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Say Who, Say Pod, Ep. 206 · Say Who, Say Pod

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: Pod.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: Pod.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to another episode of Say Who Say Pod.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: He's Danny O'Neill, not in his sports code.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Christian Caple.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: We're past the midway point of August, Danny.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: Washington had its first scrimmage of training camp on Saturday,
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: and when they awoke this morning,
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: they were officially the number 17 ranked team in the country,
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: according to the preseason AP Top 25 poll.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: Which, by the way, the polls, the preseason polls get a lot of hate nowadays.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people think we should do away with them.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: And all it does is give people false preconceptions about what a team is.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it affects playoff seeding.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe all that's true.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: But I've come around on the idea that who cares?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's fun.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: We like to rank teams, right?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: It does not matter now.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: There was a time where I actually thought it was a problem,
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: but that was, I mean,
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: that was really 1990s when you had,
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: when it could be, your ranking could impact where you ended up playing.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Not so much if you went undefeated,
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: but if you were from a bigger conference and were a two-loss team or
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: a one-loss team,
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: you would need to,
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: it helped to be ranked high early as opposed to Being a team that was unranked at
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: the beginning of the year with one loss,
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: it would be harder to get into the top tier bowl games.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: But we're way past that now.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's some argument that the early CFP selection rankings might mirror
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: the AP poll or like,
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: even if subconsciously you're kind of working off of that as a framework or
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: a starting point.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: And even in that sense, right, it biases you a little bit.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I didn't like totally discount that.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: There was a time I remember when I,
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: because Chris Peterson has long been a proponent of like,
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: don't do rankings for like four weeks, right?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Even then, I kind of agreed with him.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, the preseason ranking does leave teams higher than they should be for longer.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: The problem is voters just need to be more willing to make drastic changes
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: after one week, right?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: 17th is just fine.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: There will be opportunities for them to move up if that's the kind of team
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: that they're going to be.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: They're not ranked somewhere where you'd worry about preseason bias leaking in
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: because the kind of teams they need to beat to rise up or are ranked very high.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: So the other thing is their schedule makes it such that if if you're going
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: to have you'll be in contention if if Washington loses two games.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think they'll be in the college football playoffs.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think if they go through their schedule and suffer two losses, I think they'll be in.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I suppose if you started outside the top 25 entirely, that might be a little dicier.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: But really, the way things work out now...
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: You certainly have time and opportunity to outswim any sort of underestimation early
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: in the year.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Preseason,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: regular season,
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: or postseason,
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: I've got Chek Olsen,
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Kia, and Shoreline number one in my Seattle area car dealership ranking.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: They have, after all.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: Been locally owned and operated since 1964.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: They're family owned and operated by a family of University of Washington graduates.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: They have a friendly low-pressure sales staff and a competitively priced selection of vehicles.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: And they have Henry Olsen.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: So when you go check out Chuck Olsen Kia and Shoreline, ask for our friend Henry.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: And when you talk to Henry, tell him that Say Husay Pod sent you.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Would you describe Henry as more the quarterback?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Is he a coordinator?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you're going to come up with your football equivalent of Henry.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good question.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think he's like a player coach, frankly.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: He's a coordinator.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: He's out there playing quarterback.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's a goal linebacker on fourth and short inside the two-yard line.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Coffee's for closers.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Give the rock to Henry.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Let's have him bring it through.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: You need someone to sew it up.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: You stick that ball in Henry Olsen's gut.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: Let him pull across the goal line.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they call Henry over it at Chuck Olsen Kia.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Bring in the Iceman.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: This episode of Say Who Say Pod, also brought to you by our friends at Husky Mobile.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: Husky Mobile is partnered directly with the University of Washington
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: to offer affordable phone plans for the Husky community with up to 7%
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: of each bill going back to UW Athletics.
• 4:44
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• 4:51
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• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: You can do that at GoHuskyMobile.com.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks again to Husky Mobile for supporting today's show.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: So last year,
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: preseason for the Washington Huskies,
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: you looked at that Wisconsin game and said,
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: they'll be favored, but that's a tough trip.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, they do end up losing that one to go eight and four.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: You look at what the chalk would dictate just based on the AP top 25.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it looks like nine and three with obviously Oregon ranked number two,
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: Indiana ranked number six, USC ranked 14th.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: So those three opponents ranked ahead of Washington.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: They are ranked higher than anyone else they play.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: Penn State and Iowa are also in the top 25.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: So they do have five top 25, five preseason top 25 opponents this year.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: But beating everyone who the consensus preseason is you're better than them
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: and losing to the teams who the consensus preseason is that are better
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: than you would spit out nine and three at the end of the year for what it's worth.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: I would have, if you had said, hey, nine wins.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Or even 8.5 over under last year.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think I probably would have hoped for the over, but bet on the under.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that this year, it needs to be over.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And 10 wins.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: 10 wins is very doable for this team.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not the expectation.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not someone who is like,
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: this is a season that's going to be a failure if they don't win 10 games.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Too many different things can happen.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: 10 wins is a very achievable goal, where I would have said 10 wins is a real stretch last year.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: 10 wins, there would have to be some things happen that I did not foresee happening.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: They would either have to pull some games out.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: DeMond Williams would have to be way more consistent than you have any right to expect.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: A second-year quarterback who's in his first full year as a starter.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: This year is different and the schedule is tougher.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Both of those things.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: The schedule is more difficult and 10 wins is much more achievable this year.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: The Huskies scrimmaged on Saturday, 125 or so plays across their three units.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: I was there.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: I saw it.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: I wrote about it.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: What stood out most to you?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: How did it look to you?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to hear kind of bird's eye view.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: How did it look to you?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's becoming pretty inescapable how much depth they have defensively.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: And what I mean by that is,
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think we can all think of position,
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: not just defensively,
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: but positions in years past,
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: like even on some decent teams,
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: decent to good teams they've had,
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: where if one guy goes down, the next guy in off the bench
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: In a perfect world would not be playing, right?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's, hey, every roster's got its weaknesses.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's a glaring weakness.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: They haven't recruited that position well enough.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: Washington at its best shouldn't be starting so-and-so at such position,
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: shouldn't be bringing so-and-so in as the first guy off the bench at such position.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: It almost feels like this year the opposite could be true, where there are...
