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3 Guys Before The Game - Jordan Lesley Visits (Episode 552) · 3 Guys Before The Game

0:07
Hey, here we go. Music's on, and that means that it's time
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to start talking. Hey everybody, we welcome you in. Yes, yes,
0:14
yes, the summer series continues. And look look who we found just
0:19
kind of hanging out the outside door, just outside. He was just outside
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the door. I said, hey, I know you, could you just
0:25
come here for just a little bit our specially illegally part. No, he
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wasn't. No, he had to ride here. He got to ride here.
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Oh yeah, that was very nice. That wasn't Newberg. That was
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just a friend. Randy Wilkins already. Oh it's Randy. I didn't know
0:39
it was. I didn't those heavily tinted windows, who knows. Yeah,
0:44
just leave it at that. We'll just kind of leave it at that.
0:48
Jordan Leslie, WV defensive Coordinator, is our special guests, and we're delighted.
0:53
We're going to talk some ball. Three guys before the game brought to
0:56
us by Komac's Business Systems. They happen to be and hey happen to be
1:00
keeping West Virginia's business data safe, secure and efficient for twenty five years.
1:07
More on that coming up a little bit. Three guys brought to us by
1:10
Gomart. Go for good times, go for Gomart. They've got some unbelievable
1:15
deals going through the rest of this month. I want to tell you about
1:18
a couple coming up and it's boating season. I think Leslie's a big boater?
1:26
Is he have big boater? Three guys brought to us by lou Wendell
1:29
Marine Sales in Saint Albans. They sell family fund Visit lou Wendellmarnet sales dot
1:36
com. I said, you're probably a boater because we were talking just before
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we started to roll, and so you're a deep sea fishing guy. You
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like that? I love it, like really started in twenty ten bistro Form
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College kind of urmil into it. But now that's a different that's different boating.
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I wouldn't call that boat. I wouldn't call it. Yeah, I
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wouldn't call that boating. That you're on a boat and you're not correct.
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You're on a boat. It's work, you know, like obviously it's fun,
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but it's it's a it's not like a nice little saturday at Cheat Lake.
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But no. So here's the deal with me and deep sea fishing.
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I've tried it multiple times, probably as many as five times and I want
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to do it. I mean, I love that. I love to do
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it. I puke consistently. I can't do it. I sick, Yeah,
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get seasick. I can't do it. Now, I'll give you some
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advice. Do you get sea shick while just fishing or on the ride out?
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And then the back end does the motion of the yes to both?
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Okay. One of the things, one of the things that a lot of
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people know is don't stand like the diesel fumes get you too. Those are
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those are the get you more than the actual Yeah, so you got diesel
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issues and water issues. Let me tell you this. I'm in the water
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and I went in. This wasn't a deep sea fishing trip. I was
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what the hey you call that snorkeleing? Snorkekling, right, I'm snuggling.
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I got seasick while I was snorkeling. Excuse me, Yeah, based on
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how the w the waves were moving. I'm underneath the water and I'm going
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like, they had to bring me back, had to bring me back.
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They have flippers that fit you. Oh yeah, he doesn't need flippers.
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That's just yeah. Yeah, I mean, I don't know why you got
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to attack my foot side sixteen Georgia, Oh wow, sixteen, yeah,
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yeah, but Jaque was here, Jaquet Hubbard World Champion Mountaineers eighteen canoes,
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yeah, eighteen, yeah, eighteen. I've seen sixteen there. When you
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go to the rental place and they got them all lined up there, they
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have to go on the back excel. It's also really hard when you go
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ice skating, like ice skating rentolds. What do you what are you fishing?
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I mean, are you out out out like, because yeah, we're
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we're on average about at least one hundred miles really yeah, or we're out
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for we're out for I don't know what night or you know, oh really,
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oh yeah, it's it's uh, it's tournament fishing. So you're fishing
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for big game blue marland, yellowfin tuna, you know, and really throw
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every type of tune in their blue fin, you know, big eye mahi
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which is is dolphin, dorado, whatever you want to call them, h
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wahoo. And so you're fishing in most of the time by category what you're
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fishing for, you know, and it's it's it's fun essentially, you know,
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gambling. Like they have the like a golf tournament, they have the
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the what's the word of Calcutta that you that you kind of you know,
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as a boat as a team, you bet the category and you're trying you're
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fishing against the people that are in that category, and so it's it's a
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big game, you know. And to see yeah, I'm trying to think,
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can you put a wine on that? Sure? Yeah, I mean
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it's it's to see the the just the difference in those animals versus freshwater animals.
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It's just always obeys me, you know. And then to have them
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on the end of them, and they're the power that the have, it's
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it's crazy, but it's it's so much fun. And then and a guy
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that I fished with. We've had really the same group of guys since about
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twenty ten that have always got together two or three times a year and no
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kidding, done it. And it's, uh, when are you going again?
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Actually, well, usually I usually do have two. I have one
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Memorial Day coming, I have one during our vacation. Now this year,
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I have a wedding thanks to somebody I'm related to back home. Stupid.
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We appreciate that, but no, we're carrying the kids there for that,
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which is a Memorial Day so I'm missing that one boom and then the other
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the tournament during vacation. They actually moved up the Father's Day weekend. Someone
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to miss that one. There is there is a possibility of one the last
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three days of our vacation. It's a different tournament. We've never fished,
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so we're talking about it right now. So this might be a year I
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may not go their meetings and strategy sessions here. Oh yeah, yeah,
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yeah, big big thing. It's a white boarding stuff. It's a two
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well not anymore I did growing up if I wakeboarding, No, no,
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he's a white, white white. I was like, you come over like
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like like not out there fishing. You're going like this, okay, look
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look at the the The marlin is coming in on strong side pressure here and
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that's that's it's you know what there is strategy, So what you're what you're
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people A lot of people don't realize, like the the saltwater moves a lot
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there. There are movements in the water like freshwater, their currents, their
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current lines. You're in the Gulf of Mexico, so you really everybody fishes
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off of where the Mississippi River dumps in. See, this is wild and
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so I'm going deep. So like when you see that, like if you
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ever get to see that, and how much water that that river puts into
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the oceans, into the ocean, and what that does and how the fish
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react to it, it's amazing. And you know that, and that we're
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off Louisiana. That's a essentially an underwater mountain range. So you'll be fishing
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these their salt domes, their domes, and your depth will go from you
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know, four thousand feet and all of a sudden, nineteen hundred feet and
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you'll be fishing over am. And so that's what you look for. That's
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the topography of the land under the water. And then in with the water,
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you're looking at temperature, you look at currents, current lines, you're
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looking at what they call out temmetry with your upwellings in the in the in
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the Gulf of Mexico. And so you just and I had to learn all
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of that, just like, yeah, there's a whole other world. Hold.
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No, yeah, I was a hold in the world of fishing.
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I'm like, what do you it's looking for a tree hanging off the bang,
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you know. Steve Dunlap, the longtime defensive coordinator here also like a
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rabid fissure, Like, I mean, do you think there's something? Is
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there a correlation between defensive co ordinators and fishing? Is there some similarity why
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you guys are attracted to that other than any excuse to drink a bunch of
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beer. But don't lap it, don't laps a fresh water guy. Yeah,
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I see this. See what he's doing, like Steve's like Steve couldn't
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Steve couldn't hold his sinker. I mean what Steve's doing, he's doing that,
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he's doing that soft stuff. You're going out there like Man's World twelve.
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But if you would be amazed at the similar text, he'll yell at
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you for saying it, even though, Hey Steve, I love you.
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Just took a shot anyway, go ahead. You'd be amazed at the similarities
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though, and and and and yeah. And when you start to learn about
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currents and how they how they work, and eddies and and where the fish
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tend to gather to feed, that's what you're looking for. Okay, Two
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questions. What's the biggest fish pound wise you ever caught one? It's a
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yellow fin tuna. Get big one? Say? I think thirty eight pounds?
