Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Bill Riley on the Runnin Utes, Signs guys are buying into Alex Jensen, Utes at the NFL combine, Impact of Team USA men's hockey's gold me...

Transcript

Bill Riley on the Runnin Utes, Signs guys are buying into Alex Jensen, Utes at the NFL combine, Impact of Team USA men's hockey's gold me... · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You tuned to The Shan O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Hundred at ninety two one AF am.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Fred Anderson of the Sean O'Connell Show, and that means
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: we talk with the voice of the Utes, Bill Riley.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Conversation brought to you by Handy and Handy handylaw Utah
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: dot com.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Bill Riley, Welcome to the show again.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: How are you, Shan O'Connell. I am doing great. I'm
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: on my way to Tempe, Arizona, where it's going to
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: be eighty eight and Sonny.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: So I'm doing okay.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Fifty and Sonny.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: It sounds great in February until you compared to eighty
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: eight and Sonny, and then it's like, oh man, that
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: sounds even better.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Ah, well, you have going down call. We're heading down
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: the home stretch for basketball, so ASU tomorrow afternoon.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I want to we'll get to that here in one second.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: You're you're a man, You're a proud patriot. You're a
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: man who's happy to be born and raised in the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: United States of America. And we're still basking in the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: afterglow of a gold medal victory in USA Olympic Hockey
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: last Sunday morning.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: And I'm just kind of curious.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: You know, you grew up in the sports broadcasting world
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: where a lot of us revered that do you believe
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: in miracles?
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Call?
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Most of us didn't get to see that, but it
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: still was such a huge part of our awareness of
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: you know, United States sports and broadcasting in general. How
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: significant was this moment. It's not the same thing as
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the Miracle on ice, but how significant was this moment
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: from a long standing carryover effect?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: You think for USA hockey?
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Oh, I think it's big. I don't think it. I
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: don't think it's got's going to have the same overall
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: cultural and societal impact that the eighty Miracle on Ice did.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: But I think it's huge for American hockey. I think
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: in a time where the NHL is beginning to thrive
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: a bit and in markets like Salt Lake where it's
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: beginning to grow, I think this will be a huge
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: moment for American hockey. It was I mean, the game
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: itself was why we love sports Sewan.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: It's everything. It checked.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Ever at I don't know that there was a box
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: that it didn't check. High level play, gold medal, game,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: best in the world on the ice, going head to head, overtime,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: three on three heroes, nationality, all of it, it checking,
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: and of course bringing Johnny Goudreau's kids out on the
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: ice afterwards was like the cherry on top of what
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: was already a great moment in sports. So I think
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: the moment itself and the game itself are huge if
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: you're a hockey fan. Like I said, I don't think
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: it'll have the same cultural impact I was because I'm old,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: was old enough to have watched the miracle on ice
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: and remember Al Michael screaming, do you believe in miracles? Hell?
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: I had to play at the beginning of my show
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: for twenty years to open it. It's one of the
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: greatest moments, maybe the greatest sports moment of my lifetime.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: This is a great moment, and I think it will
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: be great for hockey and the NHL and American hockey.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: I just don't think it has quite the same impact
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: that that eighty team did because those those were college
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: kids against the best team ever assembled in world hockey,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: and they had gotten be ten three two weeks before.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, there were so many other storylines to it.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: This was just great Sean, because of the high level
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: of hockey that was played, and you know the Canada
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: US rivalry and all that stuff. So I think it
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: was I think it was awesome.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I've tried to find, like, in my own mind, some
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: comparisons on magnitude of it, and there's no apples to
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: apples here, right, It's definitely not the Miracle on ice.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I think maybe you could compare it to the Dream
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Team being involved in the Olympics, just because of the
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: care factor, the attention that it brought. And that's probably
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: a closer analogy because these are NHL.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Here's one.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Here's one for you, Sean, the ninety I like the
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Dream Team analogy because I think it's going to have
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: an impact the way the Dream Team impacted world basketball.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: But remember ninety nine when the women's World Cup team
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: won in the United States and it caused the explosion
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: of women's soccer and girls scocer and participating and we
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: saw a boom after that. I think this might be
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: comparable to that might have the same impact on youth
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: hockey in this country. So I think that would be
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: maybe a little bit more comparable.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: What do you think, Yeah, I think I actually really
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: liked that one.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Bill Riley is our guest, our American hockey insider here
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: on the Sean O'Connell Show. Now, so let's get to
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the reason you're taking your trip down to Tempe Arizona,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Utah basketball. Like you said, heading down the home stretch
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: here and still trying to grab a couple more conference wins.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: It has been incredibly tough sledding and it's been very inconsistent.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: These inconsistency from game to game is one thing. The
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: inconsistency game I think has been pretty maddening for people
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: to see at times. And I know that nobody more
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: so than Alex Jensen. So what is the primary focus
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: for this team in these final few games.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: I think it's playing hard shunk, I mean I do.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: I think they've played hard for them. Keep playing hard,
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: try to avoid those pratt falls that have gotten you.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: You know, they didn't rebound very well early in the year,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: then they fixed that a little bit. They didn't play
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: great defense. They've played a little bit better defense, but
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: it's kind kind of now being sloppy with the basketball
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: and turnovers. I mean, Iowa State just punished.
