Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Eric Weddle on Utah Spring Football, Visiting practice with his son Gaige, Differences between Scalley and Whitt + more

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Eric Weddle on Utah Spring Football, Visiting practice with his son Gaige, Differences between Scalley and Whitt + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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Speaker 1: You were listening to The Sean O'Connell Show from the
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Speaker 1: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
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Speaker 1: one half as.
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Speaker 2: Sean O'Connell Show Coming at you Live from Big Willie's
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Speaker 2: Today seventeen seventeenth, South Main Food Specials Drink special is
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Speaker 2: a perfect place to watch Opening Day baseball, Sweet sixteen basketball,
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Speaker 2: and anything else that strikes your fancy. It's been a
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Speaker 2: few weeks, but happy to touch base again with our guy,
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Speaker 2: the football legend at the University of Utah in the NFL.
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Speaker 1: Eric Weddle, friend of the program me, dub welcome back.
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Speaker 3: How are you, my brother? Doing great? Living the dream
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Speaker 3: and just trying to be the best I can be
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Speaker 3: staying and there. I've been inspired by being around Galley
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Speaker 3: and the guys and even BYU just the great coaches
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Speaker 3: and in but more so Utah just because it's new flavor,
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Speaker 3: new energy, and uh, you know, I'm a better coach
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Speaker 3: and teacher being around those guys up there.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm bummed I missed you while you were in
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Speaker 2: town because you know, I was on an exotic international vacation.
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Speaker 1: So it's a first world problem.
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Speaker 3: But oh, can we can we hang out.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's we can hang out for now. It's cool, Okay, okay, yeah.
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Speaker 2: Give me give me some details, right because there's like
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Speaker 2: all of us love Morgan and the energy is different
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Speaker 2: and things like that. But there's limited access and increased
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Speaker 2: access certainly, but limited access, and you know, you don't
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Speaker 2: know if expectations and reality are going to meet up.
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Speaker 2: So the whole game he took over now his first
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Speaker 2: springball camp, and you were up there hanging out and
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Speaker 2: getting to watch these things and see how it's actually happening.
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Speaker 2: How is it different than the way that Kyle Whittingham
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Speaker 2: did takes.
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Speaker 3: Well, I think for one, uh, seeing him in front
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Speaker 3: of the entire teams and preaching and going over the
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Speaker 3: culture and the identity and vision and everything everything that
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Speaker 3: that entails on a day to day basis, seeing that
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Speaker 3: and seeing how the boys gravitate towards that, I think
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Speaker 3: it's probably the biggest difference. Maybe, you know, I always
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Speaker 3: felt like the defense and the offense, there are two
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Speaker 3: different teams at the University of Utah, right, Coach Lovewi
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Speaker 3: did his thing, and he did a great job, but
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Speaker 3: Morgan had his identity and they played like it well, now,
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Speaker 3: entire teams like that. Then you're adding the coaches and
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Speaker 3: their personalities and their excitement, and yeah, it's just still
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Speaker 3: the honeymoon stage. But when you have a great foundation
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Speaker 3: of what your expectations are, what your standards are, when
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Speaker 3: you're honest and up front with what that is and
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Speaker 3: that looks like and reinforcing it, it's gonna be at
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Speaker 3: the rette for a lot of success over the over
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Speaker 3: the long haul.
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Speaker 2: Do you find the lens through which you look at
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Speaker 2: practice at Utah, at BYU, at wherever? Does it change
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Speaker 2: based on the idea that you know your son is
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Speaker 2: a highly rated recruit who in the next couple of
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Speaker 2: years is going to be making a choice about the
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Speaker 2: kind of place he wants to go. Does the dad
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Speaker 2: version of Eric Weddle affect the football version of Eric
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Speaker 2: Weddle when you're at these practices, Uh, you.
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Speaker 3: Know it's I'm just, honestly just there to support him
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Speaker 3: and love him and give him sound advice when he
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Speaker 3: wants it. And he's really got a good head on
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Speaker 3: his shoulders and really proud of the man he's becoming.