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And how long did it take to bring in? Probably right around two
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hours? I think, look maybe an hour and a half. I don't
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know. So that's a good workout. Oh yeah, like you're you're how
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many guys were on it? So? How how how that works? Is
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you have a guy that's on the rod, you have the angler, and
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you have the wire man, and you have the gaff man, and then
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well, who's more important than anybody is who's driving the boat? Sure,
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because a lot of times, especially those are the bigger the fish, You're
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you're working the fish with the boat, yeah, pulling them. So my
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my buddy's dad, who's who's I just ate breakfast with him? I was
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down in Florida. I don't know what what is today? Thursdayday? Yeah,
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so it was last Thursday a week ago. And uh, he's great
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and he he did this actually professionally when he was in his in his thirties,
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and so he knows what he's doing and he's it's amazing. He's working.
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He works these fish with a you know, a sixty foot boat and
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he's you know, and he knows when to reverse it and come back,
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you know, and this So he's watching and you're in the open ocean,
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so there's no it's not like you got to face forward the whole time.
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So he essentially we're fishing down below him, and he's driving the boat like
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this, like a bulldozer with the diesel engines, and they will see the
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line go this way, so he knows how to how to What all you're
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trying to do is get the fish tired and exactly to where when he gets
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to the boat, because those things, when they get to when they'll they'll
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play dead almost and it's those tunas. They'll do what they call a death
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circle, and it's like pulling up a volkswagon, you know. And then
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they'll they'll run out whatever line you just reeled up and you're like, oh
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damn, do it again, and he'll take off. But then and they
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get under that boat, they get close because because you get to think,
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now this survival mode for them, they're sure, they're trying to fight for
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their life, and so it's fourth quarter goal line stand for them. Yeah,
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yeah, you go. You immediately switch your what your intake is.
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You go from beerd to water real quick, you know, because it's not
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it's not like it's you know, it's not like it's cool out there,
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it's it's hot, and you're and and and so it's it's a lot of
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work. So when they go, is there a harpoon involved in this?
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Like? Do you do you attack? Do you get them at at the
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end? No, the harp The harpoons are usually used for for the blue
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fins, which are you know, anywhere from seven hundred, eight hundred,
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nine hundred to one thousand pounds, and those are commercial guys most of the
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time. Right a couple weeks ago there was an eight eighty eight blue fan
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called what we're we usually fish just what time of year it is, but
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those are usually for those guys. We use the gaff, the hook and
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then usually are able to to pul the ones. The largest blue fin tuna
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ever caught was fifth largest was fifteen hundred pounds intuna is this largest blue fin
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tuna ever caught fourteen hundred ninety six pounds off the coast of Nova Scotia nineteen
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seventy nine. Yeah, fourteen fifteen hundred pounds. See, I didn't know
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you. I didn't know you were into it like that. That's good and
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that's your so that's your unplugged time. Like when you're out there, you're
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not. Yeah, you're yeah, that's that's a good time. Yeah,
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it's eight miles off shore, so you do cell phone quits working at eight
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miles off shore and that's you know, let's let's get there that time of
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year. So when you have downtime, like when he has downtime, he
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watches tons, hours upon hours of YouTube videos with smally pirates, the big
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thing with him where they Yeah, it's like that. Well they try to
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get out like for real though, Like they're trying to get onto these cargo
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ships and here they come. Well now they're getting smart, so they're putting
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like security dudes on these planes. And the old boys start coming on that
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plane. They're gonna come up the side and they said, actually, you're
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not gonna be doing on that and they just they blow them up. It's
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good stuff. That's what you're doing your hours. Do you watch YouTube videos
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of other people doing this fishing or you have to be an active participant?
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No? No, well you can you can watch the videos, but I
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mean that, I mean do you just like no, No, you're asking
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watching tape. Yeah, you're asking watching tape. So you're you're participating.
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You you just learn. You learn as you learn as you go. But
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there there's some, I mean, there are some that just say I've never
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watched those like you you watch some of those where like uh, you know
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that you go off the coast of Cabo or Mexico and then you're like catching
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all these you know, like fifty mile in a day, that's how thick
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they are over there. But a lot of them are these small, small
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male marlins, and so there's there's these videos of them turning and they're they're
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so powerful they'll they'll essentially skip on top of the water and they come into
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the back of the boat. There's been guys all and so I've watched some
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of those, but to watch him know what you're doing, Like, no,
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it's not like just go just you know, huh, how big is
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that? How big is the boat? Uh? He actually just got a
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new one. It's a sixty foot miller. Okay, but it's us you
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can sleep on it still. Oh yeah, yeah, has has has bunk
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beds, has a essentially a master state room. Gally gally beer cooler.
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Oh yeah, okay, yeah, you know, true to this podcast,
14:33
you never know where it's gonna go, and We're open to sharing with other
14:37
parts of the company. This just took care of West Virginia Outdoors this week.
14:39
Lawrence, Chris Lawrence, he's o. Yeah, Chris Lawrence is great,
14:41
big chunk right there. Yeah, Chris, My So, Chris is
14:46
our outdoor guy. I turned him on the Colt mckivitz when Colton wanted to
14:50
go duck hunting, and they went dunk hunting, like literally, I think
14:54
when Colton was still here playing. And so those guys got a big friendship
14:56
going. And uh, when Colton's all done, don't know if you knows,
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but he wants to open up a preserve. Nice you do much shooting
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stuff? Oh yeah, that was duck hunting was my uh growing up,
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that's that was my That's a I love that one. Okay, growing up
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was what city, Fulton, Mississippi. Yeah, and you know I would
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listening to you here. I never told you this, but like you get
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hoppyble to acknowledge it, Like my man could do some voice over work,
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don't you think, Oh yeah, you got a voice. It's a good
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voice. You got voice. Good pipes, says they say. In the
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industry, everybody will number one. Everybody thinks I'm really quiet, you are,
15:31
Oh no, not actually I'm not. I mean, I just don't
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you play quiet. I'm just listen. I guess you mean you mean during
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a game when the players are on a day to day basis. What he's
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saying is i'll talk farm since he's not here on a day to day basis.
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People in the building or people around him would say, like, how's
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Jordan Leslie will say, like, he's quiet, and you're saying you're not.
15:56
Oh, I don't think I am like a lot of times, and
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I have to remind guys of this, like players and coaches in the building.
16:03
It's like if I'm walking, if I'm in the building, I'm walking
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down the hall, Okay, my mind is on something like I'm thinking about
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something, something to do with whatever we're doing that day, or the opponent
16:17
that week, or spring practice of this drill. And I really never if
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I'm in that mode, my brain doesn't cut off. And so if I'm
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in that mode, I'm not. I just I'm not trying to be rude.
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Correct And will you say hid? Just say hey, yeah, I
16:34
will if what I'm saying is sometimes you just walk right by. Correct,
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you do that in the hallway, I'm thinking about something else, like sure,
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right, and I'm sure you don't mean anything by it. He might
16:45
actually mean something that's neither here nor there. Most people, most people think
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that I do. They're like, he's not a nice person. I'm like,
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no, I never got see, I never got I never got that
16:53
vibe at all. I always got like, uh, not not not an
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extrovert. Yeah, that's all not an X man. So has that always
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been the case? Were you ever? Were you ever loud or poppy younger
17:07
and then you chilled or has always been kind of You've always been more cerebral.
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Uh, and as a young guy, even coach, I don't think
17:17
cerebral and cerebral we're ever in the same sentence. A whole lot. But
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yeah, I would say I think the more that you're in in our profession,
17:32
that your role, that your role increases and you and you have more
17:34
responsibility. That's where I get to thinking about things a lot more all the
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time. And I kind of so, yeah, I probably quietened up over
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the years, But I don't think I'm necessarily a quiet person. No,
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No, Like I'm you know, I'm damn sure not trying to be not
17:52
nice to people. No, I never got that, and I never got
17:55
that vibe, never got that vibe some people do. You're just more reserved.
17:59
Yeah, yeah, that's a better word. Yeah yeah yeah, I
18:03
can totally get that, totally get that. But let's go but let's go
18:06
back to y'all said something about a good voice. Yeah, you do.
