Latest / The Sooners On SI Podcast / Sooners On SI Podcast 361: Wrapping up OU Baseball, Friday Night Lights, Steve Zabel and more

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Sooners On SI Podcast 361: Wrapping up OU Baseball, Friday Night Lights, Steve Zabel and more · The Sooners On SI Podcast

• 0:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: What is up everybody?
• 0:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Oklahoma suitors on SI podcast and if you're listening and thinking who's that voice?
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's not Ryan Chapman.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is I Brady Trantham Ryan a little bit busy during the day today, so I'm filling in with him.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we got a professional podcast around here this time, so maybe a spicy place look for it.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just, I'm L. J. McCurrius.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm coming out of the bullpen.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I used to be a starter.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I start for through the keyhole.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, when it comes to my Oklahoma suitors on SI, duties, I'm like relegated to the bullpen, which is great because whenever one of you guys is busy, I'll just kind of come in and look cool.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's basically the vibe that I'm trying to do.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: But, Shadda, you're not looking.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Hard to not look cool when you've got electric guitar strung up all around, you like that.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's pretty bad.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: for the YouTube audience, which of course you can always watch our podcast on YouTube on our YouTube channel, which is John Hoover Media.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Correct.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: So go check that out.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you're in the mood to watch us talk about Oklahoma football, Oklahoma athletics, go check out the YouTube channel and watch and enjoy as much as you can.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you can look at my guitars.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're they're like they're more important than I am.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: But as you heard, that is one John Hoover.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I need I need a more professional background.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is about as professional as I can get right now.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, great microphone set up.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: The background absolutely three guitars badass.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got the flying V over there on the right looks like a less Paul on on the on the other side.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's an it's an epiphone.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a Gibson.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can ball not a ball on a budget, but yeah, I got a Voltaire V and a snake bite.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're just their their Jamesette field guitars because as you can tell.
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: got this bad boy in Ireland where I stayed up and watched Oklahoma win a national championship baseball.
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: So those games started at midnight local time in Ireland.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So did I sleep in the Emerald Isle?
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I did not, but I still enjoyed my time.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that was John Hoover, John's doing awesome.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then we of course have Mr. Carson feel Carson how we do in today.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: pretty good.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Only got a couple degrees a coffee mug of football home in the background.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can't quite live up to the guitars, but all things considered happy to be talking some sports.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Got a couple degrees.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm very, I'm very educated.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like it.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like it Carson.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: He had no Ryan Apert today.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the Ryan's just decided we're taking today off.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's the start of the news.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a Ryan-free podcast.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm about that.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that should be in the title, Ryan anti-Ryan podcast.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's the start of a new academic year with it being July one, and the Ryan's decided, yeah, let's take the day off.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Which is fine, they work.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: We do a good job with this.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to be protesting on the streets with signs saying, no, Ryan's.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: No Ryan's, no Nolan's, Ryan's, no, what other famous Ryan's are there?
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't think of it right now.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: not as high as John Mc's years.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can tell you that.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am a notorious like day skipper, so I cannot sniff his.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was quite the video that came out.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, front squatting, like, I can't even, I can barely do my wrists.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I can barely bend them that far.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can do it, but yeah, it's seeing that was like, oh, cool.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I cannot wait for all the responses in the mentions that say, didn't hit, or didn't hit depth, not good form.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just said by a bunch of people who probably don't lift.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, John, you played football back in the day.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, what's your PR on squat?
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember?
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: I do remember because it's such a round number.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: I hit 300 and that was it.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: I quit.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Boom!
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jalen heard us over here.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not bad for long skinny legs.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, no, I mean, you're also taller than me, taller people.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit harder to get that low to the ground with a bunch of weight on your back or on your chest if you're doing front squats.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, John Matiers, we're working out.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're lifting weights, everybody.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're getting ready for the grind of the SEC.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: But before we get to owe you football one and to just kind of put a little bit more of a bow on the sooner magic that was Oklahoma Baseball with their national championship what a week ago.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: a few days ago that all three of the fresh been extraordinary pictures that would be cordrager, Xana-Rakirius-Nic-Wazlowski have been retained and I know that there's probably some old school of OU fans out there that are just going like, why is this news?
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're freshmen.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: They should either be preparing for the season or I guess scurting the rule and trying to go play pro.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it is the transfer portal era john and so this was probably the the first thing on everybody's mind once it became very apparent what four or five innings into that third game against North Carolina where oh use going to win this game they're going to win the programs third national championship and then everyone's mind kind of goes to
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: and they keep court rager, can they keep Xander Maccurious, who's going to be able to stay some of these upper classmen has Skip Johnson made, oh, you kind of a desirable program to not just come to if you're a transfer portal player or a high school player, but to stay if you are a high-end baseball player on the roster currently.
• 5:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they got the resounding answer that, yeah, Skip Johnson has in fact made, oh, you that type of program, and they have their starting rotation for the future to build off
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: in order to potentially defend their title crown going in the next year.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, massive, massive news for OU baseball, which you don't want the last thing you need at that moment in time, you're celebrating an national championship and you're coming down off the cloud, right?
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the last thing you want is for one of your free freshman pitchers who took you to
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: to come out on social media and say, yeah, had a great time shooting fans.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for everything I'm going to Ole Miss or something.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to the world I'm going to USC.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's the last thing you want.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: So to have the simple fact that you have all three guys come out on the same day and reaffirm, hey, we're in it to win it again.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: The freshman, you're right.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's something that you know, you a lot of people would take for granted because we're talking in Omaha all week.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: is regular what's his birthday because he could be a sophomore eligible draft got he might be home to be here two years yeah he might be but he also might be here one year because it's the transport portal and everybody leaves in the transport portal area and it's it's something that you have to you know really account for and I think skip has done that and I think skip and the people that support skip canry family etc have done that with uh...
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, by working putting together NIO packages that are designed to, you know, keep a freshman pitcher around for another year for a second year, at least.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, it's great news for all you baseball because those three guys, I don't know if you saw the graphic during the world series, but oh, you, oh, you just pitching staff was the hardest throwing pitching staff in all of them.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: of the eight teams that were there.
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, average miles per hour.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, uh, not just that, but those guys got good stuff and they got good moxie, three freshmen.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now you get skip Johnson to get them an entire year back working with those guys.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Perfect set up.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, that's the thing.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you have Brit Vennables as your head coach for a football team, you expect great defenses when you have skip Johnson as your head coach for your baseball team, you expect great pitching.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And coming into a year where they had to replace their entire starting weekend rotation, didn't matter.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it kind of mattered in the regular seasons.
• 8:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't win a lot of games, but it didn't matter once they got to the games that actually mattered in the postseason.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I didn't do a very good job with this guys because I haven't, um,
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: As I take a little bit of a step back, I haven't seen or talked to you guys really that much sense Omaha and I just want to give you guys both pat on the back, shout out for awesome coverage on the ground in Omaha.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, carbs and you showed up for the championship series, John, you set up a residency in Omaha, like you were a traveling act going to Vegas and say, like doing three months here, you're doing three months in Omaha.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: You thought it was going to be a few days because it's great that they made it to Omaha, but are they going to win a national
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: problem probably not I'm not the mayor.
