WED POD @19ScottMitchell on Utes Fall Camp Kickoff, Big 12 in 2025 + more @TheDrive700

beginning of all the excitement. Really is. You've got Major League Baseball, big trade, You've got gambling going on, you've got video games, you have former players being cut, you have former players we're going to talk to from up on the hill. We've got NFL nuttiness, We've got some we've got broadcasters. We've broadcast millions of sport. We got so much fun with There's just a lot to talk about. And we got the data because it's all about the data, folks,

That's that's what it matters. So really, glad you could could join the program. And look, if you miss a part of it, don't panic. So if you're here just for the beginning, there's gonna be a lot and you don't want to miss any of it. So you can just download the ESPN seven hundred Sports app. You can go to the ESPN seven hundred sports dot com. You can stream us, you can podcast this, you can download us.

You can do all kinds of fun stuff. And you're not gonna miss a moment, like, not a single moment of what's actually happening here with the show. So really excited to be here, of course I am every day. I love to talk about sports, a lot of a lot of stuff. Always fun to talk about, all right. Porter actually did mention this in his little update there. He talked about Zach Moss. Oh Man, Zach Moss was actually cut by the Cincinnati Bengals. I was really bummed

by that. By the way, Zach was a fun player to watch when he was at Utah, and he was very impressive to me in the sense that he could find the smallest little crease at the line of scrimmage and scoot right through it. And he had this ability to run tough on the on the inside, but also he had a burst he could get out and get

out on the edge. And I really liked him. Uh and you know, and he and he just kind of I don't know if he if he found he just never seemed to find the perfect fit, but he fit in and uh, you know, he has had some injuries, and of course the Bengals drafted a couple of guys and that means you're expendable. So a little bit bummed that Zach Moss was actually let go by the Bengals.

But clearly this early in training camp, uh you know, there there's there's probably a pretty significant injury without having preseason games for a player too to get caught like that. So anyways, it's it's uh, it's just kind of hopefully he's either healthy or finds a good spot because I like I like Zack Moss. He belongs in the NFL. He belongs there every week. I need I need some clarific here. So maybe Porter could help me out on

this one. You have cam Ward of course, he was the number one pick in the draft and he's kind of been struggling in practice and he said that their offense right now is very mid, and I don't know what mid means. Do you know what mid means? Porter?

but uh, you know, I'm not. I'm not dissing if you're a millennial or any of that stuff or gen z.

we're We're gonna fight through this. And and it was it was fascinating to me, and it brings back so many memories when you read about some of these young players and they're starting out in their NFL careers and it's just it's a little bit overwhelming. I think mid is probably a team word, or it's probably like my hair is on fire is more the accurate description of probably where Camra Reward is right now. But he's trying to keep it cool, kind of keep it under control here.

And it reminded me of my rookie year in the NFL and I went I went to my first mini camp and I was not mid. I was like in the dump. I mean it was I was like, I can't do this like this is too fast. These guys are too good. I am too bad, and this is not going to work out. And I was extremely disappointed. And they had a banquet one one night, you know.

So I was there like three days for this little mini camp, and so one of the nights we had a team banquet and they drove us down to this nice hotel in downtown Miami and they're doing the team awards in the highlight film and Coach Shula gets up to speak, and uh, Bob Greasey gets up to speak, you know, he's kind of one of the legends for the Dolphins, and and he calls me out my name in the in this you know, this huge team you know banquet thing where there were fans and all kinds

of people there, And like, what are you talking about me for? I'm just this little rookie fourth round draft choice from Utah. I've only been here a day and and Bob Greasey's calling me out the team banquet and what he said, He goes, yeah, he's his boy, watching that Scott Mitchell out there kind of struggling. Uh, brought

me back to when I was a rookie. And he goes, I went through those same those same growing pains, and it's a it's a fascinating thing process to go through as a player when you when you move through your career and you you know, and and especially going from college to professional football, and there's this part of you that's like can I even do this? Like am I even capable of doing this? And then all of a sudden,

the light bulb just clicks on. And of course if it doesn't ever click on, that means you can't do it. So that's kind of the barometer. Light bulb clicks on, You're okay, you're gonna make it. But if it doesn't, then you need to, I don't know, find a new profession or it will find you. But when you're going through it and the light bulb isn't on, you do feel like you're in darkness and you're like is it ever going to get light again? And it's a scary,

