Big weekend of college football ahead.
Massive weekend of college football ahead, both locally and nationally. Some great games on the schedule, Utah Heads and still Water see Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon. And then it's BYU's turn to welcome in k State. Our next guests joins us a couple of times a year, if we're lucky, if the schedules line up. The offensive coordinator of the BYU Cougars, Aaron Roderick, on a Thursday afternoon, A Rod, how you doing, buddy?
I'm doing well. Hey. The intro song, that's a good touch like it.
That's your gig.
That's your song, because I remember, I think the first time I had John, like five years ago or something, I'm like, give me the band, you said, drive by.
So every time we have you on, that's your bed.
I love it. Nice job.
You've seen them lately?
I have? Yeah, yeah, some the summer.
Did you see the show up here? Because I went to the show up here in Salt Lake. You were at that show, okay?
I was ye, very nice, good time, very nice.
Ye.
Well, we're not here to talk music, a Rod. We're here to talk football. And you guys are three and oh So here's where I want to start. You were three and oh a year ago. What gives you confidence that this three and ol is different than the last year's three and oh?
Just we have a more experienced team, a lot of guys that went through some tough, tough times last year, and just you know, I think we're more prepared to deal with what's ahead of us time. I mean, we've got a tough road ahead for sure. No one's saying it's not tough, But I think we're just built at we have a little more depth and we just we just what we went through last year. I think there's a lot of lessons you could learn from that.
Yes, you have a tough road ahead. We'll get to that in the moment.
But before we do, of course, there was a battle for the quarterback starting job that was run by one by Jake Rhetz laugh. How close was that leading up to the start of the year and what ultimately gave Jake the nod over Behannon.
Yeah, I mean Gary I thought did a good job in camp. The longer camp went, Gary just kept getting better and better. He you know, he got the chance to play at Wyoming last week and that was the first snaps he'd had, and I think October tenth, if I'm correct, it was October of twenty twenty two is the last time he played in the game, and so his injury was really serious, and he's just since he got here, he's just slowly been getting a little more
healthy and a little more healthy. And then so towards the end of camp he was starting to throw the ball better and starting to look like he could actually challenge the start. But by then Jake had pretty much won the job and established himself. But Gary's getting better every day, and we have a lot of confidence in him and no fear at all to play him if we need to.
So, as I've heard you talk about, as I've heard Colotte talk about, we talked about on this show. I think who covers BYU football talks about it. We saw four starts from Jake last year. We've seen three this year. There are certainly dynamite moments that indicate he's got what it takes for you, guys.
To do what you want to do.
Then there are moments where they're just mistakes that can't happen. As you said yourself a week ago, there were I think four fumbles a year ago, and then Wyoming rolls around, he throws the pick and we're going here we go again, and ultimately he settles in.
But how do you coach that?
I mean, obviously you don't want turnovers, No coach loves turnovers, But how do you coach that?
How does he get better at that?
Well, we're trying to eliminate the the egregious ones. You know, there was a couple of mistakes in the SMU game that were, you know, sort of gave us all PTSD from a year ago. The interception in the Wyoming game. We were throwing a one on one matchup to one of our best players against one of their players that we wanted to attack. He under threw the ball just a little bit. I thought Cody sort of could have reacted a little better and at least broken it up,
like you can live with one of those. They intercepted the ball and they have the ball in the one yard line. Our defense goes three and out and we get the ball four plays later and plus territory again and then we score a touchdown. So there's not all
turnovers are exactly the same. But Jake is sort of he reminds me a lot of like what Zach Wilson went through when he was a young player, and he had moments as like just he was brilliant and you could just see the talent and the arm talent, and then there were times where he just had to grow, you know. And I think Jake started seven games and I think we're going through that process with him, but it's getting better every game.
All right, let's move over to the running back room. Let's get an update here. Hinkley or Patti LJ. Martin two very capable backs. I understand they're banged up. So I've said this to you before. If I had a running back named Miles Davis, he'd play every snap for me just based off his name.
But I'm just I'm a radio guy. I'm not a coach.
So talk about how you're handling the help situation and the depth you have in that running back room.
Yeah, we had Miles has stepped up and played well. We had enich Maawaheene stepped up and played well against SMU, and then last week we had so Anymore and Polkai Huwanga howned a step up and both of those guys played well. So I have confidence in those guys. It's not going to be a one guy gets thirty carries kind of game. We're going to play those guys to their strengths and we'll use them as we see fit.
But I have confidence in all of them, and Harvey's done a great job getting those guys ready to play.
So up this, up this way, Rod.
As you know, Utah has a real weapon in Bran Keithy, who they move around in a bunch of different ways. And it feels like you're using Chase. And we caught up with Chase at Big twelve media days in Vegas, and you know, a great kid, really good interviewer, obviously a veteran presidence for you guys. Seems like you're utilizing him in a much more nuanced way than you did a year ago. Is that fair to say? And what can you say about the way he started the year?
