Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Eric Weddle(@WeddlesBeard) talking HOF, Bill Belichick, Super Bowl Matchup + more

Transcript

Eric Weddle(@WeddlesBeard) talking HOF, Bill Belichick, Super Bowl Matchup + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to our number three. Welcome in the legend himself,
0:04
Speaker 1: Eric Weddle, who joins us every Thursday to talk all
0:07
Speaker 1: things football. Weddle, how are you, sir?
0:11
Speaker 2: Feel great? Just sitting here with Jordan Gross, the new
0:16
Speaker 2: an upcoming superstar of the Utah Youth coaching Stavage Shop.
0:24
Speaker 1: Go a recruiting so send all your lineman my way please,
0:30
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Officially, you know what you got to
0:33
Speaker 1: get away from Eric Weddle. If you're recruiting lineman, that
0:35
Speaker 1: dude's allergic to take it on a block. You cannot.
0:38
Speaker 1: You don't want Eric Weddle around offensive line conversation.
0:41
Speaker 2: He's mad at me because I told him he was
0:43
Speaker 2: short and he said he's average. I said, well, you
0:45
Speaker 2: know you're more than average, but you're still short.
0:48
Speaker 1: But oh, what a great pleasure to hear from two
0:51
Speaker 1: Utah legends, two for the price of one. Uh W.
0:56
Speaker 1: I texted you about this semi jokingly, But Bill Belichie
1:00
Speaker 1: is not a first ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.
1:04
Speaker 1: Everyone has thoughts on it. What are yours?
1:07
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, Well, now I know that door is
1:11
Speaker 2: officially closed when it was never opened to start with.
1:14
Speaker 2: For Eric weaddall's chances, you know, it's it's kind of
1:19
Speaker 2: interesting and it and again when I say this, I
1:24
Speaker 2: don't think you should have any bearing on whether you
1:27
Speaker 2: make a Hall of Fame or not. I thought it
1:30
Speaker 2: was a travesty that Terrell Owens had a wait, like,
1:33
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, what are we doing? And but
1:37
Speaker 2: it also goes back to how you treat people? Were
1:41
Speaker 2: you nice? Were you kind? Were you respectful? And I
1:46
Speaker 2: don't know who it was, but it was more than one.
1:49
Speaker 2: And unfortunately, when these people in positions of power per
1:54
Speaker 2: se wanted to puff out their chests and make a decision.
1:59
Speaker 2: And it's it's again, obviously he's a first ballot Hall
2:05
Speaker 2: of Famer and he should be, and it's kind of
2:08
Speaker 2: it's ridiculous that he's not. But in the grand scheme
2:13
Speaker 2: of things, it's a good reminder to treat people the
2:16
Speaker 2: way you'd want to be treated.
2:19
Speaker 1: For the sake of argument, because we know that he's
2:20
Speaker 1: going to get in right, But how should we treat
2:23
Speaker 1: guys who are caught cheating, whether it's performance enhancing drugs,
2:27
Speaker 1: whether it's spygate type stuff. I don't really care about
2:31
Speaker 1: deflated footballs, but like stealing signals, maybe listening to another
2:36
Speaker 1: team's play calls, and the other things that the Patriots
2:38
Speaker 1: were accused of under his watch, those are significant in
2:41
Speaker 1: my opinion. It's not a disqualifier. In baseball it is
2:45
Speaker 1: apparently in football it's not. But whatever, different discussion, how
2:49
Speaker 1: should we treat people who are caught cheating punished for
2:52
Speaker 1: cheating during some of their period of greatness when it
2:56
Speaker 1: comes to Hall of Fame voting?
3:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it didn't. It didn't affect Richard Seymour,
3:05
Speaker 2: h didn't affect It won't affect Tom Brady. So is
3:11
Speaker 2: it different for coaches? You know? Has it? I mean
3:20
Speaker 2: I don't know the answer to that. I just know
3:21
Speaker 2: he's he's probably the greatest coach ever. And if okay,
3:25
Speaker 2: so he supposedly cheated, cheated, I don't really know this
3:29
Speaker 2: for sure. So you take two Super Bowls away or
3:31
Speaker 2: three Supers whatever, he's still he's still has stepped into
3:35
Speaker 2: his name, Like what what is I just don't understand
3:39
Speaker 2: what is the point, Like what are we trying? What
3:40
Speaker 2: are we trying to get out of this? Like you're
3:42
Speaker 2: gonna punish him and make him wait one year? Like what? Why?
3:47
Speaker 2: To is it? Because of that because he cheated. Was
3:50
Speaker 2: it the cheating scandals? Was it the way he treated
3:53
Speaker 2: like I don't really know. I just at the end
3:55
Speaker 2: of the day, like it just makes it kind of
3:57
Speaker 2: look not valid, like what are we trying to do?