18:10
Most people think that I have a really strong like you. I mean,
18:14
you can tell you're not from Maine. Yeah, he's right, hoppy.
18:19
I mean, no one would ever say Massachusetts or Maine, like, no
18:23
one would ever say that. But you're you're The resonance in your voice and
18:27
the deepness in your voice is really good. It's like it's it stands out.
18:33
That's good. And he's got a good he's got a good Southern lilt
18:36
mm hmm. Okay to his voice, kind of like Neil, although he's
18:40
got a better voice, more Kentucky. You're Neil's What do you think of
18:44
Neils? What do you think of Neil's accent? You Coul's noticeable. Yeah,
18:48
here's what And I can say this and my wife, my wife,
18:51
but you know she she's from Kentucky. To right, you're correct, Okay,
18:55
and Kentucky it's it's it's like their opinion of them is probably a little
19:02
higher than everybody else's. So uh and she'ld get a kick and shout on
19:07
will too. You know, I give them crab all the time. But
19:11
yeah, I think I think it's it's the same to me, like my
19:15
wife always she just Mississippi accent. I'm like, you're from Madison. It
19:22
sounds the same in case. But you know, most people thought, you
19:27
know, hey, Western Kentucky, northeast Misissippi, like yuse, kids are
19:30
going to speak essentially a language nobody knows what it is and which they don't.
19:36
You know, they they really sound like they're from from Pennsylvania. You
19:38
know. That's so let me ask you this. Do you hear a West
19:41
Virginia accent from West Virginia? People? Depends on where you know what it
19:48
is? It's north northern West. I tell you this. It goes like
19:52
this, like you heard you heard of the Mason Dixon line. Obviously right,
19:56
well that's just right here, but it's not the Mason Dixon line.
20:00
Like you have to go past the Mason Dixon line. Hoppy, follow me
20:02
here, Yeah, I'm telling you Goshen Road exit. I think Goshen Road
20:06
exit is an area because by the time you get to Fairmont, so we're
20:10
talking fit, it starts, okay, Harrison County gets a little bit more,
20:15
and then you go Upshur County and by the time you're in flat Woods,
20:18
it's on. And by the time you get to Raleigh County it's stronger.
20:22
It just it it literally graduates and gets stronger. And there's a different
20:26
one if you go north too. It's Pittsburgh. They're more they're more Yensers
20:32
than they are West Virginia Southern West Virginia accent. I find that fascinates me.
20:37
How that just kind of Yeah, I'm glad you said I never knew
20:40
where the line was, but I knew that there was a Goshan Road.
20:42
I don't know if that's a confirmed line, so you don't necessarily need say
20:48
that to other people. Yeah, right, He's just the thing is that
20:52
West Virginia and you're right about the Upper Ohio Valley, but West Virginia,
20:56
Kentucky, Tennessee is Appalachian. Okay, is Appalachian, which is different than
21:02
southern. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I'm with you,
21:04
and yeah, and I don't I don't I mean the distinct difference. Uh.
21:11
The only one that's ever been really different to me, honestly, is
21:15
that that Georgia South Carolina. Yeah, yeah, that, you know,
21:22
the Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky. Just in my ears, it
21:26
all kind of sounds. But you can tell the Georgia. I can always
21:30
tell that that coastal South Georgia up up through the Carolina is just that old,
21:34
old, old South. And and you know what, honestly, because
21:40
I lived there for three years, the Texas twaang is that's a little different
21:44
too. And I don't even count Louisiana. Wren Baker's is different that Oklahoma
21:48
yea, yeah, yeah, that's that's that's gotten different. This is very
21:52
similar to me. He's got a different thing going on there. Yeah hmm.
21:56
Can you believe this will be year six for you guys? Uh?
22:00
Uh faster slow? Fast? Well, I say fast, I think it.
22:06
I think last year made it seem faster than it was nineteen twenty twenty
22:11
one. I mean just the the the amount of change in college ball and
22:17
just the overall situation and every everything you're trying to not only you know,
22:23
rebuild a culture of locker with the whole thing and with everything that was going
22:29
on now that was really slow, and there was some there's some some days
22:33
in there that were they were really long. But to look up after last
22:37
year and to think about six and it's like, man, that that flew
22:41
by. So you know, days long, years are short. It's uh.
22:48
But overall it's it's been a lot of fun. Like my wife and
22:52
I, this is a place that really fits us and we've had a great
22:56
time and and I think the best is is coming. So what was your
23:02
perception when the opportunity came to go here as to what it was going to
23:07
be like here? So what was your perception compared to what the reality of
23:11
it's like to live here? So the first well, first of all,
23:15
let me go back. So the you know when rich Rod, you know
23:22
those days was I was in college in the GA and you're talking about Sugar
23:29
Bowls, You're talk about Orange Bowls, and it's like, you know,
23:32
and how good just watch them because I I mean, like where I'm from.
23:36
So you play, you went to the junior college game on Thursday night,
23:38
you played on Friday night, and then all your saturdays were college That's
23:41
just what it was It's the only only thing to do. And so I
23:45
was just a junkie, just watched it all the time if we weren't playing.
23:48
And the thing about those the big East days, those are all Thursday
23:51
night, everybody everybody got to see exactly. So that was like, man,
23:55
this is one of the as a young as a player and as a
23:59
young coach, like this is one of the elite programs in college football.
24:03
Well, fast forward to twenty fifteen and we have turnover at East Missippi Community
24:12
College and I knew the name. I knew, I'd watched the guy play.
24:18
But we hire Clint Trickett as our quarterbacks coach, and so we we
24:25
spent a ton of time together on a recruiting trail and at practice and whatnot,
24:29
and many just all they talked about West Virginia, West Virginia, you
24:32
know, just just some stories in there. And fast forward that coach Brown
24:37
hires me back at Troy, and I go, this was I want out.
24:42
It was it was there was snowing, it was there was a game,
24:45
it was snowing, and me and another coach were sitting there. This
24:49
was like twenty seventeen. Maybe we had played a weeknight game, and it
24:55
was a big game. It was a home and me and Guy are sitting
24:59
there, I think it was in twenty the year before we got here,
25:03
and we're watching that game and I'm watching the I'm watching everything around it.
25:07
And remember I've never specifically remember telling Guy man like that's got to be a
25:11
good job. Look at that place, look at the people, look at
25:15
the passion, look at you know, like how it is the game days,
25:18
which you know, everybody that's you know, loves college football, like
25:22
that's the pageantry and everything around it is, that's why you love it so
25:26
much. So and then either I think it was the same year, it's
25:32
like two months later, you know, Neil's like, hey, uh,
25:34
there's gonna be a plane there You're going, you know, And I'm like,
25:37
it's just kind of surreal. And so the perception coming in was,
25:41
you know, we knew you, we knew. In those next couple of
25:45
years had a tough road, but the future and the plan Neil had,
25:48
like we had been a part of it at at at Troy, which was
25:53
close to me as my Malma Water to kind of rebuild that thing, and
25:56
and so, and the plan was a little different, but the basis of
26:00
the plan was it's a place that kind of fits us. The passion,
26:04
blue collar hard work, that mentality, and that is something that has took
26:11
a while to get back into every every fabric of the of the program.
26:18
But to to to see it come to fruition a little bit last year was
26:25
it's a lot of fun, a lot a lot of fun. And then
26:27
and then you know this group, they're fun to coach, and so like
26:30
that pit game in particular last year, Oh we felt it. That felt
26:33
like you were watching back those Yeah, correct, right, new create when
26:37
when when when? And I usually I try to stay out of like superstitious
26:42
routines. That's just I'm not a really superstitious guy. So I tried,
26:45
like every time I walk out onto the field, I try to go in
26:48
the tunnel one time, and then I go out the front door one time,
26:51
and I try I just take a different path. And I just happened
26:53
to walk out beside where the team runs out and I'm walking as soon as
26:56
I walk out there. That just that just felt different. Pitching the face,
27:00
doesn't that Yeah? Yeah, yeah, A couple of things booze and
27:04
a couple of things that face. But I was like, this is gonna
27:07
be wild? How many how many times though, as you said, it's
27:10
been it was, it's been a long build. And how many times in
27:12
the first year or two or even three did you say to yourself or your
27:18
wife or another coach, oh my gosh, what do we get ourselves into
27:22
here? Well? And and you know, it was a long build,
27:27
yes, and and and there's there's some hard times in there, and you
27:33
know, it's it's really it's a you know, shout out to to my
27:37
wife and and and every coach's wife, and you know, they they they're
27:41
always everybody sees everything and and when it's good, and and they're there when
27:47
it's bad, and they hear and they see the things that you know,
27:49
and it's it's hard. It's hard in this world now not to see it
27:53
and pay attention to it. When I grew up, you did have Twitter.
