Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 182 - Lynden Lions Preview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 182 - Lynden Lions Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

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This is Lyndon senior Charlie Arris and you're listening to the Linden preview on the
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Walcome Preps Podcast with Tyler and Ryland. Go Lions. Greetings, and welcome
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to the Welcome Preps Podcast. You're listening to the twenty twenty three Linden Lions
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team preview. I'm Rylan Spencer. Along with me as always is Tyler Anderson
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of Wacome Preps. Tyler, how are you doing? Doing awesome? We're
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gonna keep going on this one, and this was gonna be an interesting one
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because it was gonna be probably a lot of names to talk about here.
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Really why oh well, you know, I don't know, you know,
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just because this is the fourth of ten team previews as we get ready for
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the upcoming season. Earlier today we posted a preview of the Linden Christian Links
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Across Town rivals even though they don't play Lyndon Christian Links yesterday, although they
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do play in other sports and they get pretty feisty in those ones. Oh
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yes, yesterday we had the Sea Home Mariners in Bellingham BayHawks. Tomorrow,
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the twenty eighth, we will have Squalicum and Blaine available for you If you
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would like to listen to those, head over to walcom preps dot com,
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where you can find all team previews on the front page when they get posted,
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and be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you can get notifications when
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we post future shows. Tyler, we need to give a thank you to
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Charlie Ayrs for the intro. We continue on with the seniors giving our It's
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pretty wild. I think that Charlie Ayers is a senior No. Two.
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I know, I know. It's crazy. It's going so fast, Tyler,
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They're growing up so quickly. Tyler, you were out there at Lyndon,
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Yeah, what are your thoughts? What was going on out there with
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the with the boys and BVD. Yeah, well that was Saturday morning,
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first day of pads, right and early in the morning. I was there
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about eight forty five and it was it was fantastic. Uh, that's become
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a tradition. I've been doing these previews since twenty sixteen and going out to
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schools and trying to find out where and I'm gonna go and where I'm gonna
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go and what time and just kind of make it all work, you know,
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logistically. It has always been first day of prad for first day of
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PAD, Saturday morning, go out to Linden. So h awesome to go
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out there. It's always a defensive practice when I go on that on that
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day. And so the thing I loved about that is it's just there's a
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lot of kids out there, obviously, but there's it's it's it's so efficient
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and it's so like boom, whistle goes jump to this. Everyone knows exactly
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where to go. Okay, you're doing this for five minute, Boom go
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to this, and you just kind of get that feel of like, man,
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these guys know what they're doing. Plus a lot of coaches out there,
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a lot of talented coaches out there. And you look around and you
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see a coach grab a player after every play and say okay, go to
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do to do. And you're adding guys like Blair Bomber and Jordan Wittenberg to
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the coaching staff. It's like, man, it's like you just there's just
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these great coaches all over the place that are coaching these kids up. Every
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single play. If something goes wrong, line it up again, talk about
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it. You don't have to run the play again, just line it up
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again, talk about it. Boom go. It's like clockwork out there.
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It's a lot of fun to see. And yeah, it's just great to
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see. Uh, so much talent and so much coaches and uh and those
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those you know, those guys are they earn everything they get. They work
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hard. It's almost like some of those guys who have been doing this for
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a while. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. Wait, and did
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I you said there's a couple of new coaches there. Huh. Yeah,
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it looked like I saw Blair Bomber out there, and uh, you know,
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maybe he's taking a break from the stand up comedy uh, you know
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tour. And and I saw Bryce Stirk out there, he wasn't coaching.
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Good to see him out there with his Cincinnati Bengals T shirt on. Yeah,
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it was cool. It was just it's just, yeah, there's a
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lot of talent and a lot of a lot of green and gold. Always
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a good time out there at the the old Linden High School head coach Blake
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Van Dalen in his seventh season. Now with Linden fifty five and thirteen career
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record as the head coach, they play their home games rolling to kostuer Field.
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I love that place. I really did. That's a fun place to
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watch a game. Back to back state championships two twenty one, they were
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twelve and one twenty twenty two thirteen and oh, that is now their tenth
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state championship. And Tyler, you told me this. Eight of the last
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seventeen years they've won a state championship. Yeah, that's just stupid. They're
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hoarding state championships, Tyler, I love it. Uh, there are a
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lot of key losses. I'm not going to name them all because we got
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games coming up later this week and I don't have time to get through them
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all. But some names. Lane Ringa, Dane Gadderman, Troy Pets.
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Those three guys were up. We're all on an article that I put up
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just recently on Cascadia Preps about the in state Division one players from our state.
