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Sooners On SI Podcast 325: Position Upgrades, Portal Oddities and More! · The Sooners On SI Podcast

• 0:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, everybody, welcome on in.
• 0:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: It is that time of week.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: It is these suitors on a side podcast.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: We are out here as we're in kind of an interesting part of the calendar, right?
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Portal has winded down, wound down, English is hard, but what else?
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: We got that going.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, I think people would just rather not talk about basketball and we're still a little bit away from the start of baseball in software But we still have plenty to dive into which we will do here today.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've got most of the typical crew who've taken a sick day today So no John Hoover, but we still have our man boots on the ground in Norman America for eating the pops up Carson field Carson.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: How are you doing my friend?
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Doing fantastic other than the weather a little shillyer than my liking and it's only going to get worse the next few days, but other than that, like you said, a little bit of a cap under change, but all things considered pretty good.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: One of those things where like, look, we don't usually get winter in December anymore.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like a late January February situation.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: If all we really get out of it is one week in a pretty bad snow and no ice, I think like all things considered, I'd probably take that.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: We got my more cohort just across the way.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you look really hard to my screen, you might see Ryan Abraham there.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Ryan, how are you doing?
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: doing great.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been an interesting week for sure and just glad it's not quite too cold enough to hang out in the garage this this morning.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that would have been bad, but we will get off it running.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And look, typically we start with the football happenings.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's been slow on the football front, which is a good thing.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've certainly hit the time of year where unless you're adding someone on the transport portal, we're going to rapidly hit the like, hey, you don't want to hear much news stuff like that.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Unfund.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: You just, uh, cursed us, Ryan.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, yeah, of course, that'll have like 30 things popped during the podcast and the entire OUB will thank us.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're welcome, everyone.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, but first we must get to an absolute avalanche disaster, whatever you want to call it.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, OE basketball has been on life support, everyone knows this, they had a 5 game skit a year ago, but miraculously worked out of it a lot of them to do with Jeremiah Fears.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Last night, there was no Jeremiah Fears.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Nigel Pack is done shooting the basketball.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: It seems an Oklahoma goes on the road.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: to a fellow seller dweller in South Carolina.
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was not a rocking crowd.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is not a massive NIO roster and still Carson, whether it be the 1100 star, the like false hope of battling back near half time only to not be competitive at all in the second half.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: It feels like the Porter Moser experience will be looked upon in the past once we re-react and start the basketball season next year.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: It certainly does feel that way just the Ole Miss game to open conference play looked at least promising Ole Miss not an amazing team, but winning that game by double digits, that seemed like something promising after kind of an up and down non-con and this is just slowly and slowly gotten worse every game it feels like Mississippi State and A&M lose those two games, okay, neither teams fantastic but those are road games, maybe you could give him a little bit of a pass for that.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then Florida comes into town absolutely steam rolls the sooners.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you leads against Bama the next game.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Looks like they're in a really good position to win and then they just flat out collapse and then bringing us to the South Carolina game last night.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Aren't youably the worst team in the SEC?
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Consistently the worst program in the SEC?
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And oh, you just like you said they got within three points at a half time.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: It looks like this would be a game that is decided in the last seconds.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: It really wasn't though.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, oh, you got into foul mode and kind of made it into a quote last minute kind of game.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: This game was consistently a 9 or 10 point game for the entire second half.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: It never felt like oh, you was just going to make a RunaFist thing and win the game, which is just something that we've seen time and time again from the Porter Moser era over.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you basketball
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it is discouraging.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you look at, they don't have a Jeremiah fears.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: They don't even have a jail and more on this year's squab.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: They have some talent, but you just don't really, it's hard to at least see any sort of magic that we saw last year to get them in the tournament.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about that was something that deservedly bought Porter Moser another year for how they ended conference play last year.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think the chances of something even remotely similar to that happening.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: are very very slim and I mean that the bubble is stronger this year too even if they do finish 6 and 12 7 and 11 I guess that would be I don't think that gets them into the tournament and I mean this program just they're used to more and they should be able to win more than they have in conference and reporter Moser.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it gets into April, one of the, I'm not trying to do business history at the time.