• 8:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not really sure.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know I didn't make your ball yet.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: She hasn't come out.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I did get to walk down Jordie Bowl Avenue.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's pretty cool.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: There you go.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: You just you saw the sights, which is great.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I like I'll all even give you guys even more of a pat on the back.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen and heard some
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't know, some criticism when it comes to the coverage of OU baseball.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look, it is a big three sport, but it's Oklahoma Athletics.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a football school.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody knows that.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Men's basketball while it's been struggling as of late of last handful of years.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's still the only other sport that makes it profit for the most part.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then you have to, of course, give softball a lot of attention and a lot of credit because of the monster that Patty Gassos built.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: But skip Johnson and OU baseball, they built something as well over the last handful of years.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, winning a national championship is going to do that.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: But again, I had to mention three other sports before I got to skip Johnson.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And seeing some fans, seeing and hearing some other things about how, like, hey, local media needs to do a little bit better, covering the space ball team.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Me, John, you did an excellent job in Omaha and Carson, you and I traded off during the season.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: there are only a few people that go cover these games like especially like the Missouri series or the Florida series, the Texas A&M series when you were there when there was like what hurricane like wins in Norman.
• 10:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you guys did a fantastic job, but Carson, I mean it's just incredible it's skip Jocelyn's built, right?
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean coming from where this program was a handful of years ago to where it is now, of course, did they get hot?
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely they did, but
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: It just makes the 2022 run all that more important to me if that makes sense because that could have also been seen as a kind of a flash in the pan like lightning in a bottle moment, even though that team won a lot more games last that year than this team did.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: So this infatically kind of proves that Skip Johnson knows what he's doing and he's building a program that can not only compete in the SEC but compete on a national level.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, first off, you deserve a lot of credit for the work you did throughout the regular season, the postseason before Omaha, because we did an awesome job I felt like trading off those assignments, being at games, being at games that sometimes were ugly.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're at that fun to cover, but boy, we'll be slapped, whatever it would be.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you also did a great job and deserve a lot of credit.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: As far as this program goes, though, I mean,
• 11:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: The foundation's more than built at this point.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been built for a few years and you finally saw what this team can do when they're firing on all cylinders.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: The expertise of Skip Johnson as a pitching coach.
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: The expertise of Willett's Reggie Willett's as a hitting coach.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: It really is a well built staff.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now I think the next thing is, how do they get butts and seats for midweek games in February?
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not just.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: when they're hosting a top 10 team, not just if they host a regional, not just, oh, or seems playing in Omaha for the first time in four years, let's go make a trip and support them.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's got to be a more every game commitment from this fanbase, whether they are playing,
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tennessee Tech or they are playing Alabama.
• 11:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Whoever it is, I think this team deserves it at this point.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: You could you could make the argument that maybe at some point they really didn't because the story has been pretty similar since that 22 run.
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, a decent team.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, finish just losing a lot of games late.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kind of looked like that pattern was going to fall off into the 2026 season.
• 12:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously it did for a while until it very much didn't with this team winning the
• 12:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: not even more than proving what they have built and what they can continue to build.
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not easy.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've seen the hangover effect from National Champions and College Baseball year-in and year-out recently.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's going to be hard for them to maintain that level of success.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I mean, you look at the returning talents, some of the guys that are bringing in.
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of groundwork for them to be pretty good next year if not one of the contenders for the championship again.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's a lot to be excited for and I think the fans like I said going back to my original point, they've just got to be there for every moment of it.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you're right.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, that's what I was wanting to get to next in terms of just what does this actually mean big picture wise for the program, because winning a national championship is great in the moment, but it should be able to echo throughout time, if you're able to kind of sustain it build off of it, of course, you want to win more national championships, but it's it's hard.
• 13:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's it's going to be hard and
• 13:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: the expectations for the program.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're much different than the expectations are for OU football Junk on.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: So knowing that Skip has done a phenomenal job even up to the season of getting more eyeballs onto the program, more give a damn if for lack of a better term about the program.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I believe in to I think Abraham had mentioned on a previous podcast that attendance has just risen every year.
• 13:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, now it shouldn't be the case.
• 13:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I will mention, like to Carson's point, OU is kind of up against it when it comes to mid weeks in February because the weather in Oklahoma is not the most desirable place to be outside in at that time of year.
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, which is, I've never gotten this confirmed.
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've always assumed that that's why OU plays with field turf on their baseball field because that time of year, Bermuda Grass probably doesn't grow.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't grow as well.
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it would cost a lot of money to maintain and upkeep.
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, but that's probably why, I don't know, I'm talking out of my rear end, but what should this championship do?
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because we know the Kimory Family is committed.
• 14:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: We know that there are a handful of donors who are committed to seeing this through and grow this program.
• 14:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because to me, John, like the most important thing, men's basketball is always gonna be number two in terms of the money.
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: But if you're talking about SEC play, I would safely assume just based on watching a lot of these programs, oh, you went up against seeing the attendance at some of these road games.
• 14:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: SEC fans, if you just ask a bunch of random ones, what's your second favorite sport, baseball?
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be baseball.
• 14:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's even with the SEC's recent run in basketball over the last few years.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So what should this championship do in terms of skips ability to increase attendance, increase
• 15:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, there's a couple of ways to approach this.
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: One, our numbers are traffic was really good, was surprisingly good, I should say, while we were in Omaha and Ryan Chapman sent me a text message and said, now the next step for skip is to get a team that's this competitive every year.
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sure, easier said than done, right?
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, if something you said about football and tying it to baseball attendance, if if this baseball program won 45 games every year, went to Omaha on the average half the time, a third of the time, competed for it every year, but maybe maybe ended up there three or four times out of a decade.
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: If those things were came about and if the money and the resources that have gone into the stadium continue to build out, if all three of those things come together, you've got a fancy stadium, you've got a super competitive team.
• 16:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: If everything comes together like that,
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think Oklahoma could sustain 5,000-6,000 average per game, maybe 4,500, start there as a goal.
• 16:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: That would be something that would be achievable, but it's also asking a lot of a fan base that has been kind of to use the weather analogy.
• 16:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Kind of been left out in the cold a little bit.
• 16:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're passionate, but there's not very many of them.
• 16:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they're getting more and more all the time.
• 16:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's the important thing is they're building on the building.
• 16:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're adding to the fan base every time they host a regional, like last year, host a regional with don't advance out of it.
• 17:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have to capitalize on those opportunities.
• 17:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And here's the best part about what all this is coming together.
• 17:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: is that skip this past June.
• 17:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I guess you could say the entire month, the transfer portal was one by skip Johnson.
• 17:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: He got guys from around the country.
• 17:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: We written stories about him that that are you know legit D1 majorly type talent.
• 17:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: He's getting those guys.
• 17:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: He's also
• 17:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: Those pieces are coming together and he's getting more, you know, a commitment from the Kimory family and that type of fan who want OU baseball to elevate, to see him weigh up at the top, to see him competitive and to see OU baseball drawing 4,000, 5,000, 6000 fans agree.
