Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Stevenson Sylvester on Utah's 2-0 start, Blowing out Arkansas, Moving to the booth on the radio broadcast + more

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Stevenson Sylvester on Utah's 2-0 start, Blowing out Arkansas, Moving to the booth on the radio broadcast + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Born to be wild.
0:05
Speaker 2: Born to be wild. Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show.
0:29
Speaker 3: Welcome in Utah football legend, NFL veteran, current member of
0:33
Speaker 3: the broadcast team alongside Bill Riley and Zach Moss. Stevenson
0:37
Speaker 3: Sylvester Sly here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
0:40
Speaker 2: Welcome, Sly. How are you, sir?
0:43
Speaker 1: What's up OC? How you doing?
0:45
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I'm, I'm doing great.
0:47
Speaker 3: I'm fascinated by this Utah football team so far, because
0:50
Speaker 3: I don't think we've played. I don't think we've seen
0:52
Speaker 3: this team play anyone good yet. Arkansas was a lot
0:55
Speaker 3: worse than I thought Arkansas was going to be under
0:57
Speaker 3: Ryan Silverfield, trying to turn things around there in Fayetteville.
1:02
Speaker 3: But With all that being said, the Utes have handled
1:05
Speaker 3: their business impressively through two weeks. So as someone who's
1:10
Speaker 3: got a seasoned eye for evaluating these things, even with
1:14
Speaker 3: lesser than competition, how good is this Utah team based
1:17
Speaker 3: on the sample size?
1:20
Speaker 4: This football team is excellent. I think it is top tier,
1:25
Speaker 4: you know, and it's a big team.
1:28
Speaker 1: Uh and the reason.
1:29
Speaker 4: Why it is is because of the retention that we
1:32
Speaker 4: were able to have right um i say this a
1:35
Speaker 4: lot um it's because i with the transfer portal nil
1:40
Speaker 4: all this other stuff and kids going everywhere um there's
1:43
Speaker 4: still a big development phase you know so you know
1:46
Speaker 4: this from high school to college to the pros like
1:49
Speaker 4: there's there's still learning that needs to happen and if
1:53
Speaker 4: you're always shifting and going somewhere else and doing all
1:57
Speaker 4: that you're you're getting teaching from so many different people
2:01
Speaker 4: and you may not even be getting taught anymore because
2:04
Speaker 4: these college now coaches are on this you know one
2:08
Speaker 4: and done thing where it's just like it's business if
2:10
Speaker 4: you're not putting up then get out if you don't
2:12
Speaker 4: know anything then get out that's why these high school
2:14
Speaker 4: kids are suffering from it because there's not as many
2:17
Speaker 4: high school scholarships because they're like look I'd rather get
2:20
Speaker 4: a transfer portal guy than, than, you know, rely on
2:23
Speaker 4: an inexperienced high school kid that hasn't developed yet. So
2:27
Speaker 4: there's always that aspect, but I think Utah success is,
2:30
Speaker 4: is a hugely involved because of the retention. We have
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Speaker 4: so many people that were in this program last year
2:37
Speaker 4: that are, you know, being huge contributors this year, you know,
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Speaker 4: from Lance old school on defense to Carson, the Fousey,
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Speaker 4: even last year, you know, just a sophomore, but, but,
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Speaker 4: you know, he's been.
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Speaker 1: In the system.
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Speaker 4: He understands the culture. He understands this defense, you know,
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Speaker 4: Jonah Hall and Trey Reynolds at linebacker. They've been here
2:54
Speaker 4: for years, you know, rabbit Evans, a couple of years now,
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Speaker 4: Nate Ritchie here, mission come back. He played an excellent objective.
3:02
Speaker 4: And there's guys that's just in this program. That's just defense,
3:05
Speaker 4: let alone the offense. And so there's just continuity chemistry.
3:09
Speaker 4: Guys know each other, guys trust each other. And that
3:12
Speaker 4: is what makes successful football teams then. And so I
3:15
Speaker 4: think that Utah is definitely, one of the best football
3:17
Speaker 4: teams in all of the country.
3:19
Speaker 3: Richie is a guy, Nate Richie has been excellent through
3:23
Speaker 3: these first two weeks. Morgan Scali said maybe this last
3:26
Speaker 3: game against Arkansas was his best game as a Ute.