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Perfectly functional Big Ten football players who are not going to play
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: on this team, not superstars and not even, not even potential stars, right?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Not guys who would start for every other team,
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: but you know,
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: guys who you watch make plays in practice and think, oh, that guy's flashing today.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: Who are not going to see the field.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Or if they do, it's going to be in a very minimal role.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: And that's more true at some positions than others.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like you start to think about, okay, where could they least afford to lose somebody?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Who could most,
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: kind of when we put together the 22 most important player list every year,
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: who would most disrupt things if they went down?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I do think that even though linebacker is very deep, Jacob Manu is
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: Good enough above replacement, let's say, that losing him would be a loss.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: But you'd put someone very experienced and very talented in his place.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: I do wonder,
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: if something were to happen to Alex McLaughlin,
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: what does that down box safety position look like?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, it's Gavin Day taking the number two reps.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: He had a nice scrimmage, had a nice TFL, made an interception in the end zone.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: But that is a true freshman, right?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so like you look at the depth there and it's like,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: well, you got some talent, not a ton of experience.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: We have Paul Menke has been out for so far this spring with what looks Looks like
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: a minor or nagging something.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: He's been suited up, but working out off to the side.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was curious to see if he might put the clamps on that number two kind of down safety role.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see what it looks like when he gets back.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: But boy, their secondary looks very deep.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean,
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: you're talking about Jaron Jones looking like one of the best players defensively
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: in camp through eight practices.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: He had a great scrimmage, getting number one reps with Dylan Robinson sidelined.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know,
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that Dylan Robinson or Emmanuel Well,
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: currently can be moved off of that one line,
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: but it sure looks like Jaron Jones is going to be the next guy up.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you've got Elias Johnson in the mix there,
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Elijah Durr,
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: who has made some plays,
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Rashawn Clark is your nickel,
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: but Ramon Adams had a real Really nice couple days at camp and so you're looking
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: at like eight to ten guys in the secondary who can really play
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: and obviously you're not going to play all of them.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean there's going to be a guy or two who like you saw make plays in the spring
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: and in camp who aren't going to get on the field this year.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: You're still looking for like that special difference making talent at a few positions.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying this is like,
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: elite across the board,
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: but the number of guys who they could put on the field and trust to do their job,
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going to say is probably the highest we've seen since Chris Peterson was
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: the head coach.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: In my mind,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: the biggest either sort of spot you don't want to see an injury,
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: but it's also who's going to emerge there is edge rusher.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you've got some guys, but Isaiah Ward's been banged up.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: You have a true freshman that has certainly earned a lot of attention.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean,
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: the fact that you're probably looking at one true freshman starting
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: and another one factoring pretty heavy in the rotation on your defensive line.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: But you have you have players up there.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and that was before Ty Ty.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Came back.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: They've got more depth up there.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think back to even the 2023 season.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Defensive tackle.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: When Latuli Hasanoa got banged up, they felt it.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: And to the point where he kind of got pulled back into the Apple Cup,
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: where I think ideally they would have liked to rest him.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was...
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's exactly what you would say.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: That spot where, hey,
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: the next guy down is a guy that ideally,
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: he's just not at the same tier as the other guys on this roster.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I do.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Credit to
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Jed Fish and his staff,
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: the way they've rebuilt the roster,
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: because they came into about as tough a situation as you can come in,
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: in terms of personnel.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: And in year three,
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: they have not only a lot of frontline players and really talented guys starting
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: with their quarterback, but they've got a lot more depth.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: If you are looking for areas of concern, that's it, right?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: That like a number of these guys were talking about providing depth and
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: in certain cases, not just depth, but perhaps starters reps.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: In certain cases, certainly starters reps, right?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Derek Holen, Bruce is going to play a ton.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Is Ramzak Fruin going to start?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see, but he's going to play a lot no matter what.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Jaron Jones is clearly very talented,
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: a very mature player, has very mature cover skills, I would say.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, you saw what it looked like with another freshman corner last year.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Last year,
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: who was really good at times,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: held his own at times, but there were some growing pains too.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: So if you've got that much youth,
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: if you do end up relying on that much youth,
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: especially all at once, you're going to take your lumps here or there.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's just a reality.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: So as exciting as it might be that like, yeah,
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: does Ramzak Fruin bring something different at edge rusher
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: that probably doesn't exist anywhere else on the roster?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I would say so.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say the things he can do in the pass rusher are not things that just anybody in
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: that edge rusher room can do.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: But he is a freshman.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know,
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: the more freshmen you put on the field together,
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: the more you're going to see some of those things pop up where you're like,
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: ooh, that's not a mistake he'll make in two years.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: I will sign up 10 times out of 10 for the young,
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: talented player who makes mistakes, like the Dylan Robinson experience last year.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'll sign up for that 10 times out of 10 compared to a veteran with a lower ceiling.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it's possible that some of that is, I'm not saying that's the right formula for winning.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: But it's probably somewhat what I enjoy watching about a football team.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: But that question of,
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: because you're right,
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: growing pains and the old model was very much, hey,
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: you learn in the background and you get some of the young mistakes
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: or you develop experience and familiarity and consistency at practice
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: and working your way up the depth chart.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: I am so much more, okay,
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: you give me a couple back-breaking mistakes,
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: but give me the guy with talent,
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: let him get out there, and you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's where most of college football is now.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: Certainly Jed Fish is,
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: where experience matters, but it only matters in how talented it makes you, right?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: And if the freshman is more talented without the experience,
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: you're not going to sit him just because he hasn't seen it.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: The other part, too, is that the format changed.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: With a 12-team playoff and early season loss, there's more room to learn on the job.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not like every team depends on the playoffs or every team is going to make
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: the playoffs.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's a different 12 teams out of more than 100 teams.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's a different format than the NFL where a little under half the league makes the playoffs.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: But That was one of the things.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you were going to win the conference or you were going to contend for
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: a national championship, you couldn't lose it all.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like any misstep.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a little different now.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: There is a little more latitude for learning on the job.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Plus, with the transfers,
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: you have a lot of people who are,
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: even if they're not freshmen or even if they're not inexperienced
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: in college football,
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: they are learning a new program or trying to learn a new defense or offense.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think also if you're a Big Ten or SEC team,
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: and this isn't true for every team,
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: but maybe you don't have that marquee top 25 home and home
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: on your non-conference schedule anymore.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so those first three games are,
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: got a little more flexibility as far as letting
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: a guy play every snap who's never played before or getting multiple guys into
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: the game to get them experience.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I think like UC Davis was valuable for them that way last year, right?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: Colorado State and Wazoo,
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: the score wound up comfortable,
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: but those weren't really like terribly comfortable games.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of weird just the way things played out, but...
