Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Red and Blue: Jarom Jordan on Kalani reportedly told Santiago would be fired, BYU's season opener vs Utah Tech + more

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Red and Blue: Jarom Jordan on Kalani reportedly told Santiago would be fired, BYU's season opener vs Utah Tech + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: My father taught me many things. You know what they say.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: He taught me, keep your friends close, but your enemies close.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Time to check in on the team down south. They
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: have done absolutely nothing wrong, but they're blue. This is
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the Red and Blue on the Sean O'Connell Show and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Utah's number one sports talk, ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Time for some red and blue here on the Sean
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: O'Connell Show. We check in with the team down south.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Jerem Jordan, our BYU insider and friend of the program.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Conversations brought to you by Murdoch Ford Santa Quinn. Right now,
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• 1:09
  Speaker 1: buy four select tires. Jerem Jordan, welcome back to the show.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: How are you, sir?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I'm great. What if I told you I was getting
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: new tires at a Murdoch dealership right now? So I'm
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: just tying into the sponsor. Let's go.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I would say I hope it's in Santa Quinn and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: then not ask you to confirm or deny one way
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: or another.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: No comment.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, love that. Are we surprised at all by the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: fact that this Santiago Kalani story will not go away?
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Dick Harmon made sure we get another day or two
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: legs out of this thing when he went on Big
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: 12 Today and made some claims that I was previously
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  Speaker 1: unaware of. I haven't been able to confirm one way
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: or another, but I usually trust insiders when they're sourced
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that well. And he said that Kalani was promised that
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Brian Santiago would be fired. Now, that has not been
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the case. We've already talked about sort of the separation
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: between the rest of the athletic department and the football
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: program now. But I think one of the things for
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: me here, Jerem, is that we're still talking about it,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and it's game week.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're still talking about it, which I don't like.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Not that we shouldn't be talking about it, but that
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: it is a story still. I was hoping, as we've
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: chatted the last couple weeks, that this would be resolved
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: prior to this week, because now it's ball week. Luckily
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: for the team and Kalani and everybody, they're dialed in. Literally,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: the players don't really know what's going on. They're like, what?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Like we talked about, they're focused, which is good. And
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  Speaker 2: they should pound Utah Tech. But, yeah, there's still– this
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: is still a lot of– it's not just embers. It's
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: still a fire, and it's still going. And I'm hoping
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: they can figure things out. Obviously, the news came out
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: that Keith Wartink, the vice president over several departments, including
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: athletics and mine, broadcasting, will– be the supervisor who Kalani
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: reports to directly. And so, unfortunately, this is not resolved
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: because I think in the end, resolution needs to occur
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: so that BYU can maximize its opportunities as an athletic department.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: But full steam ahead because once the ball kicks off,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: I don't think Kalani and the team and Frank, they
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: haven't cared since August 1st when fall camp started. They're
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: dialed in and they need to be because this could
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: be a really, really special season for them. for BYU.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: So I'm hoping that all parties can figure this out
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: as soon as humanly possible. And, and as you mentioned, Dick,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Dick Harmon's the godfather of BYU reporting and journalism. And
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: so he certainly carries a lot of weight from his
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: service in the, in the area over decades.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: What, what does resolution look like? If not what we
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: already have, because I'm with you, you want it to
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: kind of go away. You want it to put a
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: bow on this thing and have it be, the way
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: it needs to be down there. If you're going to
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: capitalize on the opportunities in front of you, these not
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: only in football season, but basketball right on the tails
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  Speaker 1: of it, we'll be starting, you know, we'll be talking
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  Speaker 1: about that in a month or so. What, what does
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  Speaker 1: resolution look like for BYU athletics right now?
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  Speaker 2: It's a great question. I think there's several, you know,
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  Speaker 2: possibilities and I know that different parties want different things
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  Speaker 2: and whatnot, but I just want there to be no
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  Speaker 2: conflict and no issues. Like I, What does it take
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  Speaker 2: to do things the BYU way and keep Kalani and
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Kevin Young? I want BYU to have the right coaches,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the right people in the right places, whatever that looks like.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: That's up to the Board of Trustees. That's up to
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  Speaker 2: the BYU administration. Let's figure this out. And they've made
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: a move where they feel like that will get them
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: a step in the right direction. Is it the resolution?
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: that all the parties need. I think that's still TBD
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: at this point. I am glad that they made a
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  Speaker 2: move that they feel like they need to make, but
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  Speaker 2: the jury's still out. Perhaps they have resolved it, and
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  Speaker 2: it will proceed, and it will work, but that's to
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: be determined.