4:01
Speaker 2: It's what you did on the field. And I know
4:04
Speaker 2: some of the things that they did in New England,
4:06
Speaker 2: like the videotaping walkthroughs and that stuff was like kind
4:09
Speaker 2: of shady. But I mean the guy is accomplished as
4:13
Speaker 2: anybody and he should be in there.
4:17
Speaker 1: He will eventually. We know that. I want to get
4:21
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl matchup here eventually. But some other
4:24
Speaker 1: big news around the league, including for your former team,
4:28
Speaker 1: the Ravens. They've hired Jesse Minter, and we talked about
4:32
Speaker 1: him being one of the candidates who is maybe the
4:34
Speaker 1: right fit for the Baltimore Ravens. I know you love
4:37
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh. They have replaced him with a guy who
4:40
Speaker 1: has a great reputation as well. What do you think
4:42
Speaker 1: of mentor to the Ravens.
4:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a new face, new blood, new vision,
4:49
Speaker 2: new voice was needed there by all accounts from what
4:55
Speaker 2: it's seeing. Then you get someone that has ties to
4:58
Speaker 2: the Ravens, so you understand the building, you understand the organization, ownership,
5:03
Speaker 2: the standard. I think it's I think it really can
5:06
Speaker 2: have the effects of Mike McDonald and what he's done
5:11
Speaker 2: in Seattle and what he had to come after right
5:14
Speaker 2: like he was coming into a situation that was not
5:16
Speaker 2: easy with the you know, the success that Pete Carroll
5:20
Speaker 2: had had there and coming in his shadow, and he
5:23
Speaker 2: with two feet down, did his own thing, his own passion,
5:27
Speaker 2: his own vision, took pictures down in the building and
5:30
Speaker 2: created an identity and culture that resonates not just throughout
5:35
Speaker 2: their team and organization, but you can feel it listening
5:38
Speaker 2: to him after games, post game conference comments, and so
5:45
Speaker 2: I think Jesse is right in line with that. They're
5:48
Speaker 2: very similar personality wise. They're more collaborative working together. It's
5:55
Speaker 2: not about me, it's about the players type attitude. And
5:58
Speaker 2: I think when you had that and you really build
6:00
Speaker 2: a connection with the players and really make it about
6:03
Speaker 2: us and not about me versus you to get it done,
6:07
Speaker 2: I think it really breaths success in the long run.
6:12
Speaker 1: What do you make of what we're seeing with Denver,
6:15
Speaker 1: Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos with an exit last
6:18
Speaker 1: week on an injured quarterback. I think that goes probably
6:21
Speaker 1: a little bit differently, could have gone differently, even with
6:23
Speaker 1: the backup. I think it might have gone differently if
6:25
Speaker 1: bo Nicks had been in there. He fires his receivers coach,
6:29
Speaker 1: he fires a DB's coach, he fires his offensive coordinator,
6:33
Speaker 1: and then bo Nicks has his own press conference to
6:36
Speaker 1: kind of refute some of the things that his coach said. Now,
6:39
Speaker 1: I don't want to like make a mountain out of
6:40
Speaker 1: a mole hill here, but is there is there any
6:43
Speaker 1: smoke or fire that Broncos fans should be worried about
6:46
Speaker 1: when it comes to that stuff we've seen.
6:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really interesting to see after a game just
6:54
Speaker 2: the wheels fall off of you know, how about you
6:59
Speaker 2: fire yourself for not taking the points going on in zero.
7:03
Speaker 2: That's that's what I would say, and that's what I
7:05
Speaker 2: would actually ask him, and knowing he's like, yeah, he
7:07
Speaker 2: tried to spin it off like I wish I had
7:09
Speaker 2: a better call. Well, you didn't, and you're probably the
7:12
Speaker 2: main reason why he lost that game. For your teammates
7:14
Speaker 2: or for your team that you're supposed to lead and
7:16
Speaker 2: put them in the best position possible. So if I
7:19
Speaker 2: was one of those leaders. That's what I would say, uh,
7:21
Speaker 2: instead of him firing everybody and trying to point paint
7:25
Speaker 2: the picture like it was everyone else except except you.
7:28
Speaker 2: So and you know, Sean's very successful and I've actually
7:32
Speaker 2: like enjoyed interactions with him outside of football, But to me, like,
7:36
Speaker 2: he's not a guy that will I would go to
7:38
Speaker 2: bat for. Now. You're You're kind of a kind of
7:42
Speaker 2: a guy that's at face value that at the end
7:45
Speaker 2: of the day, you're gonna look out for yourself. And
7:47
Speaker 2: so I'm not really that type of person. And I
7:49
Speaker 2: want people that own their mistakes and stand tall in
7:52
Speaker 2: the in the face of adversity, and that doesn't seem
7:55
Speaker 2: like the case for him. So I love that boat
7:58
Speaker 2: got out there. I didn't really hear his comments, but
8:00
Speaker 2: it seemed like he was trying to refew what was
8:02
Speaker 2: being said and how he was injured, this, that and
8:05
Speaker 2: the other, and I'm like, hey, I like that, man.