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Speaker 3: So I don't want to I don't want to put
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Speaker 3: any more stress and pressure on him than there already is.
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Speaker 3: I mean, every day he's got the way to the
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Speaker 3: world on him. So I'm trying to live in that
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Speaker 3: up and to remind him that life is good and
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Speaker 3: football is fun and this is your dream that you
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Speaker 3: got to work for it but also enjoy it. So
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Speaker 3: I just while I'm out there, I try to I
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Speaker 3: try to learn and grow as a as a coach
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Speaker 3: and as a as a as a mentor and teacher,
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Speaker 3: and then for him, I tryed to sit back and
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Speaker 3: evaluate what I'm seeing as a player's perspective, if he
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Speaker 3: is in this situation, what that looks like, how is
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Speaker 3: he going to handle that, coaching, teams, culture, all that stuff.
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Speaker 3: I'm just trying to put mental notes so when he
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Speaker 3: goes from place to place, I can remind him of
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Speaker 3: how he felt, what he thought, and he can contrast
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Speaker 3: and compare and where it goes.
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Speaker 2: What did you see from Jordan Gross, the Utah offensive
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Speaker 2: line coach. Obviously you knew him as a player, you
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Speaker 2: knew him as an NFL player. He's been a high
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Speaker 2: school head coach like you are now up in Idaho.
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Speaker 1: But it's a different game.
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Speaker 2: Going back to your alma mater and coaching a position
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Speaker 2: group that has some big old shoes to fill. So
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Speaker 2: what did you see from Jordan Gross coaching his group?
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Speaker 3: Oh? I saw confident experience.
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Speaker 4: Experience is kind of.
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Speaker 3: Like a hyperbole, is that you know he doesn't have
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Speaker 3: much experience, but I saw a confident experience coach that
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Speaker 3: knows what he's doing, has a plan, has a great energy,
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Speaker 3: great excitement is an extension of the head coach and
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Speaker 3: what he believes and what his his direction is for
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Speaker 3: position groups too. And then coach from given with the
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Speaker 3: offensive staff and the offense philopo. And I mean honestly,
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Speaker 3: when you're a coach, I don't know, like you just coaches,
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Speaker 3: not a coach, right, doesn't matter the level obvious, there's
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Speaker 3: different levels of experience and where you win and how
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Speaker 3: your background is and what you've learned. But bottom line
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Speaker 3: is is he's an incredible teachhert and coach. And on
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Speaker 3: the recruiting show, I mean I saw him a bunch
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Speaker 3: of times in San Diego when he came down and
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Speaker 3: he was happy, smiling, and you're gonna see big time
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Speaker 3: recruits come to Utah because of Jordan Rivers.
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Speaker 2: Eric Weddo's our guests here on the Sean O'Connell Show
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Speaker 2: talking all things football. Right now, we're focused on the
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Speaker 2: utes for you, who from the moment you showed up
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Speaker 2: on campus like big time talent, great player. The coaches
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Speaker 2: knew it, the teammates knew it, the fans got to
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Speaker 2: know it relatively quickly.
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Speaker 1: What was your relationship with spring football?
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Speaker 2: For guys that are way down at the bottom of
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Speaker 2: the ladder, spring football is the super Bowl. It's the
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Speaker 2: only time you get real reps. It's your chance to
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Speaker 2: hopefully catch some attention, maybe earn yourself a little bit
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Speaker 2: of a spot on game day. For guys like you
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Speaker 2: who can roll out of bed and be better than
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Speaker 2: most people, what was your relationship with spring football?
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Speaker 3: Well, my first off season in the spring, I fractured
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Speaker 3: my back, so I missed the first spring ball my
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Speaker 3: going into my sophomore year, and so it's obviously important.