scary thing to kind of go through. But man, once it clicks in and it's you know, it's a process. And just hearing Cam Woarr talk about I need to watch more film, I need to work more with these receivers. I need to you know, understand this much better than I do right now. And the only way to do it is just to experience it. You just have to

go through it. So it was kind of it was kind of interesting to see and to hear, you know, cam Ward, and quite frankly, the more honest you are about where you are, the faster you're going to get better. And sometimes people aren't really in an honest place about where they are as a player, and that means you're kind of fooling yourself and kind of deceiving yourself about where you are. Okay, so much is happening today, and

I find all of this stuff so fascinating. But the one that kind of this will be kind of weird, but it's so interesting is this whole thing about video games. And I talked about this on my show earlier today, that Down and Dirty, which airs here on ESPN seven or ninety two one FM ten to eleven. You can hear us there and then you just listen all day.

You get to you get Sean, you get Spence, And on occasion I fell in for those guys like I'm I'm the pitch, I'm the pinch hitter, I'm I'm the I'm the the sixth man and uh, hopefully I get awards for I get the sixth Man of the Year award at ESPN seven hundred. Anyways, I was talking about video games and more specifically Madden and how how the Madden system of ranking players and there's not very many to get like this special ninety nine rating. Did you

ever play Did you ever play video games? Porter?

of in that area. But yeah, it's a it's a she shee place for just a select few. So just like this ninety nine club is with Maddon and so I'm fascinated that. So Saquon Barclay's on it, Lane Johnson a right tackle, not even a left tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, and Miles Garrett. Those Now there's no Joe Burrow, there's no Patrick Mahomes. There's only one defensive player on the whole thing. I think that's insane. I think it's crazy.

But what's more crazy is how many people like spend so much time watching video games or playing them. And I know, I know, personally, I can't watch them. I can't play him. I can play them like meaning I have the capability, but I cannot. I cannot do it because if I did, I would be so consumed by playing them that I would I just would. I wouldn't be in a good as a human being, like I

would just be an absolute mess. Speaking of back in my rookie year, the same we had a player and the player was a tight end and he was my roommate. And so I get off the bus again, I have no idea what I'm doing. I go in my room and there's my roommate and he's sitting there playing Super Mario Brothers. And for him, all he wanted to do the whole time we were at this mini camp was play Super Mario Brothers. I go in the room, he's playing it. I go to bed at night, he's playing it.

And this is nineteen ninety and he would not he would not stop playing it. And so I, instead of watching television, I watched my roommate play Super Mario Brothers. And for him, it was like he was just trying to pass the time, and he was just I mean, he brought his own you know, his own box, his own game, his own and like he was really into this. And then later on in my career when I was playing for the Bengals, there was a the team had a room like the players Lounge, and players would play

Madden and they would play it for hours. Now, as a quarterback, you spend a lot of time at the facility studying. And I would be studying and it might be seven eight o'clock at night and these guys were still in this room playing video games. And these are like NFL players, Like it's like not studying their playbook and would have and and it got at times kind of heated because you know, someone would win and lose and they had some kind of tournament whatever going on.

But it was a big deal, which brings me to the to the next thing. Like basically football players a bunch of grown boys just doing you know, that's really that's really the best way to describe professional sports. Just a bunch of boys who just have money now, but they still like the sillies, you know, nonsensical things that boys. And this this whole thing with Gilbert Arenas and and it's you know, it's it's a serious deal. You know where where you know there's uh there I mean, you

get arrested. You have these these things going on now Now now poker games and stuff have have become kind of a you know, Sheishi thing. People do it. You know, they kind of have a lot of Hollywood people. You have a lot of people are interested in this. You know,