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: Porter Moser coming off of another big run to the second weekend.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: That was what two and three years or two and four years for the final four and then the run in.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: But you look at it.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: It becomes the question of when you make the step up with more resources.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Are able to do that more or do you go back to what you've been?
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: the rest of your career, which is like a 500 coach in conference play.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that his first stop at UALR is the only place not named Loyola, that he was a plus 500 and you're talking about, I think he went 9 and 7, 9 and 8, 9 and 8 in conference play at UALR.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: That was his first head coaching date.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: It just looks like Ryan Porter-Moser might have been the guy that could have made the jump 10 years ago and moved up into a bigger program and gotten you something that Oklahoma's used to where if you have a local superstar you could build around them or if you're able to build for four years or something like that.
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: You think back to like the best-west constant teams.
• 6:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that Porter in a different era of college mass while might have been able to do that kind of thing.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: He does not look a quick for this era and for an Oklahoma ad-like format that was a step behind when it comes to denial across the board, except for maybe softball, but I think that patty guess I had that cooking itself.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now that they're trying to catch up, it feels like there's too much ground being made up, but some of those things where who are the Porter-Moser supporters that are going to be left, because I think that everyone is out and when everyone is out, you're not going to suddenly get any resource supporter or anything like that that you need to dig out of this hole.
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think, you know, you said it exactly right.
• 6:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: This was a pre-NIL hire that just came at the wrong time, because the landscape of college athletics period, but college basketball, in particular, changed in an amazing way really quickly.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you brought in a guy who is more of a program builder
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: type and that just doesn't work in the modern area of college athletics and college basketball in particular and he's had to retool the roster every year or just completely remake the roster every year and you've just got to have such a high percentage of hits.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: that it's just really tough to overcome.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that, combined with people who know Porter Moser really liked the guy.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of us would agree with that sentiment.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: But there reaches a time when it just becomes untenable.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's sort of crossed that line yesterday.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had been headed toward that line.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: But once you lose to South Carolina, the realistic chances of bouncing back from that sort of go away
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: the Mississippi state loss.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've talked about this.
• 8:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It seems like every week just was a crusher for them, the way that that that loss happened and it's just been, you know, steadily downhill ever since and it'll be interesting to see which direction they go.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: They obviously got up bringing in a guy who is a
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, prepared for the N.I.L.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: era, but even with even if N.I.L.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: conditions are perfect at Oklahoma, there's still some limitations on Oklahoma basketball that are really tough to overcome.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: We talk about the arena all the time, the location of that, especially getting trying to get students in, you know, do you do something a little bit closer to Oklahoma City like they've been
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, the thunder obviously suck up some of that life basketball life in the area as well, and it's just really difficult, and you're in an era where
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: more than ever, resources are being funneled toward football that have generally gone to other things.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when you're at Oklahoma, the resources are going there in even more numbers, plus you have softball and heck, women's basketball right now and some other things that can take some of that air out of the room.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then you have the athletic director situation.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, my guess is that what that's going to be job number one for the new athletic director to decide what direction to go with men's basketball, but whoever it is certainly has their hands full now.
• 9:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's what makes it so first off, jokes agree on this like kind of averse to the in-season change anyway and there's no clear like on this staff, there's no one that has any real like head coaching kind of experience that you would expect like hey that could step in and actually make it
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: become one of those things where they can fix this.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think this season can be fixed.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think the season ended last night effectively.
• 10:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was already dwindling.
• 10:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think we can put the light out.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Last night, it just becomes like a fast dating.
• 10:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what direction you go.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Part of that's going to be.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Who is the new athletic director?
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: I would imagine that comes somewhat, so it's like we talked about last week.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: This feels like the time of year, we had kind of circle disloyal youths footballs.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Not disaster, which it wasn't obviously, that this feels like the comfortable time to put that in.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it becomes traditionally, you go a couple of different ways when you're doing something like this.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Do you get a up and coming from like the mid major?
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Carson, I know you, but I wouldn't have hesitation about taking a soical home a job if some of those factors don't improve, which none of them seem like easy fixes, but I rather just wait for the next job and go somewhere else that doesn't have a massive football program that is the end all beyond.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Do you go with like?