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Speaker 3: I don't want to say like I was back for
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Speaker 3: summer and it worked out alright, But I think it's
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Speaker 3: a great time to develop, to work on things that
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Speaker 3: you need to when you identified those areas to improve,
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Speaker 3: and it's about competition, man. Like I told the guys.
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Speaker 4: Everywhere, I go. I tell them you're you're.
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Speaker 3: On a play to play, day to day basis in
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Speaker 3: this profession. So college football is very different than it
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Speaker 3: was twenty years ago, where you have four to five
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Speaker 3: years to develop, you're gonna get coached up. Like you
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Speaker 3: got to understand the mindset is when I cross those
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Speaker 3: white lines, I'm out the that I'm the man. I'm
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Speaker 3: the guy to run this defense or the play quarterback
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Speaker 3: or the play recived. Be like, whatever your position is,
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Speaker 3: you've got to prove it day in and day out.
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Speaker 3: And if you're not improven and you're not eager to
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Speaker 3: accelerate that process and really be pushed in challenge, then
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Speaker 3: you're just gonna get left behind. You're gonna give replaced. So, uh,
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Speaker 3: Spreme ball is pivotal. I think it's a chance to
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Speaker 3: really get leads some bounds from year one to year two,
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Speaker 3: and then it's really going to decide whether you stay
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Speaker 3: in the program or not.
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Speaker 2: How well have you gotten to know Colton Swan, who's
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Speaker 2: taken over for you know, take it over this defense
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Speaker 2: that you know so well and obviously you ran so well,
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Speaker 2: but it's belonged to Morgan for a long time. And
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Speaker 2: now Colton Swan gets his crack at it. How well
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Speaker 2: do you know him?
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Speaker 3: Oh, Colton's the man. He's always been so gracious and
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Speaker 3: really I look at some of the best coaches leaders
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Speaker 3: that I've been around, and they're always kind of come
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Speaker 3: from the same mold of being humble, having some humility,
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Speaker 3: and always willing to listen in and to adapt right
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Speaker 3: and so, yeah, the core of the defenses is who
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Speaker 3: we are. Started with coach with and then Kilanie, coach Anderson,
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Speaker 3: then Morgan, and now Swan's the next guy in successions.
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Speaker 3: But it doesn't it doesn't mean you can't put your
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Speaker 3: own flavor and put new wrinkles and put your own
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Speaker 3: flavor on the scheme because that's how you get better,
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Speaker 3: and that's how you improvise, and that's how.
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Speaker 4: You stay ahead of the curve.
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Speaker 3: So he's done that. Being in the meetings, he allowed
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Speaker 3: me to be in the defense staff meeting, allowed me
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Speaker 3: to just be a fly on the wall and being
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Speaker 3: able to chime in on things that I saw that
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Speaker 3: maybe some improvements or maybe try this, and always just
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Speaker 3: really gracious and wants me around. So I'm excited for him,
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Speaker 3: excited for the defense to continue our standard, but also
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Speaker 3: add some wrinkles into mix cetera.
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Speaker 1: This is not a Utah football question.
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Speaker 2: How come you weren't out there playing flag football with
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Speaker 2: all those NFL guys and the TVSA flag football Challenge.
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Speaker 3: These guys know that, like the flag is not real
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Speaker 3: football for one too. These guys are like, this is
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Speaker 3: their world, this is their super Bowl, and they just
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Speaker 3: got embarrassed on it. So you couldn't pay me enough
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Speaker 3: one to go out there against these flag dudes that
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Speaker 3: you do some of those moves and you're dead on
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Speaker 3: the football field, but out here you're making us look
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Speaker 3: silly because it's just not our game. Man. We gotta
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Speaker 3: know what we're good at and not be prideful enough
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Speaker 3: to go out there and embarrass ourselves. So you won't
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Speaker 3: see me out there. You won't see me running or
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Speaker 3: cutting or anythings. I've basically retired my athleticism so I
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Speaker 3: don't get hurt for the rest of my life.