Texas Holdham tournaments and all that stuff. I remember back when I was a player again, so I'm going back in my time as a player here and that was a common a common occurrence poker games a common occurrence on like the airplane, and you would have you'd have like guys sitting kind of in the aisle around a group of seats and they put something in the I don't know what it was, but it's kind of served as their as their table now back then, and it

was all for money and they're just playing poker, just a bunch of guys together playing poker, and it would carry over into someone's room as soon as as soon as the plane landed. And at the time, I think the biggest pot ended up being like thirty five thousand dollars, which was a lot of money back in the day. But the whole idea of these players, like you know, just playing video games gambling, and you kind of see it now today. It's just it's just it's just a

it's a bigger thing and a bigger problem. And this, this whole gambling thing with Gilbert Renez is a much serious thing. But it certainly stems from, you know, a lot of interest in gambling today. I'm not an advocate for gambling. I'm not a judge of people who gamble, but it can be a serious problem. And that's why I stay away from it because I know that I have. I just don't want to find out how addicted to

it I could become. Because I did have an addiction one time in my life, and that was that was soap operas. And I was like thirteen and one summer I just got hooked on soap operas and I couldn't stop watching them. And I just burned a whole summer. You know, it'd be like ten o'clock till two in the afternoon. I did nothing but watch soap operas. And so I can't have that happen again. I can't take the chance. So I stay away from Madden, I stay

away from gambling, and that's my life. Hey, we're gonna take a little break here when we come back. I believe we have Trevor Riley because number one Sports Talk. I'm Scott Mitchell filling in for Spence all week. I'm here all week. I'm here twice on Saturday, and enjoy the HDL and make sure to tip your waiter. I'm excited about what's going to happen right now. I'll tell you that much. We have with us none other than Trevor Riley, former Utah Great and former NFL player and

former coach, current coach, former coach, Trevor. Welcome to the show. How you doing today?

Cam Rising maybe wasn't a smart runner. You know, he liked to run into trouble and uh, you know which was you know, part of what made him great too. But uh, and Devin control the ball of fairly effective. So you know, I believe he's a catalyst for Utah to be being able to be more explosive and score more points on offense. And and if you if you do that, then then the team certainly is going to

have a very very good year this year. I don't I don't see it being a real big problem that he's kind of moving up, you know, in a in a tier of sports. You know, I think he's you know, because he's a really good athlete. He'll adjust to everything. He's got some good people around him. Offensive line, U wide receiver position is still kind of up for grabs, But I think he's going to have a huge impact on the team this year. I really do. Well.

kid because he's a winner. I know they won five games last year in Mexico, maybe four, but not an easy place to win. And I hear that this kid has the intangibles. This is a little short, but I'm interested to see. You know, I know how big you are, Sky, I know you know, in the old school offenses, that was kind of a premium. So I'm interested to.

you this. I I have been wanting to ask you this question for some time now. I need I need to understand. Are you on an NDA where you can't talk about your experience at Colorado or can you can?

kids with him. Now, some of the extracurricular stuff people get excited about. I look at it more like the WWE, the you know, football and Twitter and the Internet in general is a platform for characters, and I think Dion plays the role as well as he can. He's trying to enact change in his you know, the communities that he grew up in and coming to Colorado Becott. You know, that's not the most urban setting or the most his black people just there's not a lot of them there.

or problems, especially me. I'm not anyone to say that, so whenever people are critical of anybody, I'm always you know, what's the the big general message with him is he wants to help kids, and I think he's put his money where his mouth is.

a good thing? Does that work having all these because there's kind of maybe this, well, NFL players they don't really want to, you know, spend the time and put in the hours like a like a coach has to do. Maybe they're a little bit of prima donna. What what do you feel about hiring a significant amount of high profile former NFL plays?

Now to your point about NFL guys, right, especially some Hall of famers, they're not going to get coffee, and they they've paid their dues to the game in that regard, and that sometimes doesn't sit with coaches. But you and I were in the NFL, dude. You if you're a Hall of Famer, you walk into a room of football

guys and you're the gap. And so that's kind of a thing where with Warren, with Marshall, with with Prime, I think Prime, uh, you know, as Prime always says, even in the Hall of Fame, there's levels to it, right, I think Prime is probably in the penthouse of the first team. All a history of the NFL is probably on sand question. So in that room, right, he still carries a little bit of weight. There's still a little

bit of reverence. Right when Dion says something with football, it's like, that's Deion Sanders, dude.

and winningham was no you know, uh aqual either. But Coachula one year said, hey, all the veteran players can stay home during training and but if we have any issues, then you're all back in the dorm. So we have this big meeting, like, you know, hey, don't screw this up, like Coachla doesn't do stuff like this. So this is nice that we can stay home. And so you know, we go two or three days and the guy guy

messes up big time, really bad. And he in fact, he he didn't show up one day for practice and and he didn't show up till six o'clock that night, and he made up this. He made up the story that he was kidnapped and and he was taken out into the ever.

