Latest / The Mike Keith Show / The Mike Keith Show | TRENT THOMAS, KAYLENE SMIKLE, KIV'S KORNER (9.29.26)

Transcript

The Mike Keith Show | TRENT THOMAS, KAYLENE SMIKLE, KIV'S KORNER (9.29.26) · The Mike Keith Show

0:00
SPEAKER_15: From the peaks of the smokies to the banks of the Mississippi.
0:06
SPEAKER_15: This is your home for the University of Tennessee.
0:20
SPEAKER_15: This is the Vall Network.
0:26
SPEAKER_15: Inside Access, behind the scenes.
0:29
SPEAKER_15: From Rocky Top, direct from the coaches.
0:32
SPEAKER_15: Insight from the players.
0:34
SPEAKER_15: The inside track.
0:36
SPEAKER_15: Mike Keith starts now.
0:39
SPEAKER_17: Welcome to the Mike Keith Show.
0:41
SPEAKER_17: So glad to have you with us.
0:42
SPEAKER_17: We've got a lot to do in this particular program.
0:45
SPEAKER_17: You know, Tennessee plays Auburn on Saturday, 3:30 kickoff at Neeland Stadium.
0:51
SPEAKER_17: That of course is Eastern time.
0:53
SPEAKER_17: Well, the Vols will wear their special smoky grays.
0:57
SPEAKER_17: We will show you how they came to be.
1:00
SPEAKER_17: You'll get a chance to meet a new Lady Vault basketball player, KK Schmeichel, and Tennessee baseball assistant Ross Kivitt is by for our first Kibbs Corner presented by Calhouns.
1:13
SPEAKER_17: He will introduce us to new pitching coach Austin Knight.
1:17
SPEAKER_17: But we begin the show with Tennessee football.
1:21
SPEAKER_17: There we go.
1:22
SPEAKER_17: Here we are.
1:23
SPEAKER_17: That's Trent Thomas, number 82 of your Tennessee Volunteers tight end transfer from South Alabama.
1:30
SPEAKER_17: Three catches, 30 yards already this year.
1:33
SPEAKER_17: Started all four games.
1:35
SPEAKER_17: You have been a busy guy.
1:37
SPEAKER_17: Congratulations on the start to the season.
1:39
SPEAKER_17: Thank you, thank you.
1:40
SPEAKER_17: Did you expect to be a starter?
1:43
SPEAKER_11: I expected my role.
1:44
SPEAKER_11: I expected to have a role in this team.
1:46
SPEAKER_11: I wouldn't say I expected to start, um, especially with the injury to Ethan.
1:51
SPEAKER_11: But as he as he went down, I've accepted a a new role in in an in starting.
1:56
SPEAKER_17: Okay, so how much changed for you in the tight end group after Ethan Davis goes down?
2:03
SPEAKER_11: Not much changed for my role.
2:04
SPEAKER_11: Um it's just still, you know, the why in 12 personnel and and still coming in and 11 personnel as well, and and doing what what it is they need me to do in the run game and the passing game as well.
2:15
SPEAKER_17: Okay, so the 11 personnel is one tight end, 12 personnel two tight end.
2:20
SPEAKER_17: You said you're the why.
2:21
SPEAKER_17: So is the why the more traditional tight end or the guy off the line kind of explain for those of us who don't know.
2:29
SPEAKER_11: Gotcha.
2:29
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, the why is more your traditional inline tight end.
2:32
SPEAKER_11: Um you're more your bigger body, you're more blocking, but um in the passing and in the um in transportation as well.
2:38
SPEAKER_11: So yeah.
2:39
SPEAKER_17: Alright, so you come from South Alabama.
2:43
SPEAKER_17: You're a guy who's from South Alabama.
2:45
SPEAKER_17: You're from Mobile.
2:46
SPEAKER_17: Yes, sir.
2:47
SPEAKER_17: Um I thought about this when you committed to Tennessee.
2:51
SPEAKER_17: I thought I think that wasn't easy for him to leave USA.
2:54
SPEAKER_11: Right.
2:55
SPEAKER_11: Do I have it right?
2:56
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, no, you're definitely right.
2:57
SPEAKER_11: It was hard to to make the the trip up here, but um it was something that I thought could definitely um help my career and give me the best shot to to play this game as long as I can.
3:06
SPEAKER_17: So you want to go on and play the next level?
3:08
SPEAKER_11: Yes, sir.
3:09
SPEAKER_17: All right.
3:09
SPEAKER_17: Um what was it about Tennessee and what they were offering you in terms of a chance to kind of best fit you, Trat?
3:18
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, so for me it was it's all about Coach Abes and everything that you know he has been teaching me and everything.
3:23
SPEAKER_11: Uh his his knowledge of the game is is crazy, and what he's what I've learned in my short time here is has been far more than I've learned in my whole career football.
3:31
SPEAKER_11: So I think coming here was would give me a different aspect of football, a different learning type style of football, and something that could um could elevate my my game for sure.
3:39
SPEAKER_17: You're talking about A.K.
3:40
SPEAKER_17: Blundy, your tight end coach here at Tennessee.
3:43
SPEAKER_17: Now, here's what I think is interesting about your background.
3:47
SPEAKER_17: You had 16 quarterback sacks as a senior in high school.
3:51
SPEAKER_17: You were just a tight end and a basketball player, you were a really good defensive player.
3:56
SPEAKER_17: Did schools recruit you to play defense?
3:59
SPEAKER_11: Yes, sir.
3:59
SPEAKER_11: So coming out of high school, my I only had one one offer to play tight end, and that was South Alabama.
4:05
SPEAKER_11: All my other ones were to play defensive end, but um I liked I liked catching the ball and getting in the end zone.
4:10
SPEAKER_11: That's that's what I wanted to do.
4:12
SPEAKER_17: Did you ever consider it?
4:14
SPEAKER_17: Did you ever think I'm gonna go?
4:16
SPEAKER_17: Because Army and Navy, I think, were in on you.
4:18
SPEAKER_17: You had some other good schools in on you.
4:20
SPEAKER_11: Correct.
4:21
SPEAKER_11: I I briefly thought about playing defensive end, which is which is what my twin brother decided to play.
4:25
SPEAKER_11: Um, but for me it was it was about it was about blocking and and and catching balls.
4:30
SPEAKER_17: Tell me about your twin brother.
4:31
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, so my twin brother, um, we played together the past two seasons at South Alabama.
4:36
SPEAKER_11: He has just transferred to Kentucky, so we'll get to to go head on this year, and that'll be a fun moment for our family, for sure.
4:42
SPEAKER_17: Oh, how's your family keeping up with all this SEC action?
4:46
SPEAKER_11: It's crazy.
4:46
SPEAKER_11: They're all over the road.
4:47
SPEAKER_11: Uh they split up whenever they can to make to make both games, but uh they're excited for for one week to be able to uh to go to one place.
4:55
SPEAKER_17: But you're the favorite child, right?
4:56
SPEAKER_11: For sure I would say that.
4:58
SPEAKER_11: For sure.
4:59
SPEAKER_17: All right, now you played against Auburn last year.
5:02
SPEAKER_17: Correct.
5:02
SPEAKER_17: All right, so what's gonna be a tight end's challenge going against Coach DJ Durkin's defense?
5:09
SPEAKER_17: What do you have to do well knowing that you played against him a year ago?
5:12
SPEAKER_11: Right.
5:13
SPEAKER_11: So so coming from from last year, they have a very good, fast physical D line and their backers as well.
5:18
SPEAKER_11: They they plug very hard, and we're gonna have to to to to play physical and get good leverage on them for sure.