• 17:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: for regular season games.
• 17:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if you saw my my attendance numbers, but comparing SEC games, comparing home games, sorry, in 2022 to home games in in 26 this year.
• 18:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: The attendance went from like 1900 for that 2022 game or 2022 team, 1900 per game.
• 18:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: which that team, again, 45 regular season wins, national runner up and produced 11 draft picks.
• 18:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: That was an extremely fun and entertaining team.
• 18:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: This team, I think there attendance was like 2600.
• 18:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they skyrocketed past what that team has done because of the commitment to the facility, commitment to the program, commitment to the coach,
• 18:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: and you see what the result is.
• 18:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: They go back to the world series and this time they win it.
• 18:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: So all together, there's a lot of words out in there.
• 18:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's a lot going on, but all together, yeah, that's it's something that that skip embraces the recruiting part, the fundraising part, and now he's building a fan base part as well.
• 19:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, Carson, you've got a background, just in this conference, when it comes to baseball.
• 19:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, was I talking out of my rear end when it comes to kind of the pecking order of sports in this conference?
• 19:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because again, it just really seems like if you asked an Alabama fan, an Auburn fan, an LSU fan, of course, they wanna win championships in football.
• 19:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you could choose another sport in which to win one, would it be baseball or men's basketball?
• 19:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like most of them, if not all of them,
• 19:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think part of it is maybe some would want basketball to be the second one, but is it more likely that you win a baseball championship than a basketball championship?
• 19:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's absolutely more likely that a school like LSU, A&M, Arkansas for that matter wins a championship in baseball than it is basketball.
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: is a certain added investment, like, okay, this is a more realistic possibility than, say, LSUA and M. Arkansas, Mississippi State, winning a basketball national championship.
• 20:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's part of it and all of those schools I mentioned have phenomenal baseball fan bases have been really good year in and year out.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I mean, oh, you, that's not to say, oh, you couldn't win a
• 20:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take a lot from where they're currently at.
• 20:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But seeing what they just did, they just did win a national championship.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: That just shows you what this program can do.
• 20:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think a lot of fans just have to see that like we've already done this.
• 20:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: The pieces are there to do it again.
• 20:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have a great coach.
• 20:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have a lot of players coming back.
• 20:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have this moment on my mean.
• 20:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's why I think the investment short or not investment.
• 20:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Investment from fans should be so high heading into 27.
• 20:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's about an hour ago.
• 20:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's noon on Wednesday.
• 20:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're recording about an hour ago.
• 20:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Skip Johnson put out a little looking here tweet, which typically means somebody is committed.
• 20:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: As of right now, OU has, from the transfer portal, just as an update, Jay Abernathy from Tennessee, Carson Brumbaugh, the Edminate of from Arkansas.
• 21:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to butcher this last name, Sebastian Pissacreta,
• 21:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: piece of credit.
• 21:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I do not know how to say that last name, catcher from Pittsburgh.
• 21:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: You got a pair of right handed pictures from UT, Arlington and Kalen Dyert and Hayes Melville, Sawyer far a short stop from Texas saying him and Von Coleman, Center Fielder from Cal State, Northridge.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that, of course, comes in the wake of guys like Alec Blair Drew Dickerson and Joy Manus, who have exited the program via the transfer portal.
• 21:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we look forward to see how
• 21:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: as they look ahead to defend their national title crown.
• 21:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: But, Gets, we are, this is how I like to look at it.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we're now, it's July 1st.
• 21:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: So this is what the last month of no college football, whatsoever.
• 21:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Are there some random games at the end of August?
• 21:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's how I'm choosing to see it.
• 21:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: We were one month away from college football season.
• 21:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: It makes me feel better, but we did get the news.
• 22:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: a few days ago, as OU schedule kind of becomes fully known because all the windows in the SEC, like we have no idea what time, like all those kickoff times will be.
• 22:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've got windows, but now we have the curtains been pulled and we now know when OU's home opener, season opener against U-TEP will be played.
• 22:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: It'll be Friday night, 7pm on SEC network
• 22:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Plus, which I'm sure for a lot of people that are more involved in high school sports, high school football, in Oklahoma across the country, probably are pretty bummed about that fact.
• 22:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: But John, I'll start with you.
• 22:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is purely because of the Michigan game is very important because I don't know if anyone's known this, but there is a three game stretch, not necessarily back to back to back.
• 22:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: But there is a three game stretch in the first five, five or six weeks of the season.
• 22:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: that could very well influence OU's schedule and their output moving forward.
• 23:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: So winning anyone, if not all of those games, is very important.
• 23:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you play Friday night, which gives you an extra day of recovery to prepare for that big road match chip and Ann Arbor at the big house against the Michigan Wolverine.
• 23:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So hey, Friday night, night game under the
• 23:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure a lot of people that are a little bit closer to Norman that can make the trip on short notice with a change in plans are excited about this.
• 23:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm frankly kind of excited to be on the field on a Friday night that sounds exciting, shooting some video for Seniors on SI, but to me, this was purely strategic in terms of get prepared for Michigan because that game's important.
• 23:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's all that.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: having the extra day to prepare for Michigan brilliant it's just it's perfectly brilliant uh this second half of that equation is uh getting a night game as opposed to a uh one p.m. or eleven a.m. or even a six p.m. game uh it's gonna be really hot whether whether man tells me it's gonna be really hot first to September at Oklahoma so
• 24:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Having those two things together, you know, you fan base, maybe you have, I don't know, 10% fewer people passing out, needing, you know, needing an IB drip and in the, the gummer Jones medical tent, which is first class by the way, I'm not making fun of it.
• 24:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's, it's crazy.
• 24:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: How often that happens everybody comes to the game and nobody's hydrated and you know, nobody stays hydrated pretty soon.
• 24:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: they're hydrated but just not on water and that's yeah yeah you got to be responsible a different type of hydration you're right but now it's uh and in terms of TV uh first of all yeah in terms of TV this is I don't uh it's kind of a wash isn't it whether you're on at uh 11 a.m. on SEC Network or 7 p.m. on Friday on SEC Network it's kind of
• 25:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, I mean, I've seen some reporting that, oh, you could have done a night game on Saturday.
• 25:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Who knows?
• 25:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Is that going to draw significantly more numbers?
• 25:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know?
• 25:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: Probably not.
• 25:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Probably not.
• 25:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is against you, tip, probably not.
• 25:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 25:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is just purely for an extra day of recovery for the first of three extremely huge games on their schedule.
• 25:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: and obviously the high school football crowd does not like it that makes people in Oklahoma get uncomfortable about cheering for their seniors or watching not going to the Friday night game because they're going to stay home and watch it or they're going to Norman or whatever it is.
• 25:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like Friday night lights is for high school football.
• 25:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's a quaint thought, you know, remember the dial up, the rotary dial phones and, you know, days before air conditioning, I mean, it's 2026, Friday and Oxford Ball is for whoever can get their game on television in front of the biggest audience.
• 26:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, that's that's the idea, but again, like Carson, look, people tend to think you guys mind if I admit one Ryan Aber to the
• 26:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, let's do it.
