Latest / The Craig Way Show / Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry on Tre Johnson's impact and preparing for the first season in the SEC

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Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry on Tre Johnson's impact and preparing for the first season in the SEC · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: Our coverage begins at three point thirty tomorrow afternoon with
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  long Orange Game Day with Cameron Parker and my card
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  ball Harde and Mark Henry from the Hook them hangout there?
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  Speaker 2: Who came up with the hook? Them hangout by the way.
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  Speaker 3: I think are Oh I was gonna say, hokhim hang out.
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  That sounds like a Drew Martin thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it might be.
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  Speaker 3: Drew Martin's the big brains behind a lot of Bevil Boulevard.
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  Speaker 1: That's right, and uh, and it's there in the wind
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  Chip circle there in bev Old Boulevard. So there's an
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  awful lot of stuff going on this morning. Seven o'clock
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  this morning, our friends at k XN had Kristen Curry,
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  their meteorologists, doing a live shot inside of dk R
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  Texas Memorial Stadium. Oh wow, and she had Drew Martin.
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  And Drew was already dressed to the nines at a
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  sport jacket on the tie and really really sharply.
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  Speaker 2: He always is anyway.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he might be the sharpest dressed man at Texas.
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  I think I know Sark on game days, Yeah, he can, really,
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  but I've never seen Drew Martin not dressed up to
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  the Nines.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, looked really good. And how about last Saturday they
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  had the Cotton Bowl there.
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  Speaker 3: With that, I thought it was pink from the press box.
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  But Terry Kelly, who of course is with Longhorn Radio Networks,
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  she showed me the real picture and it was burn
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  orange maybe the sun.
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  Speaker 1: It was a Gingham orange jacket, Burn orange jacket, Gingham
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  burn orange jacket and a big burn orange and white
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  bow tie and he was styling off of that. Rodney
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  Terry can also dress really nice. He does well at times,
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  even though now in the post COVID portion of our
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  athletic lives, he does like a lot of other coaches
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  and wears the coaches polos or the warm ups and
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  the long sleeves and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 2: But he took part in.
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  Speaker 1: The SEC Basketball media days a couple of days ago.
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  We had a couple of his comment Chester get a
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  couple of other ones.
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  Speaker 2: The season and.
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  Speaker 1: Today for going into this season, I want I want
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  to go back to a cut that he had talking
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  about his outstanding freshman Trey Johnson, because he was asked
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  about Jason Kent and Julian Larry, the two transfers from
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  Indiana State coming in. He was asked about, uh, Traymond Mark,
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  Tremon Mark transferring in from Arkansas, what he brings to
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  the team. But there was so much excitement about Trey
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  Johnson from Garland and the Dallas for wed there. He
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  actually played for a time at Lake Highlands and then
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  finished up at the prep school at Link Academy in Missouri,
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  and was asked about his attitude, his development, and the
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  work that Johnson put in in the off season to
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  be ready for his freshman season.
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  Speaker 4: Trey, you know, again, I allude to the fact that
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  we have six returners and you know, six six gays
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  from the portal, four freshmen, so we got ten new
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  players and again a blend of old in a blend
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  of new and young. And uh, you know he being
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  one of the young guys. Uh, and a guy that
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  I think again, you know, media wants to get familiar with.
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  Speaker 5: He's He's a guy that's deserving of being here today.
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  Speaker 4: Uh.
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  Speaker 5: He's an extremely talented player.
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  Speaker 4: He's a Tip five player in the country last year
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  in his class. He's been the best player in his class. Uh,
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  in the state of Texas his entire career. He's a
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  guy that, uh, we think fits our culture at a
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  very high level in terms of what he brings to
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  the table. Super competitive, a kid that wants to get
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  better every day. He's proud of being from the state
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  of Texas and representing Uh, you know Texas at the
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  flagship program.
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  Speaker 5: And uh, he's a super competitor.
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  Speaker 1: Uh.
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  Speaker 4: I got a chance to coach Kevin Durant for one
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  year at Texas and uh, he and Kevin had a
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  lot have a lot of things that kind of come
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  from the same cloth in terms of incredible work ethic.
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  Is a guy that we have to literally push him
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  out in the gym. He's in the gym twenty four
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  to seven, much like Kevin was. And he's a super
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  competitive kid. You put the scoreboard on and uh, he's
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  competing at another level in terms of really one to
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  win and compete at a very high level. So he's
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  a guy that will counting on this year that you
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  have a big year and do big things in Austin.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of excitement about him. He's the preseason
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  SEC Freshman of the Year, so it could be pretty exciting.
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  Speaker 2: To watch him play as well.
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  Speaker 1: He was asked a couple other questions, one about Kentucky's
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  new head coach Mark Pope. Texas, by the way, will
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  play Kentucky for the first time ever in Austin when
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  the Wildcats come in February. I'll be the first time
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  ever for Kentucky to play there, so that'll be interesting.
