Latest / The Craig Way Show / Steve Sarkisian updates the status of Kelvin Banks and lessons learned from last years CFP appearance

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Steve Sarkisian updates the status of Kelvin Banks and lessons learned from last years CFP appearance · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: We're back.
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  Speaker 2: It's The Craig Ways Show with Hall of Fame broadcaster
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  Speaker 2: and voice of the Texas Longbarns Craig Way.
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  Speaker 3: On our tech Fie our man CV said, Creg, you
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  Speaker 3: went to Frenchies for fried chicken when you were in Houston.
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  Speaker 1: I guess you can.
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  Speaker 3: You won't be going to Magic City and Atlanta eat
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  Speaker 3: their famous wings lovon pepper wings. Uh No, I will
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  Speaker 3: tell you this. Atlanta has one of the nicest teakhouses
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  Speaker 3: in America. I've been to it before, called Bones, which
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  Speaker 3: is in the Buckhead area.
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  Speaker 1: Very nice.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think I'll be going there though. You know,
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  Speaker 3: I've got both of my sons with me, so you know,
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  Speaker 3: even though they're both grown, you expect Pops to pick
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  Speaker 3: up the tab if we go somewhere to eat, so
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  Speaker 3: that probably won't be the get. I'll tell you one
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  Speaker 3: place I may go ceb for lunch. In Atlanta, they
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  Speaker 3: have a Zesto's. Now, for those of you who don't
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  Speaker 3: know that don't equate with Zest's what what is? For
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  Speaker 3: those who follow college baseball and the College World Series,
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  Speaker 3: Zesto's is one of the most famous names in Omaha, Nebraska.
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  Speaker 3: They had that Zesto's right beside Rosenblat for decades.
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  Speaker 1: Wonderful.
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  Speaker 3: It's a burger and ice cream and milkshake joint. It's great.
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  Speaker 3: And that one closed down when the ballpark when the
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  Speaker 3: College World Series moved uptown or downtown, I guess you
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  Speaker 3: might say, into the ballpark, the new ballpark, the Schwab
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  Speaker 3: as they call it now, Charles Swipfield, and uh, they
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  Speaker 3: put up a Zesto's there, but it wasn't quite as
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  Speaker 3: good as newer and they limited menu. But they have
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  Speaker 3: an older school and on the north side of Omaha
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  Speaker 3: in Florence, the little community Florence and went out west. Well,
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  Speaker 3: Zesto's at one time was a national chain. They don't
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  Speaker 3: have many left, but one is in Atlanta and it's
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  Speaker 3: a lot like the old school. And so I may
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  Speaker 3: I may hit as I know, I'm gonna go to
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  Speaker 3: the Varsity at least one time because it's downtown. The
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  Speaker 3: Varsity Sports Grill, you've seen it. It's you know, it's
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  Speaker 3: a double decker thing. The burgers and dogs and stuff
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  Speaker 3: like that. That's a good place to take the take
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  Speaker 3: the boys' and they've both been there. We've been there before.
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  Speaker 3: Is the varsity probably go there again. Let's hear some
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  Speaker 3: more from Longhorn's head coach, Steve Sarkisian from the weekly
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  Speaker 3: news conference which we brought to you live this morning
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  Speaker 3: here on the Zone. Some other things. First of all,
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  Speaker 3: a question about Quinn yours and the ankle, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: how's he feeling, what's his process and progress that he's
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  Speaker 3: gone through.
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  Speaker 1: He practiced today and it'll be very similar last week. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: said he was doing all right.
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  Speaker 3: Now, how about some of the lessons learned and valuable
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  Speaker 3: lessons gained and knowledge gained from participating in the college
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  Speaker 3: football play off last year. We're not at the playoff yet,
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  Speaker 3: but it is now getting into postseason play. So Sart
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  Speaker 3: was asked about to any valuable lessons that came out
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  Speaker 3: of that.