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: an alum or something that might have been a calencamps and thing five years ago now I think he's close to taking over for Kelvin at Houston then come to Oklahoma so you take an unproven shot I'm like a hollest pride like that do you just go find an old grizzled vet who's done this?
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what the appeal and how good of a job this is from the outside looking in when you look at the current landscape of everything
• 11:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I hate to be super negative, but you look at the state of Oklahoma basketball, the attendance being far and away the worst in the conference, even well below South Carolina, A&M, LSU, schools that don't really prioritize their men's basketball, oh, you is still way behind those schools, even.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's not, it's not an easy sell to come to arguably the best conference in college basketball and take over a program that doesn't admittedly have the same amount of resources.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: That said, I think the best thing for you could be someone that, to Aper's point, very NIL Savvy, Transfer Portal Savvy, very up-to-date with where college sports and college basketball is.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like the direction that teams like Florida and Texas A&M have gone hiring younger coaches, maybe a little bit more up-to-date with some of those things in Todd Goldin, Bucky McMillan, both of them with some bit major experience.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the mid major thing, I think that's something that can work both in the pre and post in I.L.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: era.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've seen that work time and time again throughout college basketball.
• 12:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just someone that's pretty good with marketing to the fans, the students, kind of switching sports here, but you look at what Kenny Dillingham's done with Arizona State football.
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was a pretty similar example as far as low fan support, no one really bought in.
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And now he's got that thing where people are
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: actively going to the game selling out the stadium, um, they have a good denial budget.
• 12:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's totally revamped that program.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think, oh, you could do something similar in basketball, get someone that, hey, we're not going to seal the funders audience.
• 13:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they're still the big dogs.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: They are the reigning NBA champs.
• 13:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to compete with that.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: But at least get a little bit more alive into the student body, get more of the alums back into the arena that I said,
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: At least hostile.
• 13:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I will say the Alabama game the most recent home game.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: That is the most life I have seen at the Lloyd Noble Center for Amin's basketball game since I've been on the stack here and it really it showed.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean there were a lot of mistakes by Alabama that seems crowd inflicted.
• 13:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that is a big difference and if they could get someone younger, someone that can really market to the fans, I think that's a recipe for at least improvement eventually getting back to what this program should be.
• 13:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think if you've Chris oven, who does a great job with a bunch of stuff like this, it's the chart that maps OE winning percentage and it's in it.
• 13:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: The fans will show up if you win, and I know you weren't here for this car, so it was early and important.
• 13:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Poor actually did all those things.
• 13:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: He had great student sports stuff like that.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: The problem is they got their ass kicked and embarrassed in big games over and over.
• 13:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's OSU, you can say, like OE basketball fans will show up if the product is good.
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: The product is garbage.
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a
• 14:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: The sport as a whole's on a weird spot and Porter Moser plays the most disgusting basketball and that's when it goes well on everything.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like hard to watch.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think people like Leolax.
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was a fun story.
• 14:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Those teams sucked to watch.
• 14:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like it was the only thing that was fun about watching Leola and the tournament is that it was the NCAA tournament and they were Leola and not something else.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sister Jeanne.
• 14:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like the opposite of law and like I think that I know that there are people that were over the Austin Reeves show at the end of law But it's like I'll take an NBA guard just cooking over Having no offensive game plan whatsoever and trying to outset somebody because you don't trust anybody and you ain't guys two or three guys I don't know if that's his big like Porter did all those things, even though he's not the
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Porter gives up young energy like a much younger energy than what he is.
• 14:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think that a like just win basketball games, which it becomes a circular thing like a where say the start of like, okay, you got to win, but then you got to fix all this crap, but all that, and Listen, it's a quagmire and it's something that if there was one silver bullet, I think Oklahoma would have fixed it by now, and there's not and Good luck to the next athletic director, because that I think is gonna be you've got some
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Structure Instability and a football.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Other than that, it's about can you fundraise continually to help baseball get their facilities where they need to be to commute the SEC.