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I mean, Lane's over at Wazoo, Dane's at Eastern Washington, Troy
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Pet's big old boom boom over there. He's at you, Dub, and
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then I mean Isaiah Stanley, Hesuswartis, Chris Ellen Boss Kobe. I mean,
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Tyler, you get down to the to the to the last line or
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the fourth line down here, Kayden Herman, who's I mean, there are
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so many stinking names on here. It's unbelievable. I mean, it's it
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is insane how many guys they're losing. But the craziest part is we go
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to top attorneys. There's a lot of names in there too. Yeah,
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I mean, this is unbelievable. Really, yeah, it's crazy. I
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mean the last year's class was I don't know, thirty one seniors and this
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one's like twenty six or something like that. It's it's crazy, you know,
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And it's but they've built something and they've sustained it, and it shows
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and kids are gonna come out and they're gonna want to be a part of
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something big. Yeah. I mean there's some guys here, Tyler like,
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like, there's guys that are that have played a lot of football, you
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know what I mean. Brent Hepner has played a lot of football, Kayper
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Rossing, Isaiah Audman like, these guys have played a good chunk of football.
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I mean, this is a veteran team that you know, doesn't necessarily
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have a lot of guys that have maybe a ton of starting experience. I
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mean, some of them do, but these are guys that have seen a
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lot of minutes. I mean, these guys have seen a lot of football.
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Is this is interesting? I mean you look at last season's results,
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there's some good games, some tough games, some physical games. Then you
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look at this year's schedule and I mean, yeah, this is this is
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gonna be fun. Let's talk about the offense. Let's talk about the quarterback.
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Brant Hepner is kind of the guy that took control over the last couple
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of years with things. And I'll tell you what, there's a lot of
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excitement. I hear from college coaches all the time that go, wow,
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you're high on that kid, and I say yeah, yeah, and they
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go what is it with Lyndon? And I go, man, I don't
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know. Don't ask me, like, here's the head coaches number. You
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go talk to him about it, because I don't understand it either. But
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Brand Hepner, he's returning not only the returning passer, but also the returning
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rusher. So there's a maybe how do I say this? Maybe? Is
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this the most What's the word I'm looking for here? Not pressure, not
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hype because I kind of don't like either of those words, But you know,
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expectation wise almost if you will they haven't really had a quarterback to this
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caliber in a little while, and they've had some real good ones. Yeah,
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you know, I look back and James marsh was pretty good, you
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know, six two fifteen pounds, looked the part of the big arm and
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everything. But brand Hepner at six six two twenty and just throws a great
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ball. He's a great kid, leader, captain this year as an underclassman.
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Every single trait that you want in your quarterback, you know. And
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they've done that fifty fifty quarterback thing for a little while. Now Charlie Airs
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is a guy that could do that too, but they're gonna ask Charlie to
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play some running back so and to be you know, kind of take over
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that lane herring a spot as a linebacker. So you put a lot on
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a kid's plate like that, and you say, well, we could really
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lean on on Brant Hepner then, and why not. You know, you
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have that guy. You talked about his rushing ability as well. Ten touchdowns
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on the ground as well as ten touchdowns through the air. You know,
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I've brought it up an other podcasts. The only quarterback in Walking County history
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to have enough pass attempts to qualify and not throw an interception for the whole
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year. That's just you know, knowing what you're doing with the ball.
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You talk about that final drive in the state championship game, having to drive
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down the field through the air for the most part, and big time receptions
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were had, but he was he was making those reads and throwing those passes.
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So a lot of talent with with Brant Hepner. It's just it's so,
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it's just awesome. I I am so excited to to be a part
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of watching a kid like that, you know, and and uh and just
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a great kid. Like when I was at Eastern camp, you know,
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he came up to me, Hey, mister Anderson's great for for you to
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be here. It's it's isn't it isn't Isn't this awesome? All this football?
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You know, he's just he's he's he's in tune. He's a great
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kid. You know, his kids raised him right, all those things,
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so or his kids him right, I should say, yeah, Uh,
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it's just you know, and Hepner is that that's a name, that's a
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Linden name. You go back generations of championships and other sports, and so
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it's a really it's a really cool deal. And and you know he sticks
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out like a sore thumb a practice and how about him. You know,
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I was there for a defensive day. But he's a Scout team quarterback.
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I mean, talk about giving your team a good book, right, it's
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a it's a lot of fun to watch him throw the football. Yeah.