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: Them the other night.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: They committed eighteen turnovers and Iowa stated at twenty points
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: off it, and you just you can't play in the
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Big twelve against anybody, much less team like Iowa State
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: and do that.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: So I think the focus.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Now is, you know, can you build a little bit
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: of momentum, can you figure out who are those three
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: or four guys on that roster that you want to
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: build around for next year's team, and just continue to
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: drive I've home the philosophy, what they want to do,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: the culture that you're building in the program, because you
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: know it's not going to be a championship year this year.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: It's not going to be an NCAA tournament this year
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: unless some sort of sporting miracle happens in Kansas City
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: in two weeks. So I just think it's more building
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: for Alex and his staff and then kind of figuring
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: do we have building blocks on this team? You know,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: who are three or four guys that we can look
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: and build around for next year. Obviously, you're like everybody
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: in college basketball and Franklin college football too, You're bringing
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: in a bunch of new faces. But are there three
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: or four guys that you look at and say, Okay,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: these guys, these guys could be foundational blocks for us
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: moving into next year.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Well, when we're talking about the early part of a rebuild,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: and I don't disagree with anything you just said, the
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: carryover from last year's roster was what was a conversation
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: we had, you know, kind of this time last year,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: And as you're making those selections, is is it more
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: an attitude, a buy in a culture standpoint, or is it, well,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: this guy gives me this many points in this many
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: rebounds in this many minutes a game. Because I think
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: those are two different evaluations when we're talking about laying
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the foundation for this program moving forward.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: Well, I don't think you can have the second one
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: without having the first one. I don't care if guy
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: comes out and scores eighteen points a game. If he's
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: not doing it the way you want to do it,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: you can't have that in your program. I think you
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: have to have the buy in first. You have to
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: have three or four guys that you can see. Maybe
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: they're only guys scoring five or six points and I
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: grabbing a couple of rebounds, But if you see the
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: potential in those guys and they've bought into your program,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: those are the guys you want to bring back the
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: best case scenarios having the buy in and having the
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: guy that scored eighteen to twenty points a game. But
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: I think the cultural and philosophical buy in is the
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: most important now because if you just have guys that
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: you know, you can find guys that could go out
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: and score points, but if they're not playing the way
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: you want to play, then it's not going to do
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: any good moving forward.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: The NFL Scouting Combine is going on right now, the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Underwear Olympics, as I affectually refer to them, as everyone
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: is broadcasting from Indianapolis and we're watching and evaluating and
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: seeing what measurements are out there. Logan Fano and Lander
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Barton were in the group that went yesterday.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: They did not participate there.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I have no forty time, I have no vertical I
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: have know anything on either of these guys. And I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: don't know if I'm just ineptedt my Google searching, or
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: if a decision was made that you know, it would
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: be better to reserve these things for pro day. Do
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: you have any insight on that decision making process for
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Lander or Logan?
