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Dishin' with Devon: Dampier on tonight's season opener vs Idaho, Process of deciding on tonight's playbook + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: PN 792.1 FM Sports Center updates are brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Southern Steer Butcher at Redwood Square in Saratoga Springs.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Visit southernsteer.com.
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  Speaker 1: Time again on the Sean O'Connell Show, Dishing with Dev,
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  Speaker 1: brought to you by Culligan Water, America First Credit Union,
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  Speaker 1: and Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling.
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  Speaker 2: Look for the truck with the duck.
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  Speaker 1: It is game week, and QB1 is in studio with us.
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  Speaker 2: Devin Dampier, how are you, sir?
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  Speaker 3: Man, feeling confident, feeling confident.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: That's the vibes.
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  Speaker 1: Confident because of how practice has been going, confident because
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  Speaker 1: of how the team is looking, or confident because you
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  Speaker 1: got items.
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  Speaker 4: Well, first, I mean, we finally get to watch their film.
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  Speaker 4: We had no clue what they were going to come
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  Speaker 4: out in. So now that I get to see that,
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  Speaker 4: clock them hours in on the film, it builds confidence
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  Speaker 4: just to kind of.
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  Speaker 3: Know what you're going against.
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  Speaker 4: And, you know, I feel like our defense has gave
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  Speaker 4: us the best of the best looks when it comes
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  Speaker 4: to spring ball and fall camp. So just to have
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  Speaker 4: such a high-level defense, it just, you know, it makes
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  Speaker 4: me feel very confident going into every game.
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  Speaker 1: I'd hope by the way, if you weren't paying attention
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  Speaker 1: last week, a heartbreaker Cal Poly came from behind and
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  Speaker 1: beat him 38 34.
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  Speaker 2: That was crazy. You watched the whole thing. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: That ending was wild, man.
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  Speaker 1: Speaker 3 0 FCS football. You get some crazy stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Like one of the reasons I love college football even
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  Speaker 1: more than I love NFL football is because of the
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  Speaker 1: sloppiness that happens sometimes.
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  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: In the NFL, you get sloppiness, but it's more common.
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  Speaker 1: There's going to be something crazy in college football. And
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  Speaker 1: then the further down you go, it's more and more crazy.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: And I feel like we had like four, four FCS
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  Speaker 1: games last weekend that had like botched extra points and
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  Speaker 1: crazy comfort behind victories and stuff. So it's the variability
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  Speaker 1: of the lower levels of football that make them more enjoyable.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Even Hawaii was kind of crazy.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 4: They were coming back and then he had that, that
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  Speaker 4: scooping score. I was like, dang, but yeah, college football
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  Speaker 4: is fun.
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  Speaker 1: You, uh, I think you just answered the question. You
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  Speaker 1: were watching a lot of week zero games, it sounds like.
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  Speaker 1: You were dialed in on all of college football before
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  Speaker 1: you get to play a game yourself.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I went to a wedding this past weekend.
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  Speaker 2: A fall wedding. Well, a late summer wedding, probably. Probably
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  Speaker 2: still qualified.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, a little late summer.
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  Speaker 2: Week zero is okay, all right? You can still get
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  Speaker 2: married at week zero.
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  Speaker 1: If you get married on a weekend in the fall
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  Speaker 1: after that, it's a party foul.
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  Speaker 4: But at the dinner after... Everyone got their speeches in.
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  Speaker 4: I definitely had Idaho game up the whole time. Had
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  Speaker 4: to clock them hours in early.
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  Speaker 2: Did you have to give a speech at the wedding?
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  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever had to do that? Have you ever been, like,
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  Speaker 1: a best man? Or have you ever had to speak
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  Speaker 1: at a wedding yet?
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  Speaker 4: No, but.
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  Speaker 1: You're still young, so, like, you probably haven't had as
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  Speaker 1: many people in your life get married as some of
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  Speaker 1: us old folks.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, my best friend at New Mexico, his name's
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  Speaker 4: Ever Hunter, he's just got... He's getting married... January 10th.
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  Speaker 4: He just called me literally yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, no way.
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  Speaker 3: He wanted me to be his groomsman. And that's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: So congratulations to him. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Bags and well done by not making it a fall wedding.