8:07
Speaker 2: It sits very few times do you get the chance
8:10
Speaker 2: to stand up for yourself and stand up for the
8:12
Speaker 2: last name that you represent every single day, and if
8:15
Speaker 2: you feel like it's being slandered or slighted, it is
8:18
Speaker 2: your duty to stand up for what is right.
8:22
Speaker 1: Eric Wedda's our guest here on the Sean O'Connell show
8:25
Speaker 1: Talk at All Things Football, Dabo Swety went on this
8:29
Speaker 1: huge rant, calling out old miss and pulling receipts and
8:33
Speaker 1: pulling timestamps.
8:34
Speaker 2: Man, I watched that whole thing go ahead.
8:36
Speaker 1: I loved it because, look, very few coaches in college
8:40
Speaker 1: football will do this or can do this because they
8:43
Speaker 1: know they're guilty and their closets are full of skeletons too. Dabo,
8:50
Speaker 1: I'm sure has plenty of skeletons in the closet, but
8:52
Speaker 1: he doesn't care, right, He's a guy. He was just
8:54
Speaker 1: calling out the mess. He was calling out as an example,
8:58
Speaker 1: what happened with one particular guy. This is a linebacker.
9:02
Speaker 1: This is not even like a high profile quarterback. And
9:05
Speaker 1: it was fascinating to get you know, all of the
9:08
Speaker 1: layers peeled back so we could see into this mess. Uh.
9:11
Speaker 1: And he wants something to be done. Do you think
9:16
Speaker 1: anything will be done?
9:20
Speaker 2: Well, that something need to be done. Yes, will it
9:23
Speaker 2: get done though, because who's who's gonna govern this? Who's
9:29
Speaker 2: what are you going to take away? You know, you
9:32
Speaker 2: if you have a legal tamper and you lose draft picks,
9:34
Speaker 2: you get fined millions of dollars your owner and you're
9:38
Speaker 2: the owners don't like losing money, so when you're taking
9:41
Speaker 2: their money, that puts you on notice. Say, if you
9:43
Speaker 2: do something stupid like this again, you're fired. So I
9:47
Speaker 2: don't know, it happens. Of course it happens, and it's
9:51
Speaker 2: really unfortunate. So you just try to have some integrity
9:57
Speaker 2: and it needs to be called out because there's a
9:59
Speaker 2: lot of this stuff going on that's just not right,
10:02
Speaker 2: and it puts these players in tough spots where if
10:07
Speaker 2: they're not getting this persuaded or getting notified to join
10:14
Speaker 2: the portal and we got this for you and I'm
10:15
Speaker 2: gonna pay you this. If that stuff never happens, a
10:18
Speaker 2: lot of these kids will stay because they're happy and
10:21
Speaker 2: they're good, but then you entice them with more money.
10:24
Speaker 2: They're not very mature enough and understand the big picture
10:27
Speaker 2: to understand like, hey, it's probably not what's best for
10:30
Speaker 2: you to leave and do the portal, and now you're
10:33
Speaker 2: stuck in the portal, So call it out, call out
10:36
Speaker 2: these shady dudes, and hopefully we can get some progress.
10:39
Speaker 2: So of doing it the right way.
10:41
Speaker 1: Well, That was one of the things that for me
10:42
Speaker 1: with this story was a little bit heartbreaking because and
10:47
Speaker 1: you listen to the whole thing, so you know this
10:49
Speaker 1: as well as I do. Their guy, Clemson's guy, who
10:52
Speaker 1: is a transfer already from cal was trying to be
10:56
Speaker 1: loyal and trying to tell the team, Hey, old missus
10:59
Speaker 1: calling me there with me, I'm gonna stay here, right
11:03
Speaker 1: but just so you know, this is what they're saying.
