Latest / The Craig Way Show / Steve Sarkisian on Gunnar Helm's improvement, Andrew Mukuba's status, and the role of David Gbenda

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Steve Sarkisian on Gunnar Helm's improvement, Andrew Mukuba's status, and the role of David Gbenda · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: We were telling you yesterday, I believe yesterday about Mike Leslie,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the sports anchor reporter at WFAA and Dallas. He got
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: into the issue with Trayvon Diggs about what's he doing
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: on this play when he tweeted and then Trayvon Diggs
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: came back said, you don't know what you're talking about.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: You know this, and ony don't you report on these
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: nuts or something. He said something like, Mike Leslie just
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: tweeted Trayvon Diggs and I have cleared the air. He
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: apologized for the hallway incident, and I apologize for misreading
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the play. He explained that what I interpreted as him
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: jogging was in fact him slow playing a potential cutback
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: from George Kittle.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: We buried the hatchet so as we oh of it.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: We buried the hatchet with a couple of canisters of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: these nuts that he presumed it to me after his
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: interview with the press was complete.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: That's good. It's good. That's that's that's that's nice.
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  Speaker 3: It's good to see because there's, as you know, there's
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: so many athletes and reporters who get into a beef
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: like that and it just gets worse and worse. And worse,
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  Speaker 3: and no one takes the higher road, or no one
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  Speaker 3: makes up for no one apologizes, and then.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Right and it just simmers. Or there's always resentment. Yeah.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: I think back to a certain basketball team in Oklahoma
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: City and a certain reporter for a certain newspaper wasn't uh,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: could not interview a certain player because of past stuff.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: So was that Jenny Carlson and uh and uh and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: uh the one and only Russell Westbrook.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know it was her.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I know I've been Barry Trample. Yeah, I have to
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: ask our friend David Garrett. He would know.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: He was probably there because he did a lot of
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: work stuff for the Thunder video things for them and stuff.
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  Speaker 2: He would probably remember on that.
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  Speaker 3: Now real quick, you you mentioned the Monky bets and
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  Speaker 3: the fan who is banned.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, turns out Craig that fan, yeah, is great college
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  Speaker 3: friends with Rob Grenkowski and which which of course, right,
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: and gron all adds up. Gronk appeared on Up in
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Adams k Adams FanDuel TV show. Yeah, and you said, quote,
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  Speaker 3: he's a beauty. I just want to say congratulations for
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  Speaker 3: shining when your moment came to the fan who took
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: the glove away from Mookie Bets and then Gronk doubled down,
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  Speaker 3: tweeted and said Austin was a college friend, very passionate
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  Speaker 3: about the teams he represents, We'll do anything for them,
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  Speaker 3: a menace, wild bull, wild boy as well. He is
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  Speaker 3: a person that undoubtedly would say he would do that
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  Speaker 3: then actually do it. Maniac status since college has been confirmed. Okay,
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  Speaker 3: all right, well that's Gronk. That's congrats for shining when
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  Speaker 3: your moment came. That's Gronk doubling down on.
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  Speaker 2: Being a dufus, which he can be sometimes. I like him.
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  Speaker 2: He's entertaining, but he can be a duffist.
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  Speaker 3: This is like tumbling down on being a gosh.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Uh, yeah, I've told you about the time Emmatt
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  Speaker 1: Smith snapped at me and then apologized later training camp.
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  Speaker 2: Uh this would have been four or something like that.
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  Speaker 2: It was.
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  Speaker 1: It was It wasn't the year of the holdout. It
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  Speaker 1: was he was coming back from injury, I think, and
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  Speaker 1: it was one of those posts practice scrum media things
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  Speaker 1: where everbody's crowding around and asking a lot of questions.
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  Speaker 1: It was clear he was tired and did not want
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  Speaker 1: to be there. Okay, and people ask questions, some of
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  Speaker 1: which were kind of annoying or whatever. And it was
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  Speaker 1: like his first or second day back after injury. So
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  Speaker 1: I asked him, I said, did you feel comfortable that
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  Speaker 1: you got in the work?
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  Speaker 2: Uh?
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  Speaker 1: Did you feel comfortable that you got in the work
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  Speaker 1: he needed to get and he was like, what do
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  Speaker 1: you mean? And I said that coming off the injury,
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  Speaker 1: first workout, that you got the work. Yes, yes, I
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  Speaker 1: got my work yet or something like that, and I
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  Speaker 1: was like, okay, all right. So all that was the same.