5:24
SPEAKER_17: How much has Ethan Davis helped you even being out?
5:28
SPEAKER_11: No, Ethan's been a big help for me.
5:29
SPEAKER_11: Um constant constant support and motivation from him, um, even though he's going through his own things and we're and we're praying for him, but he's been he's been an ear for me for sure to just bounce ideas off of and and he is he's he's a good support support for sure.
5:45
SPEAKER_17: 255 or so?
5:46
SPEAKER_11: Yes, sir, 255.
5:47
SPEAKER_11: Tell me about the kid Luca Wolf.
5:49
SPEAKER_11: Luca.
5:50
SPEAKER_11: Huh?
5:50
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, Luca's uh he's also gonna be a big body for sure.
5:53
SPEAKER_11: Um he's learned a lot.
5:54
SPEAKER_11: He's he's a freshman, but he his knowledge of the game is not freshman, um freshman like at all.
6:00
SPEAKER_11: So I think I think he's gonna have a great career for sure.
6:05
SPEAKER_17: Alright, so we gotta talk about pilot.
6:07
SPEAKER_17: We gotta talk about Trent Thomas's game day snacks.
6:12
SPEAKER_17: I'm assuming you wouldn't if you were playing a game, you probably wouldn't have these snacks.
6:15
SPEAKER_17: But let's just say that you're watching on a Sunday, you're watching the pros, you're looking for that team you're gonna play for in the NFL, you're flying Who's your team, by the way?
6:24
SPEAKER_11: The Baltimore Ravens.
6:28
SPEAKER_17: Anyway, so you gotta go to pilot, you're gonna get your game day snacks to watch the Ravens.
6:34
SPEAKER_17: Um what do you what do you like?
6:37
SPEAKER_17: What do you gotta get?
6:38
SPEAKER_11: So, first of all, for my drink, I'm gonna go some sort of some sort of sports drink, energy drink to get the electrolytes in, and then I'll go some sort of chip, and I have to get a candy to get that sweet too.
6:47
SPEAKER_17: Alright, so what candy?
6:49
SPEAKER_11: If I had to pick one, it'd be a nerd's cluster.
6:51
SPEAKER_11: Oh big nerds cluster guy.
6:53
SPEAKER_17: Okay, so you were the first guy to come with nerds cluster.
6:56
SPEAKER_17: Most guys went Skittles.
6:58
SPEAKER_17: Skittles All over the road on Skittles, and then all over the road on a variety of chips.
7:03
SPEAKER_17: Most people like the hot Doritos.
7:07
SPEAKER_17: Hot Doritos, yes, sir.
7:08
SPEAKER_17: Alright.
7:09
SPEAKER_17: Where's your favorite place to get barbecued in Mobile?
7:12
SPEAKER_11: Mobile, this is this is a small place.
7:14
SPEAKER_11: It just opened recently five, ten years or so.
7:17
SPEAKER_11: Um called Meatboss.
7:18
SPEAKER_11: It's a really good place.
7:19
SPEAKER_11: Low meat.
7:20
SPEAKER_11: Yes, sir.
7:21
SPEAKER_17: Were they the one that was on Dodger's drive in?
7:23
SPEAKER_17: Yes, sir.
7:24
SPEAKER_17: I've seen her.
7:26
SPEAKER_11: She's great.
7:26
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, very good.
7:27
SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
7:28
SPEAKER_17: I tried to get in there once when I was down for the senior bowl.
7:31
SPEAKER_17: It couldn't hack out.
7:32
SPEAKER_17: Man, it's good to see you.
7:34
SPEAKER_17: Yes, sir.
7:34
SPEAKER_17: Good to see you.
7:35
SPEAKER_17: When we come back, it's Dre Thomas.
7:37
SPEAKER_17: Keep an eye on him.
7:38
SPEAKER_17: He's doing a good job at tight end.
7:40
SPEAKER_17: His family loves Tennessee more than Kentucky.
7:42
SPEAKER_17: What's your brother's name?
7:43
SPEAKER_11: Tyler.
7:44
SPEAKER_11: Tyler?
7:44
SPEAKER_11: Yes, sir.
7:45
SPEAKER_17: We love you, Tyler.
7:46
SPEAKER_17: You're great.
7:47
SPEAKER_17: But anyway.
7:48
SPEAKER_17: We'll just move right along.
7:50
SPEAKER_17: Anyway, more of the Mike Keith show delivered by Uber Eats coming up.
7:54
SPEAKER_17: When we come back, how Tennessee's smoky gray uniform combination got put together.
8:02
SPEAKER_17: A background story on it.
8:03
SPEAKER_17: I think you'll love it.
8:04
SPEAKER_17: It's up next.
8:06
SPEAKER_15: This is the Mike Keith Show.
8:08
SPEAKER_15: Inside access, delivered by Uber Eats.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: Today's show sponsored by Pilot, official travel stop of the vault.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: See you out here by First Horizon, Big Bank Muscle, Small Bank Hustle.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: By Food City, the official supermarket of the Tennessee volunteers.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: Beauty Medical, the official healthcare provider of the vault.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Brackley Roofing.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: Let us Victor Lee, the proud official roofer of the Big Orange.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: By Farm Bureau Insurance, the official insurance of the vault.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: Tennessee insurance for Tennessee Life.
8:42
SPEAKER_04: In Big Orange Country, we live for big moments, but we know there are surprises along the way.
8:48
SPEAKER_04: When you need help with auto, some peace of mind for your home.
8:59
SPEAKER_04: Farm Bureau Insurance of Tennessee is there for you.
9:02
SPEAKER_03: That's why I trust Farm Bureau Insurance of Tennessee, the official insurance of the balls.
9:07
SPEAKER_03: Tennessee Insurance for Tennessee Life.
9:10
SPEAKER_17: Not funny, guys.
9:12
SPEAKER_17: Saturdays are all about the big art.
9:15
SPEAKER_17: From the roar of Neeland Stadium to the energy of the tailgate, one thing belongs on every game day menu.
9:22
SPEAKER_17: Calhoun.
9:23
SPEAKER_17: Whether you're dining in one of Calhoun's nine-area restaurant locations, taking the beast to your tailgate, or grabbing a bite from one of Calhoun's locations inside Nealand Stadium, Calhoun's makes it easy so you can focus on cheering the balls to victory.
9:38
SPEAKER_17: Calhoun, a taste of dynasty.
9:42
SPEAKER_04: Brought to you by FoodsTity, it's the Ask Coach Hiple show! Hello, and welcome to Ask Coach Hipel.
9:49
SPEAKER_04: I'm your host, Josh Hypel.
9:51
SPEAKER_04: Jim asks, Coach Hypel, got any tailgating tips?
9:55
SPEAKER_04: Boy do I.
10:08
SPEAKER_04: This has been Ask Coach Hyper.
10:10
SPEAKER_04: With me, Coach Hipel.
10:22
SPEAKER_26: Thanks.
10:28
SPEAKER_13: Different seasons, different sports.
10:31
SPEAKER_04: Same volunteer spirit.
10:33
SPEAKER_04: For over 30 years, Vall Nation has shown up.
10:36
SPEAKER_04: Now it's time to finish strong.
10:38
SPEAKER_04: Sort aluminum, sort plastic, keep landfills clean.
10:42
SPEAKER_04: And when you see green compost bins on campus, use them because the future is zero.
10:48
SPEAKER_04: And we're just getting started.
10:50
SPEAKER_04: Sponsored by Eastman Waste Connections, UT Sustainability, and Food City.
10:57
SPEAKER_09: Valvine Instant Oil Change Technicians Train Hard.