• 26:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 26:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: All right.
• 26:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Right neighbor.
• 26:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Stand by.
• 26:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Here he comes.
• 26:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: In three.
• 26:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Two.
• 26:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: One.
• 26:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Aver.
• 26:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right neighbor.
• 26:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to your podcast.
• 26:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Has done the chat.
• 26:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: No need to apologize.
• 26:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: We always welcome everybody.
• 26:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just have a new communication.
• 26:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just have a new communication.
• 26:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, no, sorry, uh, just uh, was trying to knock out a couple things before and then look down and that was 12.05.
• 26:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's good to go, man.
• 26:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Steve Ryan was trying to pivot his plans for two months from now because now the game starting at Friday and said a Saturday.
• 26:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So he was just like, you know, it's right.
• 26:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, what am I going to do?
• 27:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Joe's out a while.
• 27:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, Ryan for before he gets you fully integrated in the show Carson.
• 27:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean,
• 27:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Again, to me, yes, some people might be getting convenience by this, some people might be annoyed by this.
• 27:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Frankly, I've always felt like this should be, if you're going to have crummy football game to open your season against crummy secondary.
• 27:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: school, like make it fun, like put it on Friday night, and then if you continue to do that, maybe like high school teams across the state can pivot and say, we'll start our season on Thursday night or, or whatever, I don't know the logistics of that, that's possible.
• 27:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: But again, all that is just kind of secondary.
• 27:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: The primary thing here is just recover for Michigan, so that you can put your best foot forward for the first of three gigantic games on your schedule.
• 27:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, 100%.
• 27:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I don't argue that this game might get more eyeballs because it's all on a Friday night.
• 27:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: The slate that day is not overly great.
• 27:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think USC Fresno states the only kind of decent game that night.
• 28:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: So aside from that, more people might be watching though you versus the games that are on Saturday.
• 28:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not also an amazing slate on Saturday, but better than what the fans are getting on Friday.
• 28:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's possible more people watch it just because there's not a whole lot else.
• 28:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: people have that age for college football.
• 28:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know I always do that time of year.
• 28:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's a part of it, but like you said, it really is a recovery thing more than anything else.
• 28:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is a UTEP team last year.
• 28:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: You opened up against Illinois State who plays FCS football.
• 28:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think most people would argue Illinois State's a better football team than UTEP is.
• 28:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that program has just been horrible for the last X years.
• 28:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been a long time since they've fielded a winning team.
• 28:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And really, there's not a lot of hope for them to be a whole lot better this year.
• 28:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's a game that we're going to see a lot of backups in probably the debut of both Bentley.
• 28:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of people just getting time off even even if this team's offense doesn't make any improvement.
• 28:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is a game that the spread is probably going to be somewhere 45 to 50 points.
• 29:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's how different these teams are in terms of skill, experience, stuff like that.
• 29:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's not a huge game.
• 29:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: was dying for a prime time TV slot, so it really is a recovery week more than anything else.
• 29:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, UTEP's not going to, you're not going to have many memories from a UTEP game.
• 29:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, I mean, Ryan, I am just curious, were you at the the fabled UTEP game in El Paso with Landry Jones his senior year?
• 29:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was not, that was the year before I joined the OU beats, so didn't have a chance to make that trip down there, but I know certainly our friend Jason Kersy was down there, had a fun time, and it was a...
• 29:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: a cool environment in El Paso, being able to look over and see Mexico on the other side of the river.
• 29:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I know some people who've been there for the Sunball things like that had a really good time, but yeah, it's not going to be the most competitive game in the world.
• 30:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: You would imagine you would hope if you're a sooner span.
• 30:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, if it is, you know, buckle up sooner spans.
• 30:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know,
• 30:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's interesting being moved to a Friday.
• 30:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think these are the kinds of games that that that that works for.
• 30:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Certainly never want to make a big habit of it.
• 30:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I imagine that I'll stay the same with Roger Dining as it was of jokes take Leon.
• 30:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: But in certain situations it makes sense and I think this was wonderful.
• 30:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Brady, I have a question for you real quick.
• 30:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you guys please weigh in as well.
• 30:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: When we got halfway through what we're jokingly referred to as a red November last year We still didn't know oh you was gonna close the deal and go for an oh and make college football play out We got three quarters of the way through that thing.
• 30:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: We still didn't know they were gonna you know close the deal Finish that month for an oh and make the college football play out is this
• 31:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: september october stretch that we're talking about here with with mish at mishigan at Georgian in Texas in a in a three six week five week span.
• 31:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Is this basically the front-loaded part of that schedule instead of being backloaded?
• 31:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's front-loaded and make better take care of business early.
• 31:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: They'd better have an identity early and they'd better know who they are early, rather than scraping something, you know, some gritty, tough, you know, tough guy.
• 31:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Lots of heart kind of wins together at the end of the season, because it's a different feel when you walk out there in September than it is when you get your back against the wall in November.
• 31:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, as it pertains like the Michigan game, I've kind of had the mentality of what Kyle Litty Ham's a phenomenal coach, he's a great coach, but if you're gonna play him,
• 31:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: on the road at Michigan, you want to play him in week two of his tenure.
• 31:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't want to play him eight, nine, ten weeks into the season when, you know, maybe people on the team start to like really get the momentum and understand the college where he's trying to set.
• 32:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: You want to catch them early.
• 32:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if the shoeer on the other foot and Brent Venables was coming into his first season as head coach and they were hosting, the Michigan Wolverines with a with an established
• 32:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: coaching staff, I would be like, oh, he's probably not going to win that one because that's pretty quick of an ask to ask for a win a big win there, but say that, but remember his second game was at Nebraska.
• 32:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: oh yeah how many games they win that year yeah six but but you got them early and you're thinking man where's this Oklahoma team what's going on here they just went and curved stomped Nebraska and week two and in Lincoln oh my gosh how good is this to and we find out later that early success does not mean a season long success.
• 32:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 32:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm still mad at Nebraska for firing Scott Frost.
• 32:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: He needed to take that out against you.
• 32:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I will say the blessing in disguise about having a tough schedule and Ryan's that you haven't been on the podcast that long.
• 33:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll let you kind of jump off of this one.
• 33:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: The blessing in disguise about having a tough schedule is let's say that, oh, you go's one into in these first three games against Michigan, Georgia, Texas.
• 33:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: You listening or watching
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: The good thing about a tough schedule is you have multiple opportunities to make up for the fact that you might have a loss or two earlier on in the season.
• 33:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if Ole Miss, if TechSaintM are as good as their preseason projections, we're going to show them to be probably early season top 10 teams.
• 33:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: If they are still top 10 teams or top 15 teams, when they come to Norman,
• 33:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, oh, you can beat them.
• 33:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: No one's going to really care about maybe a close loss in the cotton ball or a close loss in Athens and hell.
• 33:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: They can get their rear ins kicked, Ryan, in one of those games.
• 33:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if they still finish out the season with great wins against Ole Miss and Tex St. him and who knows how good Missouri might be, if they can finish out their season there, like that's all that anyone's going to remember.