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I think they did a real good job of of not asking too much of
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him last year, but also when needed, they would you know, take
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the reins off and and let him go, you know, and and kind
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of let him do some things. And it showed, like you said in
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that state championship game, I mean, there's there's a lot of Yeah,
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there's a lot of potential here. I mean when you when you talk about
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quarterbacks in Wacomb County and guys that have have done things in the past and
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everything, and you almost kind of have to go back to what like Casey
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Bowman and Simon Burquette where there was a quarterback of this magnitude, you know
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what I mean, where you kind of look at things and it's like,
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wow, this this is a guy you know, like, yeah, this
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is a little bit different than than kind of what what uh what you see
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something. Don't get me wrong. There's been some damn good quarterbacks, you
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know what I mean, Like, there's been some guys that did some great
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things. But Brant Hepner, there's just a little it's it's a little bit
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different. And then Tyler, you mentioned Charlie Ayers a little bits as a
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running back, and like I said earlier, Brant Hepner leads, you know,
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leads the returners in rushing. But you know he had eighty carries three
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sixty seventy yards, ten touchdowns. Charlie Ayres twenty five one thirty nine he
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averaged more yards. He also had two touchdowns. And then there's another name
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there, Luke Human was I mean, we kind of we know the name
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human and uh is that another guy we're looking at him? Who are some
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of the other names? Oh? Definitely, I think Luke Human was gonna
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be the featured back next year. For this year, I should say at
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the running back, you know, they'd like to go single back quite a
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bit, but they have no problem putting two backs back there and going double
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tight and just pounding the ball. So you'll see Charlie Ayres join him in
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the backfield. When that happens, you know, you could really see it
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might be kind of a kind of a sixty forty maybe Luke human to Charlie
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Airs as far as touches offensively. And you know, I think a lot
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of that is because of how much defense Charlie's gonna play. But Charlie Airs
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is another one of those kids that he's been waiting his turn, has been
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waiting his turn. And you know, a kid that was a quarterback and
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a defense and a safety, you know, and now he's a running back
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in a linebacker. And I tell you what, another kid that has no
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problem coming up to me, you know, you know, appreciating what I
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do, excited for me to be there watching the game. He did that
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during basketball season two. He's awesome kid. Uh comes from another great family.
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And and I what I loved about Charlie was when he would come into
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games late last year at quarterback, when he would take off and run.
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He was physical. He was really physical, and I loved that about his
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game. You know, He's built more like a running back. And then
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when he would like like later in the season, even in the playoffs,
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late in games, they put him in a running back and I had never
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seen that. They were handing the ball off to him and he was great,
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and I just thought, man, that was that's that's uh, that
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could be his future. Well, here we go and it is his future
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now. Luke Human has always been a running back. He's always been that
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kind of that next guy up after the big two last year and he popped
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off a big run in the state playoffs. You know, like you said,
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averaged almost seven yards of carry last year. So I think he's gonna
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get He's gonna get the bulk of the carries. And and you know,
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even though you have brand Hepner back there that can throw the bulk all over
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the field, with those linemen you have, you're you're gonna want to pound
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the ball in every now and then. And it's just it's a definite strength
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for the Linden Lions. Yeah, that's I mean, that's Lyndon, right,
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Yeah, that's Lyndon receiving. They lose a lot of production off last
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year's squad, but they returned some names here that how do I say it,
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Some some names that we recognize names, you know what I mean,
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But maybe they aren't the names that we recognize, if that makes sense.
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Tyler. Who are some of the receivers that we should be looking out for.
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Well, there's some goods. There's some big time seniors that are been
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waiting their turn, and they're they're big time playmakers. You talk about Cooper
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Bore five ten, one hundred and seventy pounds. He had one of the
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best catches I've ever seen in that state championship game, the one of the
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initial catches of that drive, a diving catch that kept the drive alive.
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And I think he's a guy he's he's to me, he's kind of like
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that Isaiah Stanley type, like he can catch anything. He's gonna make plays.
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He's built really well, he can move. Brady Elsner is another kid
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that can run an unbelievable routes. He catches everything. Six one, one
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sixty five. Coach's son Weston Van Dalen, He's got pretty good size,
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six one one seventy really really smart kid. I could see him in the
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mix as a receiver. And then Danny Boehler as a sophomore, one of
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the fastest kids on the team. UH, finding ways to get him the
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ball, maybe like a Kalo Jandoc type. Even maybe he could be on
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reverses or sweeps. And and you know, different types of deals. Get
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him the ball quickly on the outside and make him make some moves, get
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down the field. Those guys, guys would be splitting out wide. Isaiah
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Audman as a junior last year, was All All Conference first team tight end
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and now at six three, two fifteen pounds U he's taking over that role.
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And I saw him at camp. I saw him at scrimmage out at
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where was it at Arlington, and he is every time I see him,
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he gets better and better, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
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You know, you split him out wide and you can't match up against him.
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You know, at the Friday night lights, they could not stop him
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at all. And you know a lot of kids, you know, and
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you've dealt with this a lot where a lot of kids say there's six three.