And and he was out there, you know, with the with the athletic tape. You know, they taped your ankles. They this guy do a palm tree for he was and he was out there all night long. Did you ever have any crazy things like that happened when you played in the NFL.

to replacement. You thought I was and it was a good thing because we're bringing good players, right right, So Nate Orchard, right, we were bringing a guys behind me or I was like, and so James Iono. There's a lot of guys that I was always for me. Camp was a time where I had to fight, all right. That was fight time. That was the time to go. I had to whoop some people's butts to make sure and this is my spot, you get what I'm saying. So there was a you don't really compete against the

offense or the appointent. You're competing against the offense, and you're competing as an eventsive player against your competition by seeing who can fight harder. And I'm interested to see that. I want to see that fight in this team this year. Scott. I got to tell you they lost a quarterback last year, and I thought they powdered a little bit. I thought we had more in the tank than what we gave. And so I think coach would agree with that. The

message year is we're gonna they should fight. We're gonna fight for every down, every inch, or we freaking play. I want to say that you'd fight it out like we used to, you know what I mean.

to retire. And you wonder if maybe subconsciously he was a little bit more relaxed because maybe he thought he was going to retire. And uh and and and because I don't get a sense from the team this year that they're like, oh, you know that there seems to be a sense of urgency. There does seem to be a lot of fight and a lot of a lot of players for a lot of reasons. But uh, I just wonder if that that might have something to do with it. I don't know.

season they were a young team. Because of the injuries and because of.

return was most to common. It was a complete disaster, obviously due to injuries among other things.

beat everybody up. I would get motion sickness. But other than that, I had a great time with coach. I liked the toughness. I thought it was good for us. I liked everything about it. Honestly, hold on a second.

But other than that, I Coach was pretty fair, all right. If you talked to him and really have a real conversation, I think people will find it Coach leading him is the fair guy.

there much longer. So my brother was walking on in Utah as a basketball player and a football player a j Riley and seven and eight excuse me, and so they knew who he was and they said my brother said, hey, my Trevor is available. And so when I came off my mission and I opened my recruiting and it was the UCLA with Norm chow Utah or Leech at Tech, and so I chose Utah. They had Paul Krueger just graduated and coach. But told me, he says, this is where we see you being the guy. And so that's

kind of how that went. Scalley Range with a guy named Steve mcdonne. I told this last week, set up a meeting in Saint George, and the rest is history. But I got to you kind of on a back door deal. I was, you know, it was a push forward. It was kind of basically a walk on.

of guy. Right when I when I committed to him, I was it was it was in La or something, and he calls me and my uncle's on the phone and by the end of the conversation it was like a half hour. He's talking to me about wild Blueys in Norway.

I always took the time. When we needed to hire it at Jackson State, Dion had me reach out to him and within hours we had to Brett Barborloni another guy as recommendations, and then he invited us out to go visit him. So very open guy, very caring and always was nice to me.

at the line of scrimmage. And he goes, that's what I want to do, and he says that that was the catalyst that started his whole air raid spread offense.

hard for that league to actually succeed. And I just have a tender heart for spring football and all that stuff because it made a huge difference for me in my career. I went back to the game totally.

getting his degree at Westminster. He played on a scrimmage team for him and they used to go on practicing people and in his late twenties, Wow, and I asked him, so, why did you do this. I just love to play, man, I just love to play. So that energy then when you're around it. Right, that's the walk on energy that called they'll play for free type guys.

hundred ninety two one FM. Proud to be a part of ESPN's network, and of course you Tulls number one to Sports Talk. Oh Man, have so much fun. It's just so fun to talk to Trevor Reiley for a little while ago and just some of the some of

the conversations. Crazy day in Sports, I think every day is a crazy day in sports, and it's gonna get crazier right now because Sam Brookhouse from Sumer Sports joins us right now and it's all about the data and they're going to give us the numbers and they're going to tell us what is going on in the world of sports based on the numbers. Sam, Welcome to the program, and how are you today.