3:29
Speaker 3: And we've seen him, you know, dealing with mission legs
3:32
Speaker 3: and then maybe being banged up a little bit. But
3:36
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's comfort in the system. I
3:38
Speaker 3: don't know if it's knowing the guys that you're playing
3:40
Speaker 3: with better. I don't know what it is, but he just,
3:43
Speaker 3: he moves different. His closing speed is better. The angles
3:47
Speaker 3: he's taking make more sense now. at least through two weeks.
3:52
Speaker 3: I didn't expect this jump from Nate Ritchie, and I'm
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Speaker 3: calling it a jump based on a two-game sample size.
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Speaker 2: I realize that.
3:58
Speaker 3: If you had to attribute it to something, Sly, what
4:01
Speaker 3: would you think is the main reason for him playing
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Speaker 3: this well through two weeks?
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Speaker 4: Just continuity, confidence. And, and, and chemistry, this guy, he's
4:13
Speaker 4: just been here. Um, I don't think he's had the
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Speaker 4: confidence the last couple of years and comfortability.
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Speaker 1: Right. And he had that, you know, everybody has that.
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Speaker 4: Like my rookie year in the league, my freshman year
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Speaker 4: here at Utah, uh, I had no expectations. Nobody had
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Speaker 4: any expectations of me. I was just going out there
4:31
Speaker 4: and just balling, right?
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Speaker 1: My rookie year in the league, we go to the Superbowl.
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Speaker 1: I was a good contributor on the team. You know,
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Speaker 1: I didn't know any better.
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Speaker 4: There's no expectations on me or myself or the team
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Speaker 4: on me. I was just going out there and doing it.
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Speaker 4: So Nate Richie's first year before he went on his.
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Speaker 1: Mission, he was balling out, man. He just, there's no expectation.
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Speaker 1: He comes back, right?
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Speaker 4: He has the experience of being in college. He has
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Speaker 4: his level of expectation for.
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Speaker 1: Himself, right? And he wasn't meeting that expectation. So that,
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Speaker 1: you know, uh, tapered.
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Speaker 4: Into his confidence and he just didn't have it all together.
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Speaker 4: I think that's finally coming into pass now where he's,
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Speaker 4: he's had that comfortability, that confidence and that ability of.
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Speaker 1: Knowing what he's doing. And, um, and, and, you know, uh.
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Speaker 4: You know, uh, Morgan Scully has done a great job
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Speaker 4: over the years of, of, of talking to him and
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Speaker 4: instilling him and understanding, like, we know your capabilities, but,
5:20
Speaker 4: He's got to turn it on and he's definitely turning
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Speaker 4: it on. What I saw from him on Saturday night
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Speaker 4: was that he was just playing so confidently. He knew
5:28
Speaker 4: exactly what he was doing. He was getting more back
5:31
Speaker 4: to that freshman year that we saw of him of
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Speaker 4: just balling out and just playing free and clear and happy, man.
5:37
Speaker 4: So extremely happy for Nate Richie to have that feeling.
5:42
Speaker 4: And that's a huge asset in the system. I think
5:44
Speaker 4: we have three or four safeties here. that can rotate
5:48
Speaker 4: in and play awesome. And if you have three or
5:50
Speaker 4: four safeties that are on the same playing field from
5:53
Speaker 4: Tillman to Richie, to Jackson, to a rabbit Evans, that
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Speaker 4: is a huge asset because of what you asked the
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Speaker 4: safeties to do in the system.
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Speaker 1: And so Nate Richie.
6:04
Speaker 4: Coming back and being a solid player and regaining that
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Speaker 4: confidence is huge for this Utah football defense.
6:11
Speaker 3: You know, a lot more about it than I do,
6:13
Speaker 3: but express if you can, the, how impressive it is
6:17
Speaker 3: that Jai Moya ended up with eight tackles playing the
6:20
Speaker 3: position he plays in this defense. A lot of the
6:23
Speaker 3: job that those guys have is to be disruptive so
6:27
Speaker 3: that linebackers could make tackles and safeties can make tackles.
6:31
Speaker 3: And even the best ones that we've had ever in
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Speaker 3: this program, like the star low to the lays of
6:36
Speaker 3: the world and the lucky photos and the Steve Fifi
6:39
Speaker 3: does like, there's not a lot of like double digit
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Speaker 3: tackle days or approaching double digit tackle days for D
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Speaker 3: tackles in this Utah football defense.
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Speaker 2: And he flirted with that.
6:48
Speaker 3: And he had a sack this past weekend, a impressive
6:51
Speaker 3: game from giant.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was awesome.
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Speaker 4: And simply, I put that in, be ready for your
6:58
Speaker 4: opportunity when you're able to make it, right?