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to have to oversee, at some point, there will be some sort of post-gasso transition, because Patty's not going to coach forever.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know it feels like it, but it's can you keep KJ up and running, can you keep supporting Jini Baranchec and then
• 15:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Fixed whatever the hell this mess is because it's got to be someone that has some foresight to predict where college basketball is going because as we saw with some TROs and Alabama today I have no idea how you're even gonna I can't tell you how you build a roster in college basketball right now because because right now you can just go to X and be a guys and share it
• 16:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's the Wild Wild West right now and you can't survive, you know, you talk about the N.I.L.
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: stuff.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't survive on just trade young and Blake Griffin's money.
• 16:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've got to find ways to get other people that have money in the area, excited about basketball, and it's really hard when
• 16:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, football has having success and you feel like you're right on the cusp there of making that even further jump.
• 16:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So even more resources get dumped into that.
• 16:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Softball, women's gymnastics, women's basketball.
• 16:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's really hard to convince people to want to spend money on that product.
• 16:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm talking to spend, you know, significant money
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, what the program is, the success level that they've had, and all of that, it's going to be really difficult for whoever the next coach is, but they've got to get a dynamic guy who has the vision to compete in that realm versus a Porter Moser type, which again, you know, just the
• 17:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: sort of the worst timing of the situation.
• 17:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love the higher at the time.
• 17:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: You thought it was perfect and then Oklahoma, especially when you think about all the other jobs that were open, what was at Indiana Notre Dame, a couple others that were open at the time and you wondered,
• 17:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, would a Oklahoma be able to stretch up and get a guy like Moser and they did, you know, just awful timing of things and they're going to have to make some significant changes, not just with the coaching staff moving forward.
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Turns out you don't have that gotten great in the castle.
• 17:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Who is hanging out at North Texas and that's saying, I don't think so.
• 17:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But we shall see good luck to everyone involved there.
• 17:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm glad I don't have to deal with that headache because it is a massive headache indeed over to the football side of things right after I guess not right after a day after we had closed down shot last week on the pod.
• 18:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: We got some official announcements.
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: One of which for Jason Witten coming in is O'U.
• 18:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Titans coach.
• 18:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: We had talked about that a time.
• 18:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: One of which for I guess a bundle of them.
• 18:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I say, it's a tiny coming back.
• 18:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: John, it's here coming back.
• 18:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Kiplus coming back, stuff that we had all said, hey, you know, the deadlines coming on, something that it's officially out and part of that is for a team that finished what 13th in the final AP poll.
• 18:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you look around, it seems the general consensus, a median way to early top 25 situation about 10 coming to the season, which I think's probably right.
• 18:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think you're going to have your like four or five super sexy names and then I thought there was going to be
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: A&M, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Miami, like I think there's going to be a big bunch of teams and a lot of people are like, they have a lot coming back.
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't really know what to do with any of these.
• 18:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I thought you're going to get just a bunch of different orders and that seems to be kind of what Oklahoma is.
• 18:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got the big thing back though, quarterback coming back, some splashy offensive portal additions and the big core of a really, really, really good defense Carson.
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's not going to be the, hey, just get this thing back on track, not having conversations
• 19:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: How does Brent Vittables and this Oklahoma program from now up until Tom eats leather in August?
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Make the game so that you can not just return to the cost of a playoff, but get past that first round, get into some of the later rounds because it feels like I don't know if I classify this as like a full chips to the center of the table type situation for Oklahoma.
• 19:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I think that you saw from Jim Nagging crew,
• 19:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: got a returning quarterback.
• 19:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got a young offensive line that you figure will get better.
• 19:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let's go get Yamats here.
• 19:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So weapons and some tight-and-salt thrown in game.
• 19:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let's go get proven pieces and co-solving to replace some of those stuff you lose alive at.
• 19:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: It feels like a pretty we think we've got a squad.
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let's do everything we can to try and see just how good this team can be in 2026.
• 19:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: It absolutely does.
• 19:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think a big part of the off-season will be getting John material, right?
• 20:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Certainly showed some flashes of his old self against Alabama, late in the season.
• 20:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: He had some great throws.