27:56
I don't have a cell phone. I was twenty three years old.
28:00
And I think you're better man for it. Yes, I think. I
28:03
think the Good Lord every day for that. But it's just hard not to
28:08
see. And and there there were there were some really hard times, you
28:12
know, And and and Catherine is just a rock star over all daily weather.
28:17
There's sometimes I got to say, hey, no, give me,
28:18
give me, give me that, give you. But uh, there there
28:27
were some some times in there where you're like, because everything, you know,
28:32
you go back, everything hits in a row, you know. And
28:34
and I'll never forget the day that they shut everything down in COVID. I
28:40
think it was March sixteenth, Yeah, somewhere right in there. And I
28:44
remember thinking we were in like spring practice number two, and I remember thinking,
28:49
coming through nineteen that spring practice number two, I said, you know
28:55
what, I think we I think we can be better, and I just
28:59
just kind of just that everything and then it just stops. And you guys
29:03
so badly needed that. And that's the it's the second you know, I
29:08
don't think any I think Neil to you this, any any new coach to
29:11
this. It's that second. It's that second spring where you really start to
29:14
make headway on what you're trying to do, and all that is taken away
29:18
and then you go into really the strangest year of any I don't know about
29:23
y'all, but I was crazy everybody's life and you're trying to you know,
29:26
you're trying to hold a team together on zoomah, and then you get them
29:33
back and you're trying to to where I don't know all that we're robbing banks,
29:37
you know, with the with the the gators and the printer experience on
29:44
how to do that right, I mean, you know, lying through that
29:47
stuff. I'll never forget feeling like like having that gator on the feeling like
29:52
i'most suffocate. I'm amost suffocate coaching. So the player or thing and I
30:00
can only imagine what they're thinking. We're trying to do like half line drills
30:03
of low line D line you know that sign that they're choking, so anyway,
30:08
and you're trying to and we were, you know, honestly, we
30:14
come up with a plan and had alignment on it, and we were really
30:17
good defensively that year twenty one we were good again, and then and then
30:23
going in after twenty one, now you're dealing with transfer portal changes, the
30:30
NL landscape and everything's changing, and so it just like nose dies in twenty
30:37
two for some reasons that that I just mentioned. A lot of it you
30:42
can't control, some of it you could control, and we were just not
30:45
very good. And that was probably the toughest one, But there's been two
30:51
seasons like that in my career. Twenty eleven was one and then twenty twenty
30:56
two was the other. Then I earned the absolute most as a coach.
31:02
That's when those are the two seasons I learned the most. What's the biggest
31:04
couple of takeaways you took away from the Well, let's you can't grow into
31:07
a little doubt failure. I just believe that you cannot. It's not possible
31:12
to do that. Number one, don't get away from what you what you
31:15
believe in. What you know makes a good football unit, defense team,
31:22
which are basic, you know, fundamentals of playing defense, pursuit to the
31:26
ball, angles of tackling, shedding blocks, and making tackles. If you
31:32
do that really hard, turnovers generally take care of themselves. No, that
31:37
was that was the one, and then it was you know, I tell
31:41
people this all the time and tell the media, is that year I felt
31:44
like I was in a boat. It was sinking and there was one really
31:48
big hole. Right And if you want to get specific with it, we
31:52
lose Charles Woods in the second quarter of the pit game, right, that's
31:55
our best player all right? In the secondary Dante Steele is our best play
32:00
up front. Okay, well you got one here and one and one there,
32:02
and this one goes down, everybody knows what to do to neutralize that
32:06
one. Then the big hole now becomes a bunch of other holes and you
32:10
run out of fingers and toes when you know what, if it had just
32:13
plugged a big hole, it'd have probably not been as bad. And so
32:20
we we those are the two biggest takeaways of learning as a coach, and
32:25
you know, and being able to take that and lean on other people and
32:31
get through that. And twenty the beginning of twenty of last year of twenty
32:37
three, we me and Neil Mett decided to make make some changes schematically,
32:43
and I had some guys what I knew, what I wanted to do,
32:45
and I went. I went by myself to three places that I know and
32:51
out of trust and I know guys will give me information and we just like
32:54
and I tell it was time out of vacation, and I took it and
32:58
I went by myself. And everybody's like, you know, you don't know
33:00
the people to go with you, not even your analysts us know. So
33:05
because I want to go back to the teaching phase of this and become I
33:09
want somebody to teach me like I'm a player, and then now I can
33:14
turn around and teach the very like to the foundation of what we're doing.
33:22
And it really really helped help me, help guys, help communication and streamline
33:25
everything fit our personnel. And then you know, honestly than that year,
33:30
our personnel has gotten better. So that that's obviously the biggest piece of what
33:34
you're trying to do. That's my recruiting is the way it is. There's
33:37
so many other pieces in there that that the things you are I'll say,
33:40
there's things we couldn't control, with things you can, we could control,
33:44
and so the things we could control those where we had to make some headway,
33:47
and man, it took every one of us and got back in alignment.
33:52
And you know, the result is is what it was you know last
33:57
year, which as we talking about Trey Lathan before, you know, before
34:02
before losing him was a was a hit that you know when we walked off
34:07
the field at TCU, And I may have told you this before. I
34:10
we lost Trey and we lost Aubrey. We didn't know how long we were
34:15
going to lose all before, but I'm walking off that field and I'm really
34:17
excited. I'm like, man, we're four to one, like we're playing
34:22
at a high level. On defense, we were in the top i don't
34:24
know, fifteen the country in every category you'll keep. And I'm walking off
34:29
the field and I said that that that's going to take a lot out of
34:32
us, even with the off week coming up. Like that, that shook
34:37
a lot because you're thinking, you're talking about all right, game one.
34:42
You look up at halftime and it's like, that's that's really what we needed,
34:45
because you know, I think the Penn State was fourteen seven or fourteen
34:47
ten at half time. It's a ballgame, and our guys in the locker
34:51
room like look totally different than they ever had. And it's like, oh
34:54
hey, and we knew this. Coaches, they need to see it as
34:58
players, like, hey, we're compete. Let's go make a couple of
35:00
plays. Well, it didn't go our way, but I remember saying after
35:02
that game like this will not define what we are and who we are like
35:07
this game, but we won't let it do it. And so we go
35:09
and we play Ducane and turn around Pitt And when I knew we had a
35:15
chance is when Garret Green got hurt. And I've never seen I've never seen
35:23
Neil react this way, but I'm glad he did. He walks into a
35:27
huddle, he goes, look, guys, he goes, gis done,
35:30
gears done. He goes, I don't know what what our plan looked like,
35:32
but just so y'all know. And man, our guys never blinked defensively.
35:38
They just they just never blink. All right, we got it in
35:42
that game in front of that crowd and kind of get it. But but
35:45
you're talking about a close game. Then you're talking about a last play game
35:49
Texas Tech and then a last play game TCU, and it's just emotion.
35:52
Emotion, man, maybe that's yeah, that's all our game. I don't
35:55
know. But the more you the more you're in it, the more you're
35:58
able to handle it. But I knew walking off the feel at TSU,
36:00
it took a lot out of us. And so we took this dip and
36:04
then you know, being really stepped up to the plate from about after Oklahoma
36:09
State and and just you know, he played like a true freshman, which
36:14
he does, and then we got Oliver back during that and and got back
36:19
back on track. But it was. It was all coming out of a
36:23
year of massive failure and growth coaches and players alike, and you know me,
36:29
me especially, So it's you know, it was took a lot out
36:36
of it, but it's paid off. Yeah, And it answers your point
36:37
that you got to have that bad experience in order to embrace the good experience.