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  Speaker 1: Indeed. We had former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham go
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: on the Dan Patrick show this morning and address... an
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  Speaker 1: article that came out last Friday in the Salt Lake
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Tribune where players reported, where players talked to the reporter,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Jason Patakiao, and said, hey, my injuries were mishandled at
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  Speaker 1: the University of Utah, and I was forced to play
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  Speaker 1: when I wasn't fully recovered. I wasn't ready to play,
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  Speaker 1: and obviously this is Kind of weird timing, the same
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: way this BYU story is weird timing and things like that.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted your thoughts. Kyle Whittingham on Dan Patrick, of course,
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  Speaker 1: denied that he ever tried to influence medical staff to
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  Speaker 1: get players on the field if they weren't ready. My
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  Speaker 1: response initially was like every coach in the country wants
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  Speaker 1: their guys on the field or on the court or
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: wherever if they can get them there. and players kind
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  Speaker 1: of in some ways should feel pressure to get back
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: as soon as they possibly can because they're on scholarship,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: and now they're also paid on top of that. So
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  Speaker 1: I think maybe I have a harsher mindset against what
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: players need than I should. I have less sympathy for
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the injured athlete than I probably should because I spent
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: plenty of time as an injured athlete myself, and you
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  Speaker 1: just show up and you keep performing if you can.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted your thoughts on this article that was for
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  Speaker 1: me mostly a non-story that has turned into a big story.
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  Speaker 2: And I, to be fair, didn't read the article, so
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: I don't know all the specifics. Or see the Dan
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Patrick interview with Kyle. I'll probably listen to it later
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: because I listen to the Dan Patrick podcast religiously. I
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: love it. He's great. But, yeah, it is unique, right?
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Because in pro sports, there's so many games. You kind
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: of understand if, you know, on the tails of back-to-back
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  Speaker 2: or three and four nights that, you know, LeBron doesn't
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: play in Salt Lake sometimes, although he started.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Playing in Salt Lake a little bit.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Last couple years. In college, yeah, it's hard. It's like,
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  Speaker 2: especially when there's only 12 regular season football games, if
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: a guy can play, you're hoping he can play. Yet,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: there's an agenda for the team. There's an agenda for
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  Speaker 2: the player. The agent's probably saying, hey, it's going to
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  Speaker 2: hurt your NFL stock if you get hurt. There's all
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: kinds of agendas. So it is a bit complicated, but
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: it is kind of weird still to have this sort
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: of post-Kyle Whittingham situation Utah relationship articles. Like it is
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  Speaker 2: a little odd, right? Like things, things are happening still
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  Speaker 2: where it was like, Hey, I thought we broke up.
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  Speaker 2: We're still talking about the, uh, the furniture and who
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  Speaker 2: gets what, like what's, what's going on here.
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  Speaker 1: It's a great, it's a great way to put it.
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  Speaker 1: It's like, uh, what are we doing? Why?
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  Speaker 2: We're splitting assets still. Like we're complaining about that. Like, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I thought we, I thought we were done. I guess not. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: It's a sort of a weird situation, but We've had
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  Speaker 1: a couple of those this offseason. I think we'll continue
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: to have a few.
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  Speaker 2: But not as many as the Niners.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Don't. Don't do that.
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  Speaker 2: This, like, Dijon love, dude. I cannot get enough of
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  Speaker 2: this story. And now all these NFL players are embracing
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: it like, oh, man, he's one of the greats. Like,
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  Speaker 2: I remember playing with him. They're just, like, mocking it openly.
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  Speaker 1: It's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: I'm actually– I'm just jealous that I didn't think of this,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: although– It probably probably wouldn't be believable if I pretended
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: that I was a San Francisco 49er, but just.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: You could act like you fought him.
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  Speaker 1: It's just the fact, just the fact that he.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Knew the way in with him.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: He fooled so many people into believing that he was like,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: how did these folks not have Google? They don't know
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: how to look up a roster or a practice squad.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Give me a break.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: And there've been other dudes that have come out. There
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: was a dude that faked in the Cowboys player, even
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: signed autographs for like kids. I'm like, what are we doing?