7:01
Speaker 1: You heard Morgan Scully in the presser.
7:02
Speaker 4: The post-game presser, talking about how he had the most
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Speaker 4: impressive win rate in the one-on-ones in the transfer portal.
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Speaker 1: Right.
7:09
Speaker 4: And when you're talking about win rate, you're talking about
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Speaker 4: somebody who's making the play, not just getting by your guy,
7:15
Speaker 4: but you're making the play either being disruptive where you're
7:18
Speaker 4: pulling up the run. So your teammates can make it,
7:20
Speaker 4: or you're making the play yourself. Right. I've played with
7:22
Speaker 4: guys like Paul Soliai, who literally is a one man
7:26
Speaker 4: wrecking crew. You put three guys on him. He's still
7:28
Speaker 4: making the play type guy. And Jai Mohan just understands.
7:31
Speaker 4: He's like, look, We have a talented football team. If
7:34
Speaker 4: you're focused on Lance Holtzlaw or Ethan Day or Paul
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Speaker 4: Fitzgerald or Jonah Hall or Trey Reynolds, then you're going
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Speaker 4: to forget.
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Speaker 1: Me and put me one-on-one? And here's the thing.
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Speaker 4: In football, all the coaches out there, this is what
7:47
Speaker 4: you've got to tell your guys. You have to win
7:50
Speaker 4: your one-on-one battles, whether you're an offensive guy going against
7:52
Speaker 4: a defensive guy, a defensive guy.
7:54
Speaker 1: Going against an offensive guy, whatever it is, there's no
7:57
Speaker 1: excuse for you not winning your one-on-one battles. If you
7:59
Speaker 1: consider yourself a top tier athlete, you can win one-on-one.
8:03
Speaker 1: Double teams is where it comes to me like, okay,
8:05
Speaker 1: maybe we can understand.
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Speaker 4: This is what I learned in the NFL. Now that
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Speaker 4: I learned this in NFL, my very first game against
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Speaker 4: the Atlanta Falcons, Um, you know, coach, um, Tomlin was
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Speaker 4: just like, you better win your one-on-ones. I lost my
8:17
Speaker 4: one-on-one early in the game, but we went into overtime
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Speaker 4: that first day and I won my one-on-one in overtime.
8:23
Speaker 4: And so I was like, I got my get back,
8:24
Speaker 4: but I understood that like, look, if they put you one-on-one,
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Speaker 4: you better win.
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Speaker 1: And that's why Morgan.
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Speaker 4: Scali paid so much attention to him winning his one-on-one
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Speaker 4: battles is because when he gets one-on-one, he's hugely effective.
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Speaker 1: And then in the game on Saturday, it's just taking advantage.
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Speaker 4: Of opportunities from the TV use and him getting in,
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Speaker 4: in causing pressure on, on KJ Jackson and the quarterback.
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Speaker 4: It was just highly impressive with him taking advantage of opportunities.
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Speaker 4: When the play is there to be made, he made
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Speaker 4: the play. That is the eight tackles. It's play is
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Speaker 4: there to be made.
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Speaker 1: It's not like I'm missing tackles. Like, Oh, I, I
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Speaker 1: had his shirt, but I let him go by me.
9:02
Speaker 1: John Moe was like, no, You're right here in front
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Speaker 1: of me.
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Speaker 4: I have the opportunity to make this play, and I'm
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Speaker 4: going to make this play, man. So I absolutely love
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Speaker 4: that mentality from Jai Mo to think that, like, no,
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Speaker 4: just because I'm a new tackle, that doesn't mean I
9:15
Speaker 4: ain't going to.
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Speaker 1: Make the play. I can lead this team in tackles.
9:17
Speaker 4: As well because I'm closer to the ball every play, essentially,
9:21
Speaker 4: is the mindset. But just a great job by him,
9:24
Speaker 4: and you see more and more guys step up in
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Speaker 4: this defense, and hopefully we're seeing other guys' names each
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Speaker 4: and every week. So that's how you know you have
9:31
Speaker 4: a talented football team.
9:33
Speaker 3: Stevenson Sylvester Sly is our guest here on the Sean
9:36
Speaker 3: O'Connell Show, talking all things Utah football as they get
9:38
Speaker 3: ready for Utah State. You used to have to game
9:44
Speaker 3: plan against offenses, some pretty complicated ones, some creative ones.
