Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Dan Sorensen reacts to Big 12 Media Days, He gives the latest on recruiting for Utah FB + more

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Dan Sorensen reacts to Big 12 Media Days, He gives the latest on recruiting for Utah FB + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: This Sean O'Connell show, you were home of the best
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: inside of your hutes. Let's get back to oc from
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: two to one a f.
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  Speaker 2: M Monster Energy.
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  Speaker 3: Big Twelve Media Days wrapped up yesterday afternoon down there
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: at the Star in Frisco, Texas. I'll give the Big
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: twelve credit. It was more organized this year than last.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: That's as far as the credit's going to go. I
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: think some weird decisions are being made in the Big
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: twelve conference.
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  Speaker 2: We'll talk about that.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: We'll talk about takeaways from some of the conversations we
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: had with Morgan Scally, Lance Holtzklaw, Devin, Dan Pierre, et cetera,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: et cetera. Dan Sorenson kind enough to join us here
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Utah football insider. As we get him on, we'll pick
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: brains about some of the big recruiting trips that have
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: happened at the University of Utah, some of the big
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: commitments that they've gotten as of late. Dan Sorenson, Welcome
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: to the show.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: How are you doing well?
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  Speaker 4: How are you doing I'm doing all.
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  Speaker 3: Right, man. You know, the media days are the two
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: only long days of radio in our calendar, so we
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: had eight hours ish each day and got to talk
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: to the whole ute contingent yesterday. I know that you
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: were listening to it, aggregating all the content, et cetera,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: et cetera. Did you have any major takeaways? Was there
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: anything that really stuck out for you from media Day?
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: Look, media day's a lot of fun, and I know
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  Speaker 4: it's especially a long day for you. Of course, we
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: had Sammy Mora from you Zone down on site. I
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: listened pretty heavily yesterday, and look, it was a good day.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: I think the things that really stood out to me
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  Speaker 4: were a it was a good opportunity for Morgan Scally
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  Speaker 4: to introduce himself to the rest of the conference. And
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: one of my favorite things that he did was in
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  Speaker 4: his press conference where he was talking about recruiting Colin Klein,
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: the Kansas State coach, as a quarterback out of Colorado
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: and talking about his respect for him and talking about
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: his respect for some of the other coaches that are
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: around the league. And I think that that kind of
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  Speaker 4: thing plays really well as well it should, and so
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: that was a good opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: It was nice to see some of the.
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  Speaker 4: Players and have an opportunity to show their personalities. You
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: guys did a great interview yesterday with way Sean Parker
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  Speaker 4: and talking about things beyond football and things like an
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: il and real estate investment and you know, weird things
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  Speaker 4: like that. But having a chance to get to know
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  Speaker 4: him and the character that he is and the personnel
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: that he has. You know, a lot of people see
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  Speaker 4: that in in Devin damp here because he's visible, right,
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  Speaker 4: but it's you don't You don't always get that with
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  Speaker 4: some of the other guys, and there are some impressive
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  Speaker 4: guys on the squad, so it was really nice to
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  Speaker 4: see an opportunity for those guys to shine and and
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  Speaker 4: show their personality to fans and that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 4: From a news perspective, I never really expect to see
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  Speaker 4: a lot uh coming out of these days, especially because
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: it's pretty fall camp for everybody, and so everybody's still undefeated,
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  Speaker 4: everybody is still optimistic, everybody's still a champion.
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  Speaker 2: In their mind. Whether it's realistic or not.
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  Speaker 4: But overall, it was a good opportunity for the program
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  Speaker 4: to showcase himself, especially to the other regions in the conference.