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: We all have to be careful. We have to double-check stuff.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: We have to make sure we're good. The ability to
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: dupe people has never been better than ever. And it
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: used to be like, oh, old people watching a scam
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: commercial at night and they'd call a number and that's rough.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: It's everybody. We've all got to be careful, man. It's crazy.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: But I cannot get enough of that story because I'm like,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: what happened? Every day there's some new detail.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Did you see the NFL Top 100 list as long
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: as we're talking about NFL players. These are real ones though.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Not fake ones.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, well, love didn't make it this year, but
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  Speaker 2: he made a few years ago. According to him, I
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: did see a few like Puka and JSN.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: So, uh, Fred Warner at number 20 in the NFL
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: top 100 players, Puka Nakua at six, the sixth best
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: player overall in the NFL. And you and I have
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: had this conversation over the last year plus about the,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the quantity versus quality arguments, uh, The fact that you've
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: got two players from BYU, recent BYU football players, recent
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: BYU grads that are in the top 20, not even
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: just in the top 100, that are in the top
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: 20 and in the argument for being best player in
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the league at their respective positions. what does that mean
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: for Kalani Satake right now.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: With BYU it's big time in recruiting because they can
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: point to not just having certain NFL dudes because BYU
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: has done better the last decade in that space they
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: don't They don't have as many as kind of, you know,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: they want. They're getting more, though, the last couple of years.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: There's more talent coming into the program. But are we producing, like,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: elite players? The answer is yes. And Fred, I think
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Fred would be even higher if he wasn't coming off
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: an injury. Like, he'd be a top 10, top 12
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: guy probably. And then, yeah, Puka, unbelievable. Like, hopefully he
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: can figure things out on and off the field and
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: then get a $ 250 million contract. Like, that could be
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: in his future. We'll see, but... It's huge for the program.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Kalani acknowledges that, yes, they're trying to develop people. Some
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: of them will make the NFL. Most of them won't, right?
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: And they've got to be successful in whatever space. But
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: you can come to BYU, not only win a bunch
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: of games at a high level, but play in the
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: NFL at a high level, undrafted or otherwise. And, yeah,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: some of those dudes are Hall of Fame caliber. I
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: hope that Taysom Hill gets an opportunity to finish his
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: career with a contender here. He's got kind of a
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Hall of Fame utility resume, if you will. He probably
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: won't be in the Hall of Fame, but he could
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: be if they talked about a utility-type position. But then
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Fred and Puka are certainly doing great work, so it's awesome.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: It's fantastic.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to a crazy NFC West again this
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: year with those guys.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: If he was playing in 1956, then Taysom Hill would
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: definitely be a Hall of Fame player.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Hey, he would have given Y.A. Tittle a run for
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: his money with the New York Giants for sure.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And I don't mean that as an insult because I,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: like all of his peers in the NFL, I'm incredibly
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: impressed with him as just football player. Doesn't matter position,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: just football player. It's so amazing that a guy can
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: be elite at like five different things in a league
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: that we just went through NFL roster cuts. When you
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: read the list of guys who just got cut from
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: an NFL roster, it's the same list that you read
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: a few months ago as an all-conference list. These are excellent,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: excellent football players who can't even make it onto a roster.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: And Taysom Hill has been through a career now where
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: he's just like, yeah, I'm a fullback, tight end, running back, quarterback,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: punt returner, special teams, like tackling machine. I'm all of
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: these things. Most guys can't even get into the league
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: to do one, and he can do seven.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm literally watching Terminator today because Terminator 2 is
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: in the Megaflex. I'm going with my brother-in-law. He's never
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: seen it. And I'm watching Terminator. I'm going, oh, it's
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: tasting hell. It's just whatever you need. He comes back
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: to try and get Sarah Connor. You know, if that's needed,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: that's there. Terminator 2, now he's the good guy. You know,
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: I'm like, he can do whatever. He can do whatever.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: The versatility is unbelievable. I'm excited for him because right
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: now my understanding is he's waiting for the opportunity with
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: a contender that might be mid-season, that might be in
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: a couple weeks, who knows. But that's kind of my
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: understanding of his potential hopes because he's not retired. And
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: certainly it'd be sweet to have Taysom involved with BYU
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: at some point in the future, but not right now.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Not right now because I want him to get with
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: somebody good and see him in the playoffs and make
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: a big play in a big moment. And he's not done.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: It doesn't feel like he's done quite yet.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Jerem, just say what you really want. Just tell us
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: what you want.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Seahawks.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: You want him to be with the Seahawks?