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He is six three. You know, he could say that he's six
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four or six five. He really is six foot three. So I love
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that about him. He's a big kid, and he's physical, gets the
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job done. And when they go double tight, he can come in,
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he can block, he's nasty, and then they can put Trey barr In
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as another tight end at six three as well. Two hundred pounds. He
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could be like they're going double tight, take over that trace and Smiley spot.
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So there's some guys there that can that can do those kinds of things.
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Javier as a Vallo is another one is another senior that could play some
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tight ends. So you got a lot of options. I you know,
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as they always say, they never rebuild, they just reload. So uh,
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this is one of this is going to be one of those years where
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they show what they can do. Yeah. I mean when I look at
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the top Attorney East Tyler, as we start to move towards the the big
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beautiful guys here, I start to notice that there's maybe the most numbers wise,
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they're kind of inside here. I mean, they've got some guys,
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They've got some big dudes, man, and some guys that have some experience.
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Now when we talk about bucking bales, eating beef and moving and bodies
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or whatever it is. Yeah, who are the guys that are that are
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doing the big heavy lift in this year for Lynden? Oh man, Well,
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you're gonna you're gonna love this group. Yeah, okay, let's go
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hold on, hold on, let me put my feet up, all right,
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go ahead? Yeah, uh well, Kiper as Sinc Is just a
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different dude. And he's been a three year starter now and and he's getting
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moved out to left tackle. And you know that left tackle spot at Lyndon
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has always been kind of reserved for some big time stunts. And you know,
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you look back at the Jacob Kettles and Dane Gadderman's and these guys,
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and uh Kuiper Ossink is every bit of those guys six three two seventy five
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right now and can move. I mean, he's he's he's built like well
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like he's a specimen and and he's just getting bigger and stronger. I love
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what he does. H Bennett Rhorta has been the starting right guard the last
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two years, Gonna move over to the left guard now six two two ninety.
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And you kind of know, you know that counter run those lat left
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tackle and left guard when they get going and they can clear some big some
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gaps. Oh my goodness, you got two seventy five and two ninety there.
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Blake Holman at as a junior, you started, you started at center
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last year when kiper was was sick during the playoffs for a game. He
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does really well. He was kind of that sixth offensive lineman last year as
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a sophomore. Now as a junior, is gonna start at center, six
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seat tall, two hundred and seventy pounds. Another great you know, just
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and these Holmans. There's a lot of Holmans that have come to the Linden
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system, and he's another one. He's probably one of the better ones.
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Uh. Carter Reeling yep, and nig On that name, right guard,
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six one, two ninety five, just a sophomore. I saw him a
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little bit in the whatever game. It was the one of the playoff games
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I was at. He got in kind of late in the game and I
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had been I'd been warned of that young man, and uh, I remember
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keeping an eye on him, going, yep, he's gonna be just fine.
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Yeah, So he's gonna start at right guard. And I love it.
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You know, Linden offensive line, they always find a way to get
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some sophomores in there. And it's smart because by the time they're seniors,
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they're gonna really be they're the leader handling the conference. Yeah, and those
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those are the guys that you look at and you go, hey, man,
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we need we need something here like this is this is a drive and
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those guys are the ones that step up and and and they they make sure
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everybody else is ready to go right and then at right tackle. Yeah,
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this is where I've heard some things. Standing six foot seven waiting two hundred
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and eighty pounds a junior Ryan van Berkam now at camp was he was the
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coaches fell in love with him at camp there. He's he's a big,
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big kid, and it's just you know, knew, I don't know how
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long he's been playing football, but but he is picking it up really fast.
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And he is a legit at least six six, probably six seven,
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just a big, tall, rangy kid that uh is just gonna dominate.
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And so you go across that line, the smallest guys two seventy you know,
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good lord, Yeah, and that's the center and he's the shortest one
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two at six foot tall. So it's just a it's just a big squad,
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you know, and and it's you know, tackle to tackle. They're
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bigger than last year's offensive line, if you can imagine that. So it's
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a it's gonna be a fun group. And I just you know, yeah,
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yeah, it's tough because so many defensive lines will put smaller guys out
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there, and you better be quick because it's gonna be hard to out muscle
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those guys. Still got the the same young offensive line coach. Yeah yeah,
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coach Bomber. Yeah, he's still around and he was ripping into a
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few guys there Saturday morning. I tell you what, I'll tell you what.
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They're gonna figure it out. Then, you know what I mean,
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You could, you could, You could put five kickers across the line and
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still probably run the ball within. Let's talk about the defensive side of the
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ball, then Tyler on the on the defensive line, I mean, I
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look over the I look over the stats, and I see I see a
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neighbor two, but nothing that you know, maybe jumps off the board.
