Latest / The Craig Way Show / Ole Miss Football Preview with David Kellum
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Why not on a Monday roll back with a well,
- 0:08Speaker 1: a real banger, Mississippi Queen. It's perfect because it goes
- 0:12Speaker 1: right into.
- 0:14Speaker 2: Our SEC football previews. We've continued.
- 0:17Speaker 1: We started it week before last, went all the way
- 0:20Speaker 1: through and then last week and this is the final week.
- 0:23Speaker 1: And we've been really blessed and privileged to be joined
- 0:27Speaker 1: by the play by play voices of each of the
- 0:29Speaker 1: Southeastern Conference schools, and that includes our next guest, one
- 0:34Speaker 1: of you might say, one of the most decorated and senior.
- 0:38Speaker 2: Members of our crew.
- 0:41Speaker 1: It's the good man that is David Kellen, the play
- 0:43Speaker 1: by play voice of the Old miss Rebels, who we
- 0:46Speaker 1: have to start off with by wishing a happy anniversary.
- 0:49Speaker 1: I was told that you and your wonderful bride Mary
- 0:53Speaker 1: have been married how many years?
- 0:56Speaker 3: DK A bunch man. That was a very appropriate psalm,
- 1:01Speaker 3: Mississippi Queen. By the way, I've had it all.
- 1:04Speaker 4: Yeah, forty six years.
- 1:05Speaker 3: Were high school sweethearts, so we've known each other for
- 1:07Speaker 3: a lot longer than that. And she's gone. I tell
- 1:10Speaker 3: everybody she's my better four fifths.
- 1:12Speaker 4: Uh. And I just advise you, if.
- 1:14Speaker 3: You've been married that long, you need to, you know,
- 1:16Speaker 3: change that from better half to a better percentage towards
- 1:19Speaker 3: your wife, that's for sure.
- 1:20Speaker 4: But yeah, we've we've been together a long time.
- 1:22Speaker 2: That is great.
- 1:23Speaker 1: And I got a chance to meet her during baseball
- 1:25Speaker 1: and she's a wonderful lady as well, So that is uh,
- 1:28Speaker 1: that's that's tremendous, and congratulations on that. When we go
- 1:34Speaker 1: into the off season or as we prepared to emerge
- 1:41Speaker 1: from a college football off season and get ready for
- 1:44Speaker 1: a brand new school.
- 1:46Speaker 2: How many years has this been for you? Now you've
- 1:48Speaker 2: been at it a bit there.
- 1:50Speaker 3: Yeah, this will be my thirty ninth year for football,
- 1:53Speaker 3: which is kind of crazy. I started Craig right out
- 1:56Speaker 3: of high school when I was a freshman old Miss
- 1:58Speaker 3: Colling baseball, so I was eight ten years old.
- 2:00Speaker 4: I keep telling me I started as eighteen's. Everybody thinks
- 2:02Speaker 4: I'm ninety.
- 2:03Speaker 3: Something, but I'm getting on up there, long in the
- 2:05Speaker 3: tooth at sixty seven. But you know, it's really weird
- 2:08Speaker 3: in our league. Years ago, you had John Ward at Tennessee.
- 2:12Speaker 3: You know, Munson was at Georgia. On and on it went,
- 2:15Speaker 3: just these incredible announcers.
- 2:18Speaker 4: Crystal was at State.
- 2:19Speaker 3: When I came in, and Wes Durham, who now you know,
- 2:22Speaker 3: calls for Fox, was at Vanderbilt at the time. We
- 2:25Speaker 3: were in this meeting with all these guys, and he
- 2:27Speaker 3: looked over to me and he said, are you intimidated?
- 2:29Speaker 2: I said, yeah, big time.
- 2:31Speaker 3: And of course you know Wes is dad's legendary announcer
- 2:33Speaker 3: too at North Carolina in Woody Durham.
- 2:37Speaker 4: But now I'm that guy. So it's kind of weird,
- 2:39Speaker 4: to say the least.