11:02
SPEAKER_09: As a proud sponsor of the Tennessee Volunteers, we gave this walk-up a shot, owning their speed, accuracy, and efficiency.
11:12
SPEAKER_09: To be a champion, you have to train like one.
11:15
SPEAKER_14: Ready for oil bay!
11:21
SPEAKER_09: Valvine Instant Oil Change.
11:24
SPEAKER_09: Experts to a team.
11:27
SPEAKER_06: What does the$7 Big Deal meal get you at Sonic?
11:31
SPEAKER_06: The real question is, what doesn't it get you?
11:34
SPEAKER_06: Enjoy a full meal, now including dessert for just$7.
11:38
SPEAKER_06: Try the$7 Sonic Big Deal meal today.
11:41
SPEAKER_06: You want to live free?
11:43
SPEAKER_14: The future isn't only about what we build.
11:46
SPEAKER_14: It's about how we power the lives around us.
11:48
SPEAKER_14: Cleaner technology, greater efficiency, and smarter ways to meet the energy demands of a growing state.
11:55
SPEAKER_14: That's the power of natural gas, helping deliver reliable, efficient energy across Tennessee every day.
12:03
SPEAKER_14: Because progress should move communities forward while helping protect the places we call home.
12:09
SPEAKER_14: Natural gas, fueled for the future.
12:14
SPEAKER_17: This week's Inside the Orange is an in-depth look at the creative development of Tennessee's Nealand Legacy uniforms.
12:23
SPEAKER_17: The uniforms that Tennessee will wear this Saturday against Auburn.
12:27
SPEAKER_17: From inspiration to stories behind every design element, we'll show you how the uniform that honors General Robert Nealand and Tennessee's rich history, while embracing an innovative design approach, happened.
12:41
SPEAKER_17: Inside the Orange is presented by Google Gemini, official Gen AI partner of Tennessee Athletics.
12:51
SPEAKER_26: When I hear General Robert Nealand, I think first and foremost about a man who served his country.
12:58
SPEAKER_26: I think of what Tom Brocall said, the greatest generation.
13:02
SPEAKER_26: He was one of the greatest generations.
13:04
SPEAKER_26: He really saw himself as a teacher training these young men for life.
13:09
SPEAKER_26: And he really believed it was important for him to build young men who were strong and resilient and tough.
13:29
SPEAKER_22: It's what happens in a football game.
13:31
SPEAKER_22: Every one of them.
13:32
SPEAKER_22: When a break comes your way, take advantage of it.
13:35
SPEAKER_22: If things go against you, for Carter.
13:38
SPEAKER_22: All those things can be applied militarily wise if in a battle as much as they can in a game, and they stand the test of time.
13:46
SPEAKER_22: If you go back and take any one of our games and analyze it, and you put the maxims up against it, you will find that one of those maxims is a reason that you either won or lost the game.
13:57
SPEAKER_22: He was a man of a lot of different atmospheres.
14:00
SPEAKER_22: He was stout and he was firm.
14:04
SPEAKER_22: But yet he was a great leader of men.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: Early in Danny White's tenure as athletic director, I was approached by Alicia Longworth.
14:22
SPEAKER_02: She approached me about designing some new uniforms, and the idea from the administration was they're going to be smoky gray and we're going to kind of tell a new story every year.
14:32
SPEAKER_02: The idea was just how can we use these uniforms as a jumping-off point to tell stories that we want to tell to our fans because we think of uniforms as like a great megaphone to tell these stories.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: I'd kind of been circling around the idea of a Nealan uniform, just telling the story about him engineering Tennessee football, both like literally and figuratively, and the way he built the stadium.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: I thought that was a cool storyline and just the architecture of the stadium.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: I thought that always might be something cool to lean into.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: So when we found out it was the 100th anniversary, it felt like that's probably the perfect time to pull off something like this.
15:09
SPEAKER_20: Uniforms have been a really interesting journey since Danny got here because they were kind of an integral part of hey, we're always going to honor our past with our orange and our white.
15:21
SPEAKER_20: But what can we do with dark mode?
15:23
SPEAKER_20: What can we do with smoky gray?
15:24
SPEAKER_20: And pretty quickly the creatives jumped on board with dark mode can be a little cutting-edged, a little innovative, a little forward-thinking, but with the Smoky Grays, let's really tell a story.
15:34
SPEAKER_20: This one just tells such a uniquely Tennessee story that we know the fan base is really passionate about.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: We started by digging through the archives, and we have a great archives of photos and videos and all kinds of Nealan imagery.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: And it was really just finding visual inspiration, figuring out what we could do.
15:57
SPEAKER_02: We don't want to overstuff these uniforms.
15:59
SPEAKER_02: We definitely want them to have a lot of meaning, kind of packed into all the details.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: The Nealan uniforms are a good example of we want to tell these different aspects of his life.
16:08
SPEAKER_02: He's a larger-than-life man who he had a distinguished military career.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: He was a legendary head football coach.
16:14
SPEAKER_02: And then as part of his military career, he was an engineer.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: And so those are three kind of unique aspects.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: So we wanted to include something from all three aspects in the uniforms.
16:24
SPEAKER_20: Probably the best part of my job is brainstorming with them and then watching them cook and watching them bring to life all the many things that they do.
16:35
SPEAKER_20: And I think one of the cool things about being here is you have a guy like Evan Ford or you have a guy like Jimmy Delaney who understand the history of Tennessee, right?
16:42
SPEAKER_20: Grew up in the area, went to school here.
16:45
SPEAKER_20: Um stories have been passed down from grandparents to parents to others that worked here.
16:51
SPEAKER_20: Um that then those of us that haven't been here for forever can learn from them.
16:57
SPEAKER_20: And then maybe we, the new folks, bring in new ideas, and then again, you kind of see a story unfold like what we're doing right now.
17:05
SPEAKER_02: Once we decided we were doing a uniform to honor General Nealand, we wanted a kind of all-encompassing his career, 1926 to 1952.
17:13
SPEAKER_02: And so for the majority of his tenure, they wore leather helmets.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: There was a lot of debate about whether we do an orange leather helmet, a gray leather helmet style helmet.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: Ultimately decided the uniform's gonna be gray.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: Let's go ahead and make the helmet gray.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: So we looked through a ton of photos of our players from that era, and pretty much all the helmets we wore in his tenure had this crossbar pattern.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: So one stripe running from the back to the front, and then one stripe running basically from ear to ear over the top of the helmet.
17:42
SPEAKER_02: We added a big star on the back to represent his status as a general, a brigadier general, one-star general.
17:50
SPEAKER_02: Making the helmet, we worked with a company called Gemini Racing, who is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
17:56
SPEAKER_02: They had just done a similar leather style helmet for the Green Bay Packers.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: Teams have done this before, but we obviously want to put our own spin and make it feel unique to Tennessee.
18:06
SPEAKER_02: It's pretty painstaking to pan paint every single helmet.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: So they used a technique.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: If you took a plastic bag and you had a slightly darker paint than the paint you're using on the shell of the helmet, they would take that, dip it in the paint, and then dip it on the helmet to give it a little bit of that handmade quality.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: And they did that on all of our helmets.
18:28
SPEAKER_02: The stitching details all over the helmet originally they were just a little too perfect, a little too refined because we made them digitally and they're trying to make it look handmade.
18:37
SPEAKER_02: And so we had to roughen all of those details.
18:40
SPEAKER_02: And then the last kind of details we did on the helmet were the bumpers.
18:44
SPEAKER_02: We found this really old stenciled UT that they wore on practice uniforms from his time as head coach.
