Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Dan Sorensen gives the latest from Camp Scalley, His opening script for first series of the season, Physicality in practice + more

Transcript

Dan Sorensen gives the latest from Camp Scalley, His opening script for first series of the season, Physicality in practice + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: My recital. I think it's very you were listening to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Sean O'Connell show, your source for the best utes
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: football company. Here's o C from the Murdoch Hyundai Studio
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  Speaker 1: of DESPN seven hundred ninety two one half an.
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  Speaker 2: On Wednesday, Action coming at you.
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  Speaker 3: We welcome Dan.
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  Speaker 2: Sorenson, publisher of ute zone dot com Utah Insider.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Hello, Dan, how are you.
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  Speaker 4: Live in the dream? OC football season is almost here.
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: There's a lot going on up at the U, and
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: fans have reasons to be excited, so can't really ask
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: for more, at least in August.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I just went on a random rant about a story
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: coming out of Akron University. I'm sure you saw this,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: that they were there raffling off an opportunity to script
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: an opening series for the team. And you know, Joe
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: moorehead the coach, is going to have final veto power
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: on whatever plays this season ticket holding fan comes up with.
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  Speaker 2: But I actually really love the idea, especially for a
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  Speaker 2: place like Akron, who's doing anything they can to get
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  Speaker 2: some attention, to get some buzz. And I'm I can't
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  Speaker 2: help but put it in a Utah context. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what people would be willing to pay.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know how many people would be willing to
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  Speaker 2: participate in a raffle just to have the access promised
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  Speaker 2: by this Akron thing. They're going to get a couple
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  Speaker 2: of days at practice, in coaches meetings, they're going to
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  Speaker 2: be sitting down with the guys that are actually scripting
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  Speaker 2: and calling the plays.
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  Speaker 3: They get to have input on that.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, it's half tug and cheap, but I
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  Speaker 2: do think it'd be a good fundraising effort if you
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  Speaker 2: were if you were going to script some opening plays,
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  Speaker 2: I said, against Arkansas, I wanted to be high stakes.
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  Speaker 2: I don't want it to be against id Oh against Arkansas,
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  Speaker 2: could you script an opening series that you think would
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  Speaker 2: be positive on the offensive end?
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  Speaker 4: Me, I know enough to know that I know nothing,
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  Speaker 4: so I wouldn't become with that. Look, if it was
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  Speaker 4: against Idaho, I'm a deranged person. So I you know,
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  Speaker 4: Semi tal Longa would get every touch.
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  Speaker 3: That's what I said that Arkansas. Dan, I said, let's
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  Speaker 3: go give it to Semi.
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  Speaker 4: Give it to Semi, let him create.
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  Speaker 3: I love it.
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  Speaker 4: But yeah, look, it's uh, there is so much that
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  Speaker 4: goes on in terms of of and Frankly, it's one
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  Speaker 4: of the things that I'm most fascinated about in the
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  Speaker 4: sport of football. It's really fun when you're at the games, like,
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  Speaker 4: don't even watch what's going on on the field, just
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  Speaker 4: watch the sidelines and getting guys on and off the
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  Speaker 4: field and getting the play called and all of those adjustments.
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  Speaker 4: It's so much chaos that goes on within that thirty
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  Speaker 4: five seconds before the ball needs to be snapped that
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  Speaker 4: when you think about it, it makes your head hurt,
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  Speaker 4: like it's a minor miracle that these games look as
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  Speaker 4: smooth as they do. So, yeah, the idea of scripting
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  Speaker 4: stuff out look with a guy like dev and lots
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  Speaker 4: of read options stuff stuff like that, and you're probably
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  Speaker 4: pretty safe. But I love the idea and especially the
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  Speaker 4: idea that somebody can get exposure to. Yes, it raises
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  Speaker 4: funds for the program, but they can get exposure to
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  Speaker 4: the coaches and the why behind things, like how they
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  Speaker 4: think about things, what they're actually looking for. But yeah,
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  Speaker 4: football is a far more complicated game for me to
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  Speaker 4: be competent anything other than doing something to range like forverts,
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  Speaker 4: every play or semi tal longa is the star.