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As far as the defensive line goes. I know Javier Zavala, I believe,
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played defensive line and he leads in in tackles coming back. But you
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know when I say that, I mean not really the household name is kind
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of what I'm saying there as far as that goes. But other than that,
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or I guess one talk about Javier, but then who are the other
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guys we need to know about on that defensive line? Yeah, Javiers of
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all, you know, Lyndon's defensive line is traditionally just a little maybe a
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little undersized, and they're just not the household names. They're the guys that
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are doing the dirty work. They're and they're they're making it easier for the
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you know, for the other eight guys behind them. And it's so funny
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because I remember, I this is so true. I remember being up in
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the booth. It was during the playoffs. I can't remember which playoff game
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it was. It was it was getting close to the end of the first
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half and coach Whitman is sitting on the other side and he's calling in the
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defense and he says, into the thing, he says, tells, tell
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Javier to go sack the quarterback. That's what he says, and lo and
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behold he did it on the next play. And I just I thought it
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was so funny because it's like they have directions to do certain things. They're
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not necessarily always going after the quarterback. They're doing certain things to set up
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other things. They're doing certain things to make the linebackers flow, They're doing
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certain things to you know, it's always a little different, and they like
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to have a little undersized guys. Javiers follows one hundred ninety pounds. Wow.
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But when he needs to get after it, he can. And when
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they set him loose, he did. And you think the play call was
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like three four cover three cloud jave or sack right, it was, you
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know, if there was a call to it. But he specifically told you
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know, radio down to note to boom to to tell him go, tell
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him to go sack the quarter. It was great And so I love when
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they have those kind of guys like that. Jesse Stewart is a is a
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guy that was a defensive back. Now he's getting moved to defensive line because
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he can get after it and he's six feet tall, two hundred and five
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pounds. Another senior, Isaiah Uno is a big dude, five nine,
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three hundred pounds. You can put him in the nose, you know,
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take up blocks. Cooper Costante uh is five ten, two hundred and thirty
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pounds. He's a junior. Uh. You know, you're gonna see Bennett
23:11
Rhorda in therey once a while. You're gonna see Kyper Austin probably just terrorize
23:15
some guys every once in a while on the defensive line. But it's the
23:18
rotation, it's the keeping the guys fresh. I mean, you've been in
23:21
a Linden football game on defense, it looks like a line change. Yeah.
23:26
Yeah, they're just they're just rotating guys and they're not they're not dropping
23:30
off a whole lot. You also got a big sophomore Logan Austry, six
23:33
feet tall, two and thirty pounds. How about a six foot two,
23:37
two hundred and twenty five pound freshman Zach Dikstra. You get well hold on
23:41
a Dikstra at Linden not Linden Christian. Yes, yes, so he's not
23:45
related at Distra anywhere, you know, and in Walking County at six two,
23:51
two hundred twenty five pounds as a freshman freshman. Yeah, so that's
23:56
so that kid's family has a huge food bill. Yeah, I mean so
24:02
yeah, So it's there's a lot of guys there that could that could be
24:04
doing some stuff on the defensive line, and and uh, it's always it's
24:08
always fun to watch them slant and just and just cause havoc. Yeah,
24:15
let's talk about the linebackers because Lyndon traditionally has okay linebacker play. Who coaches
24:21
the linebackers? You know, you know it's I I believe it's that Whitman
24:26
fella. Okay, never mind, I go back and forth. Then so
24:36
bro oh that guy O. That linebackers, I mean, they've got a
24:41
couple of real good ones. And you mentioned Charlie Aers is going to be
24:44
stepping into play there. Huh yeah, that's gonna be a big you know,
24:47
he was that third linebacker last year after Herring and Ellen Boss who took
24:51
obviously the majority of the snaws. But Airs could come right in and he
24:53
could he could pop you. I mean, he's ready to hit right aways,
24:56
physical and his knowledge of the position is game so much over the last
25:00
you know, twelve months now, and he's calling out to play, he's
25:03
calling the defense, he's getting guys lined up. He's the quarterback of the
25:07
defense, and he's he you know, he's grew up playing as a quarterback,
25:11
so he knows how to be a leader. He can do that stuff.
25:14
The big question mark I had coming in was who's gonna join him?
25:17
I just I was not sure. In the middle there a senior five ten,
25:21
one hundred and seventy five pounds Kai Brown is gonna play in that spot.
25:26
I love it. He's picking things up fast and he's getting it down,
25:30
you know. And they have a couple sophomore backups there. Uh Lofa
25:33
to gut to Gilu to get law. Yeah, I'm gonna get that name
25:40
right one of these days. Yeah, five eleven, one hundred and seventy
25:44
pounds and then Dane Marty at six one, one hundred and seventy five pounds.