9:49
Speaker 3: I imagine even you are seeing things from Kevin McGiven,
9:53
Speaker 3: from Mac G, that you haven't seen in all your
9:55
Speaker 3: years in football. It's been an absolute joy to watch.
10:00
Speaker 3: that guy get into his mad scientist bag, run these
10:03
Speaker 3: two quarterback plays, run this crazy stuff. And, and to
10:06
Speaker 3: do it when maybe you don't necessarily have to, when you're,
10:10
Speaker 3: you probably could just line up and, and potentially push,
10:15
Speaker 3: Idaho around at least, maybe the same with Arkansas. What
10:18
Speaker 3: are your thoughts on this Utah offense through the defensive
10:21
Speaker 3: lens that I know you watch every game with?
10:24
Speaker 1: I love it. And for me, it's the mad scientist, mad,
10:28
Speaker 1: mad Hatter, whatever the Dr.
10:30
Speaker 4: Jekyll of Morgan Scali, right? This is Morgan Scali's personality
10:35
Speaker 4: all over it. And it's to be, it's Morgan Scali
10:39
Speaker 4: because it's, it's him putting the pieces together to can
10:42
Speaker 4: create a whole team. It doesn't matter who we play.
10:45
Speaker 1: You're going to.
10:46
Speaker 4: Have to devise a game plan against all of these assets.
10:50
Speaker 4: We have a different guy being able to be the
10:53
Speaker 4: focal point each and every week. It could be Brandon
10:55
Speaker 4: Pagan one week. It could be Wayshel Parker one week.
10:57
Speaker 4: It could be Devin Ampere and Burt Binkley one week
11:00
Speaker 4: in the future. It could be Hunter Andrews.
11:02
Speaker 2: It could be Noah Binney.
11:03
Speaker 1: It could be so many different guys. So it's like
11:06
Speaker 1: as a defense, it's being like, watch out for this guy.
11:08
Speaker 1: Watch out for this guy.
11:09
Speaker 4: Watch out for this guy.
11:09
Speaker 1: Watch out for this guy.
11:10
Speaker 4: How can you create a premier game plan when you
11:15
Speaker 4: have to watch out for six or seven guys?
11:17
Speaker 1: Guys who aren't even.
11:18
Speaker 4: in the game for a good percentage of the reps,
11:21
Speaker 4: you still have to have a game plan for. It
11:23
Speaker 4: is so difficult to plan for this that you have
11:27
Speaker 4: to make defenses go extremely vanilla and take the numbers
11:31
Speaker 4: off of the guys, right?
11:34
Speaker 1: When we prepare for defense, when we prepare for offensive guys,
11:37
Speaker 1: you're like.
11:38
Speaker 4: Okay, there's 15, there's four, four could throw the ball
11:40
Speaker 4: extremely well. 15 does this extremely well. Oh, number one
11:44
Speaker 4: does this extremely well.
11:45
Speaker 1: Number seven does this great, but he's deficient at this.
11:48
Speaker 4: Number two, you have to think about every single person.
11:51
Speaker 4: Like normally there's like three.
11:53
Speaker 1: Guys that you have to put one receiver, one running
11:55
Speaker 1: back or tight end quarterback.
11:57
Speaker 4: Is always a guy, but like, you don't have to
11:59
Speaker 4: plan for that much when you go in and get
12:01
Speaker 4: the team, everybody else is kind of whatever you have
12:03
Speaker 4: to plan for everybody in this offense from. Larry Simmons
12:07
Speaker 4: to Lee Whittemore to Brandon Pagan, Ricky Johnson, and Daniel Bray.
12:13
Speaker 4: Even when he comes in, he's a utility guy.
12:15
Speaker 1: So when he comes in, oh, five's in the game.
12:17
Speaker 1: We got to go through our rules.
12:18
Speaker 4: Of number five. But it's so hard to game plan for.
12:21
Speaker 4: And I think that's the best thing. And that's why
12:24
Speaker 4: I say that's the Dr.
12:24
Speaker 1: Jekyll of baseball.
12:26
Speaker 4: Of Morgan Scali madness that's coming into play. And it
12:29
Speaker 4: doesn't matter who we play against. It's going to work
12:32
Speaker 4: creating that kind of a pressure on the defense. Now
12:36
Speaker 4: we just got to make sure that The guys make
12:38
Speaker 4: the play. They got to understand that no team is
12:41
Speaker 4: just going.
12:41
Speaker 1: To lay down for us. Right.
12:42
Speaker 4: We got to go out there and take it every game.