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: I don't.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: I was a little I was like you, I was
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: kind of searching NFL dot com for some numbers yesterday
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: and didn't see any. Yeah, it's always interesting to me.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: I can understand if you're a super high end guy
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: and maybe you want to save it for the workout.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know what goes into the thought process. Maybe
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: they're dealing with a nagging injury at this point in time.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Maybe it's just about getting those interviews and saving your
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: numbers and your times for your your pro day, wherever
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: that might happen to be. But yeah, I was a
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: little surprised by that because usually when you see guys
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: that are day two or even day three guys. I
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: think Logan in Landa are probably both Day three guys,
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: you'd think that they'd want to put some stuff out
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: there and put it on tape. But maybe not you
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: and I.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I think last week when we talked about, you know,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: who could elevate their stock, can we agree that that
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Dallan Bentley can be one of those guys? And I
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: saw some clips of interviews that he had done, and
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: one of the things that I think he's really leaning
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: into is the fact that he is a complete tight
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: end in the league and in a sport now where
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: you have kind of like two breeds of tight end,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Like there's your specialist that's just a big wide receiver,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: a Dalton kincaid type. Then there's guys like him who
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: don't really mind a bulldoz and the more George Kittle types.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: And I think that he's calling attention to his blocking
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: at this combine more than anything else. And I know
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: that most of the drills for the tight ends favor
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the other portion of a tight end skill set, but
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: I think it was wise for him to do that,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: to call attention to the fact that he's a very
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: willing blocker and willing to play the position in a
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: more traditional manner.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: I think the traditional tight end Shawn's coming back a
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: little bit more. I mean, I think the Travis Kelceys
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: and Dallas Doddards of the world are certainly out there,
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: but I think teams that are playing multiple tight ends
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: want to have that second tight end, that more traditional
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: in line kind of that dual threat tight end, and
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: I think Dallen checks that box.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: I mean, he's not elite in his speed, but.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: He's got good speed. He's got he showed last year
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: when they finally started throwing in the football that he
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: had really good hands to and I think the size
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: is there as well, because we know a Utah block
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: you're not going to get out there and play. So
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: I think that that style of tight end is making
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: a little bit more of a comeback. Not to say that,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: you know, the pass catching kind of hybrid tight ends
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: going away, because I don't think it is, but I
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: think teams want to have that. You saw the Rams
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: last year. The Rams were playing thirteen personnel all day long,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: and I think only one of the three tight ends
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: was kind of that skinny pass catching guy. They were
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: playing with two guys that could really block and run,
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: So I think that's great news for Dallen.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Obviously, Caleb Lomu and Spencer Fano are kind of the
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: highlight guys that you to sent to this combine, and
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: we won't know until they make the decision on whether
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: they're going to run and do the testing. I think
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: we could confidently say both guys will probably perform pretty
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: well in interviews and the draft projections show. We'll start
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: with Spencer anywhere from three overall in mock drafts to
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: like fifteen, and I think for Caleb, I've seen him
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: as high as twenty and as low as maybe like
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: and you know you and I have talked about this
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: many times. The fit feels incredibly important for a lot
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: of players. Is fit as big of a deal for
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: those guys? Starting with Spencer's fit as big of a
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: deal for him? You know that he might be asked
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to slide over and play left tackle instead, especially if
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: you're drafting him in the top ten.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Would he be okay there? Well, I mean he's done
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: it all.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: But starting with him, how important you think fit is
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: for wherever Spencer Fano ends up?
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Well, I think fit's important for everything. I don't think
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: it's as important for elite tackles because I just think
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: that you know, the teams are going to know what
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: they have, and I think Spencer's graded high enough. I
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: think that if you're seeing him rated as high as
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: number three on draft boards, I think I think you're
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: pretty elite at that point in time, and I.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: Think you're going to be able to fit.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: He's not going to have any personnel or or personality
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: issues anything off the field. He hasn't had an injury history.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: I think Spencer is going to be I'd be shocked
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: if he slipped out of the side of the top ten.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: I think it's he in the tackle from Miami are
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: being projected as the top two tackles. Caleb's all over
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: the place. He's a little bit more raw. But I
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: think a team at the end of the first round,
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: early second round that needs gout, I could see a
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: guy like Caleb, even though he played left tackle, maybe
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: starting as a right tackle, getting his feel, and then
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: maybe moving the left because I think he's still I
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: don't think he's come close to reaching his ceiling yet.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: Sean.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: I think with his size and his athleticism, I think
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: he just needs a little bit more refining. So I
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: think both of these guys are going to be good
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: fits wherever they end up being. I don't think it's
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: going to be left side, right side. It's going to
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: be a real issue for either one of those guys.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: A guy we both know, Jeff Schwartz, is he's higher
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: on Lomu than he is on Fano. He thinks that
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: his pas sets are a little bit more natural, a
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: little bit longer armed, at least according to the weathered
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: eye of Jeff Schwartz, and he thinks that that's going
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: to translate better in the NFL. So that's that's the
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: hot take projection from a friend another friend of the program.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: We'll see how it plays out. Obviously, you watch plenty
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: of David Bailey. This year we called you you called
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Games with David Bailey, and we watched him help Texas
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Tech to.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: A incredible run.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: And yesterday at the Combine he just showed what an
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: absolute physical freak y is. I know he's not a ute,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: but someone that I thinkte fans are probably watching closely.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Where do you think he can go and what do
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: you think he can do in the NFL?