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Lou Wendel Marine says. We talked voting. Hey can we show some of
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Do you get Tony to get nauseous just looking at the boats since you have
38:34
a this? No, no, no, no, I just go on
38:36
a river. I got no problem on a river. I can go.
38:37
I can do a float fish trip down the New River. I I've gone
38:40
scandal cheat lake. You'd be. I don't have an issue with that.
38:43
I'm talking about this man I'm talking about Yeah, it's it's it can get
38:47
you know, a little nicey at times. Yeah, I just for whatever
38:51
reason, I'm a big drama mein guy. I lead the league in drama.
38:54
Yeah you do you know the trick on the boat with the league and
39:00
supplying others. Oh yeah, we've told you that. Yeah. Yeah.
39:04
He drugged me on a bowl trip, absolutely passed out. Had to carry
39:07
me through the airport. Is that insight? Insight got the field goal block
39:12
to us, We drove the ball, we got the field goal block to
39:15
start the game, and the game was over. He already flew out separately.
39:17
What was inside? What was that? Arizona at Arizona's at the University
39:21
of Comment. I get a little motion. Six times he goes here,
39:24
take this. He gave me like nine something like that. He carried me
39:28
through the Houston airports and connection. Thank god, that was all right.
39:30
He got out of it. It was a couple of days he was flying
39:32
over it. Well, the trick to the trick to it in salt water
39:36
is the day before, go the day before. I got, Well,
39:37
you got to start the day before. So you said, you're a drama
39:40
man, guy, you got you gotta start build up. Yeah, you
39:44
got to go and building. You gotta have it in your system. And
39:46
then it's one every because I have to take it too. I got.
39:50
I really said, okay, oh really, yeah, I have to do
39:52
it. I thought you'd have your sea legs by now. Championship. No,
39:57
it's it's man, it's because the I think the difference always you know,
40:00
you like you go on a white water trip, right, and then
40:02
you're gonna hit these pools, or you straighten out, or you go on
40:06
a canoe trip, right, you're gonna hit these areas in fresh water or
40:08
you're on cheat leg and you turn around, pull around behind the wind,
40:12
and it's a little it's never that way, like the water never stops moving
40:15
right exactly, and so it's but yeah, but I do I get see
40:20
sick. But the trick is you start the day before build up. Yeah,
40:22
and every twelve hours and then why you're right before you get on the
40:25
boat, and then every six hours. A yeah, they got a bunch
40:29
of that stuff. Yeah, without without giving us the recipe to the new
40:34
defense. Like I'm not going to ask you the recipe of the Coca Cola.
40:37
If a independent coach watched West Virginia in twenty two and then watch them
40:45
in twenty three, what would they say, You guys changed? Uh.
40:51
Number one, the overall structure that fit our personnel, and then number two,
40:57
we were better at playing football, angles of tackling, getting off blocks
41:04
and making tackles. The biggest compliment I got all last year. We were
41:07
playing the ball game. And Chip Lindsay, who's OC at North Carolina,
41:09
is a guy that I've known for a while. He's a he's a down
41:14
south guy. He recruited Missip with Juco's. He was at Troy First stint
41:17
and that's what he told me for the game, he said, Jordan,
41:21
he said, the most impressive thing I've watched against any other day. Y'all
41:23
know how to tackle, and we're not. We weren't perfect, but when
41:29
you that's the the focal point of what you're doing and what we're teaching.
41:36
When we do miss, it's a gain of two, not a gain of
41:37
ten. So guys are playing more aggressive to the ball and taking better angles,
41:43
and then when they getting there, they're not slowing down. We call
41:47
it shooting shot or pull your trigger, pull the pin, whatever it is.
41:51
And so you know, in today's world, I don't know if you're
41:53
ever going to be a perfect tackling team like people were, you know,
41:58
twenty thirty years ago. Just a different game now, but there is a
42:02
there's We spend a ton of time on it, teaching guys how to tackle
42:07
safely into where it's not only not only injury prevention, but penalties. And
42:12
you have to cover it like we all, like everybody, like every coach
42:14
gets you know, sits there in the yells and screamless sideline. You know,
42:16
you know about targeting and what it is and what it's not, and
42:20
Hey, it is what it is clearly defined. Coach. It's absolutely clear
42:23
what targeting is correct. It's always called the same way brand, isn't it.
42:28
Yeah, I mean it's you know, and they're there. It's so,
42:32
And I honestly do like I really I don't envy officials and how the
42:37
rules of the game because everything is so bang bang, and so they have
42:40
to go back and but what what For a while there, what I saw
42:45
is is we were allowed. We were using it as just overall coaching,
42:50
and especially in college ball, we were using it as an excuse two not
42:55
tackle it practice, or to not do this, or do not do that,
42:59
and and kind of whine about it and say, well, everything's a
43:00
penalty. Like we were out of that mode. We tackle every day m
43:06
hm, some form of fashion every day, and there's ways to do it,
43:09
and you have to teach them how to do it. And so that
43:13
was the That was the biggest improvement and the biggest thing that I think anybody
43:19
would notice. It's just how we play defense. So you worked on it
43:22
more, and guess what, it got better. It got better. The
43:23
scheme. The scheme is scheme, and I think everybody does a little version
43:28
of everything at some point and tries to be multiple to keep offenses off balance.
43:35
But your scheme has a pitch personnel, and then you have to be
43:37
good at at you know, until they put flags on us, which maybe
43:44
they do one day, but it's still blocking and tackling, and that's you
43:50
know, we got away from that and we went back to it, and
43:52
it's paid off. That's super interesting. That's super interesting. Last chance you
44:00
that was wild? He had no idea. Tell me, Oh, well,
44:05
I mean what I what I always tell people is, you know,
44:12
if you go back to the first scene of that show, there's a there's
44:15
a guy who's still a good friend of mine. Every time I'm in Atlanta,
44:19
Georgia, I eat dinner with him. But he's a guy that wrote
44:22
it, and he came and so the head coach, coach Buddy calls me
44:30
in June of fourteen, that was our best team that was had I think
44:38
three or four pros on defense. Chad Kelly was a quarterback. Like we
44:43
were explosive, We were unbelievable on defense. Ida how good we all?
44:46
We played nine regular season games, two playoff games in a national title and
44:52
in the regular season we did not give up a rushing touchdown. Man,
44:58
if the offense never gets on the US, we go nine to two.
45:05
That's a that's a true that's a true stat. We scored I think eleven
45:09
defensive touchdowns. Wow. But anyway, we were really good. So that
45:14
guy shows up, Buddy calls me and he goes, man, I ain't
45:15
got time to mess with this guy. Like I'm like, so of course
45:19
at that time, not married, don't have any kids. He's like,
45:22
I may deal with this guy. So I'm like, oh god, this
45:23
ought to be good. So the guy's pitching him, Hey, I want
45:25
you to do this. So the guy, the guy is from Atlanta.
45:29
He is infatuated with junior college football. He had followed a guy named Josh
45:32
Jarbo who at signed had signed with I think Oklahoma and ended up in Mississippi.
45:40
Was a kid from Atlanta. He's a big receiver and he was like
45:45
Randy Moss talented, like just super super talented, just could not like off
45:51
the field grade wise, couldn't get right someway. This guy was infatuated with
45:53
miss junior college football. Wow. And so he reaches out. He over
46:00
there and he spends the entire fourteen season and I'll never forget it. All
46:04
he had was one of the little the little notepads that have the top ring.