11:06
Speaker 1: And through that process that Dabo time stamped and everything
11:10
Speaker 1: and brought everyone's name up. We saw a situation where
11:14
Speaker 1: this kid, Luke Farelli, who was trying to do the
11:17
Speaker 1: right thing, Like we got to watch the process where
11:21
Speaker 1: his price was named, you know what I mean, Like
11:24
Speaker 1: everyone's got a price to sell out, you're at a
11:27
Speaker 1: point in your life where it's significantly higher and your
11:29
Speaker 1: name means a lot more. I don't know if whatever
11:33
Speaker 1: twenty year old Eric Weddle would have been like, oh
11:35
Speaker 1: you got two million dollars for me, Okay, then I'm
11:38
Speaker 1: still gonna be loyal. Maybe yes, maybe no, But you
11:40
Speaker 1: could see this kid was trying to do the right
11:43
Speaker 1: thing for Clemson and buy Clemson, and it didn't work
11:46
Speaker 1: out because ultimately the money pulled him into the portal
11:51
Speaker 1: and we got to see the example of how that
11:53
Speaker 1: happens where he said no, he said no, he said no,
11:57
Speaker 1: and then the offer came where he was just like, well,
11:59
Speaker 1: that's an offer I can't refuse. And that's a little
12:01
Speaker 1: bit that was sad for me to see because you
12:04
Speaker 1: could tell the intentions of the kid with those early
12:07
Speaker 1: messages and how those good intentions were overcome ultimately by
12:12
Speaker 1: the mess and the money.
12:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean money. They say money is the root
12:17
Speaker 2: of all evil. So and especially twenty year olds that
12:21
Speaker 2: may have nothing, have come from nothing, that are looking
12:25
Speaker 2: at this as a chance to make a difference, not
12:28
Speaker 2: just for themselves, with other people that have had impact
12:31
Speaker 2: on them. So we're just we're just making it really
12:35
Speaker 2: really hard for our young young people to make the
12:39
Speaker 2: decision that's what's best for them for the next thirty
12:42
Speaker 2: forty to fifty years. And there just has to be
12:45
Speaker 2: something to be said that being a part of a
12:48
Speaker 2: place building, those relationships, the continuity graduating, and those the
12:55
Speaker 2: people that you have within that institution are what's going
12:59
Speaker 2: to last much longer than the money that you're getting
13:03
Speaker 2: right now. And so you just you just hope these
13:07
Speaker 2: universities are educating the kids and making them see the
13:12
Speaker 2: big picture of what's most important in life, and it's
13:16
Speaker 2: not always the dollar signed.
13:19
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the Super Bowl matchup Pats Seahawks.
13:24
Speaker 1: Much to my chagrin, the Seahawks made it through. I
13:26
Speaker 1: know that's not the outcome you wanted either, because your
13:29
Speaker 1: beloved Rams gave you a Super Bowl ring or helped
13:32
Speaker 1: you earn that Super Bowl ring, and they came oh
13:35
Speaker 1: so close to having another opportunity at that. But now
13:38
Speaker 1: that we know the matchup, handicap it for me, how
13:41
Speaker 1: do you see this thing playing out?
13:45
Speaker 3: Yeah?
13:45
Speaker 2: I think, I mean, I think it'll be a competitive game.
13:51
Speaker 2: They're gonna have two weeks of prepare. I just I mean,
13:54
Speaker 2: I just think Seattle's sounds is too good across the
13:59
Speaker 2: board coaching situational football. Donald the way he played in
14:04
Speaker 2: that championship game. I just think they're more dynamic. I
14:09
Speaker 2: think they're defensively, I think they present more issues. As
14:14
Speaker 2: long as Seattle's not playing the Rams, they just pretty
14:16
Speaker 2: much shut down everybody. So I think it's gonna be
14:19
Speaker 2: hard press for Donald or not. Donald Drake madea really
14:25
Speaker 2: have the success needed to win a Super Bowl. I
14:29
Speaker 2: mean that could be totally wrong, but I think Seattle
14:31
Speaker 2: is going to win, and I don't know if it'll
14:34
Speaker 2: be close. I'm being honest.
14:37
Speaker 1: What is this week right now like for the players
14:40
Speaker 1: that are getting ready for this Super Bowl? You obviously
14:44
Speaker 1: played in Jordan Gross, who you're with, played his rookie
14:48
Speaker 1: year in a super Bowl. The two weeks between the
14:53
Speaker 1: conference championship weekend and Super Bowl weekend? What is it
14:57
Speaker 1: like as we're approaching weekend number one here?
15:01
Speaker 2: Well, that's this first week is really getting your body back,
15:04
Speaker 2: depending on how beat up you are from the from
15:08
Speaker 2: the games and the season. You know, I was, I
15:11
Speaker 2: was in a bad shape after that Niner game, and
15:13
Speaker 2: so that next week I don't even know if I
15:15
Speaker 2: even practiced those and I was just really beat up.
15:18
Speaker 2: So really just getting ahead of the game plan, really
15:21
Speaker 2: getting ahead of your opponent, watching tons of film, trying
15:26
Speaker 2: to get ahead of the of the schematics of what
15:28
Speaker 2: we're going to do, who we're taken care of, what
15:31
Speaker 2: what are they going to be? Some checks early on checks,
15:33
Speaker 2: and then you I think you usually get the weekend off.