25:48
A couple of sophomores that are going to be backing up the senior years.
25:51
And it's you know, they'll they'll they'll get their chance. Eventually,
25:55
they'll get in some playing time. But it's nice to have a couple of
25:57
sophomores that are ready to go as well. Those that inside linebacker spot's pretty
26:02
good. The outside linebacker spot, now, those guys really know what they're
26:04
doing because they're coached by Ed Bomber as well. Uh, but uh,
26:08
Isaiah Aldman on the outside. You know, they had four of them playing
26:12
a lot last year and Audman's the only one that that returns. Uh.
26:18
He can do a lot of stuff. He could drop back and pass coverage.
26:21
He could rush the quarterback. You know, six three, two hundred
26:22
and fifteen pounds. He could do absolutely, you know, a ton and
26:26
then on the other side, Luke Human coming off the edge. You know,
26:30
he's gonna be playing a lot of running back, but he'll be in
26:33
and out as an outside linebacker quite a bit. You know. He played
26:37
inside linebacker last year, you know, picked up, picked up a decent
26:40
amount of tackles, had one and a half tackles for loss. But he's
26:42
found this niche as an outside linebacker and he's been doing really, really well
26:47
there. Max Ossink is a sophomore that could back up and he's you know,
26:52
he's got pretty good size too. He's he's about six one hundred and
26:56
eighty pounds right now as a sophomore. Parker Williams is a six foot tall
26:59
too in fifteen pound junior that could play there. Trey Barr sixty three two
27:03
hundred can play there. So they got a lot of guys. Again,
27:07
it's always the depth is the depth is never an issue at Lindon. It's
27:10
just getting everybody to understand the defenses and the calls and to do it quickly
27:15
and be ready for when that ball is snapped. There's coaches all over the
27:18
county listening to you. Just name off guy after guy going, hey,
27:22
spread the wealth a little, would you. Uh, let's talk about the
27:26
secondary. Tyler always very responsible, good football players out there, Guys that
27:32
you know you can rely on to, you know, not give up big
27:36
plays. Who are some of the guys in the in the deep that we
27:40
need to know about? Yeah, I think you know, Cooper Moore got
27:44
a pretty good amount of playing time as a as a corner, and he'll
27:48
kind of lead that spot at corner. Brady Elsner on the other side.
27:52
You know they're gonna they're gonna do a great job. They always do.
27:56
Like you said at Lyndon, they make they make plays or rip the ball
28:00
out of guy's hands. They're gonna go after the football. They're gonna be
28:02
physical. You know they're gonna and they have so many great schemes where they're
28:07
moving guys around right right for the snap to confuse the offense, and you
28:11
got guys backing up, guys coming in, and the corners have to lock
28:14
down with all the changes being made. I think Danny Bowler is kind of
28:17
that third corner. Unbelievable speed, still learning all the nuances of the position
28:22
for the varsity level, but he's gonna be a good one when when he's
28:26
ready to go safety wise, you know, they got a couple of seniors
28:30
back there, Tavan vent Or, Tavan van Dalen, my goodness, Weston
28:33
van Dalen. Uh. You know, he's super smart. He's always going
28:37
to be in the right position, and he'll he'll pop you to a little
28:40
bit here and there. I saw it practice last year. I saw it
28:42
again on Saturday. So he's ready to hit. And then there's another safety,
28:47
Zach Welch that I like a lot five ten hundred and eighty pounds senior.
28:52
Uh, you know, and he's right there in kind of that calling
28:56
anchor mode. You know, he's he's he's ready to go. They got
28:59
a couple of backups here, Jaden Oaks, a junior five ten one seventy
29:03
five, and they've also been working in a freshman back there, which you
29:08
know Lynnon does not play freshman very often at all. And this freshman is
29:15
Malachi Kanan. Of course you recognize the last name there, and uh so
29:21
he's he's about five eight one eighty five. I think he's been playing linebacker
29:26
growing up, but they've been playing him at safety a little bit with the
29:29
varsity guys. And when they set him on a safety blitz and then the
29:33
you know, the guys with the scout running back would come in block boy,
29:37
he'd just go right through those guys every single time. Oh man.
29:41
So he loves to hit, so very very very physical. Of course,
29:45
his dad, Mike, you know, punted in the NFL. But his
29:48
mom, Devin, was one of the best athletes ever at Western Washington University.
29:52
So they've got great bloodlines there. He's a good athlete. He's got
29:56
pretty good size too, and he loves he's physical. He loves to hit.