46:08
It's like that wide like a reporter's notebook. Reporters, Oh yeah,
46:13
exactly what they called out. But that's all he had. And he was
46:17
constantly flew and he'd go on like Friday night, because again, you played
46:22
Thursday, recruited Friday, and then you either took your kids, your guys,
46:27
your your recruits to SEC ball games, or you just went to ball
46:30
games to watch ball game. That was your routine. That guy would go
46:35
with me on Friday nights and he just spent so much time with and he
46:39
writes an article in the November issue a GQ magazine that same year called Last
46:46
Han Shoe, and that article somehow made its way and some guy that the
46:55
director I think is is reading the magazine and l a like in December of
47:01
that year and he's like, this is be unbelievable to I don't know however
47:07
they did it, But next thing I know, the next June, there's
47:08
like all these production trucks and these guys from Hollywood and they're showing up and
47:13
I'm like, oh, boys, this ought to be good and you know,
47:17
we we knew we were gonna we were not gonna be as good.
47:21
We were still gonna be good, but we're not gonna We're gonna be younger,
47:22
especially on defense, because you know, you lose, you turn over
47:24
half your team every year, sure, and to to to reload it with
47:29
that kind of talent just doesn't you know, doesn't happen all the time.
47:34
So we knew we were gonna gonna take a step back, but our expectation
47:37
was still to win. So man, there's so many stories of those guys,
47:40
like they're out there filming drills and just getting crushed, you know,
47:45
and like their cameras and stuff, they get too close. They really I
47:51
think they come in with the thought of, hey, these are like D
47:53
three athletes or like D three players, and you're out there running around you
47:58
know, you could they thought they could get around them. Yeah. Yeah.
48:00
So they're like they're like filming the drills and next thing, you know,
48:04
the dB or turning sprint and they're just getting crushed and I'm just so
48:07
I can't help but laugh, like I'm not I'm just like, man,
48:10
this is this is awesome. So but they really missed it by a year
48:15
twenty fourteen was what would have been would have been great, And so there's
48:21
a I guess there's a maybe a'll know better than I do. I guess
48:22
there's a law called implied consent where they can use so much of your name,
48:25
your ima, your likeness if you have a microphone on. So they
48:29
were micing everybody up and doing different things. At the end of it,
48:32
there was a there's a waiver, so essentially you can sign everything they have,
48:39
I can use it, and yeah, right, I'm giving it to
48:42
you. Correct. And so I just did a little research and some of
48:45
the some of the things were tied back to reality TV, and there was
48:52
maybe one other person, but I know, I think I may have been
48:53
the only one that didn't sign it. So what you see of me on
48:57
there is is the bare minimum of what they can what they can use,
49:00
which I mean it's fine. I really I really didn't matter. But I
49:06
I knew that was you know, where my career was going was beyond there
49:13
and didn't need to stop there. No, I mean I didn't wasn't anything
49:16
on there that don't think right that would happen. But I did understand at
49:21
the time how reality TV worked and it's really and it's really not reality,
49:25
sure, right, and so you know they but there were some really cool
49:30
things that were on video. I wish they would have had, like you
49:34
know, we do it now like we do a winter dinner. I used
49:36
to if we won, I would I would the coaches and me. We
49:39
would cook for the defense players on Sundays, would take a little time out
49:43
of practice. I mean, we had some really really good like you know,
49:46
be in my backyard. My backyard was fenced off. I lived there
49:49
on campus, and we had some really really good times. You know.
49:52
The Ronald Olly story was was one that that is really is really good and
50:01
and there was some more before that. Guys that you know DJ Jones,
50:06
who I think is with the Broncos now they ended up playing at Ole Miss
50:10
was a was a great story. Jared Reid, who was first picked the
50:14
second round from Alabama I think is finished back with the Seahawks is a is
50:20
a phenomenal story. And there's there's tons I like it. Yeah, people
50:23
love stories, so yeah, that's why they're people love those stories. But
50:28
you know, I wouldn't trade that experience or anything, right, you know,
50:30
everybody's always like well, last year in the perception that last yance you
50:34
has I mean there there are you know, and they're there and everybody you
50:38
know. The end of that was this this big brawl that cleared the benches,
50:43
and there was so much more to it than that. I was.
50:46
I wish people thought about it now after that the rest of the seasons after
50:52
that, you know, that's a little different. That's not my cup of
50:54
tea. But I wouldn't trade that. I wouldn't trade that experience or anything.
51:00
We were chatting before we started recording. You almost your two schools that
51:05
came down to recruiting you, Troy and Marshall. So you had a little
51:09
West Virginia flavor that was back in the Bob Pruitt days. Correct, and
51:15
you went to Troy, but you played on the other side of the ball
51:17
of where you work now, correct, tight end. So how did how
51:22
did you make that transition? Oh? It was really easy. There's a
51:25
guy named DeMarcus Ware. He said, I'll go over there and coach him.
51:30
No, no, no, no. So I was a I come
51:32
out as a defensive signee. I was right. I was a backer,
51:37
probably gonna play outside backer d n at some point but you know, we
51:42
get get down there and there's there's you got OCU minor on one side,
51:45
and then they bring this freshman in as DeMarcus Ware and it's like, you
51:50
know, you got to get on the field, you know. And I'm
51:52
nowhere near even close to the type caliber player those guys. Those guys are
51:55
in the NFL Hall of Famers. So and if I look back as a
52:00
coach, and I would have advised my younger self to do the same thing.
52:05
So I moved over and started two years at tight end on offense,
52:08
played there, and that was the best thing, the best thing that ever
52:10
happened to me. And you always, you know, you're you're your pride
52:14
and your egos a little heard it first, and you're because you're you're a
52:16
defensive player, and that's where, that's how you want to play the game,
52:22
and that's where your mind is. And so but you never you never
52:25
lose that. And so as a coach, I just always want to coach
52:30
defense. I wanted to go back on defense and and just always that's where
52:34
my mind. That's that's the the chess, the chess match and the and
52:39
the pieces and yeah, you know, and really just how you know,
52:43
how you play the physicality and how you know. Let me ask you something
52:47
about coaching defense that I asked Treilathan, is that after after you having a
52:53
potent company up and after a week of film study and coaching and knowing tendencies,
52:59
and you're in the game and at the point in time in the game,
53:01
the score, the down and distance, the personnel. When all that
53:07
is combined, do you know and the formation? Do you have a pretty
53:09
good idea of what they're gonna run? Yes? But can you get that
53:16
information across and split sity? Can you yes? And no? I guess
53:24
is the easiest answer. It depends on the style of team. Like if
53:29
they're a tempo team, you're strictly you're playing base right. If you're strictly
53:34
playing off of personnel, formation, tendency, and situation like balls on the
53:38
hash. So a team that's trying to snap the ball every eight seconds,
53:45
balls on that hash. Here's the rollout hash, here's a set of plays
53:49
they like, and you're just playing off of that. Now you're playing a
53:52
huddle team, there's there's times when they can they can break the huddle and
53:55
you can kind of look and see, all right, the running backsual he's
54:00
in and tight and you can. You know, there's a lot of defense
54:05
cordinators make their calls off of that because you'll see them wi they're and they're
54:07
waiting, they're waiting, they're waiting, they're seeing as much as they can.
54:10
And I really can't do that, I am, because at least too
54:14
many guys confused and waiting. Right, they're looking at you and then they're
54:17
like, oh, here we go, and then I got to see is
54:20
it three by one? Is at two by two? And you know,
54:22
we try to build our defense to where there's minimal checks, some adjustments and
54:30
you're just essentially playing off of your number, your responsibility, whatever it is.
54:35
So we try to give them that as much of that information the things
54:38
that really give you issues, I mean, because an offensive coaches are very
54:43
similar like Coach Brown, you know, the guys at Texas Tech or the
54:46
guys at TCU, Like everybody has their background, their sets of place.
54:51
It's how they dress them up and how they're you know, and what you're
54:53
going to get a new version of that that week. There's a little bit
54:58
of guesswork and you got to try to all right, I'll for this formation
55:01
or off of this variation, that's what you need to work during the week.
55:04
Because I thought that, I thought if we talked about a lot about
55:07
that during during our coverage, was it looked like every week, same place,
55:09
but but giving defenses a different look formation wise. For West Virginia's or
55:14
West Virginia's office, by the end of the year, they were showing the
55:17
same formation running seven eight plays off the same formation, which really created issues.
