Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Bryson Barnes on playing for new Utes OC Kevin McGiven last year, His career year at Utah St, Memories from his Ute days + more
Transcript
- 0:11Speaker 1: This is the Sean O'Connell show. You were home of
- 0:14Speaker 1: the best inside of your hutes.
- 0:16Speaker 2: Let's get back to OC from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio
- 0:19Speaker 2: of ESPN seven hundred ninety two one Am.
- 0:25Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell's show on a Friday.
- 0:27Speaker 2: Sean is out today, So I'm sitting in Bill Riley
- 0:30Speaker 2: with you here on this Friday afternoon back in the
- 0:32Speaker 2: air chair.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Today.
- 0:34Speaker 2: Have a leaderboard update coming for you on the Masters.
- 0:36Speaker 2: Not not a whole lot's changed at the top of
- 0:38Speaker 2: the leaderboard.
- 0:39Speaker 1: It's just because the guys.
- 0:40Speaker 2: That were leading yesterday are just getting underway or just
- 0:43Speaker 2: getting ready to get underweight today. But we will give
- 0:45Speaker 2: you a leaderboard update coming up in just a bit.
- 0:47Speaker 2: We'll give away some pre golf as well as the
- 0:50Speaker 2: Festival of Teas. I love that, by the way, James
- 0:53Speaker 2: told me about that. I absolutely love that. We'll talk
- 0:56Speaker 2: some Masters with John right after the top of the hour.
- 0:58Speaker 2: Casey Jacobson was a little U transferred portal stuff, then
- 1:02Speaker 2: some NFL draft stuff with Devin Jackson, a former guy.
- 1:05Speaker 2: Guy that used to come on with me all the
- 1:06Speaker 2: time when I did this on a regular basis, will
- 1:09Speaker 2: join us in the one o'clock hour. But right now
- 1:11Speaker 2: we welcome back to the airwaves. He used to come
- 1:14Speaker 2: on with me all the time too, especially his last
- 1:16Speaker 2: year here. A former Utah quarterback, former Utah State quarterback.
- 1:22Speaker 2: And now we've got to find out what he's gonna
- 1:25Speaker 2: do with his life. I'm gonna guess he's not moving
- 1:27Speaker 2: back to Milford anytime soon, but we'll find out. I
- 1:31Speaker 2: also want to pick his braind a little bit too
- 1:32Speaker 2: on what Utah's offense might look like this year with
- 1:36Speaker 2: Kevin mcgiven coming in the guy that coached him a
- 1:38Speaker 2: year ago. Bryson Barnes joining us here on the Shade
- 1:40Speaker 2: O'Connell Show with Bill Riley.
- 1:41Speaker 1: How are you.
- 1:43Speaker 3: I'm doing good man, Thanks for having me on.
- 1:45Speaker 1: It's been a minute. Bryson, how's life?
- 1:49Speaker 3: Hey? Things are going great kind of in this limb
- 1:51Speaker 3: period right now. You don't spend the last you know
- 1:58Speaker 3: about March, you know, pepping for and you know, putting
- 2:02Speaker 3: on a good performance for the Scouts, and then you
- 2:04Speaker 3: kind of just wait and see with meetings and stuff
- 2:06Speaker 3: in April, and then you know, you hope for the
- 2:07Speaker 3: best and plan on things going well come around April
- 2:10Speaker 3: twenty third, to the twenty fifth.
- 2:12Speaker 2: Uh well, so to tell us how that win? How
- 2:15Speaker 2: did Pro Day? How did all that stuff go? What's
- 2:17Speaker 2: the feedback you're getting?
- 2:19Speaker 1: What? What? What would you like to do? What are
- 2:21Speaker 1: your plans? Bryson?
- 2:23Speaker 3: Yeah, So obviously the most ideal situations is to get
- 2:27Speaker 3: out of team some there. I feel like if I
- 2:28Speaker 3: have the right spot and the right opportunity, I think
- 2:31Speaker 3: with my my process and my work ethic that I'm
- 2:34Speaker 3: going to be able to make the most of it.