• 34:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if they finish 10 and 2, they're right back in the playoff.
• 34:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and that's the great thing about the expanded playoff, even if you can make an argument that maybe it demeans or takes away some from the regular season, and I don't think it's certainly that argument is absolutely valid.
• 34:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: It does because you have chances to bounce back.
• 34:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: And if you're able to take care of things on the back end, especially,
• 34:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: You've got chances to battle back from those kind of early season losses.
• 34:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think it can help teams have an opportunity to find their footing and develop, but also not play every moment like the entire season's on the line.
• 34:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: And you know, there's certainly some benefits and things to that in that you can
• 34:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: maybe give players an opportunity to play maybe a little bit earlier than you otherwise would or hey I'm gonna hold this guy back see if we can red shirt him and get through this and then use him at the back end of the schedule to make up those games so it's an interesting balance and dynamic now versus you know what we saw even just a few years ago with the
• 35:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: the 14-pole-off and before when it was just two teams where every moment was so important and it just changes the dynamic of how you coach, how you develop your program and how you look at some of these games like OU has, you know, in the first month of the season.
• 35:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, again, is expanding the playoff a great thing for everybody.
• 35:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, everyone's going to have their opinions about what that actually means, but the pragmatic reality of it is it does afford you a much larger margin for error.
• 35:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when you have tough schedules yearning you're out, if you're Oklahoma, if you're just an SEC team, that's something that you kind of want to have in the back of your mind.
• 35:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like a loss.
• 36:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: you know, 10, 15 years ago might do your season because it's college football, but nowadays it does not necessarily do that.
• 36:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't do that for you last year and I mean, we'll see what happens, but put a bow on this kind of topic overall, Carson.
• 36:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, again, you, you've gotten joined soon as an SI yet, right when, oh, you open their season against Temple, right?
• 36:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I did not.
• 36:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 36:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 36:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that happened.
• 36:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was a Friday night game.
• 36:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: 2019, they moved their oak season opener against Houston.
• 36:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: With Jay on her sister's quarterback to a Sunday night game when they played Houston.
• 36:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, to me that this is just kind of fun, like if you're going to play these season openers against the teams that no one really cares about, like, hey, just, you know, make it interesting.
• 36:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think even that same year was the 20 was the Jalen Hertz team, the one that did the Friday night spring game as well.
• 36:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you guys remember, I think it was that.
• 37:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think it was.
• 37:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: I remember that it couldn't make it because my daughter's birthday party was already scheduled for that Friday.
• 37:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, there you go.
• 37:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: See, wait, wait, go, you football.
• 37:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it makes them all the more interesting cars.
• 37:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so it's like, I mean, I don't know.
• 37:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Again, there are going to be some fans, some people that are upset about this.
• 37:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I want to believe that for the most part, most people are like, hey, that makes it a little bit more interesting.
• 37:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I mean, I'm someone that was a big Pact 12 after Dark Band.
• 37:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: There were obviously some good Friday night, Pact 12 games back in the day.
• 37:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So for me, that's a little bit of nostalgia.
• 37:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But like I said, I think it is just another option for something to watch on Friday.
• 37:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I saturday, of course, most teams in the nation will play their first games.
• 37:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's going to be so many different options.
• 37:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Really looks like it's...
• 37:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: U.S.C.
• 37:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: for us no state or OUU tap as far as FBS versus FBS games, more, more eyeballs maybe than it would have been on Saturday just because of the different options.
• 37:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously OU fans would be invested either way.
• 37:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: It does suck for the people that have high school football commitments obviously.
• 38:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's a big thing in this part of the country.
• 38:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I understand the frustration there, but
• 38:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: and the scheme of things with the recovery aspect having to play at 11 a.m.
• 38:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have some new and local time in Michigan a week later.
• 38:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a pretty good move.
• 38:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 38:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 38:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good move.
• 38:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I think people are going to hate.
• 38:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Brady, one more thing on that.
• 38:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: You all might have talked about this before, is that
• 38:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: When the prospect is playing at 11 a.m. on Saturday, which is where this game very likely would have been or Friday night in September and Oklahoma, when it could be 98 degrees, depending on what the weather decides to be, I think, you know, in a lot of ways that's a no-brainer, not only for the players and their health,
• 38:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: but also the fans and having to endure that.
• 38:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, I know, again, there's going to be some fans that are affected by the high school football aspect of things that I know you all have talked about, but wanted to throw that part out there as well if it hadn't been addressed.
• 39:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and Roger Dini, I believe, kind of even mentioned that in that statement, the university release when they announced the kick off time yesterday, so I mean, they took so many factors into account here, but again, when you make a decision, even if you feel it's the best decision, sometimes it's going to affect people negatively and you just have to kind of live with it.
• 39:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So unfortunately, that's why they play more games.
• 39:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you can't make the Friday night game, they're gonna play the next week.
• 39:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: and guess what, they'll play it 11 a.m. local time against the Michigan Wolverines the following Saturday.
• 39:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, everybody.
• 39:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Another thing that signals that the season is getting dangerously close, gentlemen is the all American preseason list or start in a creep out and be released the Walter Camp.
• 39:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: uh... preseason all america teams were released yesterday owe you gets two players uh... on each team first team kicker takes and ill second team interior defense of line uh... david stone and for those wondering who could possibly gone ahead of david stone well in indiana's tyreek tucker and organs and here's another name all probably butcher uh... tateum uh... does anybody know how to say his last name
• 40:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tuyoti, man, sure.
• 40:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'll just leave me out to drive.
• 40:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's fine.
• 40:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, so apologies to, if I've butchered that last name, because I probably did.
• 40:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: But those two, two, Tuyati, some.
• 40:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tuyati, there you go.
• 40:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Tuyati, there you go.
• 40:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: that we'll go with that one.
• 40:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's much better than my, my attempt.
• 40:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those two are your first team interior defense of law in all Americans on the Walter Camp list.
• 40:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Basically, those guys played more because again, David Stone is playing in a Brentmanville's defense where you have.
• 40:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: three other high-powered defensive lamin, rotating in and out, they played more and as a result, they had better stats.
• 40:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, these guys had like six to eight sacks between the two of them, whereas David's definitely had one and a half, and you know, sometimes he will just stat watch when it comes to the non-glamorous positions.
• 41:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's probably why, but
• 41:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the big question here, guys, because more or less are going to come out and Carson, I'll start with you.
• 41:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: More or less are going to come out.
• 41:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can you fans expect to see some other names other than Tate Sandel?
• 41:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because he's probably the easiest one of, like, yeah, basically every all-america, preseason Blue-Groso Wardless is going to have him on it, because he is the returning champion in that respect.
• 41:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: But what are some other names that you feel are real realistic to be kind of, like, look forward to on some of these
• 41:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there are plenty of others.
• 41:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think both of them are deserving of those honors.
• 41:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like you said, the two guys that had a stone, more experience, more proven production, but man, people are really high on David Stone at 94 overall in the new video game, the highest of any defensive tackle.
• 41:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I mean, people think he's going to be really good.