Yeah, we're using him. He's kind of playing a real similar role to what Puka played for us a couple of years ago. Or Puka lined up everywhere, did everything. And you know, I'm not saying Chase is the same guy, but he is a very complete player and we can do a lot of different things with him. So yes, and he's a veteran now, so there's really no limits on where he can line up what he can do. And so yeah, that's I'm glad you noticed that because that is true.
Well, I mean, he's and I wanted to follow up with this. It appears that he has evolved as a playmaker that can do more things than he just did a year or two ago. And these are young people, of course they're going to evolve and improve. But what specifically did you see leading up to the season, whether it's camp or whatever, it is that has motivated you to use him in so many different nuanced ways.
Well, first of all, he's he's long, he's six four, and Chase can run. He's not just a possession guy. He can he can get down the field, take the top off the defense. He's really good runner with the ball in his hands. He breaks tackles, he makes people miss. So we get him the ball in the jet sweep game, we get him the ball on shallow crosses, and try to get him the ball in the open field where he can run with it. And he's just yeah, he's
just improved overall. And then he's he's one of the best I've ever coached at making the catch when it's a contested catch. I mean, he doesn't have to be open to make the play, and so there's just a lot of different things we can do with him, and I think his confidence is just growing every week.
I was thinking about this when I was watching the Wyoming game.
I mean, Chase Keanu, Darius Lassiter, Cody Epps, and I could keep going. You guys have a ton of different weapons, you know, whether it's tight ends, wideouts, or what have you. I mean, you really have a bunch of different guys that have been in the program for a while. Some new guys who are in the program for the first time with the transfer win own stuff. But it does feel like whether it's Jake or whether it's Gary, there are quite a few options. When a room is that crowded,
is it iron sharp and iron? Iron sharpens iron. You got to compete for the reps. I mean, as the offensive coordinator, how do you need so many mouths?
Yeah, that's not always easy. I mean, those guys all want the ball and they all want to play. That's part of Fessi's job and Kevin Gilbride's job to use those guys as they see fit and try to, you know, but it's part of being a team though, too, is understanding that if if everybody's a threat and everybody's part of the offense, then we're harder to defend as a team. And I do believe we're a lot more skilled than
maybe a lot of people think. We have good skilled players here, and our wide receiver play has been really good for several years now. I think Sesis does a great job with those guys, and we've recruited well there, so it's nice to have those guys. And I think I think we're executing much better now than we were a year ago, and so hopefully we can keep growing and and you know, execute on Saturday night because we're going against a really good team this Saturday what.
We had you on a year ago. Also, Kalani as well hopped on the show. We talked about what appeared to be I guess the way I'll say it generally is some inconsistency with the offensive line right a year ago.
Do you feel like that's been better a rod through.
Three games, it's been better, and it's it's it's a work in progress. You're right, it was that was a It was a problem a year ago, and we did not execute as a team well enough last year, but it's especially as an off of the line. So far, through three games, our run game has shown improvement, and it's nowhere near where we want to get to, but we're we've been improving, our pass protection has been solid, and that group is playing much better than a year ago.
We still have a lot of long way to go, but I'm I'm proud of those guys for how they've done up to this point, and we just got to keep, you know, stay humble, and just keep working to correct our mistakes and keep getting becoming a tighter unit each week.
I know that Wyoming was your most recent opponent, but I want to go back to SMU because before that game, all week on this show, and I know you're a daily listener, so thank you for that. I'm telling you what you already heard. But on this show, whether it was just my take or interviewing people don't I don't
think people fully understand how big that win was. Okay, so if you weren't able to get SMU, you were gonna have to get Wyoming and then find four conference wins to go bully, not saying you can't do that, but how big was that?
How big was that win?
What was to feel like in the locker room after you guys just gutted that thing out and came home with the dub.
It was huge And we were twelve point underdogs or eleven point under dog on the road and SMU has dudes, Man, those that's that team. That team can play with anybody in our conference. I've been through this conference now for a year. That's a good football team and they're gonna they're gonna win some games this year in the ACC, and especially on defense, they have two guys that are supposed to be really high draft picks. I thought they
were very good. We didn't play great on offense, but it was a great win to get because we answer. We kept answering the bell and finding ways to get the ball in the end zone while they kept kicking field goals. They kicked five field goals. We found a way to get the ball in the end zone twice and then got a game winning field goal after a fourth and one conversion. So I just thought our team
showed a lot of character. And so even though you leave the field thinking feeling like, oh, gosh, we should have played better. Sometimes those kind of wins are really helpful later in the season when you're in these type ball games that we're going to be in in conference play.
I thought it was Goutti man, I really thought it was Goutti. I was impressed that you guys came back with that when, to your point, you were a double digit underdog. All right, hey, Rod, here's a little Yeah, here's a little Onnow else is for you? Case State's all right, this is a good team. They bullied Arizona in a way that kind of even caught me off guard. So k State rolls into Provo Saturday night. It's a late one. It's gonna be eight thirty. That's on ESPN.
As you study tape on Kansas State, what stands out most just how big is this task in front of you coming up on Saturday night?
Well, it's huge. Case State is a team that they're not going to beat themselves. They're gonna they don't make mistakes, they do everything right. They are squared away in all three phases. You know, when when people watch us on film, our opponents watch us on film, I hope that they feel the same way about us that I feel when I watch Kansas State play like they they do everything right.