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  Speaker 1: I think one thing we learned about our team is
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  Speaker 1: that we've got a real sense of resiliency. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we can overcome a lot, and you know, time and
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  Speaker 1: time again, I see teams lose a game and they
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  Speaker 1: can then they get beat again the next week because
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  Speaker 1: they're still kind of feeling sorry for themselves from that
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  Speaker 1: week before. And I think the one thing about this
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  Speaker 1: team their ability to get recentered, refocused on the task
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  Speaker 1: at hand has been very impressive for two years now
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  Speaker 1: and take it one game at a time. And I
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  Speaker 1: know that's a coaching adage that you guys here all
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  Speaker 1: the time do covering this stuff, but it truly that's
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  Speaker 1: what has taken and I think their their ability to
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  Speaker 1: focus on what's been right in front of them, staying
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  Speaker 1: present in the now and not get caught up in
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  Speaker 1: what might be down the road, not getting caught up
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  Speaker 1: in what the pundits are saying on TV and who's
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  Speaker 1: where and what, and just focusing on what we need
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  Speaker 1: to do to improve to try to pa the best
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  Speaker 1: football that we can. And then I think the experience
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  Speaker 1: of last year has helped us this year be able
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  Speaker 1: to kind of recreate that and do it again. And
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  Speaker 1: so the secret sauce for us is literally what's in
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  Speaker 1: front of us and focusing on what's right in front
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  Speaker 1: of us, and that has allowed us to perform pretty well.
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  Speaker 1: And that's gonna be key again this week, and then
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  Speaker 1: after Saturday, we'll figure out what the future holds and
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  Speaker 1: what that looks like. But our our sole focus and
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  Speaker 1: intentions are on Saturday four o'clock Eastern Standard time, Mercedes Benz,
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  Speaker 1: can we play our best football?
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  Speaker 3: Okay, all right, there's that. He was also asked how
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  Speaker 3: important is it in trying to land a buy which
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  Speaker 3: the only way you do that is to win the
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  Speaker 3: game Saturday, win the conference championship, and then you do
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  Speaker 3: get that first round by and start did admit there
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  Speaker 3: there are perhaps some minus is to go with the
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  Speaker 3: plus is of earning a buye.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's you know, you're always you look at all
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  Speaker 1: that stuff and you know, for some guys maybe that
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  Speaker 1: serves as motivation, you know, but the motivation really should
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  Speaker 1: be right, what do I do today that I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: be thankful for Saturday? That I did on Monday and
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  Speaker 1: then Tuesday, and then Wednesday and then Thursday and then Friday.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody wants to win Saturday. What are you doing today
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  Speaker 1: to put yourself in a better position to win on Saturday?
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  Speaker 1: And that's the challenge that I that I that I
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  Speaker 1: pose to the team and to them as a team,
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  Speaker 1: but also individually, Right, what are you going to do
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  Speaker 1: today that you're going to be thankful for Saturday? And
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  Speaker 1: if we can stay in that frame of mind, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the external motivators are nice sometimes, but the internal motivators
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  Speaker 1: are are what we should be focused on that. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I think we're a pretty good football team. I don't
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  Speaker 1: think we played very good against them the first time out,
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  Speaker 1: and I think ultimately, you know, you know, they deserve
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  Speaker 1: to get our best shot. I know we're gonna get
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  Speaker 1: their best shot. They deserve to get our best shot.
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  Speaker 1: And I think the fans and the people watching this
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  Speaker 1: game that are all going to tune in deserve to
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  Speaker 1: get the best version of Texas football. And that's what
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  Speaker 1: our focus is on, all right. Uh, the buye. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it's interesting because that first round game, I think there's
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  Speaker 1: a you know, I don't know, almost just about two
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  Speaker 1: weeks in between if you if you if you get
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  Speaker 1: the buye, you've got about three and a half weeks
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  Speaker 1: or so. I don't know the exact number.