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly what I would do, and then I would
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  Speaker 2: just trust that Kevin mcgiven could make up for my
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  Speaker 2: irresponsible ways for the rest of the game.
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  Speaker 3: You know what I mean. That's why I needed to
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  Speaker 3: be an old tap series in all I serve it.
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  Speaker 2: Let's style it into some serious conversation about this Utah
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  Speaker 2: football camp in week two now, midweek two, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: we heard positive feedback from the coaching staff and from
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  Speaker 2: players about how weak one goes. Now urgency gets ramped up.
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  Speaker 2: Right as the bodies get more and more beat up
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  Speaker 2: and more and more sore. You got to practice even better.
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  Speaker 2: You got to be even more technical, even more sound.
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  Speaker 2: There's less time between now and when you kick off.
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  Speaker 2: The position battles need to be figured out in the
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  Speaker 2: next ten days or so so that you can get
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  Speaker 2: to real game planning. Does it feel for you like
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  Speaker 2: Utah is on the correct pace in those regards?
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, And you can get it in the sense of
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  Speaker 4: the interviews with coach Scally. You know, we get them
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  Speaker 4: once a week basically, and then we get players a
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  Speaker 4: couple or once a week on offense, once a week
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  Speaker 4: on defense. And as you're talking to these guys, it
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  Speaker 4: really does feel like things are coming together. And the
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  Speaker 4: nice thing is, you know, every once in a while
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  Speaker 4: I get an opportunity to get one on one with
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  Speaker 4: the player, and of course I will ask them every
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  Speaker 4: question I possibly can, on and off the record to
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  Speaker 4: get the information on what's going on. But the sense
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  Speaker 4: that I'm getting is that guys really feel ready and
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  Speaker 4: they feel up to the challenge for and it's dependent
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  Speaker 4: upon the position groups in terms of kind of what
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  Speaker 4: the attitude is. You talk to the offensive linemen and
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  Speaker 4: they're excited. Look, they got their first full contact padded
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  Speaker 4: practice just a couple of days ago, So now is
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  Speaker 4: when we're going to start to see guys really rise
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  Speaker 4: and separate, both on the offensive and defensive lines, and
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  Speaker 4: they're able to hit each other, they're able to go
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  Speaker 4: full contact, and you can see how that strength and
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  Speaker 4: conditioning program over the summer really worked. But when you're
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  Speaker 4: talking to the players, it really does feel like they're
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  Speaker 4: getting dialed in there. Yes, they know that there's competition
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  Speaker 4: and it's very much made the best man win, and
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  Speaker 4: they want to get on the field, and so they're
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  Speaker 4: trying to go out and show their best. To your point,
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  Speaker 4: it's you know, we're far enough into it the guys
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  Speaker 4: are starting to feel the effects of playing football, and
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  Speaker 4: they all those sequences of mini car crashes in the
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  Speaker 4: course of every play. And Rabbit Evans said something really
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  Speaker 4: interesting yesterday where he talked about how because of the
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  Speaker 4: strength and conditioning program that he does not feel as
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  Speaker 4: sore or as bad as he normally would at this
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  Speaker 4: stage of camp. And so I think that they're handling
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  Speaker 4: the balance between getting as much contact as you can
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  Speaker 4: and full speed and game readiness versus keeping guys fresh
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  Speaker 4: and keeping guys healthy and mixing it in with this
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  Speaker 4: whole you know, almost every position minus quarterback and running back,
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  Speaker 4: there are still battles going on for who's going to start,
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  Speaker 4: who's going to be in the rotation, how many raps
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  Speaker 4: are guys going to get. And that can be a
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  Speaker 4: really good thing or a really bad thing, depending on
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  Speaker 4: on the context the things that we're seeing and the
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  Speaker 4: things that we're hearing out of the team. It feels
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  Speaker 4: like it's more of a good thing type of thing
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  Speaker 4: where there's talent and they're all pushing each other, and
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  Speaker 4: so it's the rising tide raises all boats type of
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  Speaker 4: scenario versus the if you have you know, four quarterbacks.
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  Speaker 4: You have no quarterback scenario. So there's a lot going on.