18:50
SPEAKER_02: So we took that exact logo and put it on the front bumper.
18:54
SPEAKER_02: And then just to reiterate what this whole uniform's about, we put Nealan's signature on the back bumper.
18:59
SPEAKER_02: And then the face mask is kind of an irony, really textured um gray face mask that felt era appropriate and just felt like it matched the tone of the helmet that we already had in hand.
19:14
SPEAKER_02: So that logo was a logo that I had never seen before.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: We were digging through photos of Nealand, and we saw this photo of him wearing a baseball cap with this logo on it, and did a little digging.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: It was the 1951 baseball teams logo that they wore on their caps, and they won the national championship that year.
19:32
SPEAKER_02: Nealand, I guess he was just a fan, or in his capacity as athletic director, was wearing that cap.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: So no real ties to his tenure as a football coach, but we felt like that was a cool mark.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: We wanted something, we needed a UT mark, a power T, something to signify that this is a Tennessee uniform.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: So we found that mark.
19:50
SPEAKER_02: There's the photo of Nealan wearing it, and then he had kind of a legendary career as a baseball pitcher at West Point.
19:57
SPEAKER_02: So that felt like a really cool logo that we could bring back.
20:01
SPEAKER_02: My whole job is looking at Tennessee logos and uniforms and things like that all the time.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: And so for me to find a logo that I've never seen before felt pretty special and significant.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: We knew if we wanted to include blueprints, it was gonna have to be a little subtle or tonal.
20:16
SPEAKER_02: We explored maybe would the architecture patterns be inside the numbers, could they be on the helmet somehow?
20:22
SPEAKER_02: But ultimately felt like the sleeves and kind of a sublimated tonal pattern was the way to go.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: Because those details, those architecture renderings are super detailed.
20:31
SPEAKER_02: And so we knew like if you put these in bright orange or something like that, it's really gonna be loud and in your face, and maybe not quite the way we want it to be.
20:38
SPEAKER_02: He was involved in several major renovations, but we landed on the 48 renovation, which added the South End Zone horseshoe at the time.
20:46
SPEAKER_02: Really because some of those details are still visible in the stadium now.
20:50
SPEAKER_02: There's these kind of arches and windows from South Stadium Hall at the time.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: Now you can still see those on East Stadium Hall.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: That one felt like, hey, you can still see this work that the general did in the stadium.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: Let's bring that back so people can kind of tie those two things together.
21:10
SPEAKER_02: So the whole storyline of this uniform is General Kneeling, but it felt important to probably spell that out.
21:15
SPEAKER_02: If you're just seeing the uniforms for the first time or you're at one of our retail providers and you see the uniform on the shelves, like what are you looking at?
21:22
SPEAKER_02: And so we wanted to have the general's likeness on the uniform.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: He's got a great signature, and then he's kind of known for that kneeling pose.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: It's this the pose that the statue is is cast after.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: There's many photos of him in that pose, and so it felt just like hey, that if we're gonna put him on there, like his actual image and likeness on there, that's the that's the way to do it.
21:47
SPEAKER_02: We had done backcollar designs before, but with the kneeling one, we had so much of his handwriting that it felt like this might be really cool.
21:56
SPEAKER_02: So we had all seven game maxims that he wrote, and then it was kind of decided.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Do we want to do put on more steam?
22:02
SPEAKER_02: I will give my all.
22:03
SPEAKER_02: But the last maxim really stood out to us as carry the fight.
22:07
SPEAKER_02: And even just the way it was written, it really just kind of jumped off the page a little bit.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: Ultimately, the fans can't see those when they're watching the game from the stands on TV.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: It's the players who see that as they're putting on their jerseys.
22:20
SPEAKER_02: So carry the fight.
22:21
SPEAKER_02: The last thing you see is you put on that jersey.
22:23
SPEAKER_02: You're carrying the fight to your opponent, a reminder of the general.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: They read the maxims every week, and so kind of tying that all together, it felt like the right phrase to put, and having it in his handwriting was even better, Jerry on top.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: The number font was kind of a small detail that I was excited about.
22:46
SPEAKER_02: So you have to, I don't know, letter forms, those sort of things.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: Maybe not everyone notices those, but the designer nerd in me definitely um geeks out of those things.
22:54
SPEAKER_02: So we found the font that they used in 1938 and 1939, two championship teams from Tennessee history.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: It's a little more compressed than a normal font, has a little stouter quality to it, and so we were able to find the full range of numbers and recreate those.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: Pretty early on, I felt like it didn't need to be monochrome.
23:15
SPEAKER_02: If you look at old photos of football players, including our history, they a lot of times wore tan pants.
23:20
SPEAKER_02: Kind of a variety, especially those early years.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of variety in our uniforms.
23:24
SPEAKER_02: There was no consistent standard.
23:26
SPEAKER_02: And we looked at tan, but that felt a little bold, a little bit of a departure from our brand, a little too much.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: And so we were like, well, what if we did cream instead?
23:37
SPEAKER_02: And our cream baseball uniforms are beloved, our cream men's basketball uniforms are beloved, and so wanted to bring that color into the palette for football in a way, and it just made sense with those tan pants from our history.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: Adidas really invested in this uniform and invested in our creative that we came up with, and so they offered us a line of samba cleats, which samba is their signature shoe, it's their most well-known shoe.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: And so those were just the cherry on top of the whole uniform.
24:06
SPEAKER_02: We didn't know that was coming.
24:07
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we didn't anticipating that, we weren't planning for that.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: And Adidas was like, hey, we'd like to do a samba as part of this uniform.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: And they did a special colorway in the colors of the uniform.
24:16
SPEAKER_02: And so for them to give us that attention to detail in both our accessories, our cleats, just across the whole uniform and beyond has really been one of the really rewarding parts of this partnership.
24:30
SPEAKER_10: When we look at, you know, our partnership specifically here, like our job is to help, you know, manage and bring their brand to life.
24:38
SPEAKER_10: It's not to change their brand, it's not to come up with an idea.
24:41
SPEAKER_10: So that's the partnership of, you know, there's some amazing stories here on campus, and how do we start to tell those stories to product and innovation?
24:49
SPEAKER_10: NSD is more intentional when it comes to their storytelling, and at Adidas, um, we really want to tell our partner stories.
24:56
SPEAKER_10: And so it's a it's a perfect kind of combination where we're taking that direction, but we're also, you know, bringing our creative direction to the thing to kind of help bring those two together.
25:07
SPEAKER_10: NSD is unlike any other department in college athletics.
25:11
SPEAKER_10: I have the purview of seeing how you know a lot of universities are run.
25:15
SPEAKER_10: You know, the Tennessee brand and their creative team, their design team.
25:19
SPEAKER_10: That doesn't exist at a lot of different schools.
25:22
SPEAKER_10: So they already have a point of view on what their brand needs to be.
25:26
SPEAKER_10: So for Adidas to come in and hear that and unearth that, it allows us to then focus on delivering on what their expectations are.
25:35
SPEAKER_10: Tennessee knows exactly who they are.
25:38
SPEAKER_10: They've already established that before we came here, and our job is really to help, you know, take it to the next level.
25:45
SPEAKER_20: From a creative standpoint, I think the lighting the way for the future is the easy part.
25:51
SPEAKER_20: I think finding the right historical stories to tell is the thing that we're gonna spend a lot of time just probably pouring over because there are so many options.
26:01
SPEAKER_20: It's just which ones do we pick and how do we make it come to life?
26:04
SPEAKER_20: And I don't think people fully understand how much time they invest in that.
26:08
SPEAKER_20: And so to tell a story like the general, we what are we gonna do in 28?