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Desmond Roebuck's breakout was UC Davis last year.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: And you could say like, well,
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: the opponent,
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: the opponent renders it meaningless from,
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: oh, this guy's going to be great in every game forever.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: We can project that based on the fact that he had a cool touchdown against UC Davis.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's not meaningless in terms of like that guy getting on the field and feeling it
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: and having success, right?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like that stuff still matters.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 100%.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: I would be howling about Washington.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Actually,
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: I did howl when I thought Washington's non-conference schedule was like this back
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: under Sark, where Sark kind of steered it this way.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: That is one of the things I am totally 100% at peace with in the Big Ten reality.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: You are not going to hear a peep out of me about the quality
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: of non-conference scheduling anymore.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, they got five top 25 teams on the schedule.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like it's...
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: I was discussing this recently,
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: and maybe we talked about it too,
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: that the idea of like if the Apple Cup has to be a September non-conference game,
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: like I think it's cooler for it to be week one than week two or week three.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: I would agree with that.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: I strongly believe that,
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: and again,
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: not the case for everybody,
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: but the Season opener in college football has become quite anticlimactic,
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: where you spend all offseason really looking forward to the year,
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: and you know you only get those precious 12 opportunities
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: to watch your favorite team play, and on and on.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: And then the first game is either it's a blowout and you did what you were supposed
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: to do, or you lost and it's the worst thing ever, and the season's over.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: It feels odd sometimes for there to be all this buildup
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: for your average Big Ten team or SEC team,
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: and then the first game is someone you're favored to beat by four
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: or five touchdowns.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I like that.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: You can inject some rivalry juice into that, something to make it interesting.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: The fact that it's on a Sunday and on NBC and exclusive window and all that,
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think only adds to it.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: So it's weird and it's nontraditional,
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: but at least it's something in week one that's like, oh, hey,
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: this is not going to be a 10,000 empty seat, wake me when it's over type of game.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've chopped up some of the Jed Fish sound from after the scrimmage,
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: which was posted On Montlake.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: I watched it on YouTube, also available on the newsletter that was sent out after the scrimmage.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Before we get there, this will be my one question because I feel...
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: I have questions about running back,
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: but I feel like my questions about running back might be because I'm not seeing
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: the practices or close to the coaches to know how they feel about it.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because from the outside,
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: that looks like a position where with Jordan Washington not practicing,
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: really no indication that there's any timeline for him to become available
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: at any point.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's not very much experience back there.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: You've got a transfer.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: You've got Quade Carr.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: You've got Brian Bonner,
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: who's a pretty well-regarded recruit,
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: but is someone that's probably not physically expected to carry a ton of the load.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Is running back a glaring need on this team?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't know how glaring it is.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: I guess I just, and the way you frame that is right, like...
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: Covering the team and knowing kind of how coaches feel about it.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like it's been clear enough since spring that they see Quade Carr as the guy
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: on this 2026 team who's got the highest ceiling right now.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: That I've just kind of had him mentally penciled in as the number one guy.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, we...
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: That number one moniker doesn't mean what it meant for Jonah Coleman.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: And even Jonah Coleman, it's not like they were force-feeding Jonah Coleman.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: He wasn't carrying 25 times a game, right?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: Muhammad got a lot of opportunities.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I think you're talking about a by-committee approach.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: And the question is, is that committee three guys or two guys?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: Because I kind of feel like...
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: There's not going to be a ton of opportunities for guys who are not Quaid Carr or Jaden Lamar.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then we'll see how it's divided between those two.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Jaden Lamar looked good on Saturday.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Made a couple nice cuts.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: He had their two longest rushes from scrimmage.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: Quaid Carr got loose a couple times, too.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: He runs in traffic probably better than I would have anticipated.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: His reputation is that he's a quick speed guy.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: He was a track guy in high school.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: The roster's got him at 198, I want to say.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: So they like that he's gotten bigger.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: Again, I see a guy that they're ever going to plan to hand the ball to 20 times in a game.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that you have that one guy on this roster.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that that's a problem.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're really confident in their offensive line.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think they have a quarterback who can run the ball a little bit too.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's true too.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good point.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: You think back to the Rutgers game last year.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: And...