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  Speaker 1: Good job. You don't do it. You don't do fall weddings.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to football here. So what
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  Speaker 1: did you see from Idaho on film? Obviously, you know,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, a heartbreaking loss for them. It looked
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  Speaker 1: like they had that one in hand and kind of
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  Speaker 1: let it slip away. But when you're watching all 22
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  Speaker 1: and you're seeing the personnel, what are you seeing through
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  Speaker 1: your eyes?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I would say starting off, like, you could tell throughout
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  Speaker 4: the game they got more comfortable just throughout the game because, man,
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  Speaker 4: they're– I mean, even Cal Poly, even too, I felt
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  Speaker 4: like both teams were kind of getting diced up pretty
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  Speaker 4: early in the game. Just the high completion percentages, I
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  Speaker 4: think both quarterbacks were at, like, 85% in the first half.
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  Speaker 4: Not a lot of plays were being made. Then we
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  Speaker 4: get to that second half. I thought they were able
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  Speaker 4: to flip that switch and finally find out what they're about. Sadly,
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  Speaker 4: they didn't come out with the win, but I definitely
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  Speaker 4: think they found their identity.
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  Speaker 3: I believe we're going to go against a good group
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  Speaker 3: this week.
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  Speaker 4: We've got to be on our A game and.
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  Speaker 3: Do what we do.
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  Speaker 1: 1,000 yards of offense in this game, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: between the two teams, almost 1,000 yards.
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  Speaker 2: It was 998, I think.
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  Speaker 1: Idaho had 482 total yards, 363 in the air. Cal
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  Speaker 1: Poly had 516 total yards, 319 through the air, and
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  Speaker 1: Idaho gave them almost 200 yards rushing. And I know
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  Speaker 1: that you're not looking at it necessarily through a defensive lens,
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  Speaker 1: but that is showing some things. If Cal Poly can...
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  Speaker 1: put up 200 yards rushing. I imagined Utah expects to
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  Speaker 1: do even better than that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I'm, I'm, I'm when way Sean and Bray know that I'm,
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  Speaker 4: I'm expecting them to do what they do best out there.
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  Speaker 1: In the past, a game like this one, we have
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  Speaker 1: seen a lot of running, right? We have seen just like, okay,
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  Speaker 1: go impose your will. Big boys do your thing. Let's have,
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  Speaker 1: let's have a clean game. Let's get out of here
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  Speaker 1: as quickly as we can. Let's get out of this
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  Speaker 1: game healthy. Given what you know of the game plan
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  Speaker 1: so far, should we expect a run-heavy game plan, you think?
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  Speaker 4: You know, there's a couple of different friends that they showed,
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  Speaker 4: and they got different ways of disguising their coverages and whatnot. But, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, again, the greatness about our offense this year is,
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  Speaker 4: you know, We allow the defense to pick their poison.
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  Speaker 4: You know, if you decide to try to man up
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  Speaker 4: our receivers, we're going to make you pay for that.
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  Speaker 4: If you want us to start running the ball, if
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  Speaker 4: you want us to hand the ball off the way, Sean,
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  Speaker 4: you know, that's a guy that's going to go get yards.
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  Speaker 4: So we try to play it, let the defense let
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  Speaker 4: us know what we're going.
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  Speaker 3: To do, and we go from there.
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  Speaker 1: So you spent a few years, a couple years, with
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  Speaker 1: Coach Peck.
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  Speaker 2: And getting to know.
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  Speaker 1: That process of how we're going to script the opening
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  Speaker 1: series and things like that. We talked about this last year, right?
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  Speaker 1: That was a coach that was very open to feedback.
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  Speaker 1: And there was a bit of a collaborative effort there
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  Speaker 1: with Mac G Kevin McGiven. What has that process been like?
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  Speaker 1: This is, I guess the first time you've actually had
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  Speaker 1: to do it for a game.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Me and Maggie was laughing about it.
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  Speaker 4: I've never had this many plays going into a game,
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  Speaker 4: I would say, but it's, it's more of a, uh, it's,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, it's everything we've ran. Um, but he's more,
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  Speaker 4: let's run everything and let's do process process of elimination.
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  Speaker 4: Let's take out the things I don't feel comfortable reading.