30:00
Now, when we talk special teams, are our guy boom boom over
30:03
there he's gone. And that's not just a kicker punter thing. That's also
30:07
a kick returner thing, right, yes, it is, and a dribbled
30:12
punt that he picks up and runs at times. Thing like. I mean,
30:15
there's a lot of different moving parts to Troy Pets being gone. Who
30:21
are the thirty five guys are going to pick up his special team's positions this
30:23
year? Or is there one guy gonna do it? Well, I tell
30:27
you what, you know. I when I asked about this, you know,
30:32
Van Dale just starts laughing and he goes, you know, he goes
30:36
people around around up. People are gonna hate us, you know, because
30:41
you know you had Marco Smukovich who was great as a kicker, and then
30:45
you and then you go right from that to Troy Pets. You know,
30:48
you got three years of Troy Pets kicking and punning and all state and everything.
30:52
And now you bring in the freshman Malachi Canan, who you know,
30:56
during halftime last year, he has an eighth grade go out and kick fifty
31:00
yard field goals just for fun. So, I mean he can kick,
31:04
he can punt. He's gonna do it right off the bat. And and
31:08
how about that, you know week one, you know, kicking off against
31:12
Ferndale a cane and kicking off against Ferndale pretty cool. Yeah, And so
31:21
he's gonna do the kicking and the punning. As far as kick returns,
31:26
you know, you got a lot of guys that Cooper Moore, you know,
31:29
uh, maybe Danny Bowler, you know, Brady Elsner, those those
31:34
kinds of guys, they will they will find a way to make things happen
31:38
in the return game. They always seem to. And and uh, but
31:42
I'm excited. I'm excited to see, Uh, how how can adapts to
31:48
the varsity game, and I I have no doubt he'll do quite well,
31:52
but it'll it'll just be fun to see it on underneath the lights. Now,
31:57
Tyler, before we get to the schedule, I gotta ask you,
32:01
Yeah, did you see my guy Brick out there? Oh? Of course
32:06
was he? Was he out there going crazy like he always is, having
32:08
a good old time. Yeah. He was explaining to me about what was
32:12
happening in the drills, which was awesome. And then there were some drills
32:15
when he needed to be out there and and uh and and and kind of
32:19
move the like the like the like where the line of scrimmages moved the ball.
32:23
Yeh hash hash to hash you know. So he's out there running around
32:28
going one hundred ten percent, which was playing umpire. Yes, that's what
32:31
he was playing umpire. Out there just running around having a good old time,
32:35
probably sweating like a longshoreman. Yeah. He looked like Coach Best at
32:38
Friday night lights, which is which is one of the great joys of summer
32:45
is getting to see Coach Best through the Friday night lights Like that is that
32:49
is one of the most psychotic things you'll ever see. That guy is just
32:52
absolutely nuts out there. It's so it's so great and I had the perfect
32:55
view. You gave me the perfect you know spot. You said, just
32:58
stand right underneath the gold post. The whole time, I was like,
33:00
you got it, And uh so, yeah, he's out there having a
33:06
great time. You know. I was excited to see me out there again,
33:09
and and uh yeah, we're always always having fun with Brick out there.
33:13
I love that, dude. H Let's talk about the schedule. Obviously,
33:17
last year they go undefeated, run through everybody, and I mean,
33:22
you know, the Sea home game was the closest as far as score goes,
33:25
and the week before Sedro Wooley was three points apart Sea Home, the
33:30
week after it was two points apart. And then you know, the Ana
33:32
Cordis game, I mean, I guess I wouldn't say gave him a little
33:37
bit of a scare, but kind of gave him that last real good test
33:39
before the playoffs. Really hammered Black Hills and high Line and enham Claw.
33:45
Actually I was at two of those three. And then you know, maybe
33:51
one of the best eight championship games we've seen. I mean, just a
33:53
truly a great matchup between two teams and I think North Kidstap is gonna be
33:58
real good again this year. They return quite a bit. They lose some
34:01
some definite pieces that's going to be very hard for them to replace. But
34:07
this year the schedule flips right over. It appears and you get Ferndale and
34:10
w F West at home to start. Obviously two non conference games. But
34:16
yeah, I mean Ferndale is always going to be a tough out if you
34:21
will, and should be a real fun matchup there. That WF West team,
34:24
man there, I think they're still gonna be really good. I think
34:28
they're gonna be down a little bit. They do lose a couple of good
34:30
players, but rumors they had a kid move across town from Centralia that should
34:37
help out quite a bit. But yeah, Tyler, you look at the
34:39
schedule. Obviously, the Ferndale game is one that I know you look at
34:43
every year because why wouldn't you. I mean, those are two teams from
34:45
Walcom County, their history and the rivalry and just everything involved with it.