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: Why was Damond Williams Jr.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: able to get loose against them aside from the fact that Rutgers had one of
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: the very worst defenses in all of FBS?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: That was a factor too.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: They were pretty obviously keyed on Jonah Coleman.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have that one guy in the backfield to command all
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: that attention this year necessarily.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see what it looks like after the first couple of weeks
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: and how their future opponents might adjust based on their performance.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know,
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: I think you factor in what you can design for DeMond Williams Jr.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: with their confidence in Quade Carr and the experience, at least, of Jaden Lamar.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: He's never been one who's,
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think he's had double-digit carries in a game,
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: or maybe he has just once or twice.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: So he's not someone who's ever, you know, really been asked to carry the load either.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's kind of TBD on that front.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: I do think if those two guys are healthy and everything,
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: they feel like that probably fills out the core of their running game.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then, hey, can Trey Cooley add something here or there?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: We haven't seen a ton of him so far.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: They like the way Brian Bonner is progressing.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I mean,
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: is he going to be ready to be in a position to be a regular part of
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: the rotation this year?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not quite sure.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: So when you had Jonah Coleman for two years,
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you felt like you had the heir apparent on your roster during the same period
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: of time.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: And now you don't have either of those guys.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't know that they're down on their running backs either.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: it's going to be one of the things I know that I'm most excited to watch how it plays out.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because I do get that feeling,
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: and some of it's from talking to you, that they're pretty comfortable.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: The coaches are pretty comfortable with what they have at running back.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Of all the different questions I have about this team,
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: this program, the offense and sort of the way the offense runs is not high up there.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of that, here was after the scrimmage.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Jed Fish,
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think,
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: we might have to listen between the lines a little bit,
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: but it sounds like there is a lot.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: He is very happy with what he's seeing from his wide receivers.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Here he is talking, and this was specifically a question about Chris Lawson.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Chris is getting better and better.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's really making the competition at receiver is really becoming better
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: than it's ever been also because you've got Chris,
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: then you've got,
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: and Dez,
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: you got Rasheed playing at a high level,
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: and Christian, then you got Trez, and then Mason made some plays.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Mason had a nice little catch down there and a couple other plays.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you got guys that are constantly working.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And we got to get Jordan Clay back.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Jordan Clay should be back for Tuesday's practice.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: So he's got to step up and he's got to go compete and make it hard.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I love the way Lawson's playing.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing about Chris is he can play all three spots.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: So Chris's flexibility at Z, at X, and at F for us is a big difference maker.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that's a lot of names, Christian.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it's training camp.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: We like to get everybody...
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Jed Fish's offense has never really specialized in the number of different guys who catch.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: The ball tends to go to a few guys in his offense.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: What do you take out of his answer there?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: I was just talking about this with somebody just before the scrimmage about how every year...
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Through injury or guys enrolling early and guys enrolling later,
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: you end up getting a good look in spring and training camp at a number of guys
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: who take a lot of reps at receiver and think, oh,
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking of an Audrick Harris or Chris Lawson last year also,
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: at least in the spring,
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: who are kind of percolating and will play, will appear on the field in every game.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: But you just know when you start to do the math,
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: it's like, well, but if everyone's healthy, this is the number five guy.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: And this program doesn't really go five deep at receiver.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: It does in the sense that that guy will get on the field at some point,
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: but your number five guy is not ending the season with a ton of targets.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: Even number four might not necessarily unless they,
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: you know, last year, you know, a little bit differently.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: Desmond Roebuck was that number four guy to start the year.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Rasheed Williams gets hurt.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: He becomes a starter.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously like you need that depth and more because guys are going to get hurt
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: and you,
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: you're going to have a number four,
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: number five,
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: number six receiver is going to end up playing starting snaps at some point.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah,
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Jed Fish talks about it more in the sense of like,
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: hey, is somebody going to force us to play five guys?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: Is someone going to be so good that, gosh,
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: you got your starting three,
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: and I don't really want to take any of these guys off the field to begin with.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: If we do, this guy's number four, but man.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: Chris Lawson just won't stop making plays.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Trez Davis won't stop making plays.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's kind of what they're looking for.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: With the way they've talked about Christian Moss,
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: with the way Christian Moss has performed through the first eight practices,
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: nine practices now,
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: Big couple weeks for Jordan Clay to prove that he should get some of those snaps as well.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: That X receiver in particular, but that is just not a guy that comes off the field.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, I don't think you're taking Desmond Roebuck off the field and Rasheed Williams.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: Certainly is positioned to be a guy who's not going to be standing on the sideline
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: a whole lot either.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, can Jordan Clay sort of build on what he had done in spring before he got hurt?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then I think he also had a couple pretty nice catches in the spring game,
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: if I remember right, not that, that that really matters as much.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then, yeah,
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: can Chris Lawson keep, you know, he had a nice catch downfield from Keeney McMillan.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think he had their two longest gains of the scrimmage in, in the passing game.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: He stepped in at slot behind Desmond Roebuck with the number one offense.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: So his versatility, I think is going to help him, help him out there and, you know, Hey, our,
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: With Jordan Clay being limited and Chris Lawson performing the way that he has,
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: would Chris Lawson be in contention to be the first guy off the sideline
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: at X receiver should they need a second guy there?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: Is that backup job even assured for Jordan Clay?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll be an interesting couple weeks here to see how that shakes out.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about with this offense,
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: you've got to replace Jonah Colme, you've got to replace Denzel Boston.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: Those are two huge names who are playing in the NFL now,
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: but at receiver one through six, could they on average overall be better?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Could they feel more comfortable going deeper into the well than ever before?
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's possible, but it's health dependent.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: It depends what we see from Jordan Clay.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: It depends how Chris Lawson can kind of close out training camp here.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Before the season starts, I'm just planning this seat.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get back to it.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Before the season starts, we need to make a projection on Desmond Roebuck receptions.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: And more specifically, is there a shot he sets the school's single-season reception record?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what it is?
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's 94.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's by Reggie Williams.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Reggie's got two of the three highest single-season tallies.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's Reggie Williams, 94, Romo Dunze, 92 from 2023, and then Reggie had 89 in 2003.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: Rome's a little skewed because they played 15 games.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: If we average it out over 13 games, that's 7.2 catches a game, roughly.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: That'd be, I mean, Big Ten, Big Ten football.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: That'd be tough to do.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I wouldn't be shocked.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, DeMond Williams Jr.'s comfort level with him is off the charts.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: And he's in the slot?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: And...