15:37
Speaker 2: So if I remember, I think we had Friday, Saturday,
15:39
Speaker 2: Sunday off and then back on a Monday morning, and
15:43
Speaker 2: it was normal game week from there. So the whole
15:46
Speaker 2: the whole week really is to get ahead, to get
15:49
Speaker 2: some reps if you can, depend on the health of
15:52
Speaker 2: your team and getting your body back so you are
15:55
Speaker 2: as fresh as possible when when that game hits next Sunday.
15:59
Speaker 1: Emotional stand point and a mental standpoint, what is the
16:02
Speaker 1: load like? Because especially you know as you get later
16:05
Speaker 1: into your career and when you came back to play
16:08
Speaker 1: for the Rams, you knew that was going to be
16:09
Speaker 1: your your final opportunity to get a ring that all
16:13
Speaker 1: of us wanted to see you get, and you obviously
16:15
Speaker 1: had worked so hard for for so long. What is
16:18
Speaker 1: the mental load like when you're trying to keep it
16:21
Speaker 1: like a regular week of preparation. But it's not just
16:24
Speaker 1: any other game. It's the damn Super Bowl.
16:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it. It's the only thing that really
16:33
Speaker 2: makes this super cool Bowl difficult is how much dang
16:36
Speaker 2: time in between every timeout and the halftime show is
16:40
Speaker 2: forty eight minutes And you got the rock yelling at
16:44
Speaker 2: the top of the zung for four minutes before kickoff,
16:46
Speaker 2: and we're just like can we just kick the ball off?
16:48
Speaker 2: And why are you like screaming at everybody? No one,
16:52
Speaker 2: Everyone wants to watch the game, not you screaming. So
16:55
Speaker 2: I think it's just handling that, like handling everything outside
16:58
Speaker 2: of the game becomes the biggest issue. I think once
17:03
Speaker 2: the ball is in the air and you're playing, it's
17:06
Speaker 2: just like every other game. It's just who executes, who's
17:09
Speaker 2: all the cliche things, who wins the ternoble battle field position, YadA,
17:13
Speaker 2: YadA YadA, who doesn't hurt themselves? Prescapalities? But how do
17:17
Speaker 2: you handle halftime? Right?
17:19
Speaker 1: How do you?
17:20
Speaker 2: And I think experience matters because if you don't handle
17:23
Speaker 2: the halftime and you warm up too early, or you
17:26
Speaker 2: warm up too late, or you you know, like if
17:29
Speaker 2: you sneak out or watch Snoop Dog at halftime, like
17:31
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, but those are the things
17:34
Speaker 2: that I think are the issues surrounding the actual game.
17:39
Speaker 2: Everything else. You just try to keep the same, keep
17:41
Speaker 2: your same routine, don't make it more. When you make
17:44
Speaker 2: it more than what it is, then you press and
17:46
Speaker 2: then you do stupid mistakes.
17:48
Speaker 1: Does anyone actually sneak out and watch the halftime performance?
17:52
Speaker 2: I think I think they're a kicker, said that they
17:54
Speaker 2: went out like I think it was this season or something.
17:58
Speaker 2: And I know kickers. Kickers aren't real people, so it's.
18:00
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a different deal. Kickers could do whatever they want.
18:03
Speaker 1: They're they're they're strange. Uh, what what is the what
18:08
Speaker 1: is the high school head coach world?
18:11
Speaker 2: Like?
18:11
Speaker 1: Right now? What do you what are you doing with
18:13
Speaker 1: this offseason with your guys?
18:16
Speaker 2: Right now, we're just slowly you know, like where we
18:20
Speaker 2: planned out the next four months. We're planning in the
18:23
Speaker 2: spring ball and scheduling and that we have to replenish
18:28
Speaker 2: the helmets. They got to get recertified, We got jerseys, equipment, YadA, YadA, YadA.
18:33
Speaker 2: But right now, specifically fourth period, just we're doing three
18:37
Speaker 2: days a week lifting with about twenty minutes in the classroom.
18:41
Speaker 2: So we do like hot seat, we do culture building,
18:43
Speaker 2: team building type activities, and then the other two days
18:48
Speaker 2: we do like football school one on one. Like I'm
18:50
Speaker 2: trying to emphasize like the game, teaching them the game
18:54
Speaker 2: situational football. Uh, you know why am I calling this call? What?
18:58
Speaker 2: What are what is the what is the purpose of
19:02
Speaker 2: the situation? So we uh, we can go out and
19:06
Speaker 2: be great. So that's right right now. Then April Hits
19:09
Speaker 2: will go four days a week in the weight room
19:11
Speaker 2: and that'll lead the spring ball and shooting. The season's here.
19:16
Speaker 2: So we got a rock at for that point.