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  Speaker 4: Some things that I'm not getting to as well are, um,
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  Speaker 4: just things like that. We're, we're letting those go and
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  Speaker 4: we're sticking with more of, uh, what I feel comfortable
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  Speaker 4: with out there. So, He also has that feedback aspect
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  Speaker 4: of he wants me to be as comfortable as I
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  Speaker 4: can being out there and feel comfortable with whatever he calls.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So just to dive into this a little further, when
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  Speaker 1: you talk about process of elimination, right?
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  Speaker 3: Correct.
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  Speaker 1: He's got his whatever, 25 that he's like, okay, I
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  Speaker 1: think these would be good to open things with. And
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  Speaker 1: you get to go in and be like, ah, I
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  Speaker 1: don't love that one. And obviously he's the coach. So
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  Speaker 1: he could be like, no, we're doing this. But like,
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  Speaker 1: like really dive into this. Is it, From 20 plays
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  Speaker 1: down to 10? Is it from 50 plays down to 20? Like,
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  Speaker 1: what is that process of elimination like? And is it
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  Speaker 1: eliminating them by actually running the plays and seeing what
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  Speaker 1: works or doesn't?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Okay. Like, I think there was about 200 plays
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  Speaker 3: on there.
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  Speaker 2: 200 plays.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: And then. But, I mean, it's all stuff we've ran.
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  Speaker 3: We've been running this since spring ball.
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  Speaker 4: So there's different variations of running different plays and how
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  Speaker 4: we want to dress up things. So we just figure
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  Speaker 4: out we run them in practice. We kind of get
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  Speaker 4: that feel of the play. And, you know, not everything's result-wise.
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  Speaker 4: Like if, I don't know, if I miss a pass
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  Speaker 4: or someone drops the ball or we don't get a
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  Speaker 4: great scout team look, that doesn't mean we're just going
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  Speaker 4: to kill the play. But I think there's certain plays
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  Speaker 4: that I process better in my mind just when we
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  Speaker 4: talk about progressions, who I need to be looking at.
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  Speaker 3: There goes Rachel.
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  Speaker 4: But yeah, I think, I think there's certain ways I
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  Speaker 4: can just, I process a little bit better with certain calls.
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  Speaker 4: So that's just the things he, he leans on, he
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  Speaker 4: leans on my feedback and I let him know.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So if there's 200, we're talking about, that's the whole
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  Speaker 1: offensive game plan potentially, right?
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  Speaker 2: Though 200 is not, Just for the opening script, opening series, right?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: You guys are scripting the opening however many plays.
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  Speaker 2: How many is it?
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  Speaker 3: We don't have that done yet.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: We have situational.
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  Speaker 4: There's always situational plays, and then there's, yeah, that's like
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  Speaker 4: the 200 open down plays where he can call any
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  Speaker 4: time in the game.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: We narrow those down.
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  Speaker 2: Do you enjoy that process?
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  Speaker 1: Is that like, cause that's effectively that's coaching. You, you
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  Speaker 1: are a player who's acting as a coach there. You
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  Speaker 1: are working the install. Is that something you like?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. Um, yeah. Any coach that's like willing
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  Speaker 3: to have that, you know, mutual.
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  Speaker 4: Like I, like I see that as he wants success
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  Speaker 4: as much as I do. And, um, he also gets
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  Speaker 4: to see how much I want it just by how
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  Speaker 4: into it I am. I'm not just letting him figure
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  Speaker 4: it out and I'm just going to go out there
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  Speaker 4: and play. I want him to know I'm involved in
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  Speaker 4: this process. I want to be great as well. I
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  Speaker 4: want our team to thrive. So just the amount of
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  Speaker 4: conversations we're able to have about that makes me feel
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  Speaker 4: really comfortable.
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  Speaker 1: QB one, Devin, Dan peers here in studio with us
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: on the Sean O'Connell show. Dishing with dev is brought
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: to you by Culligan water, America first credit union and
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Valley plumbing, heating, and cooling. How would you describe the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: level of anticipation for the whole team?
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  Speaker 4: Right?
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: You're a captain.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: You got your finger on the pulse of the whole thing.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I'm sure guys are calling you and like, Hey, I'm
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: going to be wide open. You got to hit me
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: three times here for touchdowns, whatever. How would you describe
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the overall vibe?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: Overall, I think it's, like, it's what we're asking for.
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  Speaker 4: It feels like we needed to come a little bit
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  Speaker 4: sooner than where it's at right now. But, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: it's finally where, like, it's not an offense versus defense
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  Speaker 4: no more. It's, like, that's not the locker room anymore.