- 2:40Speaker 3: But i still feel very young at heart, and I've
- 2:43Speaker 3: just seen some incredible things throughout the years, not only
- 2:46Speaker 3: in the SEC, but some of the teams we played
- 2:50Speaker 3: outside the league as well. But I've done football, basketball,
- 2:52Speaker 3: and baseball in some form of fashion, women's soups since
- 2:56Speaker 3: nineteen seventy eight, basically gave up men's basketball. This past year,
- 3:01Speaker 3: the overlap kind of got big on us, and we
- 3:04Speaker 3: were very fortunate to have Gary Darby in.
- 3:06Speaker 4: Our area, who I hired and worked with for years.
- 3:08Speaker 3: He moved back in here and instead of filling in
- 3:11Speaker 3: for me, we decided to let him to do hoops,
- 3:13Speaker 3: and so he's doing hoops now. So I'm slowed down
- 3:16Speaker 3: a tad, but really excited about the upcoming season and
- 3:20Speaker 3: get things rolling again. I'm not working as much as you.
- 3:22Speaker 3: I mean, were you ever at home?
- 3:23Speaker 4: When do you go home?
- 3:27Speaker 1: Summertimes they're a little slower, it gets a little busier
- 3:30Speaker 1: once we ramp up, you know, but once we get
- 3:33Speaker 1: on into September.
- 3:34Speaker 2: I totally agree with you on that.
- 3:36Speaker 1: And by the way, having grown up in North Carolina,
- 3:38Speaker 1: I grew up idolizing Woody Durham.
- 3:41Speaker 4: Yeah, he was wonderful.
- 3:42Speaker 1: And I told him that when I met him years later.
- 3:46Speaker 1: I think when Texas was playing North Carolina, like I
- 3:48Speaker 1: think it was a year they won the national title
- 3:50Speaker 1: ninety three, ninety two, ninety three season, and I told
- 3:53Speaker 1: him in Charlotte and he goes, you really need to
- 3:57Speaker 1: set your sights a little higher, you know that sort
- 4:00Speaker 1: of thing.
- 4:01Speaker 2: So what a great guy.
- 4:02Speaker 3: And when he retired, Wes called me and he said, hey, look,
- 4:06Speaker 3: I know this is a weird request, but dad and
- 4:09Speaker 3: mom want to come to the grove. I said, really,
- 4:12Speaker 3: And he made a great point. I'd never called a
- 4:14Speaker 3: game from North Carolina, which is weird you would think
- 4:17Speaker 3: across the league.
- 4:17Speaker 4: But I'd never called a game, well would he never called.
- 4:19Speaker 3: One from Old Miss And of course he goes, back
- 4:21Speaker 3: further than me, and so we had this team doctors
- 4:25Speaker 3: in North Carolina grad and he set him up in
- 4:27Speaker 3: a cabin. We put him on a pregame show, and
- 4:29Speaker 3: before he passed away, and his wonderful wife came down
- 4:32Speaker 3: to Oxford and just did the grove routine and it
- 4:34Speaker 3: was part of our pregame show. It was such an
- 4:37Speaker 3: honor and privilege for us to get to see him
- 4:39Speaker 3: in that capacity after he had retired from North Carolina.
- 4:42Speaker 4: It's pretty cool.
- 4:43Speaker 2: That is awesome, all right.
- 4:45Speaker 1: So, David Cullum's running US play by play voice of
- 4:47Speaker 1: the Old Miss Rebels. Let me start with what I
- 4:50Speaker 1: think had to be one of the most dynamic and
- 4:54Speaker 1: I will add the word unusual seasons in college football.
- 4:58Speaker 1: Last year Old Miss winning thirteen ball games, getting to
- 5:01Speaker 1: the Final four, and losing its head coach. As we
- 5:04Speaker 1: all know, during the course of this end, I thought
- 5:07Speaker 1: Pete Golden did a fabulous job of shepherding things through.
- 5:10Speaker 1: And now he gets ready to take it on in
- 5:12Speaker 1: his first full season. How about your your overview of
- 5:15Speaker 1: how that all went down the stretch as you get
- 5:18Speaker 1: ready to lead in the twenty twenty six Well.
- 5:22Speaker 4: It was wild and a combination of things.
- 5:24Speaker 3: I mean, my relationship with Lane was very, very good,
- 5:26Speaker 3: and I'd say, you know, pretty decent now too. He's
- 5:29Speaker 3: he was a fantastic coach for US, brilliant offensive mind.