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  Speaker 4: There's a lot that needs to be done, to your
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  Speaker 4: point over the next ten days for guys to really
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  Speaker 4: solidify themselves in roles and to step up and to
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  Speaker 4: start to gel. But the energy around this program, the
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  Speaker 4: work that guys are putting in the types of things
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  Speaker 4: that they're saying and the types of things that they're
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  Speaker 4: not saying in terms of when they say it and
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  Speaker 4: what their body language looks like and you know, reading
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  Speaker 4: their eyes and stuff like that, it really does feel
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  Speaker 4: like they are on the right track. And if they
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  Speaker 4: don't screw things up, and if the offensive and defensive
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  Speaker 4: lines can really come together, this could be a really,
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  Speaker 4: really good football.
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  Speaker 2: Team staying on And I think you kind of already
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  Speaker 2: partially answered this question. Maybe, but there's a couple of
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  Speaker 2: philosophies that we have seen Utah sort of move through
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  Speaker 2: in the Kyle Whittingham hera at least where when practice
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  Speaker 2: it's hard, when the bumps and bruises start to mount,
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  Speaker 2: some guys will be shut down and protected. He's proven himself,
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  Speaker 2: we know how valuable he is. We don't need him
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  Speaker 2: to practice for the next four or five six days.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think that's always been to the benefit of
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  Speaker 2: the player or to the team. The extreme other end
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  Speaker 2: of that is we're gonna practice hard no matter what,
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  Speaker 2: and then sometimes guys get injured in hard practices and
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  Speaker 2: then everyone questions whether or not they ever should have
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  Speaker 2: been practicing so hard. So you're kind of a damned
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  Speaker 2: if you do, damned if you don't. On that front,
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  Speaker 2: we've talked to guys. You've talked to guys that like
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  Speaker 2: practicing through the bumps and bruises. We've talked to guys
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  Speaker 2: that like to rest up in nice down and be like,
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  Speaker 2: let me you know, I'm a thoroughbred, let me be
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  Speaker 2: ready for race day. As far as you can tell,
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  Speaker 2: as Morgan scally has taken the reins and is now
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  Speaker 2: several months into this but only a week and a
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: half into being a fall camp head coach, where is
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  Speaker 2: he going to fall on that spectrum of guys that
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  Speaker 2: are in a little bit of pain, do have a
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  Speaker 2: bumper or bruise, still playing through it versus Hey, we're
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  Speaker 2: going to shut you down and protect you and make
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  Speaker 2: sure that doesn't get aggravated.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's it is the fine line that
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  Speaker 4: you have to walk and it's it's not always an
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  Speaker 4: easy answer. And we've seen in past years, you know,
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  Speaker 4: the Florida Opener a couple of years ago, where there
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  Speaker 4: were so many mistackles because they did so they went
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  Speaker 4: so light on on the physicality and fall camp that
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  Speaker 4: guys weren't necessarily ready to go full speed and it
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  Speaker 4: costs them in game one and and versus. Yet to
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  Speaker 4: your point, you know, just the injuries that we've seen
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  Speaker 4: in how snake bitten, some of these teams in the
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  Speaker 4: last five years have been with injuries. I do think
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  Speaker 4: that we saw a pattern in the spring in terms
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  Speaker 4: of how they would leverage full contact versus not and
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: and they would they would spread it out. So typically
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  Speaker 4: what we would see in the spring is there would
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  Speaker 4: be a full contact, full speed period and and then
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: there would be less contact and allowing for some rest
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: between those things. So they're trying to get the best
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: of both worlds. Where they're having guys go full speed,
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  Speaker 4: they're having guys hit each other. This is a physical sport.