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  Of course, Texas has played in Lexington before, but Kentucky
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  has new head coach Mark Pope, who was at BYU
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  last year, and he I thought was one of the
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  more impressive co which is that I saw that that
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  we had a chance to see both on the road
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  and at home for Texas basketball games.
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  Speaker 2: I thought he did a heck of a job with BYU.
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  Speaker 3: He's a good head coach. That was an impressive BYU team. Now,
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  of course that environment was absolutely insane in provo, A
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  lot of fun to experience, not a lot of fun
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  to watch Texas lose that game, but they were a
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  team going to tournament that I had high hopes for.
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  And I thought Kentucky made a fantastic higher When you
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  lose Caliperia like that be able to find a coach,
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  and I thought they did a good job replacing him
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  with Mark Pope.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Pope of course had played there. Now he's
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  there and since he just faced him. Rodney Terry was asked,
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  you know what what he feels Mark Pope can do
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  for Kentucky.
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  Speaker 4: You know, again, you know, Mark's a tremendous coach, a
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  tremendous person. He was a good player as well. I
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  think having a chance, you know, I think I'm living in,
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  you know.
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  Speaker 5: My dream job. It's my dream job here.
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  Speaker 4: You know, every day I'm blamed in honor to be
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  the head coach at the University of Texas. I think
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  he feels the same way about Kentucky. You know, he's
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  a former player, won a national championship there. There's a
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  lot of pride and uh and in walking into the
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  office every day when you when you feel like you're
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  living a dream every day. I can't speak for him,
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  but I would think that it was a it would
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  be a dream for him to be the head coach
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  at the at at the University of Kentucky.
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  Speaker 5: And uh, I think that, Uh.
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  Speaker 4: You know, his teams play with the with the great
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  spirit about themselves. They're they're very unselfish, they share the basketball,
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  very good offensively. Uh So, so you have to prepare
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  in terms of really trying to have a really good
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  defensive mindset because they're they're they're a team that can
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  really score the basketball. Uh in my short time, you know,
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  competing against his team in the Big twelve.
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  Speaker 5: Uh. But you know, very well coached. H really good guy,
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  a great person.
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  Speaker 2: Uh speaking of coaches.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, yesterday we played one cut brought to you a
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  piece of sound where Rodney Terry was asked about his
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  relationship with Chris Beard from their time together when Beard
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  was here for like just over a season as we know,
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  and Rodney was his associate head coach, and then of
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  course became the interim head coach when Chris Beard was dismissed,
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  and then became the permanent head coach after Texas made
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  its run to.
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  Speaker 2: The Elite eight.
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  Speaker 1: Chris Beard, of course then surfaces at Ole Miss and
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  he's getting ready to match up with Chris Beard again.
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  In case you didn't know, Texas will play Ole Miss
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  in Oxford. They will not play them in Austin. They
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  will play them in Oxford, is the way the SEC
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  schedule was drawn up. But he was asked in the
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  difference the difference that he encountered with Chris Beard in
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  year one and year two when he took over the program.
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  Speaker 4: No I'll tell you what you know that first year,
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  we were really trying to build a culture.
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  Speaker 5: We came in and really was trying to instill in
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  our guys.
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  Speaker 4: How hard you have to work, Uh, trust the process,
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  competing at a at an incredible level, having a physical mindset.
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  Speaker 5: Uh. Those were all things we really tried to build on.
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  Speaker 4: Preparation, trying to be one of the most, you know,
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  best prepared teams in the country. I think the one
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  thing that was claiming for us, that was the difference
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  from year one to year two was that we had continuity.
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  We all strived to try to have continuity. I have
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  six returners this year, four guys that played significant minutes
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  for us last year. Anytime, I think in this landscape
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  and all the college athletics, if you're able to have
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  some form a level of continuity, then you give yourself
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  a chance. Because those guys are they help They helped
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  build a culture, They helped defend the culture every day.
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  In year two at Texas, we had guys that had
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  they were around from year one.
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  Speaker 5: They were now defending the culture.
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  Speaker 4: The new guys we brought in, they were showing our guys,
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  this is what we do and this is how we
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  do it every day. Here are the expectations, here are
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  the standards, and uh, this is how we do it.
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  Speaker 5: Uh.
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  Speaker 4: And then I think when you're able to have a
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  guy for a second year in your program, you know,
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  he had the chance to build on what he did
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  from year one and and and be great in year two.
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  You know, if you if you're able to have a
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  guy for three years, you know, just the continuity and
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  and and and having a feel for what you're doing
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  and how you want to do it, the pace you
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  want to do it, it rubs off and it carries
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  over to other to other guys that are coming in.
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  So we were able to have that, and uh, we
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  had a number of different guys that had much better
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  years from year one to year two because of that.
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  They were familiar, comfortable with our system and they could
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  go out and really be themselves and and not have
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  to do as much thinking and trying to figure out
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  what we're trying to get done as a program.
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  Speaker 1: You know, what uh Artie just described there is very
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  much what Sark has been able to build and do
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  year one to year two, year two to year three,
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  year three to year four. Everybody has taken note of
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  what Sark has been able to build five and seven
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  in year one as he was trying to establish a
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  culture and get his type of players.