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  Speaker 4: We're one team. We're about to all go out there.
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  Speaker 4: I was just speaking with Jono yesterday. We went to
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  Speaker 4: the volleyball game. Just, like, he's like, man, I'm ready
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: to go out there, get some sacks, get you a pig, Dev. Like,
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  Speaker 4: you know, like, all camp it's been. I'm going to
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  Speaker 4: score touchdowns on you. I'm going to get a pitch.
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  Speaker 4: So now that like we're together, like it's fun to.
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  Speaker 1: Now you're doing it for each other instead of against
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  Speaker 1: each other.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean? Now like we're fully bonded.
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  Speaker 4: So it's a good feeling to have going into week one.
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  Speaker 1: I want to say focus on football, but can we
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: talk about the volleyball game experience?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Can we bring that?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I want to leave you the floor so you can...
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  Speaker 2: But you.
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  Speaker 1: as a student athlete, you love supporting your fellow student athletes.
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  Speaker 2: And I gotta say this.
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  Speaker 1: There's a level of humility for even one of the
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  Speaker 1: most visible athletes in the state. I mean, like you're
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: up there with the mammoth players, the jazz players, like
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  Speaker 1: bear Bachmeier, like everywhere you go, everyone knows your face,
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  Speaker 1: but it doesn't mean you get into a Utah game.
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  Speaker 3: Easy.
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  Speaker 2: Tell the story.
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  Speaker 4: No, I pulled up, and normally they send us like
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  Speaker 4: the must, all the athletes, they give us the must
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  Speaker 4: pass through an email. And, man, I was searching for it.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: I found the old email, put in the same one.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: I was like, they didn't send me my must pass.
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  Speaker 4: And I'm going to this game, so hopefully they just
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: see me and was like, you can get in. We
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: know that was not the case. I got up there,
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: and I was like, yeah, my must pass isn't working.
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  Speaker 4: Can I still get in?
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  Speaker 3: And they're like, no. no, no, you need to go
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  Speaker 3: to the ticket office. I was like, for real? I
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: was like, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I walk all the way to the ticket office, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: then they're like, they didn't let you in?
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  Speaker 3: No. I was told to come here.
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  Speaker 2: Let me tell you why I love that.
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  Speaker 1: Because in that moment, you are faced with the decision
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: of whoever that ticket taker is, right? You got to
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: be like, you could either comply with their request and
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: go to the ticket office, or you could be like,
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  Speaker 1: Do you really not know who I am? And you
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: obviously didn't want to pull that card.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I hate pulling that card. I'm not, I'm not about that.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not about that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad you didn't because that's the right thing to
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: do is to not pull that card.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: Go to compliance, go, go to the ticket.
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  Speaker 2: It's still hilarious.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: And so then the ticket office is like, they should
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: have just let you in and they, what they gave
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: you a ticket or something.
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  Speaker 4: Uh, yeah, they, they, they like, I think they sent
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: the email through and so I could get the must pass.
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  Speaker 3: And then, yeah, I love that.
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  Speaker 2: So shout out to whoever that was playing by the rules.
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  Speaker 2: All right. Even QB one doesn't get to get by
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  Speaker 2: Scott free. That's fair. All right.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Back to football. I'm glad you've shared that story back
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: to football. So now you've got the situation where you're,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: you're kicking off your season and you're doing it on
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: a short week.
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  Speaker 2: It's Thursday night.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of having to wait until Saturday, I think coming
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  Speaker 1: off an Off season, like you said, everyone's kind of
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  Speaker 1: like champing at the bit ready to go.
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  Speaker 2: So maybe a Thursday night's better.
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  Speaker 1: Traditionally, do you like the short week games when you
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  Speaker 1: got to play on a Thursday or Friday instead of
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  Speaker 1: a Saturday?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I would say we're lucky to come off of
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  Speaker 4: not a game. So Thursday doesn't feel as bad. But
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: by coming off of a Saturday and maybe having to
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: play Thursday or Friday, like.
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  Speaker 2: You definitely feel that. By the way, Idaho has to
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: do that.
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  Speaker 1: They played Friday night, short week, Thursday, turning it around
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: against a team that on paper is a lot more talented,
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  Speaker 1: a lot bigger, better.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's definitely a mindset you've got to find those
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: weeks for sure because you do lose a day of
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: recovery or you lose a day of preparation. So the
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: coach has to be wise with the way he decides
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  Speaker 4: to pick.