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  Speaker 4: You know, if you watch any of the social media
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  Speaker 4: stuff coming out at the beginning of fall camp, coach
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  Speaker 4: Scally talking over and over again about physicality and toughness,
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: and Zaraway Williams yes the other day talking about bringing
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: out the nasty, you know, when they were able to
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: finally get in full pads and hit, and so I
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: think that there's still an expectation of that and they'll
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: lean into you know, guy, it's football, You're going to
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  Speaker 4: have to play banged up, but they're going to try
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  Speaker 4: to be smart with it, and that recovery is just
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  Speaker 4: as important as the contact is. And one of the
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  Speaker 4: things that coach Scally talked about in the off season
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  Speaker 4: that was really interesting is when they talk about full
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  Speaker 4: contacts and it's not necessarily hitting for hitting sake, but
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: it's about going full speed and taking the right angle
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: at full speed and recognizing what those angles look like.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: And they're working on that hard rabbit. Evans talked about
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  Speaker 4: that the other day, where the emphasis on tackling for
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  Speaker 4: the safeties and taking the right angle and learning how
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: to come downfield and go full speed without and make
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  Speaker 4: the difficult hit without putting yourself in danger and being
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: able to kind of strike that balance. So I think
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  Speaker 4: that they really are trying to do both if they can.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: If you've got to air on one side. I think
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  Speaker 4: they're still going to air on the side of toughness
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  Speaker 4: and gut it out. I mean, these guys they want
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: to be on the field. They're not going to let
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: little things and being banged up keep them off, especially
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: if they're one of the exceptionally talented players. But the
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: nice thing about this team as well is that there's
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  Speaker 4: enough depth that I don't think that they need to
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: rely on a few stars like they might have last
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: season or the season price.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Dan Sorensen from you Zon as our guest here talking
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: at Utah football as we marched closer to the kickoff
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: of the football season. We are what seventeen days away
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: now from the week zero games or twenty two days
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: away from Utah kicking off their season. And you have
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: you alluded to this already. You have these position battles happening.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Offensive Line we've talked about quite a bit. Safety, we've
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: talked about quite a bit. As they're figuring things out,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: are we going to end up with rotations there? Even
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: on offensive line, you usually settle on like five guys
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: and ride with them as long as you can. Safety
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  Speaker 2: is one of those where I don't know if it's
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  Speaker 2: better to have four guys that are interchangeable and can play,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: or you really want two bona fide starters with obvious
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: backups to spell them. Are any clarity in your mind
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  Speaker 2: on whether or not we're going to get, you know,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: maybe an unconventional picture in those those rooms, or we're
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: going to get like the more Hey, these are your
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  Speaker 2: starters and these are your backups.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we're going to see a mix obviously,
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  Speaker 4: you know when you just go down go down the
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  Speaker 4: line with the position groups, a group like the wide
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: receiver where everybody we're talking to is talking about how
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: talented this group is. I think we're going to see
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  Speaker 4: a pretty broad rotation, as many as six, seven, maybe
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: eight guys that they're getting on and off the field,
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  Speaker 4: and yeah, there's a guy that's really overperforming. They're going
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: to write the hot hand and I think that that's
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: going to be the case across the board. But that's
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: a group that you'll have a couple of established guys,
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: but you're going to see a really heavy rotation. Safety
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: is another good example. It's their top four that they're
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: really talented. They could start. Any of those four guys
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: could start for a lot of teams. Around the country,
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: and so it's a good problem to have. I think
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: that they're going to try to keep guys fresh, and
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: for those guys especially, it's going to be about who's executing,
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: who's making the fewer mistakes, and as the season progresses,
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: we might see them lock into one or two that
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: are getting the more majority of the reps. But if
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: it works, they'll do it. They'll do the big rotation.
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: I think the tackle is another one like that. It's
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: I don't know that we're hearing about anybody that's really
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: risen above the rest. I think that there's going to
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: be a pretty solid rotation of four or five players.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: D end might be that way once again, it's going
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: to probably be one of those hot hand situations where
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: when guys show it on the field and really show up.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: If there's going to be a guy that breaks out
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: like John Henry Daily did last year, and look, there
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: was a little bit of buzz about him before the season,
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: but it was really when the lights went on that
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: he really started to shine. And so we might see that,
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: and so we might it might be a game or
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: two before we see those things get settled. But across
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: the board, I think it's going to be more a
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: rotation type situation than your active solid starters, with the
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: exception of way Sean Parker running back, dev is your quarterback,
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: even though we're gonna see plenty of Bert Ficklin regardless.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: And I and the offensive line, I think we're gonna
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: see five solid starters that are gonna roll with with
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: two to three guys that we see regularly rotating in
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: and out. And they did that last year even with
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: with uh Toa came in and Keith Olsen came in
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: and and and they played a lot of reps. So
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't be surprised if they if they go that
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: route where they've gotten the starting five, and like if
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: Kelvin Obot isn't part of those that five, or I
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: could Garcie it isn't part of that five. We're gonna
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: see plenty of those guys regardless. But but but it's
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: offensive line, running back, quarterback, that's where we're gonna see
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: things that are more solid. And it's frankly, it's it's
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: up in the air about who's gonna start. And even
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: a place like linebacker where you've got a couple of
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: established seniors, they're getting pushed by the young guys and
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: the best guys are gonna and it's a good problem
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: for this Utah coaching staff to have.