34:50
But then uh Squalicum see home. You know, other than that, not
34:55
a lot of not a lot of Walcom County involved in it. But what
35:00
games are you looking at here? Yeah, It's definitely that that Week one
35:04
game is always fun, you know, it's and it's it's funny because you
35:08
know there's some other ones too. You know, I kind of want to
35:10
see that se home one again probably. Uh. And my intern Michaela,
35:15
she's you know, she's been doing such a great job with photography and stuff.
35:19
And I asked her, I go, hey, do you what do
35:20
you think about writing some stories for football and she's like, yeah, I'd
35:22
love to. And she's a great photographer. She does great work. She's
35:27
covered a lot of basketball games for me. She was the she was the
35:29
photographer for the Bellingham Bells over the summer. Uh. And and you know
35:34
she came out to all these practices with me and taking headshots and doing differ
35:37
different different things like that. But she said, there's two games that I
35:40
want to go to And I said what's that. She goes Lyndon christian nsac
35:45
Valley and lending against Antacortis. So and she was at Lennon Anacortis last year.
35:52
I loved it. So she's really excited to have that be at Lynden
35:54
this year. So I think she's really pumped for that one. But yeah,
35:59
I mean it's it's it's I think the Burlington games like on a Saturday
36:04
this year, so uh things, yes, six to fourteen to twenty.
36:09
So yeah, it's a Saturday. Yeah, so that'll be one that that's
36:13
always a great matchup. I mean, it's just that's a good rivalry.
36:16
That's a home game. Oh hey, you know what, you might uh
36:21
might get somebody you know up there from the el King County area by Saturday.
36:25
I mean yeah, yeah, yeah, I gotta obviously look at the
36:29
schedule for that person, but I don't check it out and see what we
36:31
got there. Yeah, I like the schedule. I mean obviously you obviously
36:36
those games and that that conference are still stinking tough weekend week out, you
36:39
know what I mean, even even a lake Wood and Archbishop Murphy who a
36:43
little bit down at you know, but still, I mean like those are
36:46
not going to be just you know, pushovers. It's right, it's gonna
36:51
be fun. I'm excited for that, Tyler. As we head towards the
36:53
end here, breakout player for walk on Preps for for Tyler, I guess
36:59
because you are walk on Preps. Cooper Moore, Senior wide receiver, defensive
37:05
back. Why Cooper Moore. Well, there was a lot of ways I
37:07
could have gone with this, and you know, I just thought, I
37:12
think that not enough people know about Cooper Moore yet, and I think he's
37:15
just gonna go crazy that this year. I think both sides of the ball,
37:20
I think we're looking at, you know, with the with the ability
37:22
of Heppner to throw the ball, I could see I could see Cooper catching
37:25
at least like fifty passes. I just I just think it's gonna happen.
37:30
I know that hasn't been the way Lynnon has played the last handful of years,
37:35
and that's not what has made them successful. But he catches everything,
37:40
and he's not afraid to go over the middle. He gets open, he's
37:44
got great speed, he's built pretty well. So I just I just think
37:47
that he's gonna come out and just go bonkers. I mean, I could
37:52
have gone a lot of ways. I almost went with Ryan van Berkam,
37:54
the new right tack, just because not a lot of people know who he
37:59
is, and when he comes off the bus, everybody's gonna know who he
38:00
is. He doesn't hit his head right, But yeah, I think I
38:07
just think coupermore. I've been following him for a while. Uh, you
38:10
know, playing baseball too, So I know what kind of athlete he is.
38:14
I know the family he comes from. I just I see it.
38:16
I just see him going off and having a great year anything before we get
38:21
out of here, Tyler, No, I think that's it. It's a
38:24
it's it's gonna be. It's gonna be a fun one. And I think
38:27
a lot of eyes are gonna be on this team, obviously losing a lot
38:30
of players. With two state championships back to back. H I don't think
38:35
people are counting them out anymore. I think people are going yeah, but
38:37
they're Lynden and I think that's the way to go. So, uh,
38:40
we'll see. It's gonna be an interesting year for them. Well, thank
38:44
you Blake Whitman for listening. Uh he's Tyler Anderson, I'm Roylan Spencer.
38:49
We've got Squala cum in Blaine coming up tomorrow. And again, if you
38:52
want to listen to see home Bellingham and Lyndon Christian, be sure to check
38:57
out Watcomb preps dot com. Yeah, we're we're we're getting close to halfway
39:02
there, Tyler. One more and we're officially halfway there, and then we
39:07
then we can go to sleep for seven minutes and then we got more stuff
39:08
to record. So so yeah, he's Tyler Anderson and Brianon Spencer. You've
39:13
been listening to the twenty twenty three at Lyndon Alliance team preview. We will
39:16
talk to you tomorrow