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  Speaker 3: Is.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, I would love to get as healthy as we
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  Speaker 1: can get, but but ideally, you know, nobody's going to
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  Speaker 1: be one hundred percent healthy at this point of the season.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody's got bumps and bruises. It would be nice, but again,
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  Speaker 1: there is the extended layoff even between the championship game
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  Speaker 1: and and the first round.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of almost like a like a regular
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  Speaker 3: bowl game, so there'd be about three and a half
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  Speaker 3: weeks off, like if you were preparing for an Orange
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  Speaker 3: Bowl or a Sugar Bowl or whatever for that deal,
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  Speaker 3: all right. He was also asked about his defensive coaching staff,
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  Speaker 3: namely his additions NPK and Terry Joseph, you know, and
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  Speaker 3: his his newer dish about Johnny Nansen about proving some
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  Speaker 3: naysayers wrong who might have had some things to say
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  Speaker 3: about the Texas defense. And how much has the defensive
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  Speaker 3: staff been able to follow through on all of that.
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  Speaker 1: It's all of it, right, you know. It's one thing
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  Speaker 1: to continue to adjust schemes to fit the personnel that
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  Speaker 1: you have. It's another to recruit players to fit the
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  Speaker 1: schemes that you really want to run. And then it's
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  Speaker 1: another to have players be in your system over time
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  Speaker 1: that really have a good grasp and understanding of what
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  Speaker 1: we're trying to do and then the why we're trying
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  Speaker 1: to do it. And there's growing pains, right, There's adjustments
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  Speaker 1: that you have to get better at. There's a style
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  Speaker 1: of play that you have to improve upon, and I
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  Speaker 1: think we grew naturally over time, you know, Year one
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  Speaker 1: we played Arkansas, we didn't have a very good game.
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  Speaker 1: You know. In year two, we played Alabama here and
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  Speaker 1: I thought we played we played a better style and
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  Speaker 1: brand of football to fit what SEC football would be like.
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  Speaker 1: We didn't come out on top. In year three, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we go to Tuscaloos, Alabama and Bryant Denny Stadium and
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  Speaker 1: we play a brand of football that we felt like
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  Speaker 1: was good enough in the Southeastern Conference. And then in
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  Speaker 1: this year, you have to do it over eight weeks
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  Speaker 1: and now nine weeks, and what that toll looks like
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  Speaker 1: physically and mentally to prepare yourself week in and week out.
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  Speaker 1: And we see it all over our conference every Saturday,
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  Speaker 1: that if you're not prepared to play in this conference,
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  Speaker 1: you will get beat. And it doesn't matter what you
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  Speaker 1: think of an opponent or not. There's too many talented
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  Speaker 1: players on every roster, the coaching is too good, the
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  Speaker 1: environments are too tough when you go on the road,
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  Speaker 1: that if you're not prepared to play, you'll get beat.
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  Speaker 1: And we see it. We see it across our conference.
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  Speaker 1: We were fortunate enough, Like I said, that's why I
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  Speaker 1: want to praise our players and our coaching staff for
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  Speaker 1: getting prepared week in and week out to perform and
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  Speaker 1: to execute at a high level, and we've been able
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  Speaker 1: to do that. Like I said, unfortunately, we didn't have
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  Speaker 1: very good game against Georgia, and all the credit in
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  Speaker 1: the world, they came in here ready to play and
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  Speaker 1: beat us that night. Hopefully we can perform better Saturday.
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  Speaker 3: Then he was asked about the evolution of Michael Taff.