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  Speaker 2: I feel like I might be getting a little ahead
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  Speaker 2: of myself, but I don't want to do that. But
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: idahost starters versus Arkansas starters and BYU starters and rest
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: of the season starters. Are we still going to be
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: figuring some things out in that Thursday night opening game.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Oh, without question.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that that's going to be the approach.
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: Utah should be so much more talented than Idaho that that,
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: and and frankly, I think that the offense and the
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: defense is going to be a little bit vanilla. They're
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: not going to try to tip their hand to Arkansas,
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: and I think that they're we're going to see a
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: good mix of guys in and out. And frankly, even
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: with the starters, I think they would love to have
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: the starters out by halftime and get guys reps. And
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: then Arkansas I think is going to be another story altogether.
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: But I do think that we're going to see an
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: evolution of what that lineup looks like because there are
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: so many question marks in terms of who's going to
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: step up. The question isn't necessarily is their talent at
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: the spot. I think that there is talent. It's about
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: who's going to rise to the occasion, who's going to
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: make the play when it counts, and who can be trusted.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: And as the season progresses, that's going to get tighter
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: and tighter. And for groups like cornerback, where there are
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: six really capable guys. We talked about the safety room,
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: we talked about the wide receiver room, the tight end
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: room that's so versatile. I think that those things are
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: going to be solidified more in week two versus Arkansas
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: Week three, and beyond that then we might see in
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: most seasons.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I'm going to start I'm going to start doing this
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: rude thing where I put you on the spot, and
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: when we get more information and we get little glimpses
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: like actual practice availability the other day, that was well.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: I had to watch it on the stream because I
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: wasn't able to show up.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: But really neat that.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: You know, when they set an expectation that you're not
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: going to have access and then they do give you
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: some access. I like that from Morgan Scalley and Company.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: These opinions can change but as of now, who is
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: the best defensive player on this football team?
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: Oh, that is a great question. As of right now,
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: I think it's my guess is going to be Benny. Look,
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: I think that he he had a breakout year last year,
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: and and we just talked about safetys and how they
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: can roll guys in and out. But but I just
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: think that if he can show himself as a more
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: reliable tackler this season, he's got a real show at
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: a high round NFL draft, and then he's on a
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: lot of boards already. So that's I'm not saying anything
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: that's really contrable, but I think that he has a
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: chance to be the best player on this defense.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: Offensively, I'm gonna ask you the same question.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: Oh uh geez, I mean Devin damp Here And I.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Look, I know, I know automatically Dev is the most impactful,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: but is he the best? Is way shot a better
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: running back than Devin is a better than quarterback? Is
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: there a wide receiver or is there an offensive lineman?
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Last year, the best player on this team was Spencer Fano.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Whether or not he was the most impactful, obviously that's
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: not the nature of his position, but he was the
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: best offensive player on the team, and I think probably
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: John Henry Daley ended up being the best defensive player.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: Whatever.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: But is Devin dan Pierre, even though he's the headliner,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: is he the best offensive player on this team?