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Oh, dude. A Taysom Hill Seahawks jersey? Let's go. Come on.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: I'd be all over that.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I'd be fine if he ended up with the San
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Francisco 49ers. The way that the injury situation in San
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Francisco is going, Debo at some point will be injured.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Taysom could fill in for him. Kittle at some point
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: will be injured. He could fill in for him. McCaffrey
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: at some point will be injured. He could be the
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: backup for Christian McCaffrey. If Brock Purdy, he could, he
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: might even be able to fill in for Trent Williams
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: in a pitch.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Just left tackle.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Why not?
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: And let's be honest. It's the world versus the ramp. Okay. They're,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: they're so freaking stacked. Like let's unite as NFC West brethren.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: We don't need the Cardinals. Sorry, Tyler.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: But let's go. It's us versus them. Like, one of
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: us has to do this this year, okay? I am
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: going to concede just a little bit. We won the ship.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: That's going to be good for, like, five years for
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: me emotionally, although I feel like we're still good.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Let's go.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: It's us versus the Rams. They're stacked. They're hosting. They
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: got guys all over the place. One of us, Niners, Seahawks,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: we got to beat the Rams.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Let's go.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: All right. Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we can get on board with that. Jerem Jordan
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: for a couple more minutes here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Red and Blue is brought to you by our friends
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: at Murdoch Ford at Santa Quinn. Swinging the focus back
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: to the BYU Cougars. Utah Tech, I don't think, has
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: a lot for Kalani's squad, but they're going to say
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the right things. When you ask Kalani or you ask
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: his assistant coaches or his players, oh yeah, we respect
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: these guys. And we've got to be on our A
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: game and things like that. Okay, whatever. Go speak. We
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. What does the success actually look like for
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: BYU in the home opener against the Trail Blazers?
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: A great first half. Think back to last year's game
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: against Portland State. BYU was a.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: 49-0 at half.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: They pulled the starters. The twos and threes did a
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: nice job of kind of keeping the pedal down. The
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: backups got some great experience. I don't know that BYU
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: has a ton of games on the schedule where they're
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: going to have this kind of situation. So, a glorified exhibition.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: You know, Montana State won the FCS national title last year.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: They're number one. They won 54-0 in St. George. There
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: were some things that, you know, the Trailblazers did that
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: were interesting. But ultimately, be healthy. You know, get the
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: kinks out and find these receivers in the passing game
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: that have been playing great in fall camp. That's not
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: a question mark for me, but we do need to
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: see it. Special teams, you're replacing kind of all three
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: guys in the snapper holder category. punter place, kicker thing,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: get them some reps. You don't want the punter to
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: punt too much, but a couple of those. Um, and
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: then defensively, yeah, just get a bunch of dudes in,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: stay healthy, be one to know. And then huge game
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: with Arizona on Fox the next week in the afternoon.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: So I'll tell us out to Wallace full go, by
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: the way, had a foot injury coming into camp limited
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: for the first couple of weeks. He's back. He's not
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: going to be a 60 snap kind of guy, Kelly
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: thing has said, but, uh, he should play. So question
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: about new seat, Tom, white pale, one of the, uh,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: outside linebackers. He's a good Ed rusher for BYU. Not
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: sure if he's going to play or not. We'll see,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: but ultimately really building up to a massive week two
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: game with Arizona where BYU wins. Now they're, now they're
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: in a great spot. If they lose, it's very uphill
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: after that. So it ramps up very quickly next week.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I am asking an over under question for the Utah
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: football fans today. And I took the five year average
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: of Utah's defensive points allowed. So For Utah, that is 20.5
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: points per game.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, I was going to say, is it 21? I
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: literally was going to ask, is it around 21? They've
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: been really good.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: They've been really good defensively over the past five years,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: and it came out to 20.58 points per game. So
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I'm sitting the over-under at 20.5, so essentially right where
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: you guessed. Are they going to be three touchdowns-ish a
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: game or less this season? Obviously, new coordinator, remade defensive front,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. If I'm asking you the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Utah version of that, the 20.5, you're taking the over
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: or the under?
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: For BYU, you're saying?
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, no. For Utah, and we're going to
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: get to BYU here in a second.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: You know that... For Utah, the strength has obviously been
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the ball. You've got that
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: guy as head coach now. I would think that would
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: be the goal. I would guess it would probably be under.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: That's been a strength. Obviously, some big losses in the
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: portal last year and the graduation, but probably around that number.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I think that's pretty safe. That's a great number, too.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: If your team's under 21, come on. You're winning a
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: lot of games.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, you're really good with these numbers. So I also
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: did the average for BYU's points per game surrendered over
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: the last five years.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: I'm guessing it's like, because you have like 23 and 23.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: I'm guessing it's like 23 and a half.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: It's 24 and a half. So you're really good at this. Okay,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: 24 and a half over the last five years. I
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: feel like with this year's defense, same thing, you're replacing
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: a coordinator with But 24.5 is a bigger number, and personnel-wise,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I think it's a no-brainer that they're under 24.5. Is
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: that okay to say?