19:19
Speaker 1: If I was a good friend, I would know the
19:20
Speaker 1: answer to this question already. But which senior game, Senior
19:26
Speaker 1: All Star game did you participate in? Coming out the
19:30
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl down in Mobile, Alabama, going through the practices,
19:35
Speaker 1: et cetera. What was that experience like for you as
19:37
Speaker 1: a guy? People got to remember this was Mount West Conference,
19:41
Speaker 1: University of Utah. This is not Power for Utah. This
19:44
Speaker 1: is a much less established version of what the program
19:48
Speaker 1: was at that time. So you know, you were a
19:51
Speaker 1: small school guy compared to what some of the other
19:54
Speaker 1: players down there were. What was that experience like for you?
19:58
Speaker 2: Yeah? It was, it was. I mean it was a
20:00
Speaker 2: huge get when I got the invite, it was really
20:06
Speaker 2: a really big deal. I mean, I think I don't
20:09
Speaker 2: know what the exact percentage is, but it's a high
20:11
Speaker 2: percentage of guys that goes to Singer Bowl usually get
20:13
Speaker 2: drafted because it's the best of the best. Now they're
20:16
Speaker 2: allowing underclassmen to join in, so really it was an
20:19
Speaker 2: opportunity for the scouts. Every scout is there, usually every
20:23
Speaker 2: GM is there, a lot of the coaches are there,
20:26
Speaker 2: so they get to see you in person competing, and
20:29
Speaker 2: I just had to show like I was a guy
20:32
Speaker 2: that could play against the best and handle my own
20:36
Speaker 2: and then you know, one on ones, I'm locking people
20:39
Speaker 2: up and team I'm making turnovers, I'm picking the ball off.
20:42
Speaker 2: So it was a great and really important week for
20:46
Speaker 2: me to go on show because of the stigma of
20:49
Speaker 2: the Mountain West and just the competition wasn't the same
20:52
Speaker 2: as some other schools, So you got to go alleviate
20:55
Speaker 2: that notion from coaches when they watch a film.
21:01
Speaker 1: Do you have a guy right now on your roster
21:04
Speaker 1: that Jordan Gross is down there recruiting or is he
21:07
Speaker 1: just using this as an excuse to check in with
21:09
Speaker 1: a buddy, or like are you guys or are you
21:14
Speaker 1: guys going golfing or something like no.
21:17
Speaker 2: I wish we're going golfing. No, he's been making the round,
21:20
Speaker 2: like I think this is probably fourth or fifth school.
21:23
Speaker 2: He wanted to say what's up the gauge, So you know,
21:27
Speaker 2: they've been talking for like fifteen minutes and Gage just
21:29
Speaker 2: went off, just went back to class and a little
21:32
Speaker 2: bit to say, lou and then then he'll be making
21:35
Speaker 2: his way on other schools here in a bit.
21:39
Speaker 1: I was laughing on the on the show yesterday because
21:42
Speaker 1: there was a picture posted from another cat at Utah's
21:45
Speaker 1: recruiting and he's down there visiting him and it's this
21:48
Speaker 1: high school kid at Servite who's like two. He looks
21:51
Speaker 1: like he's sixty pounds heavier and two inches taller than
21:55
Speaker 1: Jordan Gross, who played a decade in the NFL. What
21:57
Speaker 1: do they feeding these kids? Man?
22:00
Speaker 2: That was the first thing he said. We went, we
22:02
Speaker 2: went and grab lunch together, and he's like, man, I
22:04
Speaker 2: think I got to get back in the weight room
22:06
Speaker 2: and put on some back on some muscles so I
22:08
Speaker 2: can I can actually show him some stuff on the field,
22:12
Speaker 2: because these dudes are monsters.
22:15
Speaker 1: When you when you're watching, like I don't know how
22:17
Speaker 1: much you like the Senior Bowl tape or whatever, when
22:21
Speaker 1: you're watching high school tape, obviously, how easy is it
22:25
Speaker 1: for you having played at the level you played at
22:27
Speaker 1: and now coaching high school and you know your success
22:30
Speaker 1: in college, How easy is it for you? How quickly
22:32
Speaker 1: can you assess like Oh that's a guy. I'm going
22:35
Speaker 1: to see him playing on Saturday. So I'm going to
22:37
Speaker 1: see him playing even potentially on Sunday someday. How quickly
22:41
Speaker 1: is your eye drawn to the dudes that are the
22:43
Speaker 1: outliers that belong at a higher.
22:45
Speaker 2: Level I think we have. I think we can get
22:51
Speaker 2: a good idea fairly quickly watching them move and their
22:57
Speaker 2: size and potential. I think even more so when I
23:03
Speaker 2: was playing, anytime we got draft picks or undrafted guys,
23:06
Speaker 2: and we get the first day or two in practice, thought,
23:09
Speaker 2: I bet Jordan will say the same. I could tell
23:11
Speaker 2: right away if they were one going to make the
23:12
Speaker 2: team and two going to have a career, just by
23:14
Speaker 2: how they moved and how I could see, like directly
23:19
Speaker 2: correlated to my position. So I think as you get
23:23
Speaker 2: older and you see more players come through your program,
23:26
Speaker 2: you can guide and get idea of what it looks like.