• 20:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: But while I mean, that said there was a lot of inconsistency too, which we've talked about time and time again, but we know what at his best he can look like and how dynamic he can be, even against awesome defenses like Michigan and Auburn last year.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think there's a lot of just.
• 20:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: If nothing else, some mental rehab just kind of getting his head right, getting some of that confidence back, getting to know some of the new receivers, I mean, they got some splashes with trial Harris, Parker Livingston, add a guy like Satania, Dr. Michael Carter, who I think could have a bigger role this up coming year.
• 20:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's set up well as far as weapons go, and that's not even mentioning the tight ends.
• 20:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: That room, even though canics certainly had his moments, I thought he played pretty admirably in his first season of offense.
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a much deeper position group than it was last year.
• 20:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like the talent around him definitely suits this offense to be better, which you kind of need.
• 21:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: The defense, I mean, it should still be like you said it has the foundation, still should be really good.
• 21:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's maybe natural to expect even just a little bit of regression, but if the offense can improve just slightly, I feel like that would kind of offset.
• 21:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: They could be as good or better, I think, so I mean, it really is just building on, okay.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you got to the playoff.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: How can they go at least one step further this year?
• 21:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think, I mean, just what we're seeing on the way to early rankings, I think that's kind of the consensus that they can improve and obviously bring it venables and company, believe they will improve.
• 21:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, it's funny there, a lot of those things that you mentioned, Carson, were things that we were saying a year ago that expected the defense to take a little bit of step back, expected the offense to take a, you know, maybe not a little step forward, a significant step forward, and the defense was better, and the offense,
• 22:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: While better in some ways wasn't, you know, nearly as dynamic as they'd hope, but it'll be interesting.
• 22:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't give a whole lot of credit for Jared Canick to anybody but Jared Canick considering it was his decision.
• 22:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was just, you know, sort of locked into that one.
• 22:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And like I said last week, imagine where they would have been without him, but love the overhaul there.
• 22:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know, you can see productivity in them.
• 22:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a stretch to, you know, imagine, you know, fortestite in coming in and having success or rocky beers even having success.
• 22:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Jason Whitton, you know, certainly has done a good job on the recruiting trail, which I expect he will continue to do, especially in Texas with that name recognition, both as a cowboy is great.
• 22:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: and is a high school football presence in that state.
• 22:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, going to be certainly an interesting off season to see the progression of the offense in particular, not only job material, but all those other guys around him.
• 23:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think even like the most base of the thing, this is not to pick on Giovanni Gibson who is certainly injured, but you are hoping that a guy from Arkansas Pine Bluff could come in and not just take a huge set for, but take a huge set for it to be a major contributor.
• 23:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: It feels like the guys that they need to be major contributors are coming from Virginia, from Texas, from Florida, from Tennessee, from Michigan on the defensive side of the ball.
• 23:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they're not guys, sorry, right?
• 23:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 23:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're not guys who were just absolutely buried on the depth chart either.
• 23:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 23:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: That, you know, had at least moments of productivity, if not being, you know, right in the thick of everything.
• 23:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, last year it was some guys who maybe were sort of on the fringes, who you're looking to step up at a major program, or guys who starred at, you know, Southern Illinois
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: and you're projecting them, and again, I think it goes to what we're talking about with basketball earlier.
• 24:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have to hit on such a high percentage that the odds are stacked against you, and I think that was the case last year.
• 24:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's the case this year.
• 24:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: And even this is eventually was great.
• 24:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Obviously coming from North Texas, I thought Derek Simmons was pretty good coming from Western Carolina, but it's a lot easier to say, hey, we need Aaron Harris to come in and be a dude while he started for two years long Arkansas's offensive line.
• 24:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can make a quick, Bill Beanbow talk to us last year that he was really only looking at one Derek Simmons game from Western Carolina to try and
• 24:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Figure out what could translate all the games for Harris guys like that would be big and then the other bit is yesterday first day of classes down in Norma, which makes that moving week for a lot of these freshmen and while it's not the We talked about the 26 class not going to When anyone's heart and sin mind just by simply a recruiting rank yourself like that a lot of reasons for it.
• 25:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: We don't need to get into that, but you look at it.
• 25:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Look up and down.