55:22
Yes, because if you, if you like, if you if you
55:23
break down those percentages, and I think most defensive guys are are big percentage
55:29
guys, and you and your you don't see a tendency that's above five to
55:34
seven percent, And you're kind of sitting there going, all right, like
55:37
what I wouldn't gamble on that, you know what I'm saying. I wouldn't
55:40
I wouldn't put odds on you know, So it's like, what are they?
55:45
Then you you start it is like all right, So then you try
55:47
to see early in the game how their base sets of plays are being presented
55:53
this week, and how you start to figure out I give you an example,
55:57
like TCU they figured out in the in the uh middle of the field,
56:04
how we were setting our defense in the middle of the field, you
56:06
know, because the ball can be spotted five different places, and the middle
56:09
of the field is is different, right, because they can set their strength
56:15
and maybe it's to your weak side of your whatever you consider that, And
56:19
so very simple, we caught it and we flipped our strength calling another game
56:24
and it changed every It changed how they were or our good pieces were,
56:30
and vice versa to there. So that's just an example of you know,
56:34
you're not gonna but can you You just always go off Tennessee, so you
56:39
have your base knowledge, but you're gonna you're You're never gonna like like we're
56:44
on the rate. You know, we're in helmet communication. So I'm never
56:47
gonna be able to let a little and say, hey, uh, the
56:51
back is set to the left of tight and set to the right, you're
56:52
gonna get a set of split zone counter this. And while I'm talking,
56:55
set on. So you got to be you know, you got to be
57:00
careful. But you try to present the player with as much of the who
57:07
we think there are. And then you go back and you watch how they
57:12
attack defenses that play our same style, and I think every one of them
57:16
have tendencies. So that's the information that you studied during the week, and
57:21
the player has a general idea, and then every coach is different. I
57:24
let them do it in their own rooms with how they quiz them and how
57:27
they they test them. And then on Friday nights or Saturday morning, whatever
57:30
it is. You know, it's a kind of a final reminder deal and
57:36
we hit it and go and but I think a lot of times you get
57:39
you go too far down what I was talking about in twenty two, down
57:44
that rabbit hole and still keep the focus on playing football the way we're going
57:49
to be successful playing football. If we can do that on Saturday nights,
57:52
we'll be fine. Are you a fan of the new helmet communication? Oh
57:53
yeah? Bowl Game's great, it's awesome game changer. Now it's gonna the
58:00
rules are going to be a little different this fall. But it's just you
58:05
just feel so much more comfortable and it'll be interesting, feel so much more
58:09
comfortable calling place to me, and you feel comfortable about them getting the information.
58:19
You know, you got to think now college sidelines have turned into essentially,
58:22
uh a circus. Doing the macarena is what it looks like, you
58:30
know, and you got guys holding freaking sheets. It's a yeah, it's
58:34
a it's a total joke, you know, And so unfortunately, opposing coaches
58:39
would never be interested in trying to steal any signals. I've never heard it,
58:45
right, right, I mean that would never never heard of that because
58:49
of the integrity of that part. I mean, yeah, I'm going down
58:54
that road. But it's it's uh, I'm a big fan of it.
58:59
I think it's it's a it's a huge the thing is a huge advantage to
59:06
get back to football football. You know, you call a play? I
59:10
called a play? Did I call the right one? I don't know?
59:13
But can we you know it's a it's a chess match instead of oh yeah
59:17
they're in cover two. Let me give this quarterback a play, right,
59:22
How are you really helping the quarterback? Right? You know? I think
59:24
I think it's I think that's when you see a big decline in NFL production
59:30
early on. They can't be told what to do right right, They're not
59:35
ready. Let's talk personnel for a second. You don't have to do word
59:37
association, but kind of sentence association. I'm going to throw some newcomers at
59:40
you. Trotter, not a newcomer, but we're seeing them for the first
59:44
time. Go uh, just difference maker, game changer dude. Dude gardens
59:57
fast and can play like playmaker, like like a tax the ball, like
1:00:05
he just has a he sees it, he goes and gets it. Ty
1:00:08
French and trying to get all the explosive fast jet terms. I'll put it
1:00:19
this way. We had a safety miss uh tackle in the post in the
1:00:22
spring scrimmage number two, and he tackled the guy on the post chasing down.
1:00:28
He's an edge defender now, and I think we all know where the
1:00:31
post is. So but he's He's from Colwood County, Georgia, and there's
1:00:39
a lot of people down in that part of the world that can run,
1:00:43
run. So what's the part of his game that has to translate up to
1:00:45
this level. It's it's seeing a seeing a better talented offensive tackle, and
1:00:52
which is fine for him. He's got to use he got to use what
1:00:55
he's what he's good at, and which is speed. Because now I don't
1:00:59
care who we play, there's there's not an offensive tackle that's gonna kicks light
1:01:04
as fast as that dude can run. And so you know, I think
1:01:07
that's a lot of times gets lost in past rush guys watch you know,
1:01:13
all these videos and want to do all this fancy stuff from the end of
1:01:15
the day, run turn the cornerside quarterback. And if he takes that mentality,
1:01:21
he takes that mentality, he'll he'll be fine because that's what he's good
1:01:23
at. You know, that's what he I mean, look at his status
1:01:25
at Gardener wellon, you know, like and he is and you know some
1:01:32
of the some of the volume probably of defense as opposed to what he was
1:01:37
doing terminology wise. You know, he's a he's a he's a one year
1:01:43
guy and he's you're changing all your terminology you've been doing for three or four
1:01:46
years. Can you grasp that? Yeah? So, and but that's on
1:01:51
that's on us to kind of keep it, keep him in a position what
1:01:54
he needs to be doing. T J. Jackson, Oh, you know
1:01:59
what, like loves competition, loves competition. Like we we'll be I was
1:02:08
walking by that, you know the end of the year, you've been at
1:02:10
the end of stadium. That's that's where the weight room is, that big
1:02:14
that big turf area, and you know sometimes when we scrimmage and practicing there
1:02:19
the o line D line down there doing their own during their own thing,
1:02:22
and so we're in I think it was one on ones with the linebackers DBS.
1:02:29
So I run down to that restroom, go to the restroom, come
1:02:30
back out. So I'm walking right by the old line of D line.
1:02:31
I see t J and he's out there kickslot punching. What do you do
1:02:37
it? He goes, I'm finna block him, And so he did his
1:02:40
D line one on one pass rush and then he flipped over one O line
1:02:44
just just to try to just want to do it. I just want to
1:02:46
do it, like if you walk up in the endoor like and uh,
1:02:50
pre practice like we have. Neil has this basketball goal now we always shoot
1:02:53
for competition and stuff. He's in there shooting. He we did the three
1:02:59
on three, the kick off, the kickoff return drill. He's like seventy
1:03:02
five percent percentage on that guy's two hundred ninety pounds wants he wants to run
1:03:07
down and kickoff. And you know where he's from and his his family and
1:03:12
kind of where he come from is that's you know, competition and playing in
1:03:16
the backyard. That's all they know. And so he just and and if
1:03:22
you look at him and you know he's you're not gonna be overly impressed.
1:03:27
But then he does something you're like, whoa you know, quick, explosive,
1:03:30
quick twitch, powerful, competitive, tough, hard nose and you just
1:03:35
go through all those things, right, hold on one more. I got
1:03:37
one more. Jennings No as a horse in the Kentucky Derby. He's closing
1:03:44
fast. Right, there's a there's a lot of talk here recently about Jennings.