• 41:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's going to be really good and you can't give the top kicker in the preseason list to anybody, but the former Lou Gross Award winner.
• 42:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So definitely slam dunk there, but I think there are plenty of guys that could also be on these lists by the end of the year, whether that's Taylor Wein.
• 42:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: We saw the breakout that he had last year on the edge opposite Armace and Thomas.
• 42:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's going to be really good again.
• 42:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Isaiah Satania.
• 42:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: going to be interesting to see what the reps the target share looks like at receiver with Parker Livingstone, Charles Harris coming in.
• 42:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's going to be interesting to see if his production dips just a little bit as a result of having a better room, but he's still a really dang good player in a mean.
• 42:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we saw the version of John Matier early in the season rather that looked really rough, bad footwork, bad mechanics, a lot of turnovers, but we also saw what he could do against good defenses like Auburn and Michigan early in the year.
• 42:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sounds like he's gotten stronger, the mechanics, the footwork are better.
• 42:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, we need to see that on the field against people wearing different jerseys, but all signs point to him being better.
• 43:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think the
• 43:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think it's very possible not saying it's gonna happen.
• 43:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: He could see himself on a list like this by the end of the year.
• 43:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
• 43:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, John stickin' more specifically with David Stone.
• 43:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do you feel about kind of the trajectory of the hype that he's starting to garner?
• 43:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because this is a guy that went from one of the most coveted recruits in the country and when it comes to Oklahoma, like even though he didn't
• 43:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: play high school football his last few years in the state of Oklahoma.
• 43:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's an Oklahoma kid, David Stone.
• 43:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was a recruit that Brentman will simply could have not a forward to miss out on and they win his commitment.
• 43:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: He gets here as his freshman year with his teammate at IMG and Jane Jackson, who plays and starts as a true freshman in plays at a very high level.
• 43:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: David Stone doesn't even crack 100 steps and if he does, it's 101 steps.
• 44:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: his freshman year and so it's you know you can only say it was kind of a disappointment considering all the height that he had but then he explodes onto the scene last year and by the end of the year especially with Jayden Jackson's ankle or whatever he was dealing with the end of the year was probably like oh use best player on defense it was was David Stone and now he's getting viewed as a guy who could win
• 44:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: postseason awards, a guy that can be on all America lists.
• 44:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's all with the understanding that Brent Minibles likes to rotate guys in and out.
• 44:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: So there's not a lot of stats to be had for just one individual player.
• 44:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: So do you like where David Stone is?
• 44:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do you feel that this is kind of well earned and understandable?
• 44:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or do you see that this is maybe a little bit jumping the gun?
• 44:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, I was thinking a little bit of both at first, but I think it is well earned.
• 44:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Looking through his, looking through his numbers from last year, he led the defensive line in tackles.
• 44:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, okay, if you're David Stone, you probably should do that.
• 44:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you're a 5 star recruit in your sophomore year, you probably should do that.
• 45:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: He also led the defensive line in, uh, total snaps played 454 according to Pro Football focus.
• 45:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: And his grade,
• 45:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: was among all the defensive linemen, interior guys, his great was number one, the highest great of a profitable focus, great of any of those interior defensive linemen.
• 45:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, he has earned first team, second team, all the America, all first team, all SEC, preseason, accolades in my opinion.
• 45:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: He played plays ass off last year and he played really well.
• 45:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And
• 45:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: even though he began the off season last year by entering the transfer portal and getting out.
• 45:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: 48 less than 48 hours later.
• 45:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was always forget about that.
• 45:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's kind of wild But he's no, he's the leader now on that defensive line Everybody knows Jayden Jackson and respects the heck out of him He's a leader too, but I think those two guys together are coming in now.
• 45:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're junior season I mean think about that when you play as a true freshman and boom your back playing it gives us sophomore You've been there two years and all of a sudden you're a junior
• 46:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like, oh, OK, that went fast.
• 46:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think both of those guys are going to continue to be outstanding.
• 46:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to continue to anchor what Brent vanuble's his reclamation project for that Oklahoma defense.
• 46:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and Brian, I mean, how important is it for this defense that potentially, and again, like, Kiplus is a great player and arguably, oh, use best player on defense.
• 46:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and hi, Nick, he's going to, like, with the offseason that he had, the headlines that he's garnered.
• 46:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And some of the things that Brent Minnells and Jim Nagy said under oath about him, he's going to, he's going to, he's going to make an impact on this defense as well.
• 46:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think OU fans are still kind of under the impression, and maybe this might be a little bit archaic because the game changes every 5 to 10 years, but to 5 to 10 years ago, OU just could not find that impact player on the interior of their defensive line.
• 46:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was one thing that OU fans felt
• 46:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: was keeping them from winning national championships when they had Baker Mayfields and Collar Murrays sling the ball around the field.
• 47:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, with Todd Bates and Brip animals running the show on the defensive line, I mean, how important is it that David Stone kind of reaches this ceiling that people have kind of thrust onto him.
• 47:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: uh both externally and internally like he's he's earned is John mentioned he's earned that that ceiling that projection i mean how important is it that he becomes that player that face of this team and and and is the best player on this defense
• 47:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think it's incredibly important not necessarily that he's the best player on this defense because there's some other really good ones, but that they're able to have that kind of difference maker up front.
• 47:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: I talked about a ton during the transition to the SEC both before and right after that the defensive line was where oh you needed to make
• 47:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: the biggest leap, and we saw the importance of it last year with the ability for them to get after the quarterback consistently, stop the run, how much that help the rest of defense, how much that helped Owen Heineke and you know, Kip Lewis make plays on the second level, how much it helps the back end of that defense with courtling Hillary and the Bowens and Robert Spears Jennings, and it
• 48:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: This defensive line is still really talented.
• 48:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: They've got some great talent coming back outside of just those two interior linemen that we've been talking about.
• 48:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: But the depth isn't what it was last year when you could just rotate guys in and grease and halt and then David Stone and, you know, our Mason Thomas Marvin Jones Jr. on and on and on, Dominic Williams.
• 48:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: So they've got to find some of that, but they need that top level talent.
• 48:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: uh... to be at its best and i think that starts uh... with david stone there in the interior if they're able to do that they've got their best chance to be uh... a much better not a better defensive team than they were last year but to uh... get in that same ballpark uh... that they were last year which i think that will be good enough to have them in the playoff discussion
• 49:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, don't want to go too long on this episode.
• 49:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: We already kind of have, but there's frankly a lot to talk about.
• 49:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to get through these last few topics before we get out of here, guys.
• 49:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll jump to the recruiting Carson.
• 49:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you might be expecting to hear some news today or tomorrow, apparently, but the news over the weekend was the big news that, oh, you got the number two athlete in the nation's safety, bode sphero from the state of Utah, which, again, his recruiting profile.
• 49:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: is seems fairly legitimate, but the ultimate seal of approval is that Brandon Hall thinks he's good, so that that must mean that he's awesome, but I mean how important in a star-studded class, I mean how important was OU getting the discommitment?
• 49:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's huge.
• 49:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, getting someone that is not only such a good athlete, such a good safety product, but the second player from Utah that, that's what really stands out to me about Bodysfero.