• 25:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: It feels like between like
• 25:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: a Jonathan Hatton Jr. at the running back spot, that's someone that certainly can step in and Xavier Obson, Tory Blaylock, Jonathan Hatton be in there.
• 25:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know that playing any receivers, much less freshman receivers, wasn't it in Vogue a year ago,
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: with the way that Oklahoma stayed and stayed after a jade batit and in his kind of uh... recruiting ranking in the fact that if nothing else he's six three can you get him in for a package to the red so maybe some stuff like that and then you've got cars on the other side another bunch of these guys got to add some weight and things but
• 25:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: We talked about the linebackers can bow Jandro come in and immediately find a way to not be a major contributor but give you something here in a spot can can direct crowd come in and a guy that put on some weight and with his speed can he be used like a Danny of Kuay as far as a spot too to get it feels like it is much as we have some doubts about like the immediate impact for the 2026 class that there are some candidates here guys that can come in and
• 26:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that you're just going to have to rely on Freshman and Softmores that she's me for depth in this Harry college football with the portal.
• 26:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I definitely think defensively.
• 26:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Jake Cruell, Cruell, however you say his name, I think he's gonna be a top contributor early, not necessarily a starter, but I think we're gonna see plenty of reps from him early in the season.
• 26:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Probably late in the season too.
• 26:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll look at the Jan Joe brothers, so I think they definitely could be guys that you see in reserve roles on defense.
• 26:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, OU likes to utilize some of the true freshmen on special teams.
• 26:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And normally I'd say excited to see some of these receivers play.
• 26:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they got a really good haul receiver wise.
• 26:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll believe that when I see it, they just don't use freshman receivers a whole lot with this team, except for on special teams.
• 26:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I'd like to see who is going to be the Elijah Thomas this year.
• 26:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, Elijah Thomas was obviously fantastic on special teams.
• 26:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see who kind of shuffles into that spot this year.
• 27:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, and with that, if Elijah Thomas has a bigger role on offense this year.
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think there's a lot to be excited about.
• 27:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not sure how many players will see just meaningful snaps.
• 27:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: But Bentley, I think we're probably going to see him against YouTube.
• 27:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's really the only sure fire game.
• 27:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe New Mexico.
• 27:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're better.
• 27:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that game's a little closer than YouTube, but YouTube's not any good.
• 27:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I bet we get some bo Bentley in that one.
• 27:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: But overall, yeah, it's exciting.
• 27:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Getting guys on campus building that chemistry is something just to look forward to.
• 27:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Abraham at outside of quarterback, which you're set at geometry, it feels like maybe running back to because a lot of that's just, can you get Robinson and play like healthy, stuff like that.
• 27:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just can't wait to see a totally revamped Titan room, a wide receiver room that like if they don't rotate now, I don't know if it's our buccler image zones, but there's just not going to be rotations, all you've been our buccler is, you see, because it certainly seems that between guys that they tell us they're excited about on campus and guys that they brought in.
• 27:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's no reason to only play three receivers if everyone stays healthy on paper at least.
• 28:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think, you know, ideally, obviously you want Elijah Thomas to take some steps forward and, you know, be at least a piece of that rotation, but you look at their receiver haul this year, Jayden Pettett, just see your Rogers and, you know, Daniel Odom, guys like that, those are guys who at least on paper look like they can contribute fairly quickly and wide receiver while it hasn't paned out at, oh, you recently.
• 28:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: is generally a spot where you can jump up and contribute quickly on the offense and be a guy who becomes a significant piece.
• 28:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think they would like at least one of those guys to sort of emerge as a piece that can at least be in the rotation.
• 28:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: it's interesting getting carry on back and that decision because I really liked him when he signed just the size and speed combination of him.
• 28:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I also wonder, you know, who is the next courtroom gillery on this team?
• 29:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because defense of back is another spot where you can generally jump in and contribute fairly quickly.
• 29:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: We saw that with the gillery last season.
• 29:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, is Derek Johnson ready to go or some of those other guys that they bring in more Kel forward at safety.
• 29:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm see, Jandro, like you mentioned, how quickly can those guys contribute, but I would imagine that, you know, some freshman DB is going to play significant snaps.