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: Who's their best route runner?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: Desmond Roebuck.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: Who's the guy who best finds a way to get open?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: Desmond Roebuck.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: Who's their best ball skill contested catch guy in the slot?
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think it'd be Desmond Roebuck.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: If he lined him up at X receiver and he's facing press coverage
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: against every Big Ten opponent's number one corner,
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: is he winning contested balls as much?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: You probably want someone bigger in that role, obviously.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think the level of trust that the coaching staff and DeMond Williams Jr.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: has in Desmond Roebuck is about as high as it can be.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, I would not be surprised to see him look to him quite often.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to pivot to the defensive backfield now.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to start off with Jed Fish.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: And this is just,
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: it was kind of an unsolicited compliment that he ended up throwing to his safeties
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: in Dillard Allen and Alex McLaughlin.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think that RDA and Alex are two of the best that I've been around.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the last three safeties we had at the last spot are all drafted and played in
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: the NFL right now.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: So really proud of the way those two guys are playing and see what it looks like
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: when we watch the tape.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Two of those safeties that Jed was referencing from Arizona,
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: Trey Dan Stooks, who was a second-round pick.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: I believe he might have been Jed's first recruiting class, maybe, if not the second.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: He was a second-round pick by the Raiders.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: He's a rookie this year.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then Genesis Smith, who was a fourth-round pick by the Chargers.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: And Smith played just one season as a true freshman in Jed's final year in Arizona.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then both those players stayed put after Jed came to Washington.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Safety is strength of this team?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the top, especially that top line.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: Talk about Trayden Stooks.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: Give Trayden Stooks credit.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: He was class of 2020 with Arizona.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: So he comes in, pandemic, goes 0-5 with Kevin Solskjaer.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: Sumlin loses 70-7 to Arizona State,
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: sticks with the program,
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: goes 1-11 under Jed Fish in year one,
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: sticks around, is there for the rise, is there for the rebuild.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: Jed Fish leaves and he stays at Arizona.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: Finishes up, ends up playing six years there and becomes a second-round draft pick.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Good for him.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's a lot.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's some adversity, man.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Holy cow.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Go through a Sumlin season.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then because that first year was some tough.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was a tough road to hoe for everybody down there.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, the depth, I think, is talented.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think you watch Raheem Wright play and you watch Gavin Day play and you think,
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: OK, like, you know, Raheem Wright's a great athlete.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: He's a guy who's, you know.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: This spring was his first healthy practice in a long time.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: He battled some injuries.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: He looks good.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Taylor Mays talks about Gavin Day needing to find that sort of consistency.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: It is...
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe not the most like reassuring thing that the first two safeties
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: after Alex McLaughlin
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_02: or Ryland Dillard Allen basically like haven't played college football.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that's the back line of your defense.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_02: If there's ever a spot where like you most kind of want some veteran presence, it's there.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's why they were hoping CJ Christian could recover
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: from last year's injury and be a factor this year.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, he tore his Achilles in the spring.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: So again, we have to see once Paul Manky Jr. gets healthy, how does he factor in there?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: If something crazy did happen,
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: would they be more comfortable maybe moving Rashawn Clark back from nickel?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think the guys who play nickel in this defense
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: or nickel is their primary position,
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: they kind of consider them safeties anyway,
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: at least sort of like sort them into that bucket.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: I guess Ramon Adams and Jaron Jones come more from the cornerback family, but yeah.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's as good of a starting five as they've had since...
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, at least 2021.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to throw,
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: you know, discount that year because you had two legit NFL corners out there.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think Boogie Radley Hiles was a decent player at nickel also.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: Alex Cook was playing safety.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: He became a second team all pack 12 guy the next year.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: That was, that was not a fun year for anyone to remember.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: It was still a pretty good secondary, but one through five.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it, it, it looks, it looks a little Chris Peterson ish, you know?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: You guys see Dylan Robinson do it.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: We haven't seen him this camp.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: It must not be serious because he's suited up every practice, but he's not participating.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: But Emmanuel Carnley looks pretty good.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: Rashawn Clark looks like he's going to be pretty good.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: And then there's competition behind them.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: That makes you a little nervous if you end up having to rely on multiple of those guys.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I mean,
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: with the way that McLaughlin and Rylan Dillard-Allen are playing and just sort of
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: the
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: As good of tacklers as those guys are,
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: and they're very different players,
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: and so I think they fit the two different safety spots
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_02: in Ryan Walter's defense very well, and they complement each other well.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: They were very impressive on Saturday night.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, here is Jed talking about Dillard Allen specifically, and did he get into a dust-up?
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: I know that he had a big stop, a big stop at the goal line late.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: It sounded like there was a separate little dust-up that he had.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: There was a skirmish, a skirmish, you might call it, early in.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was...
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: It was a screen to Desmond Roebuck.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that it was between RDA and Roebuck.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was like Rasheed Williams was trying to block an RDA.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: Him and RDA got locked up.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: But there were a couple offensive guys, a couple defensive guys.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: There was some pushing and shoving.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: And there may have been a swing taken at one point that had Taylor Mays chatting
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: with Ryland Dillard Allen for some time on the sideline.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: Here's Jed talking about that.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was giving some thought to this.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, RDA reminds me so much of Jacob Manu as a freshman.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I feel like it's my responsibility to really invest in RDA as the person.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I love Jacob Manu.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love...
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Jaden Delora,
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: who I invested,
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: who had those tendencies that they got so competitive and they got on such edge.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I got to get RDA in that same world.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: I got to spend more time with them and help them understand the difference
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: of playing at the highest level.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: I am all for the surly safety.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: I am all for the surly safety.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I am all for the surly safety.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Can you have a really good defense without a couple guys who get kicked out
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: of practice from time
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: to time?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: I would be concerned if you had a defense who never,
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: ever frustrates or angers or promotes a fight from the offensive players.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Jed kind of alluded to, it wasn't a problem in games last year.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that the issue is so much that, oh, he's going to hit an opponent late.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: He's going to hurt the team by drawing a penalty.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying he won't.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying that's not going to happen.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: The issue is like,
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: hey, don't do things in practice that might accidentally injure your teammates.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's a very fair consideration.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: Which, by the way,
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: this coaching staff,
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: and it's filtered down to the players too,
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: because if the conversation ever turns to like, well, what does it mean to be a pro?