- 5:33Speaker 3: And you know, regardless if you want to blame it
- 5:35Speaker 3: on the scheduling or you know, leaving for what he
- 5:38Speaker 3: thinks is a better situation, the bottom line was leaving
- 5:42Speaker 3: a playoff team kind of threw me for a loop.
- 5:44Speaker 3: I thought that was kind of strange, but nonetheless it
- 5:47Speaker 3: worked out great.
- 5:48Speaker 4: Pete did a fantastic job.
- 5:50Speaker 3: There's always been the debate if if Lane had been
- 5:52Speaker 3: able to coach through and that's just not going to happen.
- 5:55Speaker 3: That would be you know, for those fans out there
- 5:57Speaker 3: that are A and M and Texas fans, you know
- 6:00Speaker 3: that you're not going to let the A and M.
- 6:01Speaker 4: Future coach finish out the seasons. You know that kind
- 6:03Speaker 4: of thing.
- 6:04Speaker 3: Yeah, uh, and so the rivalry just that was not
- 6:07Speaker 3: going to be allowed. And I thought, I'm like, you
- 6:09Speaker 3: peaked at a fantastic job beat Georgia played Georgia straight
- 6:13Speaker 3: up in the Sugar Bowl. I'm not so sure Lane
- 6:15Speaker 3: would have done that. Lane they have, you know, had
- 6:17Speaker 3: a different style and struggled with that game. Who knows
- 6:19Speaker 3: how that would have come out, But to get to
- 6:21Speaker 3: it's basically a play away from making it to the
- 6:23Speaker 3: national championship with all of that turmoil going on, was
- 6:27Speaker 3: really really cool. But we were very, very talented. They
- 6:29Speaker 3: had a fantastic team and a lot of those key
- 6:31Speaker 3: pieces are going to be back.
- 6:32Speaker 4: Forth this year.
- 6:33Speaker 2: Oh and started quarterback.
- 6:35Speaker 1: Let me start with Trinidad because not only was he
- 6:38Speaker 1: fabulous last year, but then to to understand the legal
- 6:44Speaker 1: battle that was they had and went through and charged
- 6:47Speaker 1: for it and got that extra year of eligibility. That's
- 6:49Speaker 1: had to be a big relief, not only for coach Colding,
- 6:52Speaker 1: but really for Old Miss Nation overall to see their leader,
- 6:56Speaker 1: their quarterback is going to be a senior and clearly
- 6:57Speaker 1: a Heisman Trophy candidate as well.
- 7:00Speaker 2: Taking the snaps.
- 7:02Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a weird world.
- 7:03Speaker 3: You gotta love, you know, the sports world where we
- 7:06Speaker 3: came He came in here last year. Craig and Harry Harrison,
- 7:09Speaker 3: our color commentator on the network. Now, so let's go
- 7:12Speaker 3: over to the offense and we're with practice, So let's
- 7:14Speaker 3: go over to the offensive side and see about this
- 7:16Speaker 3: backup quarterback. You know, something should happen to Austin Simmons,
- 7:20Speaker 3: would he be capable of running the show.
- 7:22Speaker 4: And we go over there and.
- 7:23Speaker 3: Watch him, and he makes a great sideline outpass and
- 7:26Speaker 3: breaks and runs for a little bit, hits a deep
- 7:28Speaker 3: ball and we both said, yeah, he'll be okay, you know, Okay, Well,
- 7:32Speaker 3: Simmons does get hurt. He ends up having an unbelievable year,
- 7:37Speaker 3: and so he's making a whole lot more money this
- 7:38Speaker 3: time around than he did at the beginning of last season.
- 7:41Speaker 3: But he's a great kid, wonderful you know, individual, in
- 7:45Speaker 3: addition to being a tremendous talent.
- 7:48Speaker 4: So we're very fortunate to have him back.
- 7:50Speaker 3: And we got Lacey back in the backfield with him too,
- 7:54Speaker 3: So that's going to be really cool one two punch
- 7:56Speaker 3: to have back in the offense.
- 7:58Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask you about Lacey and
- 7:59Speaker 1: the the fact, I mean, he's obviously the bell cowboyn
- 8:02Speaker 1: it comes to running the football for them, and really
- 8:06Speaker 1: and truly I think also having some veterans back on
- 8:09Speaker 1: your offensive line certainly helps as well.