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Speaker 2: I will say, this is something I appreciate about you,
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Speaker 2: and it cracks me up. About every other NFL player
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Speaker 2: that I know there's and I understand the mentality has value,
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Speaker 2: especially when you're talking about how dangerous and competitive the
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Speaker 2: NFL is, But I have never met an NFL player
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Speaker 2: besides you, basically who doesn't think they're good at everything,
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Speaker 2: that they're the best at everything. I've every NFL player
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Speaker 2: I've talked to about the fight game, there's like, yeah,
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Speaker 2: I could, I could go out there, I could beat you.
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Speaker 2: I'm like, dude, stop it. Like I'm also great at basketball.
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Speaker 2: I can also hit a fastball up. I'm like, no,
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Speaker 2: you are to make it to the NFL. You're an
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Speaker 2: a lead, you're a freak, You're an unbelievable athlete. It
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Speaker 2: doesn't mean you're great at every single thing. But there's
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Speaker 2: a lot of guys who do feel that way. You
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Speaker 2: thankfully are not among them.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, I think I've been lucky and fortunate
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Speaker 3: enough to be around elite people and their respective professions,
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Speaker 3: and it becomes a reality really quick that I have
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Speaker 3: no business, nor do I want to to even think
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Speaker 3: that I'm on the same level at these guys, whether
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Speaker 3: it's you and fighting, whether it's basketball players. Like I
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Speaker 3: remember one offseason I was probably in prime basketball playing
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Speaker 3: This was probably early twenties, twenty three, twenty wards. If
12:16
Speaker 3: I were playing adult league and this this group of
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Speaker 3: guys came from basically overseas to players because we you know,
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Speaker 3: we had like Gates Tea and we had Missus Jackson
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Speaker 3: and Knock and plays, so we had a good teams.
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Speaker 3: And I remember vividly these guys are like, you know,
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Speaker 3: they can't even make a G League. I couldn't get
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Speaker 3: buy them.
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Speaker 4: I couldn't get buy them.
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Speaker 3: Like I look at myself as elite quickness and twitchiness.
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Speaker 3: When I had the ball, I literally could not go
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Speaker 3: by anybody. And I knew right then and there, I'm like,
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Speaker 3: I had no business, Like I'm playing basketball for funds.
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Speaker 3: Never will I disrespect the pros because there's just a
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Speaker 3: whole other level. And just say it's like the same
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Speaker 3: thing when people say, oh, I can go play football site,
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Speaker 3: Well you can't because if you.
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Speaker 4: Could, you would have.
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Speaker 1: Oh that's right.
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Speaker 3: No I can't because I didn't and I'm not good enough.
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Speaker 4: Pretty simple.
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Speaker 2: Eric Weddle our guests for another couple of minutes here
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Speaker 2: on the Shoan O'Connell show. Look, we're all ready to
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Speaker 2: move on. We're all excited about Morgan taking over this program.
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Speaker 2: And I wish Kyle Whittingham, well, I know that there's
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Speaker 2: a lot of people who don't. We had last week
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Speaker 2: last Friday, Uh, the emails came out between the athletic
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Speaker 2: Department and coach Witz agent, and we saw kind of
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Speaker 2: in stark relief what those conversations actually were and the Hey,
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Speaker 2: I want to come back. This is how much money
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Speaker 2: I want. This is how much NIL support I want.
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Speaker 2: And then the athletic department response will give.
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Speaker 1: You this much money.
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Speaker 2: Instead, we're gonna let Morgan have final personnel decision making
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Speaker 2: power starting basically right now, while you're the head coach,
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Speaker 2: you're not making I mean, we saw it. It was
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Speaker 2: insight into the details of a divorce, and so it
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Speaker 2: feels a little icky to read.
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Speaker 1: But now we have more information. What did you take
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Speaker 1: away from that new information?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I look at it like, hey, coach
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Speaker 3: Wood still wanted to coach. He had some things that
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Speaker 3: he wanted. Adman said, Nah, we're not gonna do that.