23:30
Speaker 2: But definitely for DB's like I kind of know like
23:33
Speaker 2: do they have a chance or not. And then skill guys,
23:36
Speaker 2: there's like pre records that we're requisites that you kind
23:40
Speaker 2: of have to have, and then you tie the heart
23:43
Speaker 2: factor and the toughness and the processing in mind. That's
23:47
Speaker 2: that's one of the good coaches will find the superstuds
23:50
Speaker 2: that make ten your careers.
23:52
Speaker 1: Well, forgive me for drilling down to even more detail
23:55
Speaker 1: on this, but like when you say, watching how a
23:57
Speaker 1: guy moves, is it how they come in and out
24:00
Speaker 1: of breaks? Is it the backpedal? Is it the stride?
24:04
Speaker 1: Is it all of the above? Like when you say,
24:06
Speaker 1: I could watch somebody move and no, what are you
24:09
Speaker 1: looking for in that movement?
24:12
Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh, it's it's pad level, It's it's the feet,
24:15
Speaker 2: It's how many steps? Are they smooth? Are they explosive?
24:19
Speaker 2: Are they how many steps are they taking out of
24:21
Speaker 2: the break? Are they breaking towards the target? Are they
24:24
Speaker 2: wasting steps? Or where is their eyes? Where are their
24:27
Speaker 2: eyes looking? You know, that's probably only half of it,
24:31
Speaker 2: and then the other half is the knowledge of the
24:34
Speaker 2: game and what are their pre snap pre snap checklists,
24:38
Speaker 2: What are they thinking about? Where are their eyes? Where
24:41
Speaker 2: is their eye discipline? Do they know what they're doing?
24:45
Speaker 2: Do they communicate? Like so much of the game is
24:48
Speaker 2: more of the mental side really at the NFL, but
24:51
Speaker 2: you have to it's if you don't have the physical
24:55
Speaker 2: for parts and you you better be elite at processing
24:58
Speaker 2: and communication. Even then you still may not have a chance.
25:03
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know that all of us have the
25:05
Speaker 1: same trained die as Eric Weddel or Jordan Gross, but
25:07
Speaker 1: we do our best to try and assess what these
25:09
Speaker 1: cats are capable of, and we will do that as
25:11
Speaker 1: we get into spring ball and everything else, and we
25:14
Speaker 1: will keep talking about it to always appreciate your time.
25:19
Speaker 1: I gotta text you I'm traveling next Thursday, so I
25:21
Speaker 1: think we're gonna try to get you on Wednesday if
25:23
Speaker 1: that works.
25:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, bro.
25:26
Speaker 1: All Right, dude, thanks for your time as always. Tell
25:28
Speaker 1: Jordan thanks for popping on as well.
25:32
Speaker 2: You got it.
25:32
Speaker 1: Love it, bro, all right, dude, love you.
25:34
Speaker 2: Man.
25:34
Speaker 1: That's Eric Weddle, you tough football legend and a guy
25:39
Speaker 1: that I will say it every time. Not gonna be
25:42
Speaker 1: a first ballot Hall of Famer, but neither's Bill Belichick.
25:45
Speaker 1: All Right, I want to see our guy in. I
25:47
Speaker 1: think that you can make a strong case, even though
25:50
Speaker 1: we gave him the opportunity a couple of weeks ago
25:53
Speaker 1: to make his own case and he refused to do it.
25:55
Speaker 1: But that's just how humble he is. All right. Oh see, Yeah,
26:00
Speaker 1: if I.
26:00
Speaker 3: Can go ahead, port Larson and you mentioned, yeah, maybe
26:05
Speaker 3: not a first ballot Hall of Famer, but there are
26:11
Speaker 3: three players in NFL history that match his career tackles, interceptions,
26:19
Speaker 3: pass breakup numbers three. He's one of those three, and
26:26
Speaker 3: the other two are Hall of famers. The other two
26:27
Speaker 3: are Hall of famers. Charles Woodson, I think Rende Barber
26:32
Speaker 3: I might have to the.