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: Or like, how is this, what does professional conduct look?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: I've never heard a staff talk more about like...
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: Being a pro means knowing, like basically knowing when to stop in practice.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_02: It means not getting too close to the quarterback.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_02: It means not taking guys to the ground when it's thud tempo.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: It means,
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: when I was talking to Jed Fish at Media Day and he was talking about some of
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_02: the NFL visits they'd made and that they went over to the Seahawks
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_02: and he's developed a friendship with Mike McDonald and they say,
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: that's obviously a reigning Super Bowl champion, like anything you take away there.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: And he basically said,
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: yeah, like they, One, they know who they are and what they want to be about.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: Two, they do a great job taking care of the team in practice.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: They do a great job,
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: which if you've watched Hard Knocks,
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: maybe that hasn't always been the case this training camp.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: Mike's gotten after dudes who get too close to the quarterback.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: He broke Derek Hall off something because he did not like how close he got to the quarterback.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: Turns out I'm the one running the practice.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: That was a pretty good line.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: That was a pretty good line.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: Too bad.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: Turns out I'm the one running the practice.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know,
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: we saw Ryland Dillard Allen get sent off on Thursday and was very,
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: very frustrated, very upset.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_02: My understanding is I think a message needed to be sent along those lines to
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: the entire defense that day.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_02: I think this has been a very physical camp.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: He's not alone in that sort of pushing the envelope, needing to find the line sort of thing.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: I wonder if there was a little bit of like,
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: hey, we've got to rein all these guys in a little bit.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: And he's the one that gets to take the bullet for everybody.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Nate McMillan,
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: when I covered the Sonics,
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: used to talk about this,
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: is that there would be challenges with Dale Ellis on defense,
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: and Bernie Bickerstaff would never say a word to Dale Ellis about that,
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: but he would curse Nate McMillan up and down.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because somebody just needs to take it in the interim.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes that happens too.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like you just get to be the one that as a leader or as someone who can take
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: that criticism, you're the one that gets kind of singled out.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've covered teams that have at At times hurt themselves through some of
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: and been around like where people could legitimately say they need to reel it back
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: a little bit.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I've always felt that the benefits you get from playing that way.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: Outweigh sort of the tough guy football persona of like,
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: you can't have people doing that sort of thing.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: It is good to take care of your teammates at practice.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: It is really stupid to be overly physical in practice.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: And when it comes to games,
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: I always try not to be someone who is like, oh my god, you can't take that penalty.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're like, well...
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes it'll happen.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you've got a team that pushes to the edge, sometimes you're going to take that.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: Really good defenses do tend to get penalized, and I'm okay with the tradeoff.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to trip over pennies.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: Do you find it amusing that the guy...
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: Besides Ryan Walters,
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: the guy who is taking Rylan Dillard Allen aside to explain to him the importance
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: of finding the line is Taylor Mays.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Taylor's really good in the sense that they're, I mean,
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: if you want to look at,
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: There are not many safeties who have ever been as big and as fast
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: as Taylor Mace was.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: I know his pro career didn't turn out like a lot of people thought.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: And if he comes out after his junior season, it's very possible he is the top 10 pick.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's too bad.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: I wish we got to see him in the Seahawks defense, being fully honest.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: See him in that Cam Chancellor-type role.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I do think that Taylor Mays,
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: he's the perfect person to be doing that because Taylor was
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: a legitimately intimidating safety.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: A legitimately intimidating safety.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: And how do you maintain that without being reckless?
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: How do you know the moments where you do want to set a tone?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: And for this defense,
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: I do think their middle linebackers and their safeties are going to be tone setters
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: for him.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean...
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor was so freaking big.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: He was a menace.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: And he was fast enough to play single high.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: God, he was just a hammer back there.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: The Manu comparison is interesting from Jetfish.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they obviously expect him to be a great player, was a great player for them in Arizona.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_02: They clearly think the world of him off the field also.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: When I see Rylan Dillard Allen get as frustrated as he was and as upset,
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: this is not a guy who believes he's being reckless or intends to be reckless
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: with his teammates.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's a guy who's Very aggressive and finding the line,
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: does not seem to have found it yet,
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: but I think is working through what it looks like to practice properly
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: and is not necessarily trying to cause problems.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, on the other safety,
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: Jed Fish was asked about Alex McLaughlin and the possibility that he might be part
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: of the pass rush at different points.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's really bright,
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: so he has a really good feel for when to come,
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: when not, like how to read it, what track to take, how to time it out right.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the position he plays permits us to use him in every really disguise it,
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: drop, play the linebacker position, play the safety position, be a blitzer.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: And certain guys have a great feel for Blitzen, and he's done a great job with that.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is Alex going to be kind of their X factor?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: He could be.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he was in the backfield a lot on Saturday.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: He chased DeMond Williams out of the pocket at one point, forced a throwaway.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: He had a couple,
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_02: they're not actually sacks because the quarterbacks are not live,
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_02: but had a couple touch sacks,
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: plays that were ruled sacks that probably would have been.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_02: I'd have to go back and look.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like last camp...
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_02: We all had kind of the same thought that,
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: oh yeah,
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: like this is a guy and he, I mean,
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: what did he have five and a half sacks or something his sophomore year
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_02: in Northern Arizona,
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: like played a ton at the line of scrimmage and in the backfield.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of felt like they would use him as a blitzer more last year.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then I,
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_02: just as we think about this,
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: he's like,
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that we saw that a ton, at least just off the top of my head.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: Don't recall seeing it like a whole lot.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: But it does seem like it's very much part of the package
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_02: and they were being pretty liberal with it on Saturday.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, I mean, it's...