26:13
SPEAKER_20: What are we gonna do in 30?
26:14
SPEAKER_20: So um finding those right stories and then looking ahead is, you know, important to us as a creative unit.
26:21
SPEAKER_02: I use the term larger than life, but it really is true.
26:24
SPEAKER_02: Like how much of an impact he had on all these players.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: Mr.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: Hazlund is still around, he's still just like, he's like, if he was in the room today, I would I would be nervous, I would stand up, I would, you know, just the reverence that they have for him.
26:37
SPEAKER_02: Really cool.
26:38
SPEAKER_02: And I felt like the uniform just as we get further away from that history, we want to have places where people can kind of jump back in and learn about those sort of things.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: And so uniforms are the perfect opportunity for that.
26:58
SPEAKER_15: Taking you inside the walls of Rocky Top, a Mike Khow, presented by Uber Eats.
27:05
SPEAKER_15: This is your ball network.
27:10
SPEAKER_17: KK Smichel is a new Lady Ball basketball player who brings an offensive approach to Kim Caldwell's team.
27:18
SPEAKER_17: To be clear, not an offensive approach, but the mindset about putting the ball in the basket as much as possible.
27:27
SPEAKER_17: Offense, scoring, you get it, and you'll enjoy meeting KK Smichel.
27:33
SPEAKER_17: Welcome to Tennessee.
27:34
SPEAKER_17: Thank you very much.
27:35
SPEAKER_17: Welcome to the Lady Vault Basketball Program.
27:37
SPEAKER_17: And welcome to the South.
27:39
SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
27:39
SPEAKER_17: Okay, so you're from Long Island.
27:41
SPEAKER_21: Yes.
27:42
SPEAKER_17: Alright, so you go to Rutgers.
27:45
SPEAKER_17: Not much of a change there.
27:47
SPEAKER_17: Okay.
27:47
SPEAKER_17: And then you go to Maryland.
27:48
SPEAKER_17: Some change.
27:51
SPEAKER_17: And then you come to Knoxville.
27:53
SPEAKER_17: You come south.
27:54
SPEAKER_17: From somebody who spent their life more north.
27:58
SPEAKER_17: Especially Long Island.
28:00
SPEAKER_17: What's this like?
28:01
SPEAKER_21: It's definitely a lot different.
28:02
SPEAKER_21: Like the scenery, like coming off the plane, coming to my visit to my first time.
28:06
SPEAKER_21: It was like, oh my so many mountains.
28:08
SPEAKER_21: Like you could just tell the pace is a lot slower.
28:11
SPEAKER_21: But then like getting here in May and beginning accustomed, like people are so nice down here, like it's definitely a d a culture change.
28:17
SPEAKER_21: I feel like being down in the South.
28:19
SPEAKER_17: When you went and met with the people at Food City in South Knoxville not long ago, what was that like for you to have a chance to meet the fans and be at Food City?
28:27
SPEAKER_21: It was a good interaction.
28:28
SPEAKER_21: We were really nice.
28:29
SPEAKER_21: A lot of little girls came out, and it's like very special because I remember when I was a little girl in their shoes, so I know how much it means for them to meet college basketball players, and one day they want to be in your shoes, so it's like being understanding and knowing that I came from being a little girl.
28:42
SPEAKER_17: No disrespect towards Rutgers or Maryland, but being a lady ball is different, isn't it?
28:48
SPEAKER_17: How is it different?
28:49
SPEAKER_21: I think the history and legacy behind Tennessee and late and the bat women's basketball here is like very big.
28:56
SPEAKER_17: Alright, so you played Big Ten for four seasons.
29:05
SPEAKER_17: What do you anticipate?
29:08
SPEAKER_21: I mean I anticipate my game to be the same.
29:10
SPEAKER_21: I don't think when I transfer from schools that they change my game, they kind of just like I transfer to schools where I fit their system.
29:17
SPEAKER_21: So it's not like I have to change the where I play or become a different player coming into a new school.
29:22
SPEAKER_21: I kind of it blends seamlessly because I do my research on how the school plays so that I know that I'm a fit for the school.
29:29
SPEAKER_17: What was your research about Tennessee?
29:32
SPEAKER_17: What did it indicate that meant that you would be a fit?
29:34
SPEAKER_21: I think just watching that their solid play, they they they play fast, want to play in transition, they press.
29:39
SPEAKER_21: I've been on Maryland, they used to press a lot too.
29:41
SPEAKER_21: So just being familiar with the things now and how Tennessee indicators hurting to play.
29:46
SPEAKER_17: Yeah, Michael's always been able to score.
29:50
SPEAKER_17: Well how would you describe the offensive part of your game?
29:55
SPEAKER_21: I think unstoppable.
29:58
SPEAKER_21: I'm gonna give you I'm gonna work you hard for forty minutes.
30:00
SPEAKER_21: So from the time I step on the court to the time the game weather ends, I'm gonna give you my own.
30:05
SPEAKER_17: You're six feet tall.
30:06
SPEAKER_21: Yes.
30:06
SPEAKER_17: Guard.
30:08
SPEAKER_17: Okay, so have you always been able to handle the basketball or is that something you've had to work really hard at?
30:14
SPEAKER_21: I always have.
30:28
SPEAKER_17: Okay.
30:28
SPEAKER_17: How did you get started playing basketball?
30:30
SPEAKER_21: Oh, my siblings.
30:31
SPEAKER_21: I'm the youngest sibling, one of four.
30:32
SPEAKER_17: One of four.
30:33
SPEAKER_21: Yeah, and they all played basketball.
30:34
SPEAKER_21: So I I grew up being around basketball.
30:37
SPEAKER_17: And who was your idol in terms of basketball?
30:40
SPEAKER_17: Who was your north star?
30:42
SPEAKER_21: I think my siblings.
30:43
SPEAKER_21: Like we really yeah, we used to play outside all the time.
30:46
SPEAKER_21: Like I feel like that's where I've got my intensity and the way I play is from my siblings.
30:50
SPEAKER_25: Is that right?
30:50
SPEAKER_21: Yeah, they never took it easy on me.
30:52
SPEAKER_17: What is it like playing for Kim Caldwell as you start to really get into the heart of practice and move toward the season?
31:00
SPEAKER_21: I mean, I really love playing for her.
31:01
SPEAKER_21: She coaches hard, loves the game, like the intensity she brings each and every day, just wants me to makes me want to be a better player.
31:09
SPEAKER_17: For you and and for this basketball team, there are obviously gonna be big goals and just start every year.
31:16
SPEAKER_17: But as you build on this thing, getting to the end of October, what are the things you sort of need to add as a team?
31:23
SPEAKER_17: Add in terms of your play style, add in terms of your your overall game as a ball club.
31:30
SPEAKER_21: I think just as for a new team, everyone coming in new, I think just being familiar and building that strong character.
31:36
SPEAKER_21: Yeah, just learning how each other plays is very important.
31:39
SPEAKER_21: I came back a little later.
31:40
SPEAKER_21: I had other two other teammates who came back a little bit later from injury, but just being in the flow and learning how they play.
31:45
SPEAKER_21: I've been on the side watching them a lot, so I became familiar with how they play, but like they have to become familiar with how I play, and I feel like they've done a great job of like implementing me and just as a team, we've built such a strong chemistry because we're starting to understand how we play, how we really play.
32:00
SPEAKER_17: You have confidence in the knee coming back.
32:02
SPEAKER_17: Yeah, for sure, 100%.
32:03
SPEAKER_17: Alright, well, it's gonna be exciting to see you play KK.
32:06
SPEAKER_17: Yes.