• 29:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: That would, it seems to be a pretty consistent thing over these, uh, in the java light, error at least with preventable, so we'll see there and, uh, not to get too far ahead and to spring ball preview and stuff like that, just because we got, and just a, just a quick, uh, note, Ryan just because y'all weren't around.
• 29:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was also a consistent thing before that, wow, when was they would start its freshman and then not only not develop, but just, uh, regress.
• 30:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: until they were out of the rotation.
• 30:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is the second time, today on Wednesday that I've had a conversation about Carrie Cook's as Oklahoma's DVD coach.
• 30:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Bob Prisbell and I had radio this morning.
• 30:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're talking about how it seems like Porter Moser has a little bit of Carrie Cook's effect that the longer guys play for Porter, the more hectic things and the worst things get.
• 30:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Never good for Carrie Cook's.
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Where is Carrie Cook's these days, by the way?
• 30:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: What's that?
• 30:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a lovely question.
• 30:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let's do a quick Google.
• 30:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: And let's say, you go ahead and Google that.
• 30:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Abraham, well, I pitched this.
• 30:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Abraham is starting our post portal pre-spring series on the website right now.
• 30:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: So just on SI.
• 30:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, come to see us on SI.
• 30:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: That kind of excuse me, that.
• 30:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Basically, looks at a little pre-spring depth chart style projection.
• 30:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: What does that thing look like?
• 30:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Kind of identifying some guys that need to take some steps forward in springball again.
• 30:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're a little bit of ways from that, but that's okay.
• 31:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Aberware's carry cooks at right now.
• 31:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Carry cooks is at rice.
• 31:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, safety's!
• 31:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Be your food.
• 31:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's the that's any time you play rice.
• 31:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Don't lose to food.
• 31:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we got that You can sincerely be going.
• 31:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, you he's been in Texas Tech Notre Dame LSU and now At Rice
• 31:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, nothing against Carrie Cooks, but I think he's finally found his level.
• 31:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, one of those spots where, uh, yeah, you know, it is when it is.
• 31:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: We watched it for a long time.
• 31:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was not good.
• 31:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, she had a Jordan Thomas, my freshman chemistry partner.
• 31:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, he would, and that's one of the ones I was thinking of, although I love Jordan Thomas as a person and was pretty good player, uh, compared to some of those other ones.
• 31:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Great chemistry lab partner too.
• 31:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were not counted off for error.
• 31:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we did our experiments very quickly.
• 31:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: We had an 8 a.m. Monday lab mistake and then we would just explain away the errors in the lab report.
• 31:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was excellent stuff.
• 31:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was good.
• 31:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And and you picked the right guy to be a lab partner with because he was.
• 32:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: brilliant.
• 32:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, just like I think he was when he he was going to either Stanford or Northwestern before he switched up to owe you late in the process and yeah smart guy at least got the good.
• 32:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's got the goods and deeds.
• 32:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we'll be working our way toward that.
• 32:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've also got some this weekend.
• 32:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: The big thing on the docket for owe you football this weekend for me at least is
• 32:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: NFL conference championship Sunday Marvin Mims was incredible for bonex in the Denver Broncos Nick Benito had a big play there There was I guess they would say OUD and a all over the figure prints of that Broncos victory reminder Stevenson There will be an aFC representative that has a key sooner
• 32:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: for sure is that goes down so we'll have all of that for you as well.
• 32:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're getting closer and closer.
• 32:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: It feels like I think that oh you will have enough like Dr. sooner rather than later.
• 32:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if that means like two weeks from now or what that but I would be shocked if we get to like the end of February we haven't at least heard something there so we got that and otherwise the other big thing on the
• 33:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Carsten is miserable as you're happening to have been covering some hoops.
• 33:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Averti have not fared much better the ladies on the other half of the Noble Center.
• 33:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: They are skidding as well.
• 33:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: That LSU game was not good.
• 33:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: I thought
• 33:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: whatsoever.
• 33:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: They got South Carolina on Thursday night.
• 33:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, I'm just going to go ahead.
• 33:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm sorry to uh, Judy Brown checking crew.