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  Speaker 3: Between those two. But, yeah, that's kind of how that goes.
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  Speaker 1: So you're in the routine, but you're not in the
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: routine because a normal game week, right? It gets, it's
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: like really regimented the way you go from a Saturday
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: to a following Saturday. And because it's a Thursday and
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: you're coming off of camp and all that stuff, it's
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: just a little bit different for this one. Does it
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: interrupt your personal rhythm at all? Like, do you have
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: this thing where like, I know my seven day plan
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: or my, I guess it's more of like a sixth.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: I know after Sunday, what my Monday is going to
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: look like. all the way into the following game week,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: and because this is a Thursday night game, is it
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: drastically different for you personally?
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: No, Scali kind of, he made the week where it
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: felt like we moved the days, if that makes sense.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: We made that Friday feel like Monday, made the Saturday
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: feel like Tuesday.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Okay, that makes sense.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: I feel like we got back into the rhythm of
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: when I was here last year, kind of that rhythm
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: of the Monday, Tuesday, and the days leading up to
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: the game.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of conversation coming out of the week.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Zero games about fan attendance. I don't know if you
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: saw the USC crowd. There was nobody there. You were
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: watching that Stanford game. There's never anybody at Stanford. Kel,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: those California sports fans are earning a bad reputation, but
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: they're earning it. What do you expect the atmosphere to
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: be like night game rice cycles? It is not the
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: most exciting matchup that you guys are going to face
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: this year, but it is the season opener.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's hard with the Internet. I mean, people do
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: just get to sit down and host at their houses
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: and stuff like that. So, you know, there's a bit
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: of that taking over. But that's why, you know, I've
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: chose to be here. I think we're one of those
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: states that we prioritize being at the game. We have
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: fans that want to be there for us and just
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: enjoy being in that atmosphere. I mean, you don't get
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: that same feeling through the TV that you get actually
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: being at Rice Echoes. I'm glad we got a fan
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: base that shows up. Yeah, it is Idaho, so I
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: guess that's what I've heard from fans.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: They're like, it's the Idaho game. We want to come
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: to the Arkansas game.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: So whoever's there, I'm very grateful for whoever comes through because,
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: you know, we hear it, and we definitely– Love that from,
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: from our fans.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Go to both. Go to all of them. Please. You
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: get six games this year. Seven, you get six or
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: seven home games a year.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: And we wait 200 days for the season to come back.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: And we're trying to make it and make it. You
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: can get out there. You have nothing better to do
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: on a Thursday night. My, my oldest daughter actually is
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: really mad because she wanted, she's like, The youths are playing.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Bring me to the game. And I was like, no,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: it's your bedtime. You should be in bed. And I'm working, technically.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: She's all mad about me not taking her to the game.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: I would, too.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: She's only seven. School night, Dev. I don't care, man.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: I don't care.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: I hate when people are like, you're playing idle.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: I'm like, what does that mean?
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Like, be at the game.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: We need you.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: We need you.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Indeed.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Everyone should be at the game.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: The night game atmosphere is usually better, but you do
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: have to wait all day to play the dang game.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Do you prefer a morning kickoff, afternoon kickoff, night kickoff?
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: I'm definitely a, like a perfect game for me is like,
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: I want to say it's when the first half there's
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: light and.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Then you come out of halftime and it's dark.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: So whatever time in that normally is, is like, I
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: feel like it's like four, five, five o'clock.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Well, thankfully this is so early in the season. You'll
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: get that on Thursday night.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It'll still be light.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah. But it'll still be light.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: It'll be light in the first half. Then you'll go
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: in and it'll be dark. And yeah, that is, you
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: get the two atmospheres in one. That is nice.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: The perfect day game.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Perfect combo.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: And then I came.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Do you have.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Any personal numbers goals that you want to hit in
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: this game? And we haven't really had that conversation about
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: the season where I know it's all about winning. I
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: know that you've got to say the right thing, but
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: you have your own personal goals on how many touchdowns
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: and how many interceptions and things like that, I imagine.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: Do you write those down? Do you vision board that stuff?
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of it's envision things. I would say
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: a stat that I'm holding myself to. I want to
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: be 90% completion. That's where I feel like I need
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: to be this year.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: 90%?