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: As you're trying to generate more pass rush, right?
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: That was not a strength for them last year.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I think they got a couple of guys in that edge rusher room who were interesting
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_02: and who could improve it.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know,
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: you don't really have like a proven difference maker there yet where you're like,
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: okay, this is cleaned up.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_02: It'll be better, period.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, because of this guy or this guy.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's one more way to get pressure on the quarterback.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's one more thing for the quarterback to have to think about and account for
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: before every play.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: And he's also just a very good tackler, right?
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_02: Such a good tackler.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_02: He finishes tackled.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_02: He does.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: He's got a shot to get someone on the ground.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's pretty rare for him to get out of it.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's...
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: For all the time we spend talking about either schemes or players,
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: physical attributes,
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: their speed,
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: their size,
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: like tackling is in some cases an under-appreciated or under-emphasized,
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: like having a really sure tackler,
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: especially a guy who's a safety, and it's a foundation.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's a building block of the game,
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: and he's as good a tackler as I think you see in college football.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: Care to guess who their two highest-graded tacklers were last year by PFF?
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: Is, well, I'll say Alex McLaughlin.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: He's number one.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: X-Ray Alexander?
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_02: No, he was, well,
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_02: 11th, really more like 9th or 8th if we filter out guys who didn't play that much.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: What's that?
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Is it Manu?
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: Jacob Manu?
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_02: It was not Manu.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: Is it total tackles?
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just so, the highest grade from PFF.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is it Dillard Allen and McLaughlin then?
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: Dillard Allen was second, yeah.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_02: So and then Vince Holmes was was right behind Dillard Allen.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where it gets weird.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, like he only played 100 snaps and small sample size and such.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I mean,
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: PFF thought that the two best tacklers on their team last year are the two guys
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_02: who are going to start at safety for them this season.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: So they are up the middle, I think, as as you would want them to be.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: I saw that Rainy Saleh is still not playing,
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: but I think you asked Jed about him after the scrimmage,
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: and it sounds like he's pretty close to being back on the field.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I wish I'd asked about Dylan Robinson and Isaiah Ward, too.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_02: So Renny Saleh came off two or three practices ago and
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: hasn't participated since.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_02: He was suited up and he did some, I think, kind of light stretching at the start.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: But him and Jacob Manu didn't participate either, but I think they're kind of just...
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: Not in the Pete Carroll sense, but kind of taking care of him right now.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just keeping him fresh.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: And he'd been limited for a couple of practices early in camp and it was, it was nothing.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_02: Also fully suited up.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, Rainey Saleh didn't, uh, Elenius Davis had come off the day before and suited up.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: I also don't think took any reps. Um, Dylan Robinson hasn't done any 11 on 11 yet.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: Devin Hyde just got back.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Russell Davis looks explosive.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's another guy.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I kind of feel like, you know, you know what you have in Jacob Lane.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_02: He's got, he's kind of your stalwart.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: He's got one spot locked up.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: That trio of Isaiah Ward, Ramzak, Fruin, and Russell Davis.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_02: I will be very interested to see the division of reps there
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_02: because I think all three of those guys have something to give.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_02: They all have to play.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um,
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_02: Can you get two of them on the field together in situations
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_02: where you do take Lane off the field?
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_02: You probably have a bigger body like Logan George or Devin Hyde on that side,
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: but I think Russell Davis has looked the way you would hope he would look coming off
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: of a year where he didn't get to play at all and basically hadn't practiced with
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_02: the team since November of 2024.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_02: He chased down Brian Bonner for a TFL that was kind of a wow play.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_02: He forced a hold on a pressure that would have been a sack otherwise.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think he had a sack.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that was all against the number two offensive line.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_02: He's taken one reps here or there.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that I saw him in there on Saturday.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_02: But he's looking like someone who's going to play, going to be part of the rotation.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's the thing.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're kind of uncertain about that position,
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: but you're now looking at like seven guys who have all sort
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_02: of done something this camp where you're like,
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: they could go pretty deep just in terms of guys, again,
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: like guys you trust to put on the field and go do it if they got to go out there.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's certainly a much different situation than...
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: In the past couple years where you've been, this guy's got to be able to fill this spot.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_01: And if he's not able to, I'm not sure what their next tier wears here.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: There are some spots where you don't have proven experience or proven production,
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_01: but you've got three or four guys who are candidates to step into that role,
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: which is, those are...
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's the situation you want as a coach.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because then you're saying, okay, it's out there for you to get it.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody's got to go grab it and let the best player win.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_02: You heard Jed Fish talk about this too, that...
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Jacob Manu and Zadrius Rani Saleh are both out for this scrimmage.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_02: And who are your starting linebackers?
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_02: X-Ray Alexander and Buda Alukta,
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: which are the two guys they brought in from the portal last offseason
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_02: to be their starting linebackers last year.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_02: It didn't quite work out that way coming into the season.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know,
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_02: what Jed Fish say,
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_02: yeah, we had we had two starters out and we replaced him with two starters.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of the luxury you have at a linebacker right now.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, Donovan Robinson.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: Second year linebacker, 2025 signee, who was a safety in high school.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_02: They felt like once he got to college, he was a linebacker all the way.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_02: He's got decent size.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_02: He's retained his speed.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_02: He can really run.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah,
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: he was in coverage on a,
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_02: a 19 yard touchdown pass that DeMond Williams Jr. through to Baron Naone.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but also he had a breakup the day before he had a couple
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_02: of pretty impressive tackles,
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_02: you know, Again,
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_02: like that's a guy who if all goes according to plan,
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_02: there's really no reason to think that there's going to be room for him
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_02: to play aside from,
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: you know, if they happen to be up by multiple scores late in game.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they just are that deep with veteran talent ahead of him,
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: but who looks very good and looks like,
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_02: in any other year you'd be talking about like could Donovan Robinson be,
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_02: you know, their number three or number four linebacker.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, Guys,
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_02: not everybody stays healthy,
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_02: an injury or two there,
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_02: and now suddenly he's in a position where you are going to end up relying on him.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_02: Isaiah Tokyo, speaking of young linebackers, Isaiah Tokyo, he had a nice practice.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_02: J.D.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_02: Hill, they have him outside, signed him, he was a defensive lineman.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_02: There was some thought that he's versatile enough,
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_02: maybe down the road he plays more on the interior.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_02: He's a powerful dude.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's pretty fast too,
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_02: but he saw him truck X-Ray Alexander during a special teams drill where it was like,
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_02: whoa.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know...