12:44
Speaker 4: We haven't had an away game yet. And so we
12:46
Speaker 4: haven't felt that type of pressure. But we got to
12:49
Speaker 4: go out there and take it every single week. Nobody's
12:51
Speaker 4: going to give it to us. But these guys look
12:53
Speaker 4: like they're aggressive. They mean something.
12:55
Speaker 1: They feel like it feels like they have unfinished business. Right.
12:58
Speaker 1: They they're playing with such aggressiveness that they're just like.
13:02
Speaker 4: We're going for it all this year, man. And so
13:05
Speaker 4: I'm so happy to see that from my team, you know,
13:07
Speaker 4: as a fan, that's my team.
13:09
Speaker 1: I love it.
13:10
Speaker 4: And, you know, for me, I'm watching the games every time.
13:13
Speaker 4: I'm just like, how the heck does anybody defend that?
13:16
Speaker 1: How do you do?
13:17
Speaker 4: How do you, how does bird Franklin? How was there?
13:19
Speaker 4: Nobody lined up in the bat field in an empty,
13:22
Speaker 4: not even the quarterbacks back there. They ship back there.
13:24
Speaker 4: Bird Franklin, your backup quarterback is your pistol. Your actual quarterback.
13:28
Speaker 1: Is your, your deep back. So you're like, okay, what's
13:30
Speaker 1: going on there? He hands off to the quarterback. Like
13:33
Speaker 1: he's a running back.
13:34
Speaker 4: And then the quarterback pitches it back to the court.
13:36
Speaker 1: Wait, what just happened? And so, You're thinking about that
13:40
Speaker 1: as a defender.
13:41
Speaker 4: You've got to break down each scenario of what possibilities
13:44
Speaker 4: can happen. And there's just so many possibilities you're left
13:48
Speaker 4: with creating yourself.
13:50
Speaker 1: A very vanilla defense.
13:53
Speaker 4: And this offense is going to expose vanilla defenses. Every
13:57
Speaker 4: point of the game, we should be scoring 43, 45 points.
14:01
Speaker 1: Per game, no matter the opponent, man.
14:02
Speaker 4: So I'm just very happy to see that it's on
14:05
Speaker 4: this side of the roster.
14:06
Speaker 1: And Morgan Scali.
14:07
Speaker 4: Has this mindset of, you know, evolution of the game
14:13
Speaker 4: and creativity of the game.
14:15
Speaker 1: It feels like every play is a trick play, you know,
14:18
Speaker 1: that you dial up, man. And that's so hard to defend.
14:20
Speaker 4: And I just love the pressure that we're putting on opponents.
14:24
Speaker 2: Okay, let's get nitpicky here for a second.
14:27
Speaker 3: It is only two games, so everything will flesh itself
14:30
Speaker 3: out as the season progresses. But who do you want
14:33
Speaker 3: to see more from? Who did you have high hopes
14:35
Speaker 3: for in spring ball or in camp that hasn't popped
14:38
Speaker 3: just yet and you're confident they will at some point?
14:42
Speaker 1: Speaker 4 0 man. Offensively runner Andrews, you know, I
14:47
Speaker 1: got a lot on him, but you know, right now
14:51
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter.
14:52
Speaker 3: Right.
14:53
Speaker 4: As it's because it's so early in the season, you're
14:56
Speaker 4: kind of showing things Um, for, for your people to,
15:01
Speaker 4: to game plan for. So Utah state is game planning.
15:05
Speaker 1: Off of the last two games, right? When we go
15:07
Speaker 1: to Iowa state, we go to Colorado, we go to all.
15:11
Speaker 4: These, they're going to be game planning two to three
15:13
Speaker 4: games back. And so what we hit them with when
15:16
Speaker 4: we get to that week may not be what they
15:18
Speaker 4: were looking at on film. That's how the danger of
15:21
Speaker 4: this offense is, man. And so Hunter Andrews in the
15:24
Speaker 4: offense and his creativity, what he can do from.
15:27
Speaker 1: The wildcat position is awesome.
15:31
Speaker 4: But we have way Sean Parker. We can do the
15:32
Speaker 4: same thing.
15:33
Speaker 1: There's just so much talent on this football team.