- 2:35Speaker 3: And I think I'll be able to find a roster
- 2:36Speaker 3: spot somewhere. And you know, as long as the opportunity
- 2:39Speaker 3: is given and I have an actual shot, you know,
- 2:42Speaker 3: I really do feel comfortable about my ability and to
- 2:46Speaker 3: kind of go in there and you know, make a
- 2:47Speaker 3: fifty three mins roster.
- 2:49Speaker 2: If I would have told you, all, let's go back
- 2:51Speaker 2: in time, like four years, four and a half years.
- 2:55Speaker 2: If I would have told you you were in position
- 2:58Speaker 2: to have a Pro Day and have NFL teams at
- 3:01Speaker 2: least talking to you and you were talking about having
- 3:04Speaker 2: a pro football career four and a half years ago
- 3:07Speaker 2: when you were still a walk on at Utah, what
- 3:09Speaker 2: would you have told me?
- 3:12Speaker 3: So, I've definitely been mixed about it because my entire
- 3:16Speaker 3: mindset when I was in college was I wanted to
- 3:17Speaker 3: be the best college football player that I can meet,
- 3:20Speaker 3: and whatever that ended up coming of it would have
- 3:23Speaker 3: came on it. And so if that would have been
- 3:24Speaker 3: professional football, great, If that had been a starting quarterback
- 3:27Speaker 3: for three years, great, started quarterback food and you're great.
- 3:29Speaker 3: You know, that was kind of my mindset going into it.
- 3:31Speaker 3: But then I would say around that time when I
- 3:33Speaker 3: was a walk on quarterback and I was sitting behind
- 3:35Speaker 3: Cam and I was seeing the success that Cam was having,
- 3:39Speaker 3: and I'm going like, man, like Cama baller, he's doing
- 3:42Speaker 3: it in this system. I know how to operate and
- 3:44Speaker 3: run this system. Like I feel like if I could
- 3:47Speaker 3: actually go out there and run this system, you know,
- 3:49Speaker 3: I feel like I'd be able to do a pretty
- 3:50Speaker 3: good job. And you know, being at Utah, you know
- 3:52Speaker 3: you're playing high caliber teams were ranked in the top
- 3:55Speaker 3: twenty five point often, so it's like, man, I actually
- 3:57Speaker 3: think I might have an actual shot at the NFL.
- 3:59Speaker 3: But that was never like, Man, this is plan A,
- 4:02Speaker 3: here we go. Plan A for me was always be
- 4:04Speaker 3: the best player that I can be where I'm.
- 4:06Speaker 2: At right now, well, yeah, you had to get on
- 4:09Speaker 2: the field first. You were buried on the depth chart.
- 4:12Speaker 2: I mean, thinking about playing pro football, you have to
- 4:15Speaker 2: get on the field to prove yourself first, and you
- 4:17Speaker 2: got that opportunity because of the injuries to Cam. Then
- 4:20Speaker 2: you went to Utah States. You had one coordinator one year,
- 4:23Speaker 2: won the next year. I want to speak specifically about
- 4:26Speaker 2: last year, Bryson, because you were an all league quarterback.
- 4:29Speaker 2: Last night, actually talked to some people that said you
- 4:32Speaker 2: were technically second team All Mount and West. Most people
- 4:34Speaker 2: thought you had an All Mount West caliber season. What
- 4:38Speaker 2: changed for you last year, especially with Kevin mcgiven coaching you.
- 4:44Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like everything that kind of went into
- 4:47Speaker 3: my senior year having Bronco Meta in the hall as
- 4:49Speaker 3: my head coach, and his coaching techniques and philosophies and
- 4:53Speaker 3: the principles that he had filled in a team as
- 4:56Speaker 3: from a cultural perspective really fit me. But then also,
- 5:00Speaker 3: I mean Kevin coachrom mac gee or whatever. We've got
- 5:03Speaker 3: a ton of nicknames for the guy, but his system
- 5:07Speaker 3: it really to fit who I was as a player.