• 49:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: They've really expanded their recruiting grounds, getting crew Jones in November of 2025, now getting Sparrow.
• 50:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: who is just a phenomenal player, two-way guy at his high school plays, both receiver and safety.
• 50:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's coming to OU as a safety.
• 50:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Seems like someone that can just do it all had offers from just about everybody.
• 50:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to finally get him to decide, I am a sooner.
• 50:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's huge.
• 50:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, another one from Utah coming up is you heal a wolf gram, I hope I'm saying that one right.
• 50:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: But head to head, it's like podcast of hard names.
• 50:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, um, but you, you look at him another guy from Utah sounds like it's down to either OU or BYU kind of sounds like a coin flip at this point, but that would be huge consensus for star guy.
• 50:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: If OU could beat out both BYU and Utah for another kid from that state, I think that just speaks volumes about what this team is doing, convincing kids to leave the mountains, their families, all of this stuff that is waiting for them in Utah.
• 50:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that says a lot
• 51:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: that really painted a sad picture in my mind, like leave the mountains in your family and come to the prairie and play football you'll never see him again.
• 51:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, I'm just, I'm just a dork.
• 51:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I guess, I guess other than that, I mean, there's a safety by the name of Jaden Fields from Heutotexus that's been recently projected by the recruiting experts to Oklahoma.
• 51:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: He recently visited campus a few weeks ago.
• 51:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's a three star.
• 51:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't let that three star fool you because as much as I've read about him, he is a guy who's going to be rising up the rankings of phenomenal athlete in his own right.
• 51:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: So again, if Brandon Hall thinks you're good.
• 51:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: you're probably pretty awesome, just based on what he's been able to do.
• 51:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I guess big picture wise, John Ryan, whoever wants to jump on this one.
• 51:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's a recruiting class that seemingly keeps getting better.
• 51:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And with how important it is, um,
• 51:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Based on what we know from the what the 2024 disaster season that led to not just a 6 and 7 year, but it led to OU and Brent Minibles is recruiting momentum like dipping significantly, having to deal with negative recruiting like, hey, don't go to OU that that coaching staff is going to get fired by midseason next year.
• 52:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's of course that of course did not happen, but
• 52:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: This schedule is so tough.
• 52:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: The season is going to be very difficult.
• 52:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how important is it for OU in 2026 to win enough games in order to maintain the star-studded class?
• 52:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, what's the floor?
• 52:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, does 9 and 3 maintain top 4, top 5 recruiting class or is it 8 and 4, except?
• 52:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: How about you follow the example of skip Johnson and say, if we're going to retain one of the best recruiting classes in the country better win a national championship.
• 52:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Pentacles will be okay with that.
• 52:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think I think Brent would would jump on that.
• 52:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just looked at the current rankings and frankly, I haven't looked at him in a couple of weeks, but
• 53:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a little surprised.
• 53:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, you has maintained a one or a hold on one or two or even three in the rankings According to on three.
• 53:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm sorry.
• 53:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: According to rivals They're currently number five and according to 24 seven sports.
• 53:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're number four.
• 53:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they have slipped and fallen even though they've gotten
• 53:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: guys in they've gotten they've landed recruits in this twenty-seven class um... i don't think they've slipped i just think they've been passed by Texas and in no-terdam Miami in Texas in the rankings in the number of commits that they've got that's all that is but um... yeah no it's this is uh...
• 53:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: You come in off a college football playoff and then I don't know if this still holds true because college football has changed so much in the past five to ten years It might not even be the same game But the way coaches used to talk about it is you've got your big recruiting boost not the next year After winning but after but two years down the road Remember the 2001 Oklahoma class for instance after the national championship 2001 was really good But 2002 that was the one that was like okay, this one's gonna put us back over the top
• 54:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: uh... and you know they went to the national title game in two thousand three and two thousand four so close but uh... no cigar there for you all guys like me uh... yeah i'm trying to remember like horror stories about what the oh three recruiting class that oh you fans would always talk about as like one of the worst in two thousand seven wasn't particularly great in the uh... twenty nineteen more recently twenty twenty three also not very good because essentially every offensive player just
• 54:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: did not have it.
• 54:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: OK, well, I mean, I guess one more thing on this overall A were all at you jump onto something is in terms of, I guess, in state recruiting, because there's always going to be conversations about how important is to keep your guys home.
• 54:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, oh, you didn't miss out on case Alexander, the son of Stephen Alexander, who went to go follow his brother at Penn State.
• 54:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: As much as I think OU fans would love to have every single good player in the state where the crimson and cream.
• 55:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, you got Cooper Hackett, Caden Penny, already got like Gabriel Osborn from Mustang.
• 55:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: You already got dudes that the Alabama's the Ohio State's one and all respect the case Alexander.
• 55:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean you can't you literally can't get all of them.
• 55:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just not realistic.
• 55:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I mean,
• 55:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: A strength of Brett Minimal's early on his coaching career was recruiting, and this is just put it even more over the top is just what they've been able to do with this class in 2027.
• 55:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 55:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the recruiting world has changed so much.
• 55:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, before it was, hey, if you're at Oklahoma, you've got a lot down, you know, Oklahoma and Texas.
• 55:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: And if you do that, you can, you know, pre-well do what you want on the field.
• 55:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it's become such a national deal now.
• 55:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, heck, we're talking about, you know, recruiting in Utah and having significant success there and some of the other places, maybe non-traditional recruiting.
• 56:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Foundations that Oklahoma has been able to go out and get players in recent years, but Recruiting in Oklahoma I said this last week gets is cyclical.
• 56:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're gonna have some really good classes You're gonna have some that where there's not Many if any players who are gonna be at a level that Oklahoma wants, but when you have a good crop of them like they do this year
• 56:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: you've got to be able to go out and win more battles than you lose, and Brent Venables has certainly done that.
• 56:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think he's made a point to emphasize in state recruiting, again, not stretching too much and going to get players that maybe they don't think can help them, but when you've got a player that you do think can help you be really aggressive about it, but also maintain those relationships for when those players come up in the future.
• 56:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I think that's the biggest thing that Brent Vinnables has been able to do when it comes to recruiting inside the state.
• 56:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, one more football thing.
• 57:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to mention, believe on Thursday on June 25th, Steve's Abel passed away, former Oklahoma sooner, all American tight-end, played on the teams with Chuck Fairbanks as the head coach and Barry Switzers, the offensive coordinator.
• 57:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: on some fairly important teams in terms of what the program became in the 70s once Chuck got the machine roll and then Barry took it and won two national titles in 74 and 75.
• 57:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was on the Orange Bowl chant beat in team.
• 57:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: uh... nineteen sixty seven i believe and again just got helps help build back the program from the doldrums in the in the wake of bud Wilkins and retiring uh... that kind of sixties era where the program kind of slipped and fell so um...
• 57:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: really sad condolences to the Zable family.
• 57:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was an integral part of the Oklahoma City Charity Charitable Community.
• 57:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So sad loss for the Oklahoma sooner football family.
• 58:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Brady, I'll let that first of all you did great job on the on the obit.