26:34
Speaker 1: Closest analog that you can find. And I again, our guy, like,
26:39
Speaker 1: if I was working for the NFL network, I would
26:41
Speaker 1: I would have to yell at him for doing it
26:43
Speaker 1: this way. But I asked him, hey, do you think
26:47
Speaker 1: John Lynch belongs in the Hall of Fame? And instead
26:50
Speaker 1: of saying absolutely yes, he was like, I don't know,
26:53
Speaker 1: does he Like, how can you tell? Most people will
26:59
Speaker 1: answer to the pervative, does John Lynch belong in the
27:01
Speaker 1: Pro Football Hall of Fame? He is in the Pro
27:04
Speaker 1: Football Hall of Fame, so the answer is yes for
27:07
Speaker 1: most people. Weddell has either equal or better stats than
27:13
Speaker 1: John Lynch. And when he came out of retirement and
27:16
Speaker 1: went on that run with the Rams, he got what
27:18
Speaker 1: I thought might be kind of the final straw to
27:20
Speaker 1: break the camel's back. He got the super Bowl ring,
27:23
Speaker 1: which I know for safeties is not as big of
27:25
Speaker 1: a deal as it is for quarterbacks, but still adds
27:27
Speaker 1: to the resume. Super Bowl champ.
27:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, five time All Pro, Yes, six time Pro Bowler, Yes,
27:33
Speaker 3: I know that's whatever now led the league in interceptions
27:38
Speaker 3: a couple times All decade team in the twenty tens
27:42
Speaker 3: according to the NFL. And then these are the numbers
27:45
Speaker 3: I was talking about. One and seventy nine tackles, twenty
27:50
Speaker 3: nine interceptions, ninety eight pass breakups in his career. Eric Weddell,
27:58
Speaker 3: Harrison Smith, Charles those are the only three that match
28:03
Speaker 3: those numbers in NFL history. Obviously Harrison Smith not a
28:06
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer yet not eligible. Woodson obviously a Hall
28:10
Speaker 3: of Famer. Yes, I mean, I know that tackles sometimes
28:16
Speaker 3: don't tell a whole story, but when you play in
28:18
Speaker 3: the defensive backfield, you're like the last line of defense.
28:21
Speaker 1: They kind of do.
28:22
Speaker 3: A lot of linebackers have more tackles than they should
28:25
Speaker 3: because they allow a tight end to catch a ball
28:29
Speaker 3: every other down, right, because they're not committing their assignment.
28:33
Speaker 3: Not the case with DB's. That's an elite list of
28:38
Speaker 3: three guys.
28:38
Speaker 1: Which, by the way, the tackles number for me with
28:41
Speaker 1: Eric Weddle is the most impressive and the most interesting
28:45
Speaker 1: because there's a there's something about our guy Eric Weddle
28:49
Speaker 1: that separates him pretty significantly from Charles Woodson.
28:52
Speaker 3: And Harrison's smaller than me.
28:53
Speaker 1: He is small compared to those guys. Those dudes are missiles.
28:58
Speaker 1: Especially Harrison is a giant guy. Yeah right, And I mean, look,
29:04
Speaker 1: it didn't always go Weddle's way when he was sticking
29:08
Speaker 1: his nose in there, But the point is he did
29:10
Speaker 1: it anyway, right, and he was there and he was
29:14
Speaker 1: I don't know, he's just a great, great football player.
29:17
Speaker 1: I know it takes more than being a great football
29:19
Speaker 1: player to get into the Hall of Fame, but I
29:24
Speaker 1: think he's checked all of those boxes too, And he's
29:26
Speaker 1: an elite human being and an elite mind when it
29:30
Speaker 1: comes to football. So we're gonna get, hopefully, we're gonna
29:35
Speaker 1: get a period of time where Utah football once again
29:37
Speaker 1: benefits from his expertise. Even if that doesn't happen and
29:41
Speaker 1: he goes off to an NFL GM job or an
29:44
Speaker 1: NFL coaching job or whatever, it is, just you cannot
29:48
Speaker 1: ask for more from a guy as an alum as
29:51
Speaker 1: a person, as a player, as a friend, He's just
29:53
Speaker 1: elite man in every way.
29:54
Speaker 3: I thought Eric Weddle was potentially a Hall of Famer
29:58
Speaker 3: the first time he retired, and then he came back
30:01
Speaker 3: and not only was part of a Super Bowl run,
30:03
Speaker 3: but by the end of the run was wearing the
30:05
Speaker 3: green dot being the team in tackles right up there
30:08
Speaker 3: in it. And as you mentioned, yeah, he those eleven
30:12
Speaker 3: hundred plus tackles. He may feel them more than just
30:15
Speaker 3: about anyone else in that list. Steve Smith also, listen,
30:19
Speaker 3: there's two uts that are like right on that edge there.
30:23
Speaker 3: Steve Smith is behind I think eight or nine guys
30:26
Speaker 3: as far as total receptions yards the above.
30:29
Speaker 1: All those guys also Hall of Famers.
30:32
Speaker 3: So let's let's start tooting that horn for those two.
30:40
Speaker 1: We'll do that on this show.