- 5:10Speaker 3: But the more that i've kind of now that I'm
- 5:13Speaker 3: out and I've looked at it. I mean, his system
- 5:16Speaker 3: is very adaptable to whatever the quarterbacks and strengths are
- 5:20Speaker 3: and the teams of strains, and I feel like that
- 5:23Speaker 3: was just the one thing that was super unique about
- 5:24Speaker 3: it was the system that we kind of had to
- 5:28Speaker 3: start the spring and winner to what it evolved to
- 5:32Speaker 3: by the end of the season, like two completely different offenses.
- 5:35Speaker 3: But it's all the same stuff. If that makes any.
- 5:37Speaker 1: Sense, Oh it does. So what what was it?
- 5:41Speaker 2: I I've heard that from so many people that I've
- 5:43Speaker 2: talked to about Kevin. I've had a chance to catch
- 5:46Speaker 2: up with Kevin a few times too, about how adaptable
- 5:49Speaker 2: and malleable his offenses are to the talent that he has.
- 5:53Speaker 2: What was it that he did specifically with you, Bryce,
- 5:56Speaker 2: And what do you think that it was that he
- 5:59Speaker 2: did or tailor to your strings it made last year
- 6:02Speaker 2: so successful?
- 6:03Speaker 3: To you? Well, I think the first thing was he
- 6:07Speaker 3: brought in these passing concepts and this past game knowledge
- 6:11Speaker 3: that I had never really been exposed to before. And
- 6:14Speaker 3: so I feel like he not only was able to
- 6:17Speaker 3: create an offense kind of around me, but also elevate
- 6:20Speaker 3: my game and my play to what he thinks I
- 6:22Speaker 3: could become as well. And so I learned more about
- 6:25Speaker 3: the path game and how certain routes and route concepts
- 6:29Speaker 3: to manipulate certain coverages and which defenders are going to
- 6:32Speaker 3: take which routes. Like, I just learned so many just
- 6:34Speaker 3: intricacies about the passing game itself from Maze that I
- 6:39Speaker 3: really think led into the success. But then I mean,
- 6:42Speaker 3: you just go back and you look through all the
- 6:43Speaker 3: quarterbacks that he's touched when he was at Santos and
- 6:46Speaker 3: every dude that he was with there, Like he knows
- 6:49Speaker 3: how to play the quarterback strings and how to get
- 6:51Speaker 3: the quarterbacks to play well and play effective.
- 6:54Speaker 2: Rice and Barnes is with us today here on the
- 6:57Speaker 2: Shot O'Connell show hosted by Bill Ryle. They've pinch hitting
- 7:00Speaker 2: for Sean today. Bryson. Of course, you know him from
- 7:03Speaker 2: his Utah days in Utah State. So first and foremost,
- 7:09Speaker 2: you said, you've got a lot of nicknames for Kevin.
- 7:11Speaker 2: Give me one that's really gonna make him laugh, Because
- 7:13Speaker 2: when I see him in the hallways, I would have
- 7:15Speaker 2: walked by him and call him a nickname that you guys,
- 7:17Speaker 2: what should I say that we'll get his attention or
- 7:19Speaker 2: make him laugh? Call him Maverick Okay, so I should
- 7:24Speaker 2: walk by and say, say, what what's up, Maverick?
- 7:28Speaker 3: Yes, yes, say that he's a big, top gun guy.
- 7:31Speaker 2: Okay, all right, we'll see. We'll see if he requests
- 7:35Speaker 2: a flyby or not. But I'll I'll call him. I'll
- 7:38Speaker 2: call him Maverick and see what kind of reaction I get.
- 7:41Speaker 2: And if he gets mad, I'm gonna say, Bryson told
- 7:43Speaker 2: me to call you, Maverick, and we'll go.
- 7:46Speaker 1: We'll go from there.
- 7:48Speaker 2: So you you you also know you're you know this
- 7:51Speaker 2: Utah program very very well, and you know the level
- 7:55Speaker 2: of talent that's in this Utah football program. And obviously
- 7:58Speaker 2: from a distance you so Devin damp here in the
- 8:01Speaker 2: year that he had last year, what do you think
- 8:04Speaker 2: Kevin moving from Utah State to Utah this year now
- 8:07Speaker 2: on Morgan Scalley's staff, what kind of things do you
- 8:10Speaker 2: think he'll be able to do with this offense, specifically
- 8:13Speaker 2: working with Devon and Bird Ficklin.