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm watching him closely because the Chiefs need a
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: rush end in the worst way, and he fits somewhere
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: in that probably five.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: To ten range.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: You know what's interesting about Bailey for me, he did
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: not pop at all. Three years at Stanford. He was
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: a pretty average, pretty pedestrian defensive end. He was okay,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: but he all he did was make plays after week
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: at Texas Tech, which makes wonder what were they doing
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: at Stanford that he wasn't able to make plays?
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: It's just so weird to me that he and I
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: know they projected him high, but he just didn't do
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: much at Stanford, and then all of a sudden he
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: is an absolute freak.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: I think he's fantastic. I think I think he.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: And Rubin Bain. I love Ruben Bain as well, and
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: I think we both those guys. Miami's got two defensive
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: ends that are going to be first and second round picks,
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: and so does Texas Tech because Texas Tech has Rimelo Height,
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: who I think is going to end up being probably
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: a second round pick as well. So but to Bailey,
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: I think I would be shocked if he fell out
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: of the top ten Sean and if he's at number
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: nine in Kansas City's at number nine, I would love
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: to see the Chiefs grab him at number nine.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Well, we were talking about fit and going back to
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: what you're saying about Stanford. I think that part of
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: his problem at Stanford was he was clearly the best
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: defensive player that that team had, and they didn't have
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: enough threats, so you could send two people at him
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: every single time at Stanford. Obviously he got better at
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Texas Tech as well, but I think that part of
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the problem was Stanford has fallen so far from grace
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: that you can now account for him.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: So aggressively in your blocking scheme.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: That he was limited somewhat by the talent around him
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: or lack of talent around him, is a better way
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: to say that you.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: Have a player.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Because I know you and I are both draft I
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: love the draft. I mean, I just I dig into
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: the draft guides and I watch I just I love
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: it because I'm such a college football guy too. So
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: You've seen all these guys play. It's why why the
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: NFL drafts so much better than the NBA draft, because
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: you know all these guys. They've seen HI play for
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: three or four years. Is there a player that you're
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: really curious to see where they go because they're great,
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: but maybe they don't have a specific fit for somebody.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: If he fits this bill. I think the fit is
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: for a lot of people decently obvious. But I'm really
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: curious to see where Jack Kelly goes because he is
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: a lot more athletic than people give him credit for.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: I don't know how the NFL is going to treat
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: this last season where he was a little bit banged up,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: but he's a lot more athletic than people think. Except
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: in this draft, especially, he's up against some of the
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: most athletic linebackers that the NFL scouting process has ever seen.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: So he might fall like, I don't know, mid second round,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: third round because of something like that, because everyone's so
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: enamored with like Rvel Reese's traits and Sonny styles traits,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: and Jacob Rodriguez was a candidate for National Defensive Player
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: of the Year obviously, so Jack Kelly, who's an incredible player,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: didn't have as much of a splash senior season as
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: maybe some of the scouts. He was excellent, but he
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: didn't have like the same kind of impact these other
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: guys are having, and you know, it all count kind
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: of counts who are you standing next to when you're
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: being compared in a regular draft, he might be considered
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: a top three linebacker in this one.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: I don't think he is.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've got two guys won, a big twelve guy
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: one and one big twelve. Got A big twelve guy
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: for me is Jordan Tyson. He may have the best
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: raw individual talent of emty wide receiver in this draft.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: He I thought he was unbelievable the last two years,
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: but he's always injured at Arizona State. But he is
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: probably the best wide receiver from a talent standpoint, The
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: question is who's going to take a chance on him?