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  Speaker 3: How realistic is optimism for Utah football in Morgan Scalley's
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: first year as a head coach, in a year where
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: you've got to replace five starters on the offensive line,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: in a year where you know your defensive line lost
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: some production in the transfer portal, and things like that.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you've got two sides to the argument, and
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  Speaker 3: I don't really need to lay them out for you. You've
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  Speaker 3: got the consistency of a guy that's been on campus
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  Speaker 3: for twenty plus years taking over the reins as the
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  Speaker 3: head coach. And then you've got the turnover of you know,
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  Speaker 3: just attrition to the NFL graduation, transfer portal, etc. That
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  Speaker 3: have taken undeniably some of the best players off of
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  Speaker 3: last year's team. You look at the schedule, you look
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  Speaker 3: at the fact that it is sometimes difficult for a
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  Speaker 3: first year head coach to get his feet under him
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  Speaker 3: right away. How realistic is it for Utah fans to
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  Speaker 3: expect a ten win season, like a lot of people
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  Speaker 3: seem to.
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  Speaker 4: Look, I'm the hashtag team fun guy, right, So I'm
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  Speaker 4: always gonna lean towards the optimism side of the equation,
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  Speaker 4: especially cautious optimism in regards to this year. And so, look,
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  Speaker 4: it's not unrealistic for this program.
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  Speaker 2: To go out and make a.
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  Speaker 4: Huge statement in Morgan Scalley's first year. Yes, you laid
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  Speaker 4: out some of those things in terms of the things
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  Speaker 4: that we don't know, and look, Scali's never been a
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  Speaker 4: head coach. There are things he doesn't know what he
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: doesn't know yet. Sometimes you just have to experience the
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: thing before you can really know how you're going to react.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know that I've ever seen a head coach
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  Speaker 4: be as prepared for the moment that Morgan scally is
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  Speaker 4: right now. He's a smart guy. He's been making himself
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  Speaker 4: ready to take over this program and put his stamp
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  Speaker 4: on it, and the players really seem to.
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  Speaker 2: Have bought in.
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  Speaker 4: But at the same time, I'm not going.
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  Speaker 2: To really say anybody's wrong.
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  Speaker 4: For picking Utah fifth or sixth in the league and
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  Speaker 4: being skeptical about Morgan Scalley. The reason that I think
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  Speaker 4: that it's realistic for the youth to make a statement
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  Speaker 4: has got less to do with Scali and his coaching
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  Speaker 4: staff and everything to do with who the starting quarterback is.
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  Speaker 4: Anybody that's been watching college football for a long time,
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  Speaker 4: you know that a strong quarterback can cover up an
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  Speaker 4: awful lot of flaws on a team and can account
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  Speaker 4: for It's the one position where that player can account
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  Speaker 4: for wins almost by themselves. Scaley he said it yesterday
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  Speaker 4: or yesterday at Big twelve media day, where last year
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: we saw Devin dan Pierre and he was hurt all
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: year long, We've not seen a healthy Dev take snaps
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  Speaker 4: behind center at the University of Utah, and look, he
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: was so explosive at New Mexico. We saw so many
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  Speaker 4: good things he did last year that he.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Can build upon. And now that.
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  Speaker 4: He's fully healthy, if he can stay healthy and have
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  Speaker 4: a strong season, that there really aren't a lot.
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  Speaker 2: Of limits that this team can reach.
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  Speaker 4: It's basically how far can Devin lead them as assuming
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  Speaker 4: that we see the kind of play that we expect
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  Speaker 4: out of him. And so look, it's a lot of
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  Speaker 4: pressure to put on one guy and a lot of
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  Speaker 4: expectation to put on one guy. And yes, Bird Ficklin's
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: waiting in the wings. Yes, there are other factors, like
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: the fact that there's a new offensive coordinator.
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  Speaker 2: There are going to be some marinekles to the system.
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  Speaker 4: But given who the Uths have at quarterback, given the
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  Speaker 4: fact that they've got a revamped wide receiver room that
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  Speaker 4: Scali has repeatedly said it might be the best wide
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  Speaker 4: receiver room in the history of the program.
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  Speaker 2: Which those are bold words. Coming out of the gate.
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  Speaker 2: There's a lot of reason.