32:08
SPEAKER_17: Well, the Mike Keith show delivered by Uber Eats continues.
32:11
SPEAKER_17: We'll deliver new Tennessee pitching coach Austin Knight, courtesy of Kim's Corner.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: You're one-on-one with Mike Keith, sponsored by Food City, the official supermarket of the Tennessee Volunteers.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: By Farm Bureau Insurance, the official insurance of the vaults, Tennessee Insurance for Tennessee life.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: By First Horizon, Big Bank Muzzle, Small Bank Hustle.
32:36
SPEAKER_01: By Pilot, official travel stop of the vault.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: See you out here.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: By Rackley Roofing, let us fix your league, the proud official roofer of the big orange, and by UT Medical, the official health care provider of the vault.
32:55
SPEAKER_08: Out of here, fashion drives.
33:11
SPEAKER_08: Out of here.
34:06
SPEAKER_25: And just kept me calm throughout the process.
34:09
SPEAKER_25: It was probably the most serious heart attack that you could have.
34:13
SPEAKER_25: The team took care of me, worked quickly, efficiently, and I did catch the end of the game.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: These are the stories of the region's academic health system.
34:25
SPEAKER_23: Sometimes it's not just protecting the quarterback.
34:28
SPEAKER_23: Sometimes it's holding the line.
34:30
SPEAKER_23: Sometimes it's making sure no one is good.
34:34
SPEAKER_24: We protect each other.
34:35
SPEAKER_24: We prepare.
34:36
SPEAKER_24: We stay ready.
34:37
SPEAKER_24: Protection looks different depending on where you stay.
34:40
SPEAKER_24: Whether it's protecting the quarterback or protecting what matters at all, the responsibility is to save best five methods.
34:47
SPEAKER_24: Designed to inspire, made to protect, driven, disturbed.
34:54
SPEAKER_04: When you travel across the great state of Tennessee, one thing you're sure to find is big orange passion.
35:00
SPEAKER_04: You see it throughout every inch of the volunteer state, just like you see First Horizon.
35:04
SPEAKER_04: Serving communities big and small, offering big bank products with small bank passion.
35:10
SPEAKER_04: What else do you need?
35:11
SPEAKER_00: Big bank muscle, small bank hustle.
35:14
SPEAKER_04: That's First Horizon, the official bank of the Vols.
35:18
SPEAKER_04: Proudly serving Tennesseans for over 160 years.
35:23
SPEAKER_12: In the heart of every community, caring comes naturally.
35:28
SPEAKER_12: At Farm Bureau Health Plants, we are your neighbors, your friends, and partners in health.
35:34
SPEAKER_12: We believe everyone deserves the very best care tailored to your unique needs.
35:38
SPEAKER_12: Become a valued member of our family, and we'll take care of you and yours.
35:43
SPEAKER_12: Together we care.
35:45
SPEAKER_12: Together we grow.
35:47
SPEAKER_12: Together we thrive.
35:49
SPEAKER_12: Farm Bureau Health Plans.
35:51
SPEAKER_12: Plan on us.
36:30
SPEAKER_17: Really?
36:31
SPEAKER_17: The Tennessee baseball team started fall practice late last week, and many eyes are on the Vall's new pitching coach, Austin Knight.
36:41
SPEAKER_17: A huge pickup for Josh E.
36:43
SPEAKER_17: Lander's staff.
36:44
SPEAKER_17: I got the chance to quiz Coach Knight along with Vol assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Ross Kivitt.
36:52
SPEAKER_17: It's Kiv's Corner, sponsored by Calhounes.
37:06
SPEAKER_07: Well, I think it probably is more the psychological aspects of it is learning those guys how to how to press the right buttons with those guys in-game, whether that's um, you know, in mountain visits or in between innings and things of that nature.
37:18
SPEAKER_07: I think it starts there.
37:19
SPEAKER_07: Um but again, when when you when you have a good idea of like, hey, the guy at the plate, what his approach is, what he's looking for, and then on top of that, how you can get the the pitcher to kind of execute that plan throughout, I think that's where the it fits really well.
37:34
SPEAKER_07: Now, the the pitching side has become a lot more technical, and so it's more than just going out there and and getting on a getting on a guy or or challenging him.
37:42
SPEAKER_07: They have to understand what they're trying to do in between their outings and in their routines and things of that nature.
37:47
SPEAKER_07: But I think you know the easiest way to say that cat catchers have become good pitching coaches is because they they I understand how to navigate their their personalities and how to get them to compete on the mounds.
37:56
SPEAKER_05: You played at the University of Mississippi, which we talked about.
38:00
SPEAKER_05: Playing for Coach Bianco, who was a catcher himself, who was a pitching coach when you were there, also a national championship as a player and a coach, how did that impact, you know, maybe your process of calling a game or how you work with pitchers, or maybe not at all?
38:15
SPEAKER_07: He was very system-oriented, and so he was very, very organized in everything that he did.
38:20
SPEAKER_07: And so, like anything, all the stops that you have in coaching and even as a player, you kind of take a little bit of everything and you create your own little recipe of what you feel like is best for your teams, right?
38:32
SPEAKER_07: For him, the system aspect of it was it was you knew what you were getting to be doing and what you were getting into every single day.
38:39
SPEAKER_07: Practice was very organized, the bullpins were very structured, uh, the lifting, everything was very structured.
38:45
SPEAKER_07: And so I think just understanding coming out of high school and getting into more of a structured environment probably was really beneficial.
38:51
SPEAKER_07: And then seeing just how he would challenge the guys, right?
38:53
SPEAKER_07: Because, you know, coach Coach Bianco, if you know him, he's a fiery guy.
38:57
SPEAKER_07: And so just challenging those guys, but it was the whole team, you know.
39:00
SPEAKER_07: He was tasked with he was the pitching coach whenever I was in college, but he also coached the entire team, you know, he was running offense at times and you know, a lot of the defensive aspects of it.
39:10
SPEAKER_07: And so I think more than anything, that like his ability to in-game be able to handle so much was the most impressive piece about him.
39:18
SPEAKER_05: And you talk about building a recipe.
39:20
SPEAKER_05: We're we're obviously trying to cook a five-star meal here.
39:23
SPEAKER_05: Like you're gonna have to be a Michelin chef.
39:25
SPEAKER_05: What's one thing Tennessee fans can expect?
39:28
SPEAKER_05: What's a staple of your staffs?
39:30
SPEAKER_05: What's something that is a non-negotiable for you, or or something that they know going into the season?
39:35
SPEAKER_05: Hey, we're gonna do this, this, and this.
39:37
SPEAKER_07: Ross, obviously, we've competed against each other, so you've kind of seen it from the third base side.
39:41
SPEAKER_07: I mean, I don't have a great record against two and six.
39:44
SPEAKER_07: It's two and six.
39:45
SPEAKER_07: Really?
39:45
SPEAKER_05: We face remember I was at Houston prior to this.
39:47
SPEAKER_05: Right?
39:47
SPEAKER_05: You've read it.
39:48
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
39:49
SPEAKER_05: And we faced ECU.
39:51
SPEAKER_05: We were in the AAC.
39:52
SPEAKER_17: Well, okay, let me ask you this.
39:53
SPEAKER_17: Before he answers that question, what would you say from the outside you would consider to be Austin's non-negotiables as far as his six?
40:02
SPEAKER_17: He's a journalist.
40:03
SPEAKER_05: It's hard to prep prepare for him.
40:05
SPEAKER_05: And I think Josh has talked about it in his media sessions, is he was looking for somebody that's going to be tough to scout.
40:13
SPEAKER_05: And when we were getting ready for ECU, it it was a different look from every pitcher.