from training camp. On the Summer Sports Show, which we just released, we went through the stats of what you can really start to believe, and we also met with some ext general managers and coaches in the NFL to give us a sense of what you can believe because sometimes these highlights, you know, they're just that highlights their cliffs. I know, you know, Scott, how that kind of goes in training camp. You get excited about a guy based off of one thing and then it doesn't pan out

all the while. I'm ready. I'm ready for football, man. All it took was two days of training camp and I'm back in So.

seen some excellent highlights of him. We've heard from the reports from the notebooks, from some of the beat writers that the ball has been spread around a little bit, but it seems that he should be a target earner this year. I want to see once the preseason games come, if Tedero McMillan in those early snaps. Is getting twenty to twenty five percent target share obviously could be a little muted. You want to hide stuff going into the season.

But if he's getting a major amount of reps with the Ones and he's getting major target share in a preseason games, I think it could be an indication that he's a true wide receiver one for the Carolina Panthers.

which is really cool. Maybe I should I might learn something. That's why I talked to you is because I get I get all my education when I talk to you, Sam, so it helps me I feel smarter after I get up the phone. By the way, so it's it's a good deal. But I just thought, man, this guy's good and so so that's that's interesting you you brought up his name. I want to go in a this is kind of maybe a little different direction, but I think it's fascinating. It kind of happened today or yesterday. But

Byron Leftwich was signed as a coach with Colorado. So here you've got Coach Prime, who's like one of the all time greatest. You have Marshall Falk, who is one of the all time greates, Warren Sap who's one of the all time grades, Byron Leftwich who was a pretty darn good quarterback in the NFL and won a couple of Super Bowls or won a Super Bowl as a coach, And is there any data about former Like I know a lot of players former players, but this is like,

this is like a Hall of Fame coaching staff. You know, does it make him a better coaching staff? Does it make him worse? What are the statistics or what kind of information do you have about the impact the coach has based on the success that the coach had as a player.

forty two year old has seen it all. Obviously, a lot of that offense was with Brady. Now he's coming into a situation where he'll be coaching at Colorado. Caden Salter, the transfer quarterback from Liberty, obviously has won an absolute metric ton of games. Liberty has been very successful. It's going to be interesting how we kind of allocate credit there if Colorado ends up winning a lot of games. Shador Sanders while he was there, kind of kept the

wheels running despite having two different offensive coordinators. Obviously two years ago, a little bit more of an air raid system, last year, a little bit more pro style. The signing of Byron Leftwich probably means they want to continue going in that kind of pro style, but still spread attack. So I'm really interested to see if Caden Salter maintains the same kind of profile, how much he scrambles, how much he's throwing the ball away. But I really want

to know about that running game. If Byron Leftwich is able to get that running game of Colorado, which has struggled at times going, especially given the struggles the Buccaneers had back in the day when Brady was there, I think that could be a real imprint that number one Byron Leftwich is probably an excellent coach, and that offensive staff is probably going places, and that the quarterback is put in a position to make the right checks at the line, check into the runs when you get the

good looks, and stuff like that. And I think that's kind of what we want to understand, because the data really shows that it's very difficult to disentangle in the NFL, for example, a Jimmy Garoppolo or a Brock Party from Mi, Kyle Shanahan type character.

was my co offensive coordinator in Detroit. And so this is back in nineteen ninety four, ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven, and we a lot of the plays that we incorporated into our offense were plays that I part of the system that I was in with the Miami Dolphins and Don Shula, which goes all the way back to Johnny Unitas, right, So these concepts went way back to Johnny Unias and then and Tom Moore actually was ran into my agent and he's still coaching with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers today, and he said, you know, we're still running a lot of the same stuff we did in Detroit when Scott was there, and this was with Tom Brady, and so it doesn't ever really change, you know, And it's just to fascinating. When you were you mentioned I just like, yeah, this offense, I know it, I lived it, I was part of it in this long kind of cool history, you know, because it went it went quite a few places through the NFL, very success successfully, mind you.

subscribe to that YouTube at Suomer Sports. But we were discussing because he's a Navy guy, and I went to Tulane in my day and still to this day, big rivalry, American newly named American Conference rivalry, and I really disliked playing Navy, and he was talking about, you know, the how they used to run back in the day, you know, a little bit more of a hard nosed offense, less misdirection. Then obviously the Service Academy start running the triple option.