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  Speaker 4: For optimism if Dampster stays healthy, if he can do
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  Speaker 4: the magic things that he did while he was at
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  Speaker 4: New Mexico. Even if the offensive line takes a step back,
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  Speaker 4: which we fully expect them to do, I still think
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  Speaker 4: that this offense can score a lot of points, the
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  Speaker 4: defense should be good enough, and this team can win
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  Speaker 4: a lot of games coming out of the gate.
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  Speaker 2: In your one for Morgan Scali.
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  Speaker 3: Danswer on SIMS our guests here on the Sean O'Connell
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  Speaker 3: scho talk and takeaways from media days. Utah on the
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: docket yesterday BYU and Texas Tech, and some of those
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: teams were day one of media Day, and look, I
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  Speaker 3: think that you can't talk about the outlook for this
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  Speaker 3: Utah season without mentioning the fact that those teams seem
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  Speaker 3: to be the number one obstacle between you and a
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  Speaker 3: conference championship, you and a college football playoff. Tech is
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  Speaker 3: still loaded even without Brendan Soresby. BYU might be more loaded,
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  Speaker 3: depending on which lens you're looking at it, and you
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  Speaker 3: have to play them. Obviously, the rivalry game has all
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  Speaker 3: of this weight to it, especially now that Utah has
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  Speaker 3: lost a few on the bounce consecutive losses building for
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: this Utah football program, and I feel like that's a
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: massive thing. It's something that you have to reverse sooner
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: than later for recruiting, for perception, for power balance. Obviously
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  Speaker 3: in the Big Twelve we get to focus on it.
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  Speaker 3: The team has to go game by game. But what
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: do you think of the rivalry game coming up in November.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be a monster game.
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  Speaker 4: Look, I am with you, A b YU is going
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  Speaker 4: to be a really good football team this fall. Beart
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  Speaker 4: Bockmeier is more experienced.
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  Speaker 2: They got LJ. Martin back that defense.
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  Speaker 4: It's they lost some pieces, but they added some big pieces,
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  Speaker 4: especially in Kidululave. So there's there's definitely that that is
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  Speaker 4: a squad that I think is going to be on
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  Speaker 4: a mission. I think they're going to rally around Kilani
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  Speaker 4: Sataki And yes they lost players, they lost coaches as well.
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  Speaker 2: That what they're going to do without j.
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  Speaker 4: Hill calling plays on the defense is a big question.
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  Speaker 4: But Gary Anderson still involved in that program. There's a
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  Speaker 4: brain trust around Kilani.
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  Speaker 2: So I do think that that BYU is going to
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  Speaker 2: be really good.
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  Speaker 4: The fact that the youth have at Ricycle Stadium is.
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  Speaker 2: Great for them.
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  Speaker 4: And and really when you look at that at the
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  Speaker 4: U tough season, I really think it's going to be
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: defined by that three week stretch in November beginning on
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  Speaker 4: the seventh with BYU. Can the youths beat that three
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  Speaker 4: game losing streak and knock that away and put themselves
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  Speaker 4: above BYU in that race to get to the conference
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  Speaker 4: championship game. Then the week later they go to Arizona,
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  Speaker 4: who I think is going to be very very good,
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  Speaker 4: and they've got a senior quarterback much in the vein
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  Speaker 4: of Devin damp Here that can make plays with his
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: legs that can win football games for them by himself.
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  Speaker 2: And then of course the road.
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  Speaker 4: Game at TCU on the twenty first, and so those
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: two road.
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  Speaker 2: Game road games back.
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  Speaker 4: To back, and Utah needing to go down to Dallas
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  Speaker 4: Fort Worth, and look, I don't know that TCU is
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: going to be a juggernaut per se, but it's still
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: a tough trip to make. It's the longest road game
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: that the youths have this year and so and it's
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: back to back after BYU after a very good Arizona team.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: So if the youths can get through that stretch, they're
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: going to be sitting pretty and we can be talking
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: about potentially college football playoffs.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, they've got Houston on.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: The twenty fourth, and Houston I think is going to
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: be really good, but that's going to be in Salt
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  Speaker 4: Lake City. The rest of the Big Twelve schedule looks
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: pretty favorable for the use and so those three games
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: are going to be critically important, and it's going to
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: be about how healthy can Morgan Scalley keep this team,
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: how bought in can he keep them long term? And
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: how focused can he keep them long term?