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: How far does he fall? And then the other guy
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: that I'm taking a look at is Caleb Downs from
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: Ohio State. It's not a premium position, Sean, but everybody
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: rates him as the first or second prospect on their
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: draft board Jeremiah Love, and he seemed to be everybody's
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: home run hit. But it's a safety and most people
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: don't consider safety a premium spot. So you know, are
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: you going to grab him in the top five, in
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: the top ten? How far does he fall? He feels
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: like one of those guys they could fall to like
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: somebody at sixteen or seventeen, and you've got a Hall
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: of Fame player for the next ten years.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: It's really funny because you're not wrong when we say
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: all that. You know, running back is no longer a
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: premium position, and safety is not considered a premium position.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: And yet when you have a true outlier, yep, a
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Hall of Famer at those positions, it absolutely becomes a
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: premium position. And we can see the difference of what
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: that does for a team and how it elevated lifts.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: That's the tide that lifts all boats. When you have
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: an elite, elite safety, suddenly you have one of the
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: best defenses in the National Football League. And yet the
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: draft capital is not deployed in that direction very often.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but when you have in Ed Reid, or you
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: have a Troy Polamalu, or you have a Kyle Hamilton
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: all of us, or you have a Derwin James, all
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: of a sudden, Holy cow, it changes the whole outlook
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: of what your defense is. And that's the type of guy,
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: at least they say. Caleb Downs is high football IQ,
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: can play in the box, can play center field, can
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: do all of those things. He's ideally every team would
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: love to have him. But are you going to take
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: him at number five, number six, number seven, that's the question.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Mel Kiper says, take him at number two, and I
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: don't think anyone's gone.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: It's wild.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Well, I think that's the crazy thing about the draft.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: He and Jeremiah Love are probably won two talents, but
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: nobody probably wants to take him at those I mean,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: the Raiders aren't going to take Jeremiah Love. They're not
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: going to take They're taken Fernando Mendoza. So it's always
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: it's always that dance of my value board versus what
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: my needs are, value versus need, value versus need uh B.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Why you start spring football today? What's your biggest question
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: about the Koogs as they come back for the twenty
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: twenty six campaign.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: I would probably say defensive side of the football.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: You know, you lose your coordinator.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: We saw how things really turned for them a couple
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: of years ago when Jay went down there and you
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: meant Jack Kelly, who might have been the best defensive
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: player on the field for them all last year, and
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: you know you lost your defensive backs coach to Naro
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: Guildford who went with Jay Hill to.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: UH to UH to Michigan.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: So what happened on the defensive side of the football,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: And you know, who are your playmakers outside of l J.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: Martin?
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Obviously we know there's something going on with a wide
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: receiver away from the field who was expected to be back,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: Chase Roberts is gone. So I would say defensively, just
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: you know, what's your identity, who's your player? And then
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: on offense you've got you've got a great running back,
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: but who's who are your playmakers in the past game.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: The conversation with a Voice of the Youths, Bill Riley
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: is brought to you every week by Handy and Handy
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Personal injury Attorneys Handy Law Utah dot com. Big firm Experience,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: small firm Attention. Bill, you've been working with these guys,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: You've known these guys for a very long time. Tell
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the people why they should call hand in Handy.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: They should call them because they're great dudes who do
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: great work. And at the end of the day, I'm
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: thankfully I've never had to work with them on a
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: ca I've worked with them on the radio. But if
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: you have it happen to be in an accident or
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: something happens to you or a loved one, you want
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: somebody who really knows what they're doing. But on top
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: of that, more than anything else, cares about you as
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: a client. And that's what Precedent and Garrett Handy do
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: at Handy and Handy. So find them online at handylaw
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: Utah dot com.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Have a great call, enjoy the sunny weather down there
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: in Tempe and we'll chat again soon.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Bill.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks hen Bill Riley, Voice of the Utes.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: We're just getting rolling here on the Sean O'Connell Show,