- 8:17Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's gonna be It's going to be
- 8:20Speaker 3: a completely different offense while we ran last year, and
- 8:22Speaker 3: because of the personnel, I mean, from what I know
- 8:25Speaker 3: about Devon and Bird is you've just got two elite
- 8:28Speaker 3: playmakers like when the ball's in their hands, especially, thing's
- 8:31Speaker 3: gonna happen. And that is one thing about mac Ge
- 8:34Speaker 3: is that dude is gonna find a way to get
- 8:36Speaker 3: the ball in their hands and they're gonna make plays.
- 8:38Speaker 3: And I say that we had three running backs last
- 8:41Speaker 3: year that were really good, talented players. There were times
- 8:44Speaker 3: when we were in thirty personnel running one word calls
- 8:46Speaker 3: against Texas A and M that Texas A and M
- 8:48Speaker 3: had fits trying to guard. And that was by Utah State.
- 8:52Speaker 3: So I can just imagine what kind of stuff mac
- 8:56Speaker 3: G's gonna have drawn up on the board for Bird
- 8:58Speaker 3: and Devin's I'm really I think it's going to be electric.
- 9:01Speaker 2: Well, not only Bird and Devin, but your old teammate
- 9:04Speaker 2: Nate Johnson's back in the mix too.
- 9:09Speaker 3: I didn't know he was still playing there. That's that's
- 9:11Speaker 3: good to hear. He's great athlete, freaky speed that I
- 9:15Speaker 3: mean to me, that just kind of adds to it.
- 9:17Speaker 3: You've got you've got the playmakers, you've got the talent there.
- 9:20Speaker 3: There's no doubt in fact he's gonna utilize it. He's
- 9:22Speaker 3: done a year in and year out.
- 9:25Speaker 2: Rice Barnes with us here on ESPN seven hundred today.
- 9:28Speaker 2: You also know one of the top additions to this
- 9:31Speaker 2: Utah roster very very well. You two had an excellent
- 9:34Speaker 2: connection a year ago. What is Utah getting with Braden Pagan?
- 9:40Speaker 3: Yeah, you're getting You're getting a baller. That's the first
- 9:42Speaker 3: thing I'm going to talk about VP. That dude is
- 9:45Speaker 3: a baller. He's he's got the length, he's got the speed,
- 9:48Speaker 3: he's got the athleticism. And you throw that ball up,
- 9:52Speaker 3: I would say, it's not it's not even a fifty
- 9:54Speaker 3: to fifty ball you're throwing up At that point, you're
- 9:56Speaker 3: throwing it up. The VP is going to come down
- 9:58Speaker 3: with it. He's he's got great race and knowledge of
- 10:01Speaker 3: what he's doing. Being having another year in the system, Like,
- 10:05Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be a great addition. And I
- 10:07Speaker 3: mean there's been a few clips they've been posted of
- 10:09Speaker 3: him making some catches in the spring ball and it
- 10:11Speaker 3: doesn't surprise me.
- 10:12Speaker 2: Want to Yeah, he is somebody people including myself, are
- 10:16Speaker 2: very excited to see. You know, this last couple of years,
- 10:20Speaker 2: Utah didn't really necessarily stretch the field. A lot is
- 10:23Speaker 2: braidon a guy that can stretch the field. Is he
- 10:26Speaker 2: a guy that can get behind defenses and be a
- 10:28Speaker 2: deep threat.
- 10:29Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean there's a he's That's the thing
- 10:34Speaker 3: is like with him, he's got the speed, he's got
- 10:36Speaker 3: the size. Usually you don't see the size and speed
- 10:39Speaker 3: that kind of matchup. Usually you have a big guy
- 10:42Speaker 3: relaxing the speed, but or like the smaller guy that
- 10:45Speaker 3: has the speed. Braid he I mean you're talking he's
- 10:47Speaker 3: six three sixty four two hundred plus pounds and he's
- 10:51Speaker 3: gonna be a guy that's running past corners, writing past stretching,
- 10:54Speaker 3: you know, listen, lifting the shell, beating the coverage over
- 10:57Speaker 3: the top like he's he's to do it all. Pony Uh.