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Dev, 90% completion would be an NCAA record.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Well, if you don't strive to... have those type of.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Goals, I don't know what we're doing. I love that
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: that's the goal.
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: I think just finding ways to find our receivers, get
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: them the ball, at least give them a chance to
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: catch the ball. That's been a huge priority for me
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: going into this season, especially just.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: On the deep balls.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: Like if I don't feel like overthrowing them, just honestly
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: giving them a chance. Like we got so many playmakers
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: out there where, um, I feel comfortable throwing those 50,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: 50 balls and every ball needs to be exactly perfect
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: right over the shoulder.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: Um, there's times where, you know, you just put the
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: ball where only they can get it and, uh, good
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: results come out of that.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: You got guys that can, that can run to space.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: If you're throwing that ball into empty green, you know,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: they can get under it.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. There's, we got different, uh, what's the word,
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: different archetypes on the field.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: Some of them I throw over his shoulder. Some of
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: them I let them slow down and go jump for it.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: There's certain, like they're all comfortable with, you know, there
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: are different ways of catching the ball. So I always
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: try to adjust to them in some type of way
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: of how I deliver that pass.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Can we talk about Tobias Merriweather for a second?
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: He came in last year, and fair or unfair, everybody
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: was just like, that's the dude.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Look at him.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Him coming off the bus. That's what a wide receiver
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: is supposed to look like. And I know the results for,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: for the offense, for him, for you, for everyone, we're
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: not what anyone was looking for. And honestly, we were
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: very harsh in the media, the fan base, everyone was
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: like real critical.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: And it was almost quietly. He decided not to go anywhere.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: He came back, he put in the work coaching staff
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: is just like, Hey man, he's putting in the work.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: He's doing a good job. Hey, he had a really
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: nice spring. Hey, he had a pretty good camp.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: And now I think people are like ready to give
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: it another chance with Tobias. I know that's stupid and
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: it's unfair and fans, fans will get to dictate that
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: kind of stuff, but he does have all those physical tools, right?
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: What is your relationship and your chemistry like.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: With a guy now that you've had, you know, a
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: season and an off season to play together?
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: No, me and Toby were, we're great friends. Even outside
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: of this, we hung out a couple of times. Throughout
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: this summer, just being together, watched the soccer games together.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: We were on the boat together. Like, you know, that's
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: my guy. So I'm happy that, you know, he decided
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: to stick it out with us. He decided to stay.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: He came off of a tough injury. He had to
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: wait a long time to get back on the field.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: But as soon as he got back, I mean, you
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: could feel his presence. You know, he took his leadership
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: to the next level this year. He's earned to be
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: on the leadership council. just past voting of the team. So,
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: you know, I think he's doing all the right things,
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: you know, and on the field, you know, that speaks
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: for himself. But just off the field, you know, I
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: think he's taking those strides. He's learning to feel comfortable
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: with who he is, you know, regardless of what the
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: media is saying about him or what goes against him.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: You know, he's being his self.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: We're recording this interview with dev earlier in the week.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: It's not game day.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: We're not asking QB one to do this on game day,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: even though we're playing it on.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: Game day, everybody.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Radio magic. We're coming right. We're coming off of NFL
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: final cutdowns. And three of your starting offensive linemen from
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: last year, as of today are an active NFL rosters.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: And one is on a practice squad. So, I mean,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: that is a testament to what you had in front
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: of you last year. And I know we've talked a
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: lot about the old line and how you believe in
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the guys you have this year. But when you look
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: at that, do you look back and in hindsight, do
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: you appreciate even more the level of protection and the
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: level of talent you had in front of you?
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Um, man, I, I knew those boys like, you know, I'm,
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: I'm very happy about their football accomplishments, but man, I
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: knew those guys so much deeper than that. So, um,
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: it's great for me to know that, you know, they've
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: been able to hit those goals that, you know, they've
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: been working for so long, especially, um, I would say
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: have a stronger relationship with, uh, Jaron and, and Caleb,
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: just Caleb from Arizona. Um, just being able to see
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: each other's faces growing up and, you know, he got
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: here and did that. And Jaron being the center, that's,
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: that's who I have the most conversations with, you know,
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: we're always on the same page. So, um, I'm just happy,
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: you know, those guys are able to live their dreams.