• 58:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for doing that.
• 58:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't see it in time or I would have jumped right on it because I spent a weekend, actually two days during the middle of the week coming over to Oklahoma City and meeting
• 58:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: at I can't remember the name of the charity that he was working for, but it was a homeless shelter, it was a soup kitchen basically, and met him at 5 a.m. came over and did the story, this was before Sooner's helping Sooner's or any of that, came over as the columnist for the Tulsa World did the story on Steve, basically running a soup kitchen at 5 o'clock every morning, and you know, homeless people were coming in, and it ended, and people were coming in, and
• 58:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: getting their plates filled, and he was, you know, putting pancakes and sausage and eggs on their plates, and they were thanking him, and the outreach that he did, he didn't do it for any financial gain or any notoriety or anything like that.
• 59:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: He felt uncomfortable having a reporter and a photographer there, but it was, for me, it was a life changing assignment.
• 59:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: to see somebody who had, you know, basically owe you royalties, all American played both ways, I want to switch those guys, and here he's in the homeless community.
• 59:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Every day, 5am handing out breakfast.
• 59:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that did.
• 59:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: That was one of those rare, rare assignments that literally changed my life.
• 59:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Made me look at life completely different.
• 59:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: So a great player, yes, a great sooner, no doubt about it, but a great, great human being.
• 59:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And he,
• 59:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Had an impact that goes way beyond owe you football way way beyond owe you football and he will be missed He was a he was a legendary human being
• 59:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: 100% need more people like that.
• 59:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: So again, sad to hear, but yeah, as we try to move forward a little bit of last topic, gentlemen would be the fact that OU softballs Kindle Wells added to the USA softball women's national team athlete pool.
• 1:00:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Ryan, is it safe to assume that she's probably going to make it or maybe not for an 18, 19 year old super athlete?
• 1:00:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think it'll be interesting to see.
• 1:00:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think certainly she's got some really good competition there, including Jocelyn Erickson behind the plate.
• 1:00:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I think this is a sign of one where Patty Gasseau thinks her trajectory can be.
• 1:00:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, heck, there's a reason why Patty Gasseau talked about Kindle Wells as being a different kind of player than anybody else she's ever had.
• 1:00:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, she's had some really, really good players, but I think this will be an experience that, you know, can get her sort of feet wet with the team USA, the US National Program.
• 1:00:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then, you know, in a couple years, she certainly got a chance to be right there in the mix and that Olympic roster.
• 1:00:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a little bit different competing against just college kids versus, uh,
• 1:01:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: players who have maybe, I mean, HECK, can't let any rickets is still in this player pool.
• 1:01:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: So there's some veterans there, and it's a little bit different, but I think this is a really good sign for her and where her careers got a chance to go if she wants to make it to Oklahoma City here in 2028.
• 1:01:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Hey, Burai, literally thought when I saw the story and who else was buying for the team, I literally thought,
• 1:01:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I envisioned him ahead, Kaylani Rick had standing in the circle going, watched me throw this pitch to this freshman.
• 1:01:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I bet she's never seen one of these before.
• 1:01:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then unleashes some wizardry that goes across the plate, somehow.
• 1:01:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: She's young, Kendall, and she's got amazing power and a bright future in front of her, but yeah, that would be a tough ask for her to fit in with a bunch of grown women, you know, at this stage of her career, that would be tough.
• 1:02:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, but hey, Christian lightener did it.
• 1:02:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: So, uh, why, why can't things be, uh, I don't know.
• 1:02:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: The token college kid.
• 1:02:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: He have corner rows on the dream team.
• 1:02:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember.
• 1:02:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, he did not.
• 1:02:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not yet.
• 1:02:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: He had been in the NBA that a long, long enough.
• 1:02:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, oh well.
• 1:02:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, yeah, any, any transfer portal updates with the softball team?
• 1:02:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ryan, it's been a little bit quiet.
• 1:02:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, but.
• 1:02:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, they got their biggest needs meant, which were one or two outfielders and a backup catcher.
• 1:02:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, obviously the backup catcher Abby Greggis from Loyalist Cago isn't gonna be someone that anybody to write home about.
• 1:02:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: uh, just because she hit what 195, I think, last year, but it's really hard getting finding a catcher that's in the portal who's willing to come and play behind Kindle Wells.
• 1:02:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: So you've got to stretch a little bit there, but uh, the bigger names were adding Hanson from Southern Idaho and Macy Harder from Middle Tennessee State, not, you know, the biggest names in the portal, but one, there's not too many big names in the portal.
• 1:03:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: and you've got to remember that they've got the best class in the country coming in next year.
• 1:03:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: So how much do you want to push those people out of playing time?
• 1:03:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: They had a really good class last year.
• 1:03:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's got a chance to expand there.
• 1:03:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think maybe for certainly softball fans, it maybe aren't paying attention to just every single moment.
• 1:03:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: uh... you wonder about pitching and they're uh... you know not adding things there but one there precious few pitchers uh... in the portal who were going to be worth the the time and money uh... to to go out and get them and you that's the thought in your mind's got to be hey is this player going to be better than you know Audrey lowery what she's got a chance to be after another year of development of miley wachania of a lesser parker
• 1:04:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: So yes, they would have loved to have had a big time, you know, ace type of arm to add, but there's not really many of those in the portal and getting those kind of players at this point and call shop all takes a lot.
• 1:04:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: So maybe not the most exciting portal season for Patty gas those team.
• 1:04:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: But one that they were able to, at least, fill some needs even if you've got a project especially in the case of harder enhancing how they're going to be, you know, jumping up a pretty significant level.
• 1:04:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no kidding.
• 1:04:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, Jens, we've gone, just long enough, apologies to Carson, we didn't get to your Baker May field stories, but go check out Seniors on that side, go check out Baker May fields run in with Mr. Carson field where Carson made Baker May field laugh.
• 1:04:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yay, Baker May field is back on campus.
• 1:05:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's always the best.
• 1:05:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're at the pressure every time he gets talked to me, really is.
• 1:05:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, cannot wait for the days of Baker May field like posts in a field career where he's probably going to be like a no-use super fan that'd be kind of interesting to see him follow.
• 1:05:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: It will be fun, it will be fascinating.
• 1:05:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: But everybody, thank you for letting me jump on and do my best Ryan Chapman impression as he prepares for the U.S. men's team in the World Cup.
• 1:05:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tonight, I'm sure you decided about them.
• 1:05:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sure, everyone is excited about that.
• 1:05:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you go United States, America.
• 1:05:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look at Carson showing off.
• 1:05:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Be sure to check out Seniors on that side, go check out the website, we've got stories rolling in and out.
• 1:05:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you think it's just the dead of summer, it is not the dead of summer for us to go and out the story.
• 1:05:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So go check those out.
• 1:05:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you to our subscribers, a lot of the podcast on YouTube channel.
• 1:05:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate you all, but for Mr. John Hoover, Carson Field, Ryan A. or the absent Ryan Chavin, I'm so pretty trained them.
• 1:05:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody, thank you so much for listening and we will talk to you guys later.