They play really hard, the people are in the right gap, they're covering the right guy, they're using the right technique on special teams, the same thing on offense, same thing. And so to win a game like this, you have to do everything right and you can't. You can't just give them anything. You know by it's going to it's gonna be a game that I think is just going
to come down to who makes the fewest mistakes. And they're a very tough team and I'm looking forward to the challenge, but I also understand what we're up against. They're very good, goodball club.
Obviously, you are hyper focused on your game and I wouldn't expect anything other than that. But you do have experience going to Stillwater and playing at Okay State, which is what Utah does Saturday afternoon. What can you tell us about that experience? What are youth fans in for, what is the youth football team in for?
Well, just I would say it's similar to almost all the road games in the Big Twelve. It was it was a different experience, much different than the Pac Twelve you're you know, PAC twelve, everything was like a one hour flight. You're mostly going to destinations that are pretty nice and you're excited to be there, and short drive on game day to a stadium that may or may not be very intimidating. In the Big Twelve, there's you know,
every every flights two three hours. You're staying in some sort of small town motel type thing that's usually like an hour drive to the game on game day, and then you get there and there's tailgaters for miles and it's rocking, and so I think just that's sort of just what a lot of the road games the Big Twelve are like that, and they're they're tough road troops.
Now the utes, shoot, the Utes are awesome and they'll be ready for they're they're they had a good team and they're not gonna be caught off guard by any of that. But that is it is a different experience going on the road in the Big Twelve than the Pac twelve as far as like just how the travel goes, your food, your your your day, your game day operation leading up to kick off. There is a little bit of an adjustment there.
Since we're in the space with the Utes, and you're familiar with this coaching staff, you're familiar with this programs, and you and I haven't spoken in this space for about a year or so. I wonder what your reaction was when you found out that you were once again going to be conference peers with with Utah.
When the news came down, Yeah, it's cool.
I mean, I'm excited about it. I think adding another great team to our conference, uh just makes it better, you know, And and so I'm I'm excited about it. I mean, we're we're in a weird, weird world of constant change. You never know what's gonna happen from year to year right now, but I think that our league is very good this year. And you know, there's just right now, I'm just folksing on Kansas State, but I definitely think the more good teams the.
Better, for sure.
And before I say you loose, I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked Kolonie at Big twelve media Days. How have you guys acclimated to this new reality of transfer portal of nil. I mean, Kevin Young and his staff are getting a lot of money, getting a lot of support, and obviously a lot of a lot of that's coming from Ryan. Ryan Smith's basketball guy, and I you know, I'm a fan of yours. I'm a fan of Kilanne. I want you guys to get the resources you need to compete and keep up with the Joneses
and college football. What's it been like down in Provo with the ever changing landscape of college football? How have you guys adjusted and adapted so far?
I feel like we're very competitive with that stuff. I mean, our players are doing very well. And one thing that I know that is is true of this place is when our players are you know, when there's something whether it's an il money or something like that, when there's when there's something that's promised or contracted by it. And I'm not involved in this stuff, I know that it's it's very important here that the players to the university, that they get what they were told they were going
to get. And I know that that's not always the case. A lot of places in college football. You hear these astronomical numbers about things and then again gets there and he doesn't play a lot as well as they had hoped, and all of a sudden that just comes to an end, and then you've heard those stories that some of these some of these places, and but I think we're I don't know all the details of all that, but I
feel like we're very competitive. I feel like if we go after a big time recruit, we can get in the game with just about anybody. We're not we're not a place that's ever going to be like probably the best offer, but we're we're competitive and we're in the mix. And then we have to focus on our other competitive advantages or other reasons for why a guy would want to come here.
You golf in it all? You swinging a golf club these days? Or is it all coaching? All head down?
No elball?
All right, all right, Well I just was because Klan is saying he's getting better, and I need somebody to give me proof that they're actually seeing he is.
He is getting better. Yeah, he's improved, all right man? Yeah, well look I appreciate the one is the best golf front our set?
Ah okay, all right, yeah, well look man, you just want to make sure you're balancing out life a little bit. But then I realize you're a coach and you guys do not know how to do that. So I appreciate your time, go ahead.
I try to get in a run, you know, I try to run every day. That's my that's my little moment a piece.
All right, man, Well look well, well we'll set you loose. You know, we're always pulling for you. For you up here. Good luck against k State and continued success.
Okay, great talking, thank you, all right, Aaron.
Rodgers, offensive coordinator for BYU.
It's a big weekend college football, both in state and nationally. First it's Utah Okay State and Stillwater. Love this when you can actually watch both games because Utah Okay State two o'clock, then BYUK State eight thirty. Man, that is a late late tip, late late kick for folks driving down to Provo. If you're coming from Salt Laker up north, you're not gonna be home intel like four am.
So best of luck with that, but of course, always pulling for our.
Guy a rod Klonne. Those guys down in Provo, great dudes, Hopefully they can pull it off. All right, more coming up next on a Thursday show keep it right Here on ESPN seven hundred