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: Saw him and Spence took a picture after a game. So,
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's great to see. It's great to see.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Really cool to see those guys. And all the other
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: former youths getting their opportunities in the NFL. It was
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: actually kind of sobering. I was going through the cut list, right?
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: The guys that got waived. And not just Utah guys,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: but guys from, you know, the Big 12 Conference, the
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Pac-12 Conference before that. reading the names of these dudes
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: that are being cut from NFL rosters is effectively the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: same people. When you read like an all conference list
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: after a college year, and these are the dudes getting cut.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: It's a sobering thing. Like, Oh, that guy isn't even
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: on the 53 man roster. That's just how tough it
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: is now in high level football. And I know it's
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: like that in college, but NFL it's, it's like a
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: harsh reminder, I guess that even if you're great, it
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: might not be great enough.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah, that's something Coach Scali preaches, just to be
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: the most valuable way you can. Like, we try– I mean,
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: Scali pushes for no one to just be a singular
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: offense player, defense player. Like, we find ways to put
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: you on special teams and, you know, just make value
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: of yourself because that's kind of what that 53 roster becomes.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: It's like, if you're a receiver that can punt return,
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: if you can go block two– If you're also a
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: good person on the sideline, when you're not in, you're
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: making people better around you.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Like, that's what it all comes down to.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: So just guys finding ways to be more than just
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: a player, you know, that's huge for that next level.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: When is the last time in your life that you
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: played defense or special teams?
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: Oof.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, I played quarterback punt, so we can call that.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: You punted?
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was tough.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: In high school you punted? No way.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: That was tough. I'm telling you, dude, it started to hurt.
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: If you had to, could you still do it? Like
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: real punting, no. But like the quarterback punts, they always
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: work because it's like four down, everyone's down, and then
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: you just punt it off.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: And it just rolls.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: What was your punting average? If I find it and
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: look it up, what do you think that number was?
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: I thought it was like 50. No, it wasn't. Dude,
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: I thought it was good. Like, seriously.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: I'm going to look it up. I remember being, like,
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: top in the state at a certain point.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: Really? Did you play, like, what about in Little League?
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, yeah, Little League, I did everything.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Because, like, guys like you, it's like, all right, that's
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the best athlete on the field, so he's the quarterback
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: and he's the starting middle linebacker or free safety or
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: whatever else. When did they come to you, like, in
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: high school and be like, no, you can't play defense anymore?
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Um, kind of after my freshman year when I became
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: a backup.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: Otherwise I've played, I started off at running back, went
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: to quarterback, played receiver, played safety and corner during those times.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: I played outside linebacker. I didn't play to everything at
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: this point besides D-line. But yeah, by freshman year of
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: high school, that was kind of like when it was like,
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: all right, well, Now that you're a backup for varsity,
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: you're no longer able to play defense on freshman ball.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: We might have a conspiracy developing here. Evan Dampier did
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: not record any high school punting statistics during his career
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: at Saguaro High School is what the Google AI says.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: Oh, that's what they're putting up. Go to Twitter. Twitter's
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: got it.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: We'll find it. We'll find it. Twitter's got it.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: I believe you. Don't trust AI, ladies and gentlemen. When
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: you type in... In the Google search and then the
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: AI overview comes up, it's almost always wrong. All right?
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: So don't believe it. Believe what Dev says. All right.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Can you give me a prediction on Utah, Idaho?
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: No. No prediction. We're just going to go out there
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: and go do what we do. All right. We'll see
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: what that turns out to be.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0 7, we'll let devil leave the
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: predicting to all of us. Spoiler alert. We are predicting
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: a big win. So please make me look smart.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: Okay. All right. We'll do what we do.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Dish it with dad brought to you by Culligan water
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Valley plumbing, heating, and cooling and America first credit union.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Good to see you, sir. Good luck. Stay healthy.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Have fun.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: We'll see you on Thursday night.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Yep. It's always great.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: That's Devin. Damn peer. Great stuff. as always. And you
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: know what?
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Even if you're the starting quarterback, doesn't mean you get
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: into a volleyball game easily. They're serious about the tickets
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: this year at the university of Utah. Do not show
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: up on Thursday night without your must pass and think
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: you're going to talk your way in.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Get there, get there early, support this team and be
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: at the game.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: You heard Devin. You have to do what he says.