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: One gajillion percent. And Kelly Papanga said, our goal is
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: 19 again. So we were like, why did he say 19?
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Because it was 19.1 last year. So just, like, keep
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: that going. Because this offense is certainly capable of getting–
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: you know, 21 a game. And they had Sean, they
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: have way too much talent to think that they couldn't
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: do it. They have NFL guide to every position. This
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: is one of the most talented BYU defenses of all time.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: I think it'll be a top five, top 10 defense
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: ever for BYU. And the last two years, they've been
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: spectacular new coordinators you mentioned, but they feel like they
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: have a lot of continuity and, and just a lot.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: They feel like County town of Austin will be unleashed
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: first year in the system. There was some learning curve there.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Feel like we're going to get that Keanu Tanavasa that
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: was in the backfield against BYU in 24, the whole game.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: He was amazing. Love the corners with Evan Johnson, who's
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: an NFL prospect. Trey Alexander, Follett Sotawala, Raider Dumouni is
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: the senior. They love Cade Uluwabe and Isaiah Glasker. So, yeah,
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: and that's without other guys emerging. Those are like the
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: known ones. so it's very starting i think yeah under
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: 24 and a half for sure if they were at
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: 24 i'd be disappointed they need to be around 19
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: 20 21 right there.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: If i if i put it if i gave you
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the utah number for the byu defense the 20 and
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: a half would you still take the under.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Probably. Yeah. Cause I think they'll be in the 19
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: or 20 spot. The key for BYU the last couple
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: of years has not necessarily been like total yards. It's
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: been that they take away the football and they've been
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: one of the best intercepting teams in the country. They've
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: been kind of top 15, I believe the last two years.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: And so if they keep that going and they certainly
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: have the secondary to do it, they brought all the,
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: all the main pieces back then. Yeah, absolutely.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: The depth chart is out. Were there any surprises for
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: you on the depth chart that BYU released?
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Offensively, there were zero. It was expected that, you know,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: legend Glassinger as a true freshman out of Lehigh High
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: would be a starter. Kyler Casper from Oregon, JoJo Phillips,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: a returning guy, those are your top three. You knew
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Al Jantz, Joni Mola, Preston Rex is the number three back.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Trayson Borghese is a fifth-year guy. The backup is great.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: You love that you have a former FBS starter. Western
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Michigan ready to go if needed. You hope you don't
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: need them, but he's there. Defensively, no, nothing really stuck
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: out there. Too crazy. Special teams, Evan Johnson and Legend
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Glass are listed as your kick returners. So it'd be
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: interesting to see Evan Johnson, BYU's lockdown corner on kick
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: return potentially. But yeah, BYU hasn't had a true freshman
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: in the offensive starting lineup or defense, I think, since 2018.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: So it's been eight years. It's been a long time.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: So it's shot at the legend. Certainly an opportunity there
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: with no chase Roberts, no burden Kingston. So yeah, not
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: a lot of surprises. And that is due to the
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: fact that you always been very healthy for fall camp,
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: which is great. Typically they've lost a guy or two
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: for the season in that space. They did not this year,
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: which is great.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Is eight captains too many captains?
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Oh, captain, my captain. I guess, you know, you just
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: rotate through the floor and walking out there, you know, Yeah,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: I don't know. What's the right number? Who's to say
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: what is right in this space? Lots of leaders, so
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: hard to go around. Then you have 12 co-captains, so
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: 20 dudes that are the leadership for this team.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: On the captain front, the fact that K.D. Luave was
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: voted as a captain, and he's been here for, what,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: eight months, feels like that's an important thing for this
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: BYU defense.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Came in, total leadership dude. Feels like a BYU cougar.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Grew up a BYU guy. Went to Cal. He was
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: kind of undersized and injured a little bit. You know,
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: played running back in high school. I believe he went
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: to Sky Ridge. And, yeah, so he jumped in and
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: been a dude right away, like no question. Roger Saliapaga
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: was one of the four offensive captains as well. That
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: says a lot about his influence coming in, and they're
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: going to get hit in the rock a ton. So
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: I'm excited about, like, those two guys represent two different
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: kinds of transfers. Cade is the big-time guy. producer, first-team
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: all-power conference guy. BYU hasn't had a ton of those
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: guys transfer in. And then Roger Saliapaga represents more of
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: the traditional, hey, I was at another school. I didn't
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: get a ton of run, but I'm going to get
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of looks here. And what does that look like?