14:28
Speaker 3: Coachwood didn't like it, and then they broke up, so
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Speaker 3: and he still wanted to coach. I don't really think
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Speaker 3: like one side is one side is the reason why
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Speaker 3: coach Wood last and this and that's like, hey, at
14:44
Speaker 3: some point, change is gonna happen. So it just happened
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Speaker 3: now and both.
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Speaker 4: Sides are happy.
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Speaker 3: They're gonna crush it over there. I'm gonna see them
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Speaker 3: next week, so I'm gonna give him a hug and
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Speaker 3: know he's gonna be smiling, and so I don't at
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Speaker 3: the end of the day, just like Morgan said, like
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Speaker 3: he owes it to the players this university to focus
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Speaker 3: all his time and energy on the university you saw
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Speaker 3: on the football team, not whatever happened in the past.
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Speaker 3: And he knows he had nothing to do with it,
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Speaker 3: and he's excited in his role.
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Speaker 4: And a twist, I think everyone.
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Speaker 3: Just needs to kind of I'm down, and what it's
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Speaker 3: done is done, and we're moving forward, and we could
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Speaker 3: kind of kind of put it the rest and let
15:25
Speaker 3: let by guns by guns.
15:28
Speaker 2: All right, before we let you go. Our next guest
15:31
Speaker 2: is Terrence Murphy. Well, you played against when he was
15:35
Speaker 2: at Texas A and M. He is now he's the
15:38
Speaker 2: new owner of the professional volleyball team here in Salt
15:41
Speaker 2: Lake City. He was his second round draft pick in
15:44
Speaker 2: the NFL that had spinal stenosis. His career was ended
15:49
Speaker 2: after just a few games because of an injury. But
15:53
Speaker 2: what are your memories of Texas A and M, especially
15:57
Speaker 2: that game at Rice Eycles.
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Speaker 4: Holy smoke how well?
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Speaker 3: And I remember it short lived because I tore my
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Speaker 3: NCL I think in the first quarter and didn't get
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Speaker 3: to play the rest of the game, but I watched
16:10
Speaker 3: on the sideline and we're crutches. But I remember the
16:14
Speaker 3: year before playing that was that was my first experience
16:16
Speaker 3: of holy snows. I'm going from Al Saloma High School
16:19
Speaker 3: to the Kyle field that takes A and M and
16:23
Speaker 3: look looking up at their looking up at their the
16:26
Speaker 3: sea of fans like interlocked and going right to left,
16:29
Speaker 3: and I remember teammates getting motion sickness when they're looking
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Speaker 3: at it, and how coolse that game was. And I
16:35
Speaker 3: knew we had a good team coming back and we
16:37
Speaker 3: got after him at home.
16:39
Speaker 4: But yeah, it was like that was like you know
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Speaker 4: that Oregan game, the Cow game the year before, Like
16:46
Speaker 4: those are like monumental wins for our program that kind
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Speaker 4: of put us on a trajectory of being relevant and
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Speaker 4: respected across the country.
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Speaker 2: Well, those are great memories, great years. Uh sorry I
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Speaker 2: missed you. When you're in town. I'll make up for
17:03
Speaker 2: it next time. Appreciate you.
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Speaker 4: We'll be up. Yeah, fourth of July that that that
17:08
Speaker 4: week after for the design will be up.
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Speaker 3: So I think get the families together.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, let's get them together. We'll go up and we'll
17:13
Speaker 1: take the boat up or something. All right, Yeah, let's
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Speaker 1: do it. Bro all right, thanks dude, appreciate you, Love you, dude.
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Speaker 2: That's Eric Weddle, the U tough football legend, NFL legend,
17:23
Speaker 2: I think future NFL Hall of Famer, that's my hope.
17:27
Speaker 1: At least.
17:30
Speaker 2: Sounds like he's headed out to Michigan next week. I
17:34
Speaker 2: hope he has a terrible experience there, just because I
17:37
Speaker 2: don't want his kid to go to Michigan.