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's a freshman against a fourth-year player,
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: but it's also like,
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: man, I wouldn't want 6'2", 270 sprinting at me like that, you know?
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's a tough assignment for X-Ray Alexander.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: For sure, like, well, that guy's got nothing to lose.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_02: But again, that's another guy where it's like, okay, but is there room for him to play?
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, he does look really good, but, you know...
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_02: It might be,
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_02: there are going to be a couple of freshmen on this team who you see this camp
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_02: and go, wow,
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_02: that guy looks like a really good player who are going to have to go
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_02: the more traditional route of,
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_02: there's no more redshirting,
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_02: but there's just,
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_02: there's enough depth where you're not going to have every single one of those guys
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_02: on the field this year, at least not in, you know, for significant snaps.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, J.D.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: Hill's one who, you know, maybe.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_02: You're right, you're looking for those difference makers at edge rusher.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_01: This will be my last sort of question, query of the day.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_01: Do you get any sense on returners?
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_01: Desmond Roebuck, punt returner, kick returner?
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: Do you get any sense of kind of what direction they're going in those spots?
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_02: Let me make absolutely sure because it was the first thing I wrote down.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: It was the first thing they did.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_02: Trez Davis, Mason James, and Elijah Durer were returning kicks.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think I'll be a little surprised if it's not Rashawn Clark returning punts.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_02: Feels like it's mostly Rashawn Clark and Desmond Roebuck
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: who we usually see in drills there.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: Did I write that down on Saturday?
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe, maybe not.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've always enjoyed the idea of the defensive back returning punts.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe this can be traced back to Deion Sanders.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: I've always enjoyed the DB as the punt returner.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_02: Just the aesthetics of it.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_02: Who's the last DB to return punts for the Huskies?
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: For the Huskies?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_02: From Pettis to Aaron Fuller.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like Trent McDuffie returned a punt at some point.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_01: We have seen... Rock Alexander definitely did, but that's 25 years ago.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's going back a ways.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_02: We have seen X-Ray Alexander back there returning kickoffs.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_02: He's got two kickoff returns.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_02: Not bad either.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think you might actually see him return a kicker.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_02: Not like, oh, he's going to be the up guy and there's something weird that's going to happen.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_02: They legit might put him back there a time or two this year.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_02: I won't be shocked.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be awesome.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so Trent McDuffie returned six punts in 2021.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_02: And he was their only punt returner in 2020.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: So there's our answer.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_01: COVID year and the year after that.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I, I'm thinking at punt returner, it's mostly between Rashawn Clark and Desmond Roebuck.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know,
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_02: I, we know that not a lot of thought is given to like reducing workload necessarily.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I typically I think, well, like I would expect Desmond Roebuck to play more snaps.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_02: Although I don't know, like Rashawn Clark probably isn't coming off the field a lot either.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_02: Those are both, you know, very much full-time players.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so who do you think, you know, Who's more explosive?
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: Who do you trust more?
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_02: Who's going to achieve the goal of every punt return,
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_02: which as Chris Peterson described it, was get the ball back to the offense.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: That is a Mike Holmgren-esque approach to the punt return,
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_01: which is funny because then Chris Peterson had maybe the—well,
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: he was the most dangerous punt returner in college football history in Pettis.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: I get the—I—I— I'll just I'll be interested to see because I like I like the idea of
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_01: the DB returning it.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_01: And until Rashawn Clark loses a ball,
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_01: I would I would bet that he ends up he ends up getting the first hand.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: And if they they come away with questions about ball security, then then robot goes back.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why I was just kind of default to wanting a running back returning kickoffs.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't really know why.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like, someone else is better at it.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's certainly a different skill than punt returner.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: Punt returner, basically you have to make someone miss.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it's more of quick feet, tight space maneuverability.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_01: And returning kickoffs...
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_01: It takes a certain amount of courage and then knowing that you might get blown up
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: at full speed because you've got a running start.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it definitely, kickoff's much more conducive to running backs.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_02: So the guys I saw returning punts on Saturday were Roebuck,
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_02: Clark, Elijah Durr, Chris Lawson, and Mason James.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: Chris Lawson's another way, hey,
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_02: if he continues to show up at receiver,
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_02: maybe that's one more way to Kind of let him try to get involved and make an impact
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_02: on the game is get him out there at punt returner.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like, have we seen Jaden Lamar during kickoff return drills?
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_02: Or Quaid Carr?
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that stands out in my brain for some reason,
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_02: but I don't know if that's... By the way, this is what a scrimmage...
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_02: Notebook looks like.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's well done, man.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: Easy.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's way more organized, succinct.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_01: Mine, I've taken up three lines with one play.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was never that succinct.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_02: This is when you see the dog mascot in the crowd.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's how you denote that.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: Dubs!
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_02: Dubs!
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I forgot to write it.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_02: Capital letters encircled it on the first page.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_02: It still didn't make it into the story.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_02: So it's training camp for everybody.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're all just trying to get 1% better every day.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: Get an early start on the week.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for doing this on a Monday, by the way.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: It is my pleasure.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_01: I am happy to do it and look forward to checking in with you next week.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_02: We owe it to the people.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_02: I got to get a two-for-one Friends of the Program Zoom call going here,
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_02: too, because I'm late on our July call by a couple weeks now.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_02: Probably get a couple of those scheduled in the next couple of weeks here.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_02: See you next week.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk to you then.