We were discussing, you know, the depths that that flex bone attack goes back to. And even Willie Fritz, who I played in, who I played with, had had roots in the triple option now at Houston in the Big twelve, and and so it's so interesting to see, especially like when we're considering these things about like which quarterbacks succeed, where is the true lineage, the true history of football, and all these coaches coming on down even until recently.

the right time. You know, some guys don't fit in certain systems even though it might be a good system, and they're just not a good fit.

get sixteen yards on third and twenty five. That's basically all that expected points added is saying, and that typically year to year has a correlation of about fifty to sixty, where one hundred is the best. So it's not a fantastic correlation year to year. You got to consider things

like injuries. But what's really interesting is that the amount that a quarterback scrambles travels with him even when he moves team, even when he moves offensive coordinators, And so I think there's a core element of who a quarterback is. Guys who like to throw the ball away are probably going to continue throwing the ball away. Guys who like to scramble a lot are probably going to continue to scramble a lot. Guys who get sacked a lot are

probably going to continue to get sacked a lot. Devin Dampier, I know we've talked about this. Scott is not one of those guys almost never get sacked, and as a result, you can expect that despite whoever the offensive coordinator may be. Now the end result, I think the offensive coordinator has probably half or more credit. But when it comes down to that decision making once the ball is snapped, I think the quarterbacks are who they are.

going to try to make the most of it. But there will not be sacks, there will not be negative plays. And going over to the NFL, this was the recipe for success for the Denver Broncos last year where bo Nicks avoided sacks. He wasn't the most efficient in the passing game, but they were able to construct an offense as the season went along that was pretty successful and could make some pretty big plays. I think that's the

recipe for success. Play behind that offensive line early on in the season, gain chemistry between dam Pier and some of the new skill players, and then as the season goes along that kind of recipe for success, the rue as we like to say in Louisiana, will come together, We'll know who the guys are, and Dan Pier can start moving the ball where it needs to be. I

think that's the recipe for success. And I think particularly if we see that run game start to get moving behind those excellent offensive linemen in weeks three or four, I think Utah had a really, really, really good shot to win the Big twelve, especially given their defensive prowess.

to speak. So sder Sanders. You know, there are people are like, oh, he might be the starter, and there's who knows, or he could be terrible, or he's not going to get an you know, you just don't Where do you think he might end up in the in the in the sense that you know, he held the ball a lot at Colorado and he moved himself into a lot of sacks, you know, where he was not he's not very efficient moving in the pocket. Where do you think he ends up this year?

But I think if you start seeing him move up into the second slot or start to get a couple reps with the ones, I think that means a lot for what.

starting to gel with him. He's starting to build chemistry with the wide receivers. We're seeing stats that outlay that accuracy that was his calling card and the positive to the con of his sack avoidance. I think that's all good, But I think we're going to have to see him in particular in the preseason when we can actually get a sense of what it looks like when Shador Sanders who struggled so mightily with sacks, as you know, the bad guys coming after him on the other side on the defense.

And yet in some of these other conferences, the Big Ten, uh SEC, it's more top heavy. You know, there's there's fewer, fewer teams. What what do you think is going to happen in the Big Twelve this year? And is it better? Because I know, I know that's that was kind of the push with the conference. You know, we're we're tough top to bottom, and the other conferences are trying to say, hey,

we don't. We don't care about the bottom. We want we want five or six teams in the College Football playoffs and the rest of them we don't care about. And so we want easier schedules. We want, you know, an easier path to get to the playoffs. That's what we're interested in, So tell me what's going to happen at the Big twelve and does it I guess does having an average conference mean anything?

the right direction. We've seen that work in the past, and I think that that kind of build that they have, with an excellent defense building behind you know, pretty young but developing and very highly touted offensive line, I think that's going to be extremely difficult to beat. In October

and November. I think Utah has a real chance to jump up and then if you want to look kind of in the dul drums of the Big twelve, Like you said, there's been a lot of teams that kind of fifth fault last year and it didn't go necessarily their way. I think Houston is going to be one of those teams that are going to come in With Connor Wegman at quarterback, the one time five star recruit who struggled with injury at Texas A and M was able to win games but just couldn't get it done,

ends up going to Houston. Houston now has one of the top quarterbacks in future years recruiