get themselves into ranges of motion that they're not
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  Speaker 2: strong in. So what I like to say is I
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  Speaker 2: don't want to have any mobility without stability. So for us,
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  Speaker 2: we work on increasing ranges of motions by increasing strength.
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  Speaker 2: it's not just stretching the crap out of something. So
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: if I can only lift my arm so far up
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  Speaker 2: over my head, my shoulder can control that range of motion.
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  Speaker 2: I could hang on a power rack and I could
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  Speaker 2: stretch the crap out of my shoulder, probably get a
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  Speaker 2: couple more inches range of motion, but my muscles aren't
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  Speaker 2: strong enough to control that range of motion. So that's
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  Speaker 2: probably a complicated answer to your question. So we really
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  Speaker 2: work on getting strong and stable ranges of motion for
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: these guys. So for offensive lineman, we want them to
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: be able to sit deep and be able to sit
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  Speaker 2: strong and have great hips. And, and Z is a
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  Speaker 2: great example of that as a six foot eight, nine
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  Speaker 2: offensive lineman. We made a conscious effort to get him
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  Speaker 2: stronger in a deep range of motion to be able
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: to play offensive tackle better. And that's just one example
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  Speaker 2: of how we believe in ranges of motion versus flexibility.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: As you're staying at the head of the curve, Coach,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: how much study is there with your job? I know
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: that you've got, obviously, your time with the team and
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: your analysis of the data that comes out of the
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: workouts and you're out there at practice and you're observing
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: and you're there on the sideline during the games. How
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: much of your individual work, your quiet time, is just
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: staying up with what's new and what's best in the field?
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: You have to. I think you have to have your
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: core foundation of what you do. And then I think
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: you have to throw stones at everything that you do.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: And I think it's a philosophy Coach Scali shares of,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: are we getting better? Are we doing everything that we
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: possibly could? And I think so. I spend a lot
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: of time looking at stuff and look at a filter of,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: is this just social media crap? Does this fit into
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: the context of a team? Does this fit into the
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: context of a person or a position? And you're saying, okay...
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: how can I make the program better? And that's a
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: constant process. I think guys that do the same thing
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: year after year think, Hey, I got a great program.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I never need to change it. And that doesn't exist
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: for me. Although we had the guys this eight weeks,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: the summer, and for some of the guys earlier than that,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: they will never do the same program again with me.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: It is always an evolving thing.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: I want to make sure I phrase this correctly, but, um,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: the attrition element, the just make it suck element to
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: a strength program. Is there, is there still a place
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: for that in college football, the mental fortitude training that
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: comes with, we used to have FUBAR Fridays and you
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: were just, you know, they were trying to make you
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: hurt and quit and feel the burn and understand that
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: your body has a different threshold and you can push
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: beyond it. I found value in those things. I was
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: not a Ferrari. I was not a Ducati. I was,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: you know, a plow horse. And so, like, it made
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: sense for me. I don't know if that still exists
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: or if that still has a place in a Utah
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: football program or any Utah football or any football program,
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: I should say. And I'm really curious your thoughts on,
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: you know, the making it hard for the sake of
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: it being hard and the guys being used to that.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Is there still a place for it?
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually think everything should be hard. I think
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: there's an intensity to a lifting or running, you know,
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: with the lifting, everything we do has a rep range
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: to it. And we're training to acceptable failure. If I
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: give the guy a weight, I'd say it's six to eight.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: If he gets a, the max number, he has to
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: go up and wait for the next set. If he
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: doesn't get at least six, then we're going to drop
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: down slightly so we can fit within that rep range.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: And that's sort of our safety guide rails of lifting.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: So we are looking for acceptable failure on every single
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: set the guys do in the weight room. And there's
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: an intensity, there's a hardness, a toughness with that. And
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: the same goes for the run. The run may only
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: be six seconds. However, when a lineman has to push
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: 700 pounds for that six seconds and barely get to
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the finish line or not get there or just get
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: across in that six seconds, it's exactly the effect you're
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: talking about except that it has a why. And every
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: single week we're building on the time, we're building on
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: the intensity, we're building on the endurance if that's what
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: we're working. So I think it's something you should be
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: striving for in everything that you do. However, I don't
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: think you beat guys just for the sake of beating them.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: And that's a difference between programs. To me, everything should
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: still have a why behind it.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: A couple more minutes here with Steve Saunders, the director
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: of football performance at, excuse me, football sports performance at
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: the University of Utah, the new strength coach. And so
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: now this team heads into October. Big 12 play, and
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: you start to get into the meat of the season,
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: and obviously you've been through many of these now at
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: all levels of football, and I think you may have
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: already answered this question. You're still lifting hard. You're still
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: improving performance and things like that. You're still getting these
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: guys to go as fast as they have gone. How
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: do you read and adjust based on the bumps and
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: the bruises that accumulate over a season?
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: How much.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: Do you just say, all right, lift through that injury
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: or lift through that bump, that bruise?
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: And how much do you say, all right, now it's
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: time to rest?
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Is that more that acceptable range of failure thing you
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: were just talking about?
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: It is. It's acceptable failure. And look, you're always working
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: around that stuff in football. And we never just plow forward.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: an exercise for the sake of an exercise. You know,
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: if a guy's got jacked up elbows, you're changing it
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: from one thing to something where you're getting a similar
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: training effect, but it's much elbow friendlier for that. So
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: we're training around those aches and pains and things that
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: they have on a daily and weekly basis. And that's
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: where not using a cookie cutter approach and really the
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: specificity and the individualization that we're doing with these guys,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: it makes a huge difference because you're going to be
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: doing that all season long, but no matter what, it's still,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: the goal was to have them improve and be better
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: at the end of the season and stronger and faster
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: than they were in the beginning, despite everything that they're
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: dealing with. And you know, it's a long, long season. Really,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: I think teams that don't do that end up feeling
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: weak and frail late October, November, and that's not going
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: to be us.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you're aware every year in the preseason, our
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: friend Bruce Feldman puts out the freaks list in The
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: Athletic where he talks about the guys in college football
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: that are just the outliers from the outliers, the freaks.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: absolute alien bodies that are capable of jumping and running
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: and lifting more than human beings are supposed to be
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: able to lift.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Who are those guys in the Utah football program right now, coach?
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: No, I mean, a freak's a whole different category to me.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's local Ray Lewis could have worked out
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: with a fly swatter for his entire career and he
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: still would have been Ray Lewis. I mean, he's still
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: a freak and you, you certainly have those guys. You
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: look at a, Calais Campbell is six, nine playing at
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: 40 years old. And while there's just so many guys
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: like that, this is different here. I mean, we get,
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: you're not getting a lot of five-star guys, you know,
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: that might be that freak high school athlete. We're getting
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: blue collar, mature, hardworking kids. I mean, if I had
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: to pick one, I would say Jackson Benny's one of
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: the twitchiest guys I've ever seen. He's the extremely fast twitch.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Every NFL scout that sits in my office, this guy's
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: going to blow your doors off. And look, Jackson's still
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: going to put some weight on. He's still going to
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: get stronger, still going to get faster. And you run
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: into him on the street, you're not going to be
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: able to tell. But this guy's just bottled lightning waiting
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: to bust out at any second to me. And I
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: would definitely put him in my, on my free scale
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: for that.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: And maybe more important question than anything I've asked you
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: so far, you're not a state of Utah guy.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: This is not, you know, where you were raised, right?
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: This is not like, this is not the home homegrown
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: stuff here for you. How have you and the family,
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: which I know is very important to you. How have
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: you and the family found Salt Lake city and integration
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: here into this kind of quirky culture of ours?
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's certainly not what I expected. I mean,
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: I came out in January, I was expecting mountains and
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: snowfall and, you know, an occasional rain. And I was
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: lied to. Nobody told me I was moving to the desert.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, I haven't seen, I've seen less than an
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: inch of snow since I've been here and hardly any rain,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: but it has been an amazing, I mean, for my wife,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: my kids, this whole area has you know, it's just
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: really just blown our doors off and we are having
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: such a great time, loving it. I have a young son.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: He's my offensive lineman. He's a monster in eighth grade
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: down in Corning Canyon playing for their youth team. And
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: he's just couldn't be more positive about the experience. And
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: really we just feel so blessed to be here. I
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: feel so blessed to be with, to fit the lottery
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: and somehow landed with coach Scali. And just the human
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: being that he is and the other people who were here, it's,
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: I really couldn't ask for anything more.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, part of the reason I asked that question
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: and I, and I asked it of Eric Weddle when,
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: when you were announced as the new guy, I said, well,
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: is this a place he can make his home or
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: is he going to take the first phone call he
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: gets from the NFL? And now you're replacing somebody again,
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: does it feel like this could be a long-term home
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: for you?
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Okay. I'd be very happy if this was my last
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: job and, and, I was the one that implemented Coach
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Scali's vision for this team and the players. We're winning
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: playoff games. We're winning the national championship. I would be
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: very happy here for the rest of my ride, whatever
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: that is, with the type of kids they're getting here
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: and how they work, the respect that they have for
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: the program and the work. There's not enough positive I
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: can say about it.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: You're on the first road game.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: So the routine changes a little bit, the sleep schedule,
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: the hotel stuff. What is your role in making sure
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: the team is prepared to roll out there and maybe
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: a rainy game against Iowa state?
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: You know what? We do our pregame stuff with the guys.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: So we'll do some work on the guys the night
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: before the game, the morning and day of the game.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: I have a pregame routine that I've done with my
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: NFL guys, my private clients and with the team as well.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: They've done the last 20 years, just getting guys, the
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: nervous system ramped up, getting them ready to play. So
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: it's not enough just in the weight room. We want
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: to have an impact on game day as well. And
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: that's been so well received with the players. So it's
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: a look, my biggest concern on Saturday is where to
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: do this to the guys. I understand our locker room
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: is pretty small. We might have to be in the
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: field or in the hallway or somewhere doing whatever we
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: do to get these guys ready. So we just sort
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: of have to figure it out once we get to Ames, Iowa,
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: I guess.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Coach, I wish you luck in this game and obviously
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: throughout the rest of the season. I hope we get
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: a chance to chat again soon, but I cannot tell
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: you how much I appreciate you coming on, giving us
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: so much time. I've been wanting to have this conversation
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: for weeks and weeks and weeks.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you for jumping on.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me. Really appreciate it.