15:36
Speaker 4: I'm waiting for a big return from Monica Valio. in
15:39
Speaker 4: the return game. I want to see that. That's going
15:43
Speaker 4: to be absolutely huge. Daniel Bray as well. I just
15:46
Speaker 4: advise plays in my head. If you look on my
15:49
Speaker 4: whiteboard here, I have in my office, I'm not even
15:51
Speaker 4: a coach or anything. I just have plays John up on,
15:53
Speaker 4: on like what I would do. And like what I
15:57
Speaker 4: would do with a guy like Daniel Bray, Hunter Andrews, like, Oh,
16:00
Speaker 4: And this is going aside from the creativity that you're
16:03
Speaker 4: seeing already.
16:04
Speaker 1: Right. And so like, it's so awesome.
16:06
Speaker 4: To, to have these, these weapons, right. And the embarrassment
16:09
Speaker 4: of riches of weapons on this offense with those, just
16:12
Speaker 4: a couple guys, Larry, Tim touchdown, Larry, another guy that
16:16
Speaker 4: you can see again, we got Nate Johnson on.
16:18
Speaker 1: The roster to who is the quarterback you get in
16:20
Speaker 1: the game. You can tell me a team.
16:24
Speaker 4: That's going to game plan to know that Nate Johnson
16:26
Speaker 4: was a quarterback in the past.
16:28
Speaker 1: So as a linebacker, I see Nate Johnson.
16:30
Speaker 4: Line up in the backfield. I do a toss to
16:34
Speaker 4: him and he throws the ball 40 yards down the field,
16:36
Speaker 4: like a regular quarterback. You're like, I didn't prepare for that.
16:40
Speaker 1: And so there's just so many things in this office.
16:43
Speaker 4: That you have to be aware for even Tobias Merriweather, right?
16:46
Speaker 4: Another six, five receiver who can go up and get
16:49
Speaker 4: it in the red zone. If you want, there's just
16:51
Speaker 4: so many options that we have. And that's just offensively,
16:54
Speaker 4: you know, defensively, I want to see a little bit
16:56
Speaker 4: more from cash Dylan and that's more slash play their
16:58
Speaker 4: defenses play.
16:59
Speaker 1: Great.
17:00
Speaker 4: Don't act like these guys aren't doing anything. I just,
17:03
Speaker 4: I want to see more sags. I want to see more,
17:06
Speaker 4: more freedom in this offense.
17:09
Speaker 1: Lucas Samuel, how do you say his name? Sam Sula.
17:13
Speaker 2: Yeah.
17:14
Speaker 1: Sam Sula. Lucas Sam Sula, man. I loved him at Wyoming.
17:18
Speaker 4: Like I was watching him and I'm just like, this
17:20
Speaker 4: is the dude.
17:21
Speaker 1: So just knowing that we.
17:22
Speaker 4: Have that depth at the D tackle position is also
17:26
Speaker 4: absolutely awesome. So one of them a little bit more
17:29
Speaker 4: out of him, but I'm thinking great. I mean, Jonah
17:31
Speaker 4: Hall is doing better than I thought he would do
17:34
Speaker 4: his Steve Rossi confidence. Same as Nate Ritchie that he's
17:38
Speaker 4: playing with right now is absolutely awesome. Trey Reynolds is
17:42
Speaker 4: a baller. Ain't going to say nothing about that guy. Jackson,
17:45
Speaker 4: Benny Jackson, Benny making plays every single freaking game. I
17:49
Speaker 4: absolutely love what our cornerbacks are doing. We have a
17:52
Speaker 4: great rotation. of, of cornerbacks from Elijah Reed to bubble Chanel.
17:58
Speaker 1: Um, um, Davis and.
18:00
Speaker 4: And even JC Hart's getting in there. And, you know,
18:03
Speaker 4: we saw him at the Baylor game last year, you know,
18:05
Speaker 4: coming to his own at the end of the season
18:07
Speaker 4: and do some really good things. So I just think
18:09
Speaker 4: we have a very talented team and just, they got
18:11
Speaker 4: to understand that the weeks go on, you can't get complacent.
18:14
Speaker 4: You got to go out there and take it. And, and,
18:17
Speaker 4: and the know that we have so many guys that
18:19
Speaker 4: are eager for action. That's just a great, great thing
18:23
Speaker 4: for us to have.
18:24
Speaker 1: Speaker 0 7, 08, 07, 08.
18:25
Speaker 3: Did Reynolds, like, did he have to ask you to
18:27
Speaker 3: wear 10 as a linebacker at Utah?
18:30
Speaker 4: I'm going to send a cease and desist here real soon.