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  Speaker 2: In year two up to eight.
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  Speaker 1: And five and a Bowl berth that second year is
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  the culture began to take hold, and again building the
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  recruiting base. Last year year three, twelve and two, winning
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  a Big Twelve conference championship in the final year in
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  the league and going to the College Football Playoff for
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  the first time and stacking those recruiting classes. And now
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  season four for long Warn Football, a six and oh
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  start at number one national ranking with a huge game
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  tomorrow night on campus against Georgia.
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  Speaker 2: But what is it?
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  Speaker 1: ESPN's College Football Playoff predictor says right now, Right now,
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  it sees Texas with a ninety six percent chance to
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  reach a college football playoffs. Still a lot of football
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  left to be played, but the first half of the
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  season has gone very well. That's what Rodney Terry and
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  his stafford trying to build. That's what Vick Schaeffer and
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  stafford trying to build. That's what Jeff Schlossnagel will be
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  trying to build. What we've seen Ange Kelly with Texas
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  Soccer Jared Elliott with the back to back national championships,
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  and volleyball the national championships and the great runs there
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  by Edric Flooriel coach Flow and the mens and women's
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  track teams both the indoor and outdoor at the University
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  of Texas, swimming and diving now with Bob Bowman taking
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  over for the immortal Eddie Reese, all of those softball,
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  with what Mike White has done in getting Texas to
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  the College World Series, just the Texas tennis team winning
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  national titles and being in the National conversation golf of course,
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  so it just goes on and on, and that's the
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  culture that all of those programs are trying to get gone. Finally,
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  I mean, this was one more humorous moment if I'm
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  remembering this correctly, Kim, is this in the Q and
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  A portion that Trey Johnson himself goes up and asks
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  Artie question in.
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  Speaker 3: This So I think what happened was is that Trey
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  Johnson standing in the back of the media room and
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  just puts his hand up and.
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  Speaker 2: They handed him a microphone.
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  Speaker 3: Microphone because you know, it'll happen a lot with availabilities
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  like it happened on Monday with Quinn Yours with Jake
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  Majors kind.
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  Speaker 2: Of joining the media from and he's kind from.
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  Speaker 3: And asking a question. Now, I think at this because
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  there wasn't a lot of media that traveled to Birmingham
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  here that they were able to fit in Trey Johnson's question.
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  Speaker 2: So here it is.
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  Speaker 1: This is the standout incoming freshman Trey Johnson. Somehow a
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  microphone microphone found its way to him to ask a
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  question of head coach Ronny Terry.
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  Speaker 4: No.
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  Speaker 5: I'll tell you what I think.
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  Speaker 4: The best thing about this group that we put together
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  is I think that these guys all really like each other.
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  I think that's so important this day in time, you know,
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  and you know in the summer, when you bring your
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  team in you really try to establish some chemistry with guys.
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  But this group here, I think they did it organically.
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  You know, you don't want as a coach to have
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  to say, hey, guys, you guys need to hang out
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  together over here, or you guys plan on doing this
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  doing these things together. This group loves being around each other.
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  I think they cut up with each other off the court.
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  They spend a lot of time off the court with
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  each other. And I think again, when you have great
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  chemistry off the court, I think it lends you an
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  opportunity to have really good chemistry on the court.
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  Speaker 5: And you know, I think these guys I have each
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  other's back.
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  Speaker 4: I challenge them to be great teammates every day, but
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  I think they truly like being around each other. I'll
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  see them cutting up and having fun with each other,
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  and to me, that's the best part of it, because
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  it's really what makes their experience, what it's all about.
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  Speaker 5: Those are the moments that they're gonna remember the most.
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  Speaker 4: When they're on the bus, cutting up on the bus
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  and having fun in the bus.
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  Speaker 5: You know, when they're back in the.
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  Speaker 4: Locker room and they're and they're talking like they're the
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  ball show, you know, wish they do.
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  Speaker 5: We got Nick Cody, another freshman.
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  Speaker 4: He's a barbershop guy, you know, and he's back and
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  then he's holding court.
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  Speaker 5: You know.
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  Speaker 4: But but I hear that, and that's what you miss
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  as a coach when you were a player. You miss
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  being around your teammates and having fun and cutting up.
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  That's what it's all about. And so that's what I
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  would say about this team.
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  Speaker 5: I think they all really like each other.
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  Speaker 4: I think they're all super competitive, and I'm excited about
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  our journey and we got a long ways to go,
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  but I really liked this group a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, what you didn't hear was Trey asking the question.
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  But what he asked was what's the best part about
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  this team? And so and and credit RTAM dealing with
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  the question is a legitimate question and answering it just
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  like you would any other regular reporter.
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  Speaker 2: That was pretty cool as well.
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  Speaker 1: All right, coming up, we've got some other college football
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  notes to get to when we come back right here
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  on sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the
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  iHeartRadio app.