1:03:47
He's coming. Yeah, that's that's I don't want to say it a
1:03:52
whole lot. You know, you know he's a dude. Well here's here's
1:03:57
a Jennings in a in a nutshell. So we's a type player. I
1:04:00
just actually talked to a coach yesterday in Cincinnati. They're like, is that
1:04:03
kid doing great? He goes you know, we game planned him. We
1:04:06
had to game plan him, and he played high safety all right. And
1:04:11
it was actually a connection back to West Virginia on this one. The coach
1:04:15
was the guy that had Chris Henry. Oh wow. So he's like,
1:04:18
we knew if we could make that kid think we're throwing the ball on a
1:04:23
screen to Chris, he would come off of that roof as fat and he's
1:04:27
trying to He's trying to destroy everything in his path. So we could just
1:04:31
if we could just do that and then send Chris over the top that he
1:04:36
would bite. And I'm like, that makes a ton of sense. And
1:04:40
I go watch him play. Last year is one of the off weeks,
1:04:44
and that's what he did. And so we just told him, as I
1:04:46
look, you know, well let's you play safety to you proved too you
1:04:49
can't well you know, those mistakes at our level are touchdowns. So here's
1:04:55
what we do. We get him in a position playing our nickel safety or
1:04:57
what we call spear uh. And he has one speed. He sees it
1:05:02
and he hits it and he goes and gets it and and a lot of
1:05:04
times, especially right now, like it's wrong. He comes up to me,
1:05:09
He come up to me and Shaun and he was like, hey,
1:05:11
coach, I don't have a clue what I'm doing, but when I see
1:05:14
the ball, I just get it. And I says, hey, you
1:05:18
just you keep doing that and we'll we'll we'll figure the rest of this stuff
1:05:23
out. And uh. But he is as an unbelievable kid man. His
1:05:30
his his grandfather and grandmother, like the salt of the Earth people. That's
1:05:35
awesome. And and that kid is is he's going to be very, very
1:05:43
successful and in a place like West Virginia and the people around there to change
1:05:47
the trajectory of his life. And he's a he's a he's a great,
1:05:51
great kid, gonna be a gonna be a great player. Movie question,
1:05:56
Oh, seaw Shank Redemption top one, number one all time, all the
1:06:00
time. How many times you think you watched it? Well, let's see,
1:06:03
it depends on how many T and T Like you'll always when you're going
1:06:08
when you're going through and it's already on, you'll always stop and watch the
1:06:11
rest of it. Oh yeah, yeah, that's how it is. Y
1:06:14
Yeah, And it's it's like we've talked about this with music and movies.
1:06:17
If it tells a story, I like it. If it don't, it
1:06:18
don't you know. Like and Catherine totally different. She would just get a
1:06:24
walk out. She sees it. Well, she just I mean she's like,
1:06:29
how many times do you have? How many times are you gonna watch
1:06:30
it? I'm like, it's the best movie the first time I saw Andy
1:06:33
Freeze. Yeah, yeah, get busy living a good busy guy. The
1:06:40
greatest ending of any movie, no question, No question is a great ending.
1:06:44
It's the greatest ending, and you never like it's just it's a great
1:06:46
story. Music. Stephen King, Stephen King, Yeah, absolutely, yeah,
1:06:51
uh music. Charles Wesley Godwin came and spoke to the team during August
1:06:57
camp. He made it very impassioned speech to those guys about fourteen. You
1:07:01
listen to his stuff at all? Yeah, his stuff's blowing up. Yep.
1:07:04
Yeah. He tells stories again, it's it's storytelling. You know,
1:07:12
what do you think the great who's your favorite favorite storyteller singer? Did Johnny
1:07:15
get Johnny Cash singer? Yeah? Johnny Cash told stories? Yeah he did,
1:07:21
and he's he's up there, you know, the greatest. To me,
1:07:28
there's a couple of songs in there. I think that tell I think
1:07:30
Randy Travis is one of them. He was unbelievable. You see that song
1:07:33
he came out with this Weekend AI version of Pretty Wild. I mean,
1:07:39
just if it doesn't like you know, there's other there's all kinds of different
1:07:44
music, but if it doesn't tell a story, I really can't. It's
1:07:48
hard to listen to consistently. You're gonna have, you know, things you
1:07:53
know, like during the ball game and the guys jumping around getting I get
1:07:57
it. But as far as we're riding down the road, like like listening
1:08:00
to music, you want to boom doom, Yeah, to do to do
1:08:02
it and now the end boom yes, yeah. Three guys before the game
1:08:09
reminds you to get a Gomart rewards card because here's what you get, brand
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online Gomart app, visit gomart dot com for all the details and start saving
1:08:28
today. Neil was telling me this week Chad Scott's pretty good cook. Oh
1:08:33
yah, he has uh he crawfish, brings him in from Louise and has
1:08:38
him brought in. Does that kind of thing. It's what's the best thing
1:08:41
you cook? Yeah, honestly, I would I do. We've talked about
1:08:48
this. I do steaks totally different. I don't grill steaks anymore. I'm
1:08:51
all cast iron. I flavor the old I kind of do that deal.
1:08:58
But you know, I come across a couple of years ago and Catherine and
1:09:00
me were in between here and Pittsburgh, small little little riverside cafe and they
1:09:09
had a white chicken chili oh, and I just we got to eat.
1:09:14
I was like, this is phenomenal. So I got another bowl and I'm
1:09:16
like, I'm picking out through the flavors and I told my wife, look,
1:09:19
I think I can. I don't think I could make this. You
1:09:21
didn't ask for the recipe, No, no, you wanted to go back.
1:09:26
I wanted to go back and try to try to figure it out.
1:09:28
And that's probably the best thing I cooked. So you hit it? Yeah,
1:09:30
what's in there? Well, let me go back here. So my
1:09:35
my grandmother taught me how to cook, the basics of how to, and
1:09:42
she one of my favorite dishes that she made. We called it chicken rotail,
1:09:46
but essentially chicken spaghetti okay, and a spicy chicken you know. But
1:09:50
how she did it. She would she would make her own chicken broth.
1:09:56
Oh yeah, that's where she started it. And so that's that was the
1:10:01
beginning bowl of whole chicken real broth, real bro real. Put your spices
1:10:08
in there, but some garlics and bailey salt, pepper, maybe some rosemary
1:10:13
and thyme. If you like that. Bullet bout an hour pill it straight
1:10:16
off the broth and then that's the base of your soup. Very simple vegetable
1:10:24
combination. I didn't carrot's celery, ye, undint cat celery. This one
1:10:30
actually I use a jalapeno, two Peblano's onion, garlic, garlic, ancho,
1:10:40
chili powder, cuman coriander. Wow, what's cooking. It's going a
1:10:45
little bit of paprika and just a touch of can you can go a little
1:10:48
bit more cayne if you will do? And so sweat down vegetables, roast,
1:10:54
roast, the spices go in with the broth that they go for twenty
1:10:58
go in with the chicken. Here's the other a kicker to this. It's
1:11:00
a you take northern white beans pure a half of two cups, and then
1:11:05
you take two cups to the side, and the pure goes in kind and
1:11:11
there you go. Ye, and he's a roasted whole kernel, corn and
1:11:17
cilantro. And then if you want a little a little thicken, and after
1:11:21
that you can put cream, cheese and melt it in there and let it
1:11:27
like rich you got you got rich, you got saved right there? Perfect,
1:11:34
Okay, I'll tell you what I'll make you. I'll make you a
1:11:36
loaf of bread, okay, and you give me chili and we'll do a
1:11:40
deal to great we end. Maybe you could share that Tony instead of just
1:11:44
you know, no, he doesn't share things. Listen, he it's it's
1:11:48
he's gonna give me something. I'm gonna give him something, you know.
1:11:51
Happy being a taker your whole life? I mean, doesn't that get tiring?
1:11:55
Take take, take, take take. I mean it comes from him
1:11:59
from Jordan. We can't thank you enough for coming in. Oh man,
1:12:03
that's a great time. We enjoy you guys, Appreciate what y'all do.
1:12:08
And win's dinner. We're looking and we're anxiously obviously we're looking forward. Let's
1:12:13
have our summer first, but we're anxiously looking forward to seeing this twenty twenty
1:12:16
four Mountaineer football team. And it's gonna be a lot, a lot of
1:12:20
fun, all right. It is no pressure, none at all. Three
1:12:24
guys brought to us by Comac's Business Systems, keeping West Virginia's business data safe,
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Over and out