- 11:01Speaker 1: I don't know if you did you guys play San
- 11:03Speaker 1: Jose State last year?
- 11:05Speaker 3: Yes, we did.
- 11:06Speaker 1: Did you remember seeing it? Now? Again? I'm asking you.
- 11:08Speaker 2: You're you look mostly the defense, but they added another
- 11:11Speaker 2: wide receiver. The coach mcgiven Maverick knew well. He recruited
- 11:15Speaker 2: him to San Jose State. That's Kyrie Scholz.
- 11:18Speaker 3: Kay. I don't know much of it, but I'm pretty sure.
- 11:22Speaker 3: Is he a big, bigger bodied guy? Yes, yes, I
- 11:25Speaker 3: can just remember I didn't watch a ton of it.
- 11:28Speaker 3: I only remember watching kind of a few parts, especially
- 11:30Speaker 3: towards the end when San Jose State had the ball
- 11:33Speaker 3: right right at the end of the game. So we
- 11:34Speaker 3: were watching it and yeah, big big body, Uh, great build.
- 11:40Speaker 3: I don't know much about him or anything play style wise,
- 11:42Speaker 3: but I do know looking at him, and he looked
- 11:46Speaker 3: a part.
- 11:46Speaker 1: Yeah, he had a good year.
- 11:48Speaker 2: He didn't have quite the numbers Braydon had last year,
- 11:50Speaker 2: but he was in that he was in that neighborhood
- 11:53Speaker 2: of like seven out of fifty yards and six touchdowns
- 11:55Speaker 2: for San Jose State.
- 11:58Speaker 3: Oh nice, yeoh, and we're mac g if he's pulling
- 12:01Speaker 3: in a dude from where he was before, like there's
- 12:05Speaker 3: a good reason for it. If he thinks he's going
- 12:07Speaker 3: to be able to add to that pass game of
- 12:09Speaker 3: the threat that they have already, Like there's a good
- 12:13Speaker 3: reason why he's there.
- 12:14Speaker 2: Yeah, I think people are rightfully excited. If you had
- 12:17Speaker 2: to tell you get you know, you're on the home
- 12:18Speaker 2: of the Utes here fifty thousand watts all over the
- 12:20Speaker 2: state of Utah. And I'm sure plenty of Utah fans
- 12:23Speaker 2: had talked to you about this too when you've run
- 12:25Speaker 2: into them. But what should Utah fans be most excited
- 12:28Speaker 2: about and having Kevin mcgiven as their offensive coordinator.
- 12:31Speaker 3: Man, I think it's going to be a completely different,
- 12:33Speaker 3: uh kind of taste of Utah offensive football that we've
- 12:37Speaker 3: had the last couple of years. I wasn't too aware
- 12:40Speaker 3: of what was going on last year. I know they
- 12:42Speaker 3: were really really effective, great o line all that, but
- 12:46Speaker 3: I think it's going to be a little bit different
- 12:47Speaker 3: than what you fans are really used to. Mac Gee
- 12:51Speaker 3: is his mind works with the pass game, and I
- 12:53Speaker 3: think it's going to be really cool to kind of
- 12:55Speaker 3: see him working with Devin's strengths and him throwing the
- 12:59Speaker 3: ball and running the ball as well. I really do
- 13:02Speaker 3: think that Devon's going to have a year where you
- 13:04Speaker 3: can honestly expect three thousand past the yards and a
- 13:06Speaker 3: thousand on the ground. Like I don't think that's really
- 13:08Speaker 3: over the top expectations for a player like that in
- 13:12Speaker 3: that type of system.
- 13:13Speaker 2: He would have been close to it last year had
- 13:15Speaker 2: he got you know, he was didn't miss a lot
- 13:17Speaker 2: of time, but he was banged up a little bit
- 13:19Speaker 2: and missed some time within games. But you know, much
- 13:22Speaker 2: like you, I mean, twenty five hundred and twenty five
- 13:26Speaker 2: hundred yards passing and I think seven hundred yards rushing.
- 13:29Speaker 2: You two guys were two of the few guys that
- 13:31Speaker 2: were close to that last year.
- 13:32Speaker 1: But I agree with you.
- 13:33Speaker 2: I think Devon's got that type of skill set in
- 13:36Speaker 2: him to be able to pass for especially with the
- 13:38Speaker 2: weapons now and from what it sounds like what Kevin
- 13:41Speaker 2: mcgiven likes to do with the pass game.
- 13:43Speaker 3: Yep, yes, no, I agree, and I think yeah, and
- 13:46Speaker 3: whatever deficiencies you know, deficiencies often show up in season
- 13:50Speaker 3: then you don't really know them until then. And his
- 13:53Speaker 3: ability to adjust and adapt to where we find where Okay,
- 13:57Speaker 3: this is where we're defishing in, but this is where
- 13:58Speaker 3: we're selling at and trying to find the balance between
- 14:00Speaker 3: those two. Like, I've just never seen anybody be able
- 14:03Speaker 3: to find it so quickly and being able to apply
- 14:05Speaker 3: it so well to a team.
- 14:07Speaker 1: So should I go mac G or should I go Maverick?
- 14:10Speaker 2: I mean you've called him mac G like seven times
- 14:12Speaker 2: in this interview, Bryson. But is Maverick the one that
- 14:15Speaker 2: will catch his attention?
- 14:17Speaker 3: Yeah, Maverick will catch his attention mac G. That's kind
- 14:20Speaker 3: of a that's commonplace now, that's that's like, oh, if
- 14:23Speaker 3: you call him mac g like, okay, yeah, he gets it.
- 14:24Speaker 3: Did you call him Maverick? That's like, that's like a
- 14:28Speaker 3: little inside joke.
- 14:29Speaker 2: Is that, like inside the quarterback room, people would call
- 14:32Speaker 2: him Maverick?
- 14:33Speaker 3: Yes, so yeah, fun fun fact. The quarterback coach for
- 14:38Speaker 3: Utah State, he goes, he's they call him Rooster. He's
- 14:41Speaker 3: Rooster and the back and Kevin's Maverick. That was kind
- 14:45Speaker 3: of the inside joke there.
- 14:47Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough, And that's old by the way, that's
- 14:49Speaker 2: that's not top Gun too, that's original top Gun stuff
- 14:53Speaker 2: right there.
- 14:53Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh yeah, the top Gun. It ran deep
- 14:57Speaker 3: in the quarterback room last year.
- 14:59Speaker 2: All right, before I let you go, best case scenario
- 15:02Speaker 2: for Bryson Barnes over the next month or two is what.
- 15:07Speaker 3: Best case scenario, man, best case scenario you get drafted.
- 15:12Speaker 3: That's the best case scenario. But I'm just my best
- 15:16Speaker 3: case scenario is to have an opportunity somewhere to get
- 15:18Speaker 3: a legit opportunity to make a fifty three man roster.
- 15:21Speaker 1: Okay, get that agent working for you, Bryson.
- 15:24Speaker 3: Would you no doubt I'm gonna get on them for sure.
- 15:27Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for doing this. It's great catching up with
- 15:30Speaker 2: you as always. It was so much fun to see
- 15:33Speaker 2: that season that you had last year with Bronco and
- 15:37Speaker 2: Maverick and all those guys up in Logan, and I
- 15:40Speaker 2: was so happy for you. I know Utah fans were
- 15:42Speaker 2: thrilled for you as well. So we'll keep our fingers
- 15:44Speaker 2: crossed in the next two weeks that you get that invite,
- 15:48Speaker 2: even if it's not a draft day invite, it's a
- 15:51Speaker 2: free agent invite to somebody's camp.
- 15:53Speaker 3: Thanks Bryson, Yes, sir man, I appreciate it. Thank you.
- 15:56Speaker 2: There you go, Bryson Barnes with us aka the Pig Farmer,
- 16:00Speaker 2: the pride of Milford, Utah. By the way, his brother,
- 16:03Speaker 2: I believe, is now on the football team. So the
- 16:05Speaker 2: Barnes family has produced some elite athletes coming out of little,
- 16:09Speaker 2: tiny Milford, Utah. And he's just always been such a
- 16:15Speaker 2: great dude.