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  Speaker 1: And when it was over, I'm walking away. I'm just
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  Speaker 1: heading dead over done. He comes over and tapped me
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  Speaker 1: on the show and he goes, I'm sorry about that, man.
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  Speaker 1: He goes, I'm just I'm tired of It's good, don't
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  Speaker 1: worry about it. He goes, everybody in the world's but
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  Speaker 1: ask me. I said, I understand, I understand. And so
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  Speaker 1: that was it. It was so it was a nice guy.
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  Speaker 1: He really is you seem like yep, yep. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: And I had a reporter, I mean a player once.
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  Speaker 1: One of the nicest guys in baseball was Jim Sunberg.
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  Speaker 1: He was a catcher for the Rangers and then the
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  Speaker 1: Royals on their World Series Championship team in eighty five.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: He's playing for the Royals and I was covering a
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  Speaker 1: Ranger game one night. The radio station went in there
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  Speaker 1: and asked him something. He kind of snapped at me
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  Speaker 1: and answered the question. I didn't think it was a
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  Speaker 1: dumb question, was just a regular question, but he snapped,
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  Speaker 1: which surprised me. Jim Somberg Sonny is always it was over.
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  Speaker 1: I start walking away. He came up again and said, hey,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry about that. He goes he said I should
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  Speaker 1: have I should have answered that better or something like.
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  Speaker 1: I said, okay, sorry. So this is not to say
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  Speaker 1: that every guy who snapped at me then later apologized
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  Speaker 1: that is. That's not the case. Things I could tell
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  Speaker 1: you about Kurt Gibson all right on the hearing from
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  Speaker 1: Longwart's head coach Steve Sarkesian, and this was following that
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  Speaker 1: SEC conference call today, that's about Gunner Helm. He's asked
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  Speaker 1: how he has seen Gunner Heilm improve and mature in
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  Speaker 1: the system.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. I've been really really proud of Gunner. You know,
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  Speaker 4: he was in the kind of our inaugural recruiting class.
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  Speaker 4: You know that really those kids signed in December and
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  Speaker 4: then I got hired in January, and so we had
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  Speaker 4: a little information on Gunner in the recruitment process from
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  Speaker 4: the previous place we were at, but to watch his
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  Speaker 4: growth over four years, and you know, from where he
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  Speaker 4: was as a really just kind of a developmental player
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  Speaker 4: in our program his first year, the next year kind
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  Speaker 4: of found a little bit of a role, and then
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  Speaker 4: year three last year, had a real role as kind
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  Speaker 4: of an inline blocker as JT.
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  Speaker 5: Sanders was catching a lot of balls.
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  Speaker 4: Gonna continue to work at it, and I think the
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  Speaker 4: dedication that he made to developing himself in the passing game,
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  Speaker 4: you know, we saw glimpses of it last year, but
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  Speaker 4: what he's been able to do this year has become
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  Speaker 4: a real weapon and a real target and a primary
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  Speaker 4: receiver and a guy that can not only catch the ball,
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  Speaker 4: but can create explosive plays and can make people miss
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  Speaker 4: in the open field. So I think he's become a
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  Speaker 4: really complete tight end. And I just think that's a
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  Speaker 4: credit to his work ethic, but also to the development
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  Speaker 4: in our program and him believing in our program and
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  Speaker 4: in the weight room and with Coach Banks in the
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  Speaker 4: tight end room, and because of all that he's been
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  Speaker 4: in our program for four years. He's been really a
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  Speaker 4: model citizen the way he goes about his business. He's
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  Speaker 4: one of our real team leaders. You know, he's a
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  Speaker 4: guy that I know people look to on the team.
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  Speaker 4: He's a he's a great person. For me to use
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  Speaker 4: it as an example of about you know, developing in
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  Speaker 4: the program is I touch on a lot so much
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  Speaker 4: of today's world and recruiting is instant gratification. You know,
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  Speaker 4: if the guy comes in and starts as a true freshman,
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  Speaker 4: he's a great player.
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  Speaker 5: And if he doesn't, what's wrong with him? And that's
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  Speaker 5: really not the case.
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  Speaker 4: You know, this is a we are a developmental sport,
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  Speaker 4: and his development, I think is one that you know
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  Speaker 4: should be admired by by younger players in our program.