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah? I'm sticking with that answer, and for a couple
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: of different reasons. So everybody that's close to Dev that
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: you talked to will will tell you over and over
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: again that that despite the fact that Dev had a
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: great season last year, we have not seen the real
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: Devin damp here yet. He played hurt the entire year,
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: and they in the program has talked a little bit
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: about that he's finally healthy. He's healthier than he's ever been.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: And I think that we're going to see a player
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: that that not only is dynamic, but I think that
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: we're going to see an intelligence. So the thing that
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: I was most impressed about with what he did last
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: season was the fact that look the way that he
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: cut his interceptions down, the way that he took care
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: of the ball. When you'd see what he did in
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: read option situations, I bet his correct decision rate was
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: in the high ninety five to ninety nine percent in
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: terms of when to pull it when to hand at,
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: when to pitch it, that kind of thing. His command
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: of the game, and is the more experienced that he
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: get some things slow down for him. I think that
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: we're going to see just one of the more phenomenal
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: quarterback performances that we've seen in program history. I think
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: he's that good and that capable if he stays healthy
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: and if he shows the command of the offense that
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: we believe he has based on things that coach mcgiven
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: said last week and other coaches have said, I just
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: think that he's going to be the perfect distributor for
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: this team and do a lot of dangerous things for
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: opposing defenses. I cannot wait to see what a healthy
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Devin damp here with all of the weapons around him,
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: looks like. I think that he's on the cusp of
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: a very special season.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Well, that is certainly the hope for everyone out here.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: We did get to watch kickers work the other day.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Are we confident that Dylan Curtis is going to be
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: reliable in the field goal kicking game?
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: I think that we are. You know, we saw we
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: saw him hit a long one the other day. He
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: had off season surgery, so he wasn't able to participate
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: in the spring. But look, he had his ups and
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: downs last year, and that's not a surprise given the
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: fact that you know, it's a true freshman. And yes,
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: he was a high school All American and he did
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: some incredible things in his high school career. And I
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: think that now that he's been through it, now that
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: he understands what pressure looks like and what pressure feels like,
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: that I think that he's going to be able to
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: step up and really rise to the occasion. There's no
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: question that he has a phenomenal leg It's it's the consistency,
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: especially on the long kicks, and that could you know,
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: it could make the difference between one or two different wins.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: And so I think that he's dialed in. Funny enough,
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: most of the kicks that we saw the other day
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: were from Tanner Craigan and he looks really good as well.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: So I think that Utah's is in a good spot
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: when it comes to the place kicking position. And and
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: Curtis is a kid that has a ton of talents.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: One of the things I like the most, and it
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: is something that you taught posted on their social media,
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: was they talked about how they're going to live stream
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: the kicking situations, and and and Scally is looking directly
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: at Dylan and saying, you know, everybody's watching you, and
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: and everybody's going to know whether you missed or not,
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: and and really getting him used to the idea that
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: he just needs to stay focused on those you know,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: those three seconds of panic when you're the ball is
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: snapped and you you step up and you plant your
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: foot and you and you drive through and you keep
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: your head down and you keep that technique right. If
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: you just stays focused on that, that's what really matters.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: And the fact that they're working on little things like that,
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: I think is going to be really good for his development.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: And I'm excited to see what he can do this season.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: Dan. I always appreciate your perspective.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Thanks for all the work you're doing right now for
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: those of us who don't get to attend the actual
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: practices and so rely on your reporting.
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: Thanks man, I appreciate it. And look, oh see, I
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: love our conversations and I'll talk We could talk ball
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: all day long, but they don't pay us enough, so
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: we can cut it off. But yeah, looks it's fun time.
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: Everybody is still undefeated. And there's a lot of optimism
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: and there's reason for it, and I can't wait to
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: see what happens in these games, because really, at the
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: end of the day, you can have all the good vibes,
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: you can have all the optimism. None of those things
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: ever got trophies in the trophy room, so they got
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: to prove it on the field, and I can't wait
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: to see how they respond and rise to the occasion
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: on that front.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Anything special going on with you Zone, any promos, anything
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: you want to shout.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, we got seventy five percent off an annual subscription,
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: so it's like thirty bucks for the whole year, less
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: than two bucks a month. We're the largest online community
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: of and hashtag team fun all day long. It's a
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: great community that look, our reporting is what it is.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: It's the community that makes you Zone special. And so yeah,
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: if you're on the fans or if you haven't been
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: with us for a while, it's an inexpensive way to
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: join us, and it's going to be that way for
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: the next couple of days. So so jump on in.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: Thanks Dan, talk again soon, Talk soon, Thank you so much.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Dan Sorenson, publisher over at youtezone dot com Utah Football
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Insider and like you heard right now is the time
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: go subscribe. It's now on three, but seventy five percent
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: off your first year with you Zone and on three.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Pretty cool that they're given a right before the season starts.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: They're given a huge incentive like that one