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: I call that the Alex Barcelo principle. Because Alex Barcelo
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: played basketball at Arizona for two years, barely played, comes
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: to BYU. Jay Billis says he's the best shooter in America.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: And he goes to three NCAA tournaments. So That's the
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: kind of guy, you know, that gets an opportunity sometimes
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: and really, really thrives here. Like even Puka Nakua to
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: some degree, injured, banged up, like the third or fourth
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: guy at Washington comes to BYU, ends up being a dude,
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: fifth round pick, first or second best receiver in the NFL.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: So yeah, sometimes you just need a different situation and
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: BYU feels like Sally Apaga is going to be a
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: guy that with Walker Lyon could be one of the
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: best duo, tight end duos in America.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I'm, I'm removing TCU from the list of teams I
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: might be afraid of in the big 12 this year.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: After the week zero game.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: I'm done. I'm writing them off after week zero.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Uh, that was brutal, right? Like I, Jaden Craig did
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: not play well. And the team that loses from the
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: big 12 in Ireland last few years, I mean, last year,
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Iowa state did a K state hit the crapper after that.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: It was bad. Uh, I would say, you know, that
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: was fine, but it was not good. I, I don't
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: want to read too much into it, but UNC just
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: seems like a big thing. So I don't think they're
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: that good yet. TCU we thought would be, you know, okay,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: that's like top five tricky game on the schedule. Historically,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: BYU is just two and four in Fort Worth. You know, like, yeah,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm trying to, I've got that like
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: fan mindset slash player mindset. The player was like, no,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: we got to respect them. The fan's like, dude, they stunk.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: So I want to see them play another powerful team
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: maybe before I call it.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Okay. That's probably the more measured approach, but the offside
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: penalty to lose the game effectively, I was like, all right.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: That's rough.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: That's so Belichick, dude. He was like, yeah, like in
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: front of the ref's face, like first down.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: He showed more emotion for that than like a touchdown
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: win in a Super Bowl. He's just like, yep, we
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: drew him offsides, boys.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: And then he's like, we're on to Cincinnati. I haven't
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: seen if they play Cincinnati this year, but I need
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: to hear that one again.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: I haven't even looked. All right, Jerem. Well, enjoy Thursday
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: night because I know you're going to be watching. Enjoy
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Saturday as well because, of course, we'll be watching.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: All of it.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: All of it.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: We made it. This is great. Week zero is always overrated,
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: but fun. There's a game or two, and then, gosh dang,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: football's back. My happiness percentage, Sean, is like at 94%
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: in the offseason, and then it goes to 1,094%. when
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: there's football on five days a week. Can't wait.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Wait, I have to ask one more thing, because we
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: were talking about this at post-practice media availability yesterday. Is
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the media meal still free at BYU? Because they're charging
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: fans $ 800 for it. Are they going to let you
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: eat it for free?
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: I'm hoping so. You know, I'm hoping so. If not,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: I got a backup plan, you know. I got the
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: BYU TV kind of crew meal in another spot, so
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I'll be all right.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay. That's a flex. That's a flex.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: I can't flex in the gym. I'll flex verbally right there.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: I hope so, because I love... I went to the
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: zone on my mission, so I love... It's the best....
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Press box meal that I've had anywhere.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Uh, and I wouldn't think in America, right? Yeah. Like
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: who's going to beat that? Yeah.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Who's going to beat Tacano's. I don't think anybody.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: And it's been unlimited the last year, by the way,
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: they used to kind of close it in the first quarter.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: And then they just kind of left it open the
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: whole game. I was like, dude, how much can I
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: eat right now?
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: The answer is always a lot.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm like a fly guy. I'm like
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: six foot one 85. So who knows? Yeah.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: That's not me. Jerem, appreciate your time as always, sir.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Sean, you're the best. Let's go. Game week, baby.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: That's Jerem Jordan, BYU insider. You can find him on
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: BYU TV, on BYU Sports Nation. You can find him
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: all over the place covering the Cougs. That conversation brought
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: to you by our friends at Murdoch Ford, Santa Quinn.