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  Speaker 4: That man, if you continue to work hard, you buy
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  Speaker 4: into the program, you buy into the system, you.
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  Speaker 5: Will have success.
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  Speaker 4: And I'm really proud of him for that and the
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  Speaker 4: work that he's put in.
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  Speaker 1: So the follow up then, was how's going to stack
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  Speaker 1: up against other tight ends across the country.
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  Speaker 4: Well, it's it's kind of difficult to judge when I
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  Speaker 4: haven't seen all the other ones, you know, but what
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  Speaker 4: I do know is you know, we spread the ball
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  Speaker 4: around a fair amount in our offense, you know, and
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  Speaker 4: you just look at our numbers of touchdown catches and
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  Speaker 4: receptions and the amount of guys that have catched balls
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  Speaker 4: for us. It's not like we just feature one specific
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  Speaker 4: player at one specific position. With that being said, I
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  Speaker 4: think Gunner's leading our team in receiving yards right now.
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  Speaker 4: He's made impactful plays, He's made explosive plays. But what
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  Speaker 4: I think about that is too you know, I don't
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  Speaker 4: know about all the other tight ends, but Gunner is
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  Speaker 4: a complete tight end.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 4: As much as he does for us in the past game,
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  Speaker 4: he's critical to our success in the run game. He's
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  Speaker 4: critical to our success in pass protection.
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  Speaker 5: You know.
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  Speaker 4: He is a true tight end and a guy that
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  Speaker 4: has to encompass at all. He's not the guy labeled
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  Speaker 4: a tight end that split out that plays slot receivers.
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  Speaker 4: You know, he does it all, and he does it
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  Speaker 4: at a high level, and he plays a lot of
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  Speaker 4: snaps for us.
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  Speaker 5: He's tough minded.
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  Speaker 4: So I do think that about him, but it's hard
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  Speaker 4: to compare him to other guys that I haven't seen.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I hadn't even heard that cut and I knew
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  Speaker 1: the answer to that before we go to start. Doesn't
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  Speaker 1: see every tight end the country. But how do you
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  Speaker 1: think he compares? He's good at what he does toward
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  Speaker 1: the injury front. Andrew mccoob, of course, held out of
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  Speaker 1: the Vanderbilt game. Expect Macouba to be able to play
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  Speaker 1: against Florida.
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  Speaker 5: He's on the men. I think he's making good progress.
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  Speaker 4: Uh. Probably a better answer next week as we as
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  Speaker 4: we kept get back into game week mode.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 3: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: Also asked about David Benda. How he's responded. We saw
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  Speaker 1: been to make a couple of big hits. Remember Benda
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  Speaker 1: was the starting inside linebacker, but now it's Leonge Lafoul
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  Speaker 1: getting the starting snaps in the reps. So how has
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  Speaker 1: been to responded to not having as many reps as
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  Speaker 1: he was having earlier in games?
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  Speaker 4: I think Davis responded really well, you know he's a
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  Speaker 4: guy that you know when when we when we get
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  Speaker 4: him in there, he's impactful.
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  Speaker 5: You know, he makes his reps count.
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  Speaker 4: You know something that we've been we've really been preaching
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  Speaker 4: here is you know, don't count your reps.
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  Speaker 5: You know, make your reps count.
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  Speaker 4: And when David's on the field, he's making tackles, he's
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  Speaker 4: you know, he plays fast, he plays physical, and so
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  Speaker 4: I think that's that's of the importance. You know, We've
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  Speaker 4: been talking a lot about this at multiple position groups,
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  Speaker 4: but I think a lot of it even at linebacker,
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  Speaker 4: that you don't feel that drop off when you when
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  Speaker 4: you go to like the number two guy, and David's
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  Speaker 4: a prime example that when he gets on the field,
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  Speaker 4: you don't feel like, man, we have a backup in there.
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  Speaker 4: We have a guy who's in there making plays and
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  Speaker 4: his impact in the game.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff there. There's a couple more things with
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  Speaker 1: regard to eligibilit I want to get to We've got
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: a break coming up, so I want to.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Get to that. I want to rush through this. I
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: want you to hear these coming up.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Some good stuff there as well, and we'll Tablet's starting
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: lineups are for the World Series game tonight.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: There is a little bit of a change.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: We'll get to that when we continue on sports Radio
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: AM thirteen under the ozone of the IR radio app