18:33
Speaker 4: And Jaden Daniels, like, no, man, you don't have to
18:36
Speaker 4: ask me, man. If you're a baller, you can wear
18:38
Speaker 4: number 10. How about that? And, um, Terry Reynolds is
18:41
Speaker 4: a baller. I just, I love that guy. I love
18:44
Speaker 4: seeing number 10 at linebacker, the plays that he makes, um,
18:48
Speaker 4: the leadership that he's expressing on this football team. Um,
18:52
Speaker 4: I love to see that. And I'm very honored to actually,
18:56
Speaker 4: that he even wants to wear that number. It's not
18:58
Speaker 4: for me or anything, but just seeing another guy wear
19:01
Speaker 4: number 10 is so awesome and special from my old
19:06
Speaker 4: guy perspective.
19:07
Speaker 2: So it's Utah state this week.
19:09
Speaker 3: They've got a quarterback problem in my opinion, but Bronco
19:13
Speaker 3: Ben and hall is a really good coach and he's
19:15
Speaker 3: got more familiarity with this Utah staff than pretty much
19:19
Speaker 3: everyone else. They're going to face this year, maybe with
19:21
Speaker 3: the exception of BYU. So it presents a unique problem
19:26
Speaker 3: in that regard. Mac G was just there last year.
19:28
Speaker 3: Pagan was there last year. What do you expect from
19:31
Speaker 3: this Utah, Utah state game slide?
19:34
Speaker 4: Man, a QB problem, yes and no. After watching the
19:40
Speaker 4: Idaho State game, you know, I look at the stat
19:43
Speaker 4: sheet and I'm like, geez, that many interceptions, what the.
19:45
Speaker 1: Heck was he doing? And they were just terrible passes.
19:48
Speaker 1: But when you put on the Washington game, you're just like, oh.
19:51
Speaker 4: These guys have really jumped in a week. And that's
19:55
Speaker 4: why I hate preseason polls, right? A poll shouldn't come
19:59
Speaker 4: out until at least.
20:00
Speaker 1: Week three, right?
20:01
Speaker 4: I think week three is a good assessment of what
20:04
Speaker 4: gauge is on the season. There's so many things to
20:07
Speaker 4: learn from week one to week two. Especially in new transition,
20:11
Speaker 4: you know, from a new coordinator coming in, right? Robert
20:14
Speaker 4: and I coming in and those guys, new quarterback in
20:16
Speaker 4: the case, real estate.
20:18
Speaker 1: Coming in, having to learn.
20:19
Speaker 4: There's so many things that you have to learn when
20:20
Speaker 4: you play another opponent than just your scripted defense, you know,
20:24
Speaker 4: every single week in practice.
20:26
Speaker 1: And so they played a lot better in that Washington.
20:29
Speaker 4: They had opportunities to win, right? They had opportunities to
20:33
Speaker 4: win in that football game. And so, but they played
20:36
Speaker 4: a lot better against Washington. Now, Washington may not be
20:39
Speaker 4: a great team. I don't think that they should be ranked.
20:41
Speaker 1: As high as... as, as there.
20:43
Speaker 4: But what you did watch last week in Utah state
20:46
Speaker 4: was a very inspired team. So Utah can't expect that this,
20:50
Speaker 4: that this is just going to be a Utah state team.
20:53
Speaker 4: That's just going to lay down and be an easy feat.
20:55
Speaker 4: Like no one Bronco Mendenhall knows the university of Utah shooting. Well,
21:01
Speaker 4: he played in the stadium often. He's played against this
21:04
Speaker 4: defense often. He can scheme against this, this against our offense.
21:12
Speaker 4: Cause he's a, he's a defensive minded guy. And, and,
21:15
Speaker 4: and he could present a lot of problems for us.
21:17
Speaker 4: I mean, you waited, you see the way that a
21:19
Speaker 4: defense played last week, they played free, they played extremely
21:23
Speaker 4: physical and aggressive, which things we can take advantage of
21:26
Speaker 4: if we're game plan, right. Which I have no problem
21:29
Speaker 4: with McGiven doing, but it's not going to be, there's
21:34
Speaker 4: not going to just lay down, right. The way that
21:36
Speaker 4: they came back And, you know, even in the Idaho
21:38
Speaker 4: state game, right. They were more surprised that Idaho state
21:41
Speaker 4: was as good as they were. And, but they still
21:43
Speaker 4: fought all the way to the end. And you saw
21:45
Speaker 4: the fight all the way to the end against Washington.