- 8:10Speaker 3: Then then, right, we got the three interior guys back
- 8:15Speaker 3: Terrees Davis will be at left tackle for us, and
- 8:17Speaker 3: he had pretty much won the position or at least
- 8:20Speaker 3: was going to be in the mix going into the
- 8:22Speaker 3: last season transferred from Maryland.
- 8:24Speaker 4: But he got hurt in the very last.
- 8:26Speaker 3: Scrimmage before we started the season, so he missed the year,
- 8:28Speaker 3: basically didn't get to play a lot. And he's back
- 8:31Speaker 3: and will be at left tackle. It's still kind of
- 8:33Speaker 3: working on the right tackle thing. But I think, you know,
- 8:35Speaker 3: without getting too much coach speak and throwing a bunch
- 8:38Speaker 3: of names at you, defensive line, we're gonna have more depth.
- 8:41Speaker 3: We've improved in the linebacker corps a good bit. Defensive
- 8:45Speaker 3: backfield also picked up some extra pieces there. And on
- 8:49Speaker 3: the offensive side, you know, totally new receiving room kind
- 8:52Speaker 3: of with some really good talent there as well.
- 8:55Speaker 4: And just having watched some practice, I think we're gonna
- 8:57Speaker 4: be fine. But you know, it's really weird.
- 9:00Speaker 3: I think this team is going to be better in
- 9:03Speaker 3: a lot of ways, but the schedule's tougher two and
- 9:05Speaker 3: you know, you know this league, you can't just start
- 9:07Speaker 3: checking off wins, so it's interesting. It could be a
- 9:10Speaker 3: better team than the one last year, but the schedule
- 9:12Speaker 3: is gonna make it a difficult run, but who knows
- 9:15Speaker 3: who's going to merge out of the league.
- 9:16Speaker 4: But I do feel good about the position we're in
- 9:18Speaker 4: going in.
- 9:19Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would say also, it looks like the
- 9:24Speaker 1: back seven for you for your defense. With all that
- 9:28Speaker 1: all that betteran leadership returning could make a real big difference.
- 9:32Speaker 3: Right, No doubt, Echols in the middle is where you start,
- 9:35Speaker 3: and he's just a fantastic player. I think he'd potentially
- 9:38Speaker 3: be a first round pick coming out of this season.
- 9:41Speaker 3: And you know, you know how it is you get
- 9:43Speaker 3: if you got the depth and the pressure on the
- 9:45Speaker 3: defensive front, boy, that solves a lot of problems and
- 9:49Speaker 3: really takes some heat off of your linebackers and your
- 9:52Speaker 3: defensive backs. And so we had a really really good
- 9:54Speaker 3: rotation there two years ago in twenty four, we were
- 9:56Speaker 3: running about nine defensive linemen at Old Miss.
- 9:59Speaker 4: We've never been able to do. That's one of the things.
- 10:01Speaker 3: That portal has helped our program get better, as you're
- 10:04Speaker 3: able to get the depth that you need. And then
- 10:06Speaker 3: last year we didn't have quite as much and so
- 10:09Speaker 3: we'd stayed a little bit late. But nonetheless, I think
- 10:12Speaker 3: we're back to having a good rotation about eight or nine.
- 10:15Speaker 1: Defensive lineman David Kellen, played by play voice of the
- 10:18Speaker 1: Ole Miss Rebels, joined us here for a couple more minutes.
- 10:20Speaker 1: I've asked every guy with whom we visit in this
- 10:23Speaker 1: league about the nine game conference schedule. In the case
- 10:28Speaker 1: of Old Miss, I think it's rather intriguing because, you know,
- 10:32Speaker 1: in the past, we've been able to say, Okay, there's
- 10:35Speaker 1: like three games before you got conference play, and then
- 10:38Speaker 1: you'd have the late season game and you have the
- 10:40Speaker 1: late season non conference game against Watford, but there'd be
- 10:43Speaker 1: three weeks to warm up. Now it's only two weeks
- 10:46Speaker 1: to warm up because of the ninth conference game and
- 10:48Speaker 1: the first run out of the gate that Sunday game
- 10:51Speaker 1: on Labor Day weekend against Louisville. It looks like the
- 10:53Speaker 1: Rebels we have to hit the ground running on this.