40:18
SPEAKER_05: They hold the runners, you know, they hold runners, you're not really gonna get anything run game.
40:22
SPEAKER_05: They feel their position well.
40:23
SPEAKER_05: I I think they're tough, they don't give in, they're gonna pitch on the white of the plate.
40:27
SPEAKER_05: I joke with Knight that he's a he's a young Frank Anderson, as they're both position players that uh now coach pitching, but it's an attack.
40:36
SPEAKER_05: It's I'm gonna throw strike one, we're gonna come at you with what our best stuff is, and you're going to have to adjust.
40:42
SPEAKER_05: And I think that was what really hard on me at Houston was you're always in an 0-1, 1-2 count, and it's hard to hit Trey Ya Savage or Gavin Williams.
40:51
SPEAKER_05: I joke, they they throw in, you know, and it's in off the plate.
40:55
SPEAKER_05: It's a lot of bad contact.
40:57
SPEAKER_05: And so when you're watching the tape, maybe the stuff isn't as good as what you see consistently in the SEC, but the compete is well advanced on that.
41:07
SPEAKER_05: So maybe I just answered your own question for you.
41:09
SPEAKER_07: You stole my thunder a little bit.
41:11
SPEAKER_05: It's hard to prep for him, Coach Keith.
41:13
SPEAKER_05: Okay, that's why I'm glad he's wearing orange.
41:15
SPEAKER_07: You did stole my thunder a little bit, but I think it starts with it starts with the recruiting and recruiting guys that you feel really good about from the town aspect of it, but they gotta be elite competitors.
41:24
SPEAKER_07: Like there has to be a makeup aspect of it because, man, like this league isn't cut out for everybody.
41:29
SPEAKER_07: Uh playing at Tennessee isn't cut out for everybody, and we're gonna push our guys to get the absolute most out of them.
41:34
SPEAKER_07: So you gotta you gotta have a little bit of dog in you.
41:36
SPEAKER_07: You gotta be an elite competitor when it comes down to it.
41:38
SPEAKER_07: Like Ross said, is that we want to be on the attack at all times.
41:42
SPEAKER_07: It doesn't matter.
41:43
SPEAKER_07: You can kind of throw counts out the window, is that we want to create a very diverse arsenal that we can utilize any count, anytime.
41:50
SPEAKER_07: It doesn't matter.
41:52
SPEAKER_07: We don't want to be predictable in those aspects, right?
41:54
SPEAKER_07: And so my biggest deal and and all of ours really is that hey, we're going to be elite competitors, we're going to challenge the offense and give them a lot to deal with.
42:02
SPEAKER_07: So I think if you can kind of check those boxes along the way, and and Ross talked a lot about it, is like non-negotiables, also is like holding the running game, attacking the running game, fielding your position, like make it as hard for the opposition to score as possible.
42:15
SPEAKER_05: Hey, something I I think I forgot that you know how Coach Hype Bull runs the pace?
42:20
SPEAKER_05: That's kind of how we our pitchers will work.
42:22
SPEAKER_05: They get the ball, there's tempo.
42:24
SPEAKER_05: It's like they suffocate you with strikes.
42:26
SPEAKER_05: You you can't even get up to your 20-second clock because here they're ready to go again because the plays already in or the pitch call's already in.
42:33
SPEAKER_05: I think, and this is no slight of anything.
42:35
SPEAKER_05: I think sometimes we got into a drag out fight where we're trying to run the ball essentially too much and and run the clock out instead of hey, we're gonna hit you with three or four plays here in a minute and a half.
42:47
SPEAKER_05: Good luck.
42:47
SPEAKER_05: And I think that in our league will be a little bit different tempo than what anybody else really does.
42:52
SPEAKER_17: How has the league changed since you played in it?
42:56
SPEAKER_07: It's it's a lot different.
42:57
SPEAKER_07: I mean, the portal has obviously changed a lot in the in this game, and the and the NIL has changed a lot in this game.
43:03
SPEAKER_07: I think the depth of the league is better than it was when I played in it.
43:06
SPEAKER_07: And what I mean by that is just like player 34 or player 38 is probably better than it was when you know in 2015.
43:13
SPEAKER_07: Um you got experience on Cus.
43:15
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, well, according to you, I don't.
43:18
SPEAKER_07: We we get in fights about this all the time because he was a very good player.
43:22
SPEAKER_07: I was a very average player.
43:24
SPEAKER_07: We we all you have to do is look up the stats, and we all know that.
43:26
SPEAKER_07: But he he doesn't let me forget it.
43:28
SPEAKER_07: Shout out Kiv, good play.
43:30
SPEAKER_07: But but I think the depth of the league, um, your ability to have you know guys that one through nine are very talented, and same with the pitching side of things, is one through twenty or how many that you have, they can all go out there and impact the game whenever um it's all said and done.
43:46
SPEAKER_07: And so I think that's the biggest thing.
43:48
SPEAKER_07: But the the reality of the game, this league, and if you want to, you know, obviously be winning a national championship and competing for a national championship uh every year, you got to play good baseball, you gotta play clean baseball.
44:00
SPEAKER_07: Got to do the little things right.
44:01
SPEAKER_07: And so um, you know, talent talent gets you through the door, man, but you gotta you gotta do those things to to consistently be where you want to be at the end of the season.
44:08
SPEAKER_07: Why'd you want to come to Tennessee?
44:10
SPEAKER_07: Man, I you know, I've been asked that a lot, and to be honest, like the job I had prior, I I loved it there.
44:16
SPEAKER_07: You know, the head coach at East Carolina, man, like I he coached me in college.
44:20
SPEAKER_07: We had a relationship going way, way back, and I love the dynamic there.
44:24
SPEAKER_07: Um, but this place has always been a place that I kept my eyes on.
44:28
SPEAKER_07: Well, for one, because you know, Coach Kiv, I've known him forever, so I was always pulling for Tennessee.
44:32
SPEAKER_07: But as I watch this thing get built, you see the level of players that are coming in and out of this place is unbelievable.
44:38
SPEAKER_07: So you can recruit the the best players in the entire country.
44:41
SPEAKER_07: And so that's obviously intriguing as a coach to see what you can do with the best, right?
44:46
SPEAKER_07: But on top of that, I think it's a the environment, the fan experience, the atmosphere, and then the the city itself, it just checks a lot of boxes.
44:54
SPEAKER_07: And so that that to me was the diff the biggest differential when when choosing this, you know, uh to to say yes to this job was it wasn't like, hey man, I have to be in the SEC, I have to be in the SEC, I've got to be there.
45:07
SPEAKER_07: It had to be the right fit and the right situation.
45:09
SPEAKER_07: And I certainly felt like Tennessee, you know, even before, you know, just looking from afar, was always a place that I felt like I wanted to be.
45:16
SPEAKER_05: And I don't want to put any pressure on him, but he signed up for some pressure because the expectation here is what it is for a reason.
45:23
SPEAKER_05: But Tennessee fans should get excited that you're having major leaguers getting produced over the seven years he was at.
45:30
SPEAKER_05: ECU with no again, we've talked about a great program, one of the best group of fives in the country, especially with our sport.
45:37
SPEAKER_05: But the resources that were provided here, the admin support, the fan support, like he just commented on, and then obviously the the type of player, people should be really excited about you know, him having the ability to work with these guys.
45:49
SPEAKER_17: Will you have to change any of your philosophy based on the fact that in terms of physical talent, just armed talent, you're gonna have more here than you had at East Carolina?
46:00
SPEAKER_07: Sure.
46:00
SPEAKER_07: I don't necessarily think so.