• 33:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, this is going to be a four game losing streak for the Oklahoma sooners.
• 33:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to go over on this stretch boring.
• 33:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, uh,
• 33:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you thought LSU was physical and athletic, just wait until South Carolina, that's going to be the biggest thing for me.
• 33:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It feels like, and of course, you saw a little bit of the situation.
• 33:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: This feels like the Jeremiah Fier's early SEC skid for like Elia Chavez and Sia Bandou a certain extent is she's stepping you to a much larger role when it comes to running the offense and up until OU's guards decide they're going to be a little bit more physical aber.
• 34:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what the answer is other than the schedule will at some point get a little bit lighter.
• 34:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it certainly does after this outside of the Texas and Vanderbilt back to back on the road coming up next month.
• 34:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: But they've got to certainly, you know, this didn't like the men's side.
• 34:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're not right now off this team.
• 34:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: This team's going to the NCAA tournament.
• 34:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: This team's got a great chance to still host.
• 34:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: But they've got to learn from this stretch and Aliyah Chavez has to learn Zaivan has to learn both of them struggled with the physicality of LSU.
• 34:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think maybe Ginny Boronchek's got to tweak some things with the approach.
• 34:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we saw I ask her about
• 34:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Regan Bears potentially keeping her in in the first half of two files Said she really thought about it quite a bit but went away and you know as much as I know she talked about Brooklyn steward and and the job that she was doing But the fact is the plus minus was a night and day difference with Brooklyn steward on the floor versus Regan Bears I still think Brooklyn steward's gonna be a really big player really significant player but
• 35:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's not ready for the SEC physicality, and I think you've got to find ways to keep Reagan beers on the floor as much as you can, but I think Alia Chavez has shown that she can learn from lessons.
• 35:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: She learned it early, even with Belmont, and then going to UCLA, struggled in those two games, bounce back and has played really well.
• 35:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think she'll adjust.
• 35:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just a question of how quickly can she make that adjustment?
• 35:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Certainly wanted more than what you've gotten out of this stretch, but it's better that this is a January stretch than like having six to the last eight SEC games be this because I think that might have been a little too late to learn some of that, but we'll see it's six, 30 on Thursday, it's South Carolina and I believe Sunday it's at Auburn if I was looking at the correct week.
• 36:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we've correct.
• 36:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: That'll be the road ahead there.
• 36:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: The sooner men are in the other Columbia on Saturday.
• 36:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Good luck have fun to everyone involved there.
• 36:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, if anything happens on that front will keep you involved.
• 36:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: Carson, good luck to your Seahawks on Sunday, my friend.
• 36:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think I've landed at just, I don't really care who wins the NFC as long as the NFC wins the Super Bowl because I don't like the Broncos.
• 36:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I just like something different than the Patriots, even if it's a much more likable different version of the Patriots.
• 36:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so at least someone on the suitors on a sidestep is happy if the NFC wins.
• 36:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously John Hoover, huge Los Angeles Rams ban.
• 36:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't love the Rams, but it's a whole hell of a lot better than if the Niners were in the championship.
• 36:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they found a way to win it all.
• 36:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think anyone would have been happy with that one here.
• 36:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: So at least at least someone on the staff will be happy if the NFC wins.
• 36:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's actually who's right here today.
• 36:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: He was, he's so like,
• 36:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: He flips this switch where he's like, I can't talk to Carson this week's game, so we'll see.
• 37:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: My dog looks got a C-Hawks band in on right now, so she's in full support mode right now.
• 37:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's John Hoover eight week, but it's only a few day things.
• 37:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: So excited to see him back on next week.
• 37:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: Very, very good.
• 37:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: Next, we'll have a little bit of softball for as we inch closer closer to pre-season preview type situation.
• 37:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll have all the hoops, recap and all that and we will obviously turn it up another notch as we inch closer and closer to spring football.
• 37:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: That'll do it for us this way.
• 37:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're not going to keep it super long.
• 37:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Seeing is, there's just not a lot happening and that's okay.
• 37:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a big day kid, a big day kid, a Carson, as always.
• 37:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll talk to you here