- 10:56Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt.
- 10:57Speaker 3: I was looking at the top twenty five this morning, Greig,
- 10:59Speaker 3: and we're playing like six of the top twenty five teams,
- 11:01Speaker 3: including Louisville. There's like twenty fourth in the nation. So
- 11:06Speaker 3: it's a formeralle schedule to say the least. But my
- 11:09Speaker 3: thoughts about the nine from a fan standpoint, you know,
- 11:13Speaker 3: I think you'd rather see an SEC matchup another one
- 11:16Speaker 3: as opposed to maybe some of the cupcake matchups that
- 11:19Speaker 3: you might get. I get the coaches point two, though,
- 11:22Speaker 3: I think if the playoff had been expanded this time
- 11:25Speaker 3: around a little bit, we wouldn't be having the conversation
- 11:27Speaker 3: because you feel comfortable that, you know, a nine in
- 11:29Speaker 3: three SEC team probably would get into an expanded playoff.
- 11:34Speaker 4: But it's gonna be interesting at the end of the
- 11:36Speaker 4: year to.
- 11:36Speaker 3: See because we may have several in our league that
- 11:39Speaker 3: could be nine and three. Well how does that compare
- 11:41Speaker 3: to an eleven one from somewhere else or ten and
- 11:45Speaker 3: two from some other conference.
- 11:46Speaker 4: So it's gonna be interesting to see. But I think just.
- 11:48Speaker 3: Going to the game, you know, I kind of like
- 11:50Speaker 3: the journey. If you're going to games this year, you
- 11:52Speaker 3: get an extra SEC game to go see. For those
- 11:55Speaker 3: of us that are hosting five games, I think that's
- 11:59Speaker 3: going to be cool.
- 11:59Speaker 2: To Yeah, I mentioned this.
- 12:02Speaker 1: I was on a show with some folks in Arkansas
- 12:04Speaker 1: this morning and they asked me about it, and I said,
- 12:07Speaker 1: and I think somebody made this comment last week as well.
- 12:11Speaker 2: That was on this show. One of the play by
- 12:12Speaker 2: play guys.
- 12:13Speaker 1: That fans and even the media probably really enjoyed the
- 12:18Speaker 1: thought of that ninth game. And like you said, I
- 12:20Speaker 1: can understand where the coaches come down on this, And
- 12:23Speaker 1: I think the key on this thing is you just
- 12:26Speaker 1: kind of alluded to, is I think folks would rather
- 12:29Speaker 1: see if it was a Vanderbilt or a Mississippi State
- 12:34Speaker 1: or a Missouri whatever as an extra opponent on the
- 12:38Speaker 1: schedule then playing someone. To borrow the phrase from our
- 12:42Speaker 1: women's basketball coach here in Austin, Vick Shaefer three named
- 12:46Speaker 1: Directional State University, you know that that.
- 12:49Speaker 2: Kind of thing.
- 12:50Speaker 1: So it's it really does, I think add more value
- 12:56Speaker 1: for the fan who's buying the ticket. Whether you have
- 13:00Speaker 1: a high profile non conference game at home or not
- 13:03Speaker 1: in a given year, you know you've got a quality
- 13:06Speaker 1: opponent coming in in that place.
- 13:08Speaker 4: Right exactly.
- 13:09Speaker 3: And I see both sides of it, but I kind
- 13:13Speaker 3: of lean towards the fan side. I think the you know,
- 13:17Speaker 3: the difference of having five home games or four home
- 13:20Speaker 3: games is not a.
- 13:21Speaker 4: Cool thing, for sure.
- 13:24Speaker 3: You know, we're fortunate we got to come to Texas
- 13:26Speaker 3: and Oklahoma again where we won last year, but you
- 13:29Speaker 3: can't guarantee that to happen. Again by any means. So
- 13:32Speaker 3: we've got some really difficult games to deal with, but
- 13:35Speaker 3: those that have got to go out on the road
- 13:38Speaker 3: five times in the league, that makes it a little
- 13:39Speaker 3: bit more difficult, obviously, But I still think that it'll
- 13:44Speaker 3: be fun to have that extra SEC game in some
- 13:47Speaker 3: former or fashion.