46:02
SPEAKER_07: Um, I think with the armed talent, like you know, everybody in our league can throw the ball really hard, is how you separate yourself from everybody else.
46:09
SPEAKER_07: And I think that's what we had done a good job at at East Carolina for for a long time was being creative within the process and getting guys to diversify their arsenals and be able to attack in certain ways.
46:21
SPEAKER_07: And so for me, it's how different can we make the hundred-mile an hour arm, right?
46:25
SPEAKER_07: How how how much better can we make their secondary pitches?
46:28
SPEAKER_07: How much better can we make uh them to be more efficient in the strike zone?
46:31
SPEAKER_07: All those things.
46:32
SPEAKER_07: And so I don't necessarily think the process changed, but it it always starts with what the player is good at currently, right?
46:39
SPEAKER_07: And we're never gonna stray away from their strengths just because of a philosophy.
46:42
SPEAKER_07: Like I'm not big on philosophies necessarily in general, because I think you got to fit it to the personal player.
46:48
SPEAKER_07: You gotta put each individual, they come with a different story, different training methods, a different um pitch package, all those things.
46:54
SPEAKER_07: And so you got to meet them where they're at and understand where they are and then help them to improve and become more efficient over time.
47:00
SPEAKER_05: We talked about at the beginning, fall practice just started this past weekend, a couple of scrimmages.
47:06
SPEAKER_05: Who's been exciting for you?
47:07
SPEAKER_05: Any returners that caught your eye, maybe a new guy that you've liked the progress over the first four weeks?
47:13
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I think there's a lot of guys.
47:14
SPEAKER_07: I mean, when you talk about I really like the freshman class.
47:18
SPEAKER_07: I like the freshman class.
47:18
SPEAKER_07: Cole Kenniger is a he's a monster, as you know.
47:21
SPEAKER_07: Gary Morris, Ganon Grant.
47:23
SPEAKER_07: I mean, we you can really talk about all of those guys because they've all been, you know, really good up to this point.
47:28
SPEAKER_07: But more importantly, they've been working.
47:29
SPEAKER_07: Like they've been working.
47:30
SPEAKER_07: They've got, you know, obviously some hunger to get better.
47:32
SPEAKER_07: You know, with the returners, a lot of guys are still ramping up, such as Appy and Landon Mack and different guys.
47:38
SPEAKER_07: They're on a little bit different uh schedule as the rest of these freshmen and and portal guys, just making sure that we're progressing them the way that we need to.
47:46
SPEAKER_07: Um, but certainly excited to work with those guys.
47:48
SPEAKER_07: And then, you know, in the portal, I I think you know, we did a really, really nice job in the portal this summer.
47:53
SPEAKER_07: Um, you know, Ricky Ojeda is a guy that he is a the probably the most competitive guy I've ever been around.
47:59
SPEAKER_17: Most competitive guy you've ever been around.
48:01
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah.
48:02
SPEAKER_05: I mean, when it comes to me some Ricky, yeah, I like Ricky Martinez, Ricky Ojeda.
48:06
SPEAKER_05: I like all the Ricky's.
48:07
SPEAKER_05: All the Rickies.
48:08
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it's a different level of intensity when he's you know in his bullpen sessions and when he's competing.
48:13
SPEAKER_07: It is it is is something special, you know.
48:15
SPEAKER_07: And then Parker Debmers has been awesome as well.
48:17
SPEAKER_07: I'm really excited about him taking his progression.
48:19
SPEAKER_07: You know, a guy coming off Tommy John last year and his rehabbed throughout, and and man, he's he's looked great.
48:25
SPEAKER_07: And then you still got a couple other guys that are on their way back for maybe some injuries and things like that.
48:30
SPEAKER_07: But we're trending in the right direction, I feel like.
48:32
SPEAKER_17: So philosophically, do you want a closure?
48:36
SPEAKER_05: That's an interesting question.
48:37
SPEAKER_05: And I think you looked up his past staffs.
48:40
SPEAKER_05: He doesn't really have a one closer.
48:43
SPEAKER_05: Well, some people do, I mean I think it depends on on He's a journalist.
48:47
SPEAKER_05: I love it.
48:48
SPEAKER_07: I love it.
48:48
SPEAKER_07: Because at East at East Carolina, we did we did not have a set closure.
48:54
SPEAKER_07: For us, it was more about the point in the game and making sure, hey, you can lose the game in the sixth inning, you can lose the game in the fifth inning, you can lose it heck, you can lose it in the second inning, realistically.
49:04
SPEAKER_07: And so you you don't want to hold bullets just to go and and get to the end of the game and necessarily be like, hey, man, it's 10 to 2 right now, and we didn't use our best guy, you know.
49:13
SPEAKER_07: And so I I think that it really depends on your staff and how quality everything is around your starters.
49:19
SPEAKER_07: Um, because you know, I I think for us it was more about let's let's win the game today.
49:24
SPEAKER_07: But when you have maybe more depth, right, and you have more pieces, you can kind of manipulate them how you want to.
49:30
SPEAKER_07: But again, for me, it's more about, hey, in the sixth inning, if that's the leverage situation, make sure you get the right guy into the game and not try to hold them for the night.
49:41
SPEAKER_15: This is your home for coaches and players.
49:45
SPEAKER_15: One-on-one from Rocky Top.
49:47
SPEAKER_15: This is your ball network.
49:54
SPEAKER_13: It's time for the Sonic Big Play moment.
50:06
SPEAKER_16: Interception! Lee went high in the air and is able to take it away from the Texas receiver at the last possible moment.
50:15
SPEAKER_16: What a play! Kane Lee!
50:18
SPEAKER_13: If you're looking for a meal that's never boring and guarantees fun, look no further than Sonic and the$7 big deal meal.
50:27
SPEAKER_13: Sonic cheeseburger, small premium chicken bites, medium drink, and your choice of a medium tot or fry.
50:34
SPEAKER_17: The beef sweepstakes are back.
50:36
SPEAKER_17: Food city and your local cattle farmers are ready to fire up the perfect combination.
50:42
SPEAKER_17: Beef and football.
50:44
SPEAKER_17: Every time you purchase a fresh beef product using your food city value card, you will automatically be registered to win a pair of tickets and to see the balls take on Kentucky on November 7th.
50:58
SPEAKER_17: You bring the appetite, we'll serve up the game.
51:01
SPEAKER_17: Only from Food City and your local cattle farmers.
51:05
SPEAKER_17: The contest ends October the 11th.
51:08
SPEAKER_17: Tennessee hosts Auburn this Saturday, and then the Vols host Alabama on October 17th.
51:16
SPEAKER_17: It's the first time in 22 years, since 2004, that the Vols have hosted the two in the same year.
51:24
SPEAKER_17: Back in 2004, Tennessee downed Alabama for the Vols' ninth straight win over the tide since 1995.
51:32
SPEAKER_17: Auburn, however, won in Knoxville handily in 2004.
51:37
SPEAKER_17: But the two teams met again in Atlanta for the 2004 SEC Championship.
51:45
SPEAKER_17: The heavily favored Tigers held off Tennessee in a much closer game 38-28 as they finished the season undefeated.
51:54
SPEAKER_17: Tennessee at Auburn this Saturday, kickoff set for 3:30 Eastern.
51:58
SPEAKER_17: We'll remind you, you can hear us on the Vall Network beginning at 1 o'clock Eastern noon central with Inside Tennessee Football.
52:07
SPEAKER_15: For our fine staff here at the Mike Keith Show, we thank you for being part of the program, and we'll see you next time.com.
52:26
SPEAKER_15: We are the Mall Network.