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: And can they come out and can they.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: Perform when the pressure is on.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: There's a really good chance that by the.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Time that Utah hits that YU game that they're undefeated
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: or maybe one loss. I would not be surprised at
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: all if that were the case. And so if that's
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: the case, then the pressure really gets dialed up because
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: those are the toughest opponents and the time where they
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: really need to perform and can a Morgan Scaley team
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: rise to the occasion. We don't know that answer yet,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: and you know, youth fans are hoping and betting that
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: yes they will. But man, that stretch is going to
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: be brutal, and that BYU game is the most important
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: one on the entire schedule.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Since the last time we spoke, uh Utah got a
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: rash of commitments from important players on their on their
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: list important recruiting targets. Do you have a favorite in
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: the class for the twenty twenty seven commits?
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, really, it's it's it's like your kids, right, which
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: which's which one.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Do you like the most?
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: There are really two that that I really like. And
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: this is an interesting class.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: The youths have have done, have they? They put less.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: Emphasis on big names and more emphasis on their ability
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: to scout and their ability to project.
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  Speaker 2: And the two guys that.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: I really really love for the class are actually both
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: coming in as cornerbacks, both of them from Texas. One
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: of them is Jaydon Bibbs to Copple High School in Copple, Texas.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: He's a high three star, a second highest ranked recruit
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: in the class for the utes love him. He made
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: his announcements just after the nineteenth or he was the
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: first really of that big wave of commits that came through,
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: but it was basically Utah Baylor at the end. And
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: this is a kid that, frankly, I think that he's
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: severely underrated in terms of his rankings. When you watch
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: his film. He is aggressive, he is mean as a
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: corner He's got elite speed, he's got elite covered skills,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: he can flip his hips. He reminds me a lot
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: of from.
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  Speaker 2: A play style of Jalen Johnson.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: I don't know that he's quite as talented as Jalen was.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: He was special, which is why he's one of the
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: best cornerbacks in the NFL right now. But from an
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: attitude and a mentality and a style of play, that's
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: what he reminds me of.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: And he's a guy that I think.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: Is going to really succeed under Sharif Shaw. Similarly, Bud Jacobs,
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: so Drod Jacobs.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Is his is his given name.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: His nickname is Bug, which is one of the all
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: time great nicknames for a Utah commit. But six two,
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: one seventy five out of Memorial High School in Port Arthur, Texas,
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: another high rated three star kid. He's played mostly safety,
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: so at the high school level. He's going to play
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: cornerback for the Utes. And another guy that he's a
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: guy that basically, if you took Scooby Davis's cover skills
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: and mixed it with Marquees Blair's flair for hitting, that's
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: the kind of game that he plays. He's aggressive, he
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: will lay the wood. He's got that athleticism and the
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: speed that he needs to play corner. He's going to
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: be a long corner, which Utah loves. He can play
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: nickel like what we're going to see out of rock
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: Caled Wellness Fall, or he can play outside and so
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: he's he's a versatile piece there. And he's another guy
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: that he's just a a humble, lunch pale, go to
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: work kind of guy. We talked to his high school coach,
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: and the guy just raved about him and who he
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: is as a leader, who he is as a worker
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: in the weight room, studying film at the high school
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: level even and his dedication to really improving his craft.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: And so he's another guy that I'm really excited to
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: see what will happen when he gets on campus.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Working with Sharif Shaw.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: Well, we probably aren't going to see them in the
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: first year, other than special teams, but beginning year two,
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: year three, these are guys that are going to have
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: an opportunity to establish themselves and potentially play and start
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: multiple years. They're far and away my two favorite players
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: in the class.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: You know, I could pick your brain all day. We
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: do have to try to stay on clock. I appreciate
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: you giving us some time. Let's chat again soon.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: Absolutely thanks for having me on and have a great weekend.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Dan Sorensini, you Zone