- 13:48Speaker 2: No doubt about it.
- 13:49Speaker 1: He's David Kellhaen, play by play voice of the Old
- 13:52Speaker 1: Miss Rebels.
- 13:52Speaker 3: D K.
- 13:53Speaker 1: I got to give you you probably already know this.
- 13:55Speaker 1: The weekend that you're coming in October twenty fourth, a
- 13:58Speaker 1: little bit busy in this town. Uh, it's half one weekend,
- 14:01Speaker 1: so you got the Formula one race going on, So
- 14:04Speaker 1: you got people from all over the world coming in
- 14:06Speaker 1: for that out at Coda Circuit.
- 14:08Speaker 2: In the Americas, the Rockets.
- 14:11Speaker 1: And Spurs are playing a regular season game at Moody
- 14:15Speaker 1: Center that Friday night, the day before the game. Uh,
- 14:19Speaker 1: and there's a couple of other things going on too,
- 14:21Speaker 1: So just want.
- 14:22Speaker 4: To in the Manning Bowl on top of it, and then.
- 14:25Speaker 1: On top of everything else, he got that going on.
- 14:27Speaker 1: So yeah, quick quick story.
- 14:30Speaker 3: Last time you got the Cooper Cooper and our friends
- 14:33Speaker 3: and when he came to Old This he signed with
- 14:36Speaker 3: us as a receiver. I'm one of the few people
- 14:37Speaker 3: that actually saw him practice before he had the next issue.
- 14:39Speaker 4: Why I'll get into all that, but he.
- 14:41Speaker 3: Was very fortunate to not have some serious issues with
- 14:44Speaker 3: that and kind of fall through his help.
- 14:46Speaker 4: But he ended his football career.
- 14:48Speaker 3: But you know, I watched him run routes, had great hands,
- 14:50Speaker 3: and everything about Cooper was like, he's a heck of
- 14:52Speaker 3: a football player's receiver, not a quarterback like the rest
- 14:55Speaker 3: of them. But when he got recovered from his next surgery,
- 14:58Speaker 3: we used him as a row report and the coaches
- 15:01Speaker 3: show funniest guy in the world. Oh my gosh, even
- 15:04Speaker 3: at that age, at that young age in college, personality
- 15:08Speaker 3: just unreal. And we had so much fun working together
- 15:11Speaker 3: for a few years there.
- 15:14Speaker 4: And hey, you can tell Sarka about.
- 15:15Speaker 3: The the the.
- 15:18Speaker 4: Basket weaving comment or whatever.
- 15:21Speaker 3: I had to take it twice because there's an underwater
- 15:24Speaker 3: element to it, you know.
- 15:26Speaker 4: Uh so it's very difficult. I bet Coop had to
- 15:28Speaker 4: take it three times.
- 15:29Speaker 1: That was the grad level, right, Yeah, you probably at
- 15:32Speaker 1: the grid level take all of that, Okay.
- 15:34Speaker 4: But I love Coop.
- 15:35Speaker 3: It's gonna be interesting because he and you know, Grandad
- 15:38Speaker 3: or both on this guy's and arch playing for Texas.
- 15:40Speaker 4: That'll be a fun weekend for both schools.
- 15:42Speaker 2: And you're exactly he is a great dude.
- 15:45Speaker 1: Cooper is a lot of fun to listen to and
- 15:48Speaker 1: just just hilarious to be around. So that that's great. Uh,
- 15:53Speaker 1: that's that's awesome. Uh, DK, I appreciate the time. Look
- 15:56Speaker 1: forward to seeing you when you get to down when
- 15:58Speaker 1: you get to town here in late October.
- 16:00Speaker 2: And thanks again for doing this today.
- 16:02Speaker 3: No problem, enjoyed it, Craig. Good to see and we'll
- 16:05Speaker 3: catch you down the road.
- 16:06Speaker 2: You bet.
- 16:06Speaker 1: That's David Kellum, play by play voice of the Old
- 16:08Speaker 1: Miss Rebels and our SEC football previews. We'll continue up
- 16:13Speaker 1: next Inconceivable on a Monday here on Sports Medio AM
- 16:16Speaker 1: thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.