21:48
Speaker 4: And honestly, there's probably a little bit of inspiration that
21:52
Speaker 4: they've gotten from that Washington game. So they're going to
21:54
Speaker 4: come in here a little more hyped and aggressive and, and,
21:58
Speaker 4: you know, Utah has got a target on the back.
21:59
Speaker 4: What Utah is, is what right.
22:01
Speaker 1: Number 17 or 15, 17 in the nation right now.
22:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, 17.
22:07
Speaker 4: What better way to start 0-2 than knocking off the
22:11
Speaker 4: 17-break team in the country, who people probably feel is
22:15
Speaker 4: ranked higher than that.
22:15
Speaker 1: So if you're Utah State, that's what I'm thinking about, right?
22:18
Speaker 4: We did that in 2007, right? We started the year 0-2,
22:22
Speaker 4: and then number 11 UCLA comes into Rice-Echo Stadium, and
22:26
Speaker 4: we beat the breaks off of them. We scored 47-odd
22:29
Speaker 4: points to their little, I think, 10 points or something
22:32
Speaker 4: like that in 2007. So it's possible. That's the mentality
22:35
Speaker 4: that I would want to have coming into this game.
22:39
Speaker 4: And you can bet Bronco Mendenhall is going to have
22:41
Speaker 4: that mentality and instill that mentality into those guys.
22:45
Speaker 1: They're not even going to lay down, man. So I'm
22:47
Speaker 1: expecting a good matchup. I actually like Brosterhaus. I think he.
22:53
Speaker 1: He's very, he takes risks, right? You know, he can
22:57
Speaker 1: run with his legs.
22:58
Speaker 4: But when they throw the ball, they give you opportunities
23:01
Speaker 4: and they have no problem with throwing it into coverage.
23:04
Speaker 1: And all of that.
23:05
Speaker 4: So on defense, you know, we missed some interception opportunities
23:08
Speaker 4: last week.
23:08
Speaker 1: You know, even the only, the.
23:10
Speaker 4: Lone touchdown that Arkansas had should have been an interception, right?
23:14
Speaker 4: Bobo Chanel should have had an interception on the very
23:16
Speaker 4: first drive when they got a field goal. They could
23:18
Speaker 4: possibly be blanked if we got those two picks. And
23:22
Speaker 4: so we're going to have opportunities like that against Utah State.
23:26
Speaker 4: So our defense has got to be on their P's
23:29
Speaker 4: and Q's and make sure they take advantage when those
23:32
Speaker 4: opportunities are presented. What we talked about Jaimoa just a
23:35
Speaker 4: little while ago, the opportunity was there to make plays.
23:38
Speaker 4: And he made those plays. The same thing with everybody
23:40
Speaker 4: else defensively. And just play complimentary football like we have been.
23:45
Speaker 4: And we'll have a great win at Rice-Echo Stadium against
23:48
Speaker 4: Utah State.
23:50
Speaker 2: How's it been in the booth this year instead, Sly?
23:53
Speaker 1: It's different, man. I miss being in the mix.
23:55
Speaker 4: I'm so wanting to put my helmet on every two seconds,
23:59
Speaker 4: so it's different. But I actually love the vantage point, man.
24:03
Speaker 4: It goes back to film study. When we watch film,
24:07
Speaker 4: it's from this angle.
24:09
Speaker 2: Right.
24:09
Speaker 1: And so that is what we study. That is what
24:12
Speaker 1: we see. So I see so many more things, you know,
24:15
Speaker 1: from up in the booth. I love it.
24:16
Speaker 4: I get excited when I'm, when I'm focusing on certain
24:20
Speaker 4: things and who needs to make plays.
24:22
Speaker 1: And, and come down. And yeah, it's just a different
24:24
Speaker 1: vantage point.
24:25
Speaker 4: That's giving me an angle to be able to talk
24:28
Speaker 4: about the game at a little higher.
24:30
Speaker 1: Level, man. So I absolutely love it. But it's different.
24:33
Speaker 1: I miss being in the mix.
24:34
Speaker 4: Because of my personality and, but it's awesome to get
24:39
Speaker 4: another vantage point in the game.
24:41
Speaker 3: Well, appreciate you giving us some time today, as always.
24:44
Speaker 3: We'll see you out there on Saturday as well.
24:45
Speaker 2: Thanks, Sly.
24:47
Speaker 1: You know it. Thanks.
24:49
Speaker 3: Stevenson Sylvester, one of the Utah football defensive greats, and
24:55
Speaker 3: now calling the games next to Bill Riley up
24:57
Speaker 2: In the booth, as he just alluded to.