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  Speaker 3: Taff was a heck of a high school football player
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  Speaker 3: for Todd Dodge a Westlake High and then when he
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  Speaker 3: came to Texas, he came to Texas as walk on,
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  Speaker 3: earned himself a scholarship, has played very well, his on
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  Speaker 3: the Burlsworth Trophy Award watch list that's given to a
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  Speaker 3: player who is or was a walk on it during
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  Speaker 3: his collegiate career, and of course had his second interception
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  Speaker 3: in the season and fifth of his long corn career
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  Speaker 3: last Saturday night, And Sark was asked also how legitimate
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  Speaker 3: an NFL prospect is Taff.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's interesting about Michael. You know, in
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  Speaker 1: the summertime when he first came, we had to have
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  Speaker 1: our player ramp practices where coaches weren't allowed to be
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  Speaker 1: out like we are now to do work development and
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  Speaker 1: things of that nature. But that first summer when he
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  Speaker 1: was just out of just out of high school, every
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  Speaker 1: player would come back and I'd say, hey, how'd to go?
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  Speaker 1: You know, how was how was seven on seven? How
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  Speaker 1: was team? They always would bring up Michael Taff and oh,
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  Speaker 1: Taff got another interception today? Taff? You know, did this?
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  Speaker 1: Did that? And I'm like, who this? And I knew him,
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  Speaker 1: but I didn't really know him. You know, I knew
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  Speaker 1: him enough, but I didn't really know him. And all
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  Speaker 1: he did from the day he got here was lead.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, he never took a back seat from
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  Speaker 1: a leadership standpoint two. All he did was give whatever
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  Speaker 1: he had. Like I struggle with the term overachieve, we
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  Speaker 1: achieved whatever we do. And and what that guy has
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  Speaker 1: done has squeezed his lemon and to get all the
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  Speaker 1: juice out of that thing that that's been in there.
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  Speaker 1: And then in the offseason he's built himself up to
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  Speaker 1: be a better player, a faster player, a more physical player,
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  Speaker 1: a better understanding of our scheme to where when he
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  Speaker 1: plays there's a great deal of confidence in him. It's
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  Speaker 1: not hey, he's a backup that we're subbing in He
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  Speaker 1: is a critical component of our defense. When he's on
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  Speaker 1: the field, we play better defense from a communications standpoint.
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  Speaker 1: An ability to be on the same accord with the
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  Speaker 1: other dbs, with the linebackers, his playmaking ability, his preparation mentally,
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  Speaker 1: the physicality that he's been playing with and so all
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  Speaker 1: those things has added up to I definitely think he's
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  Speaker 1: an NFL prospect. You know, again, I don't know. I
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  Speaker 1: haven't looked at haven't talked to the scouts and what
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  Speaker 1: they exactly think and where they project him to. But
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  Speaker 1: I think the guy's going to play in the National
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  Speaker 1: Football League. And that's a great story. And the reason
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  Speaker 1: it's a great story is this. You know, this offseason,
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  Speaker 1: there was a lot of talk about eliminating walk ons
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  Speaker 1: in college football and that we were just going to
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  Speaker 1: have eighty five scholarship players and that was all we
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  Speaker 1: would have. What a sad day that would be if
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  Speaker 1: a story like Michael Taff wouldn't come to fruition that
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  Speaker 1: you can get a player as a walk on because
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  Speaker 1: he wants to play at the University of Texas and
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  Speaker 1: maybe turned down scholarships other places, but come here, work
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  Speaker 1: his tail off, earn a scholarship, become a starter, play
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  Speaker 1: like an All Conference, All American type player, and then
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  Speaker 1: how have the opportunity to go fulfill his dream of
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  Speaker 1: playing in the NFL That college football has so many
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  Speaker 1: there's so many great lessons to be had, But that's
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  Speaker 1: just another one of given opportunities. What do people do
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  Speaker 1: with those opportunities? And he's maximized his to the fullest.
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  Speaker 3: All right, there's some thoughts from Sartmar. I have a
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  Speaker 3: couple more comments from him after this break, because I
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  Speaker 3: want you to hear what he has to say about
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  Speaker 3: physicality and how his team has been able to get physical.
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  Speaker 3: We'll do that when we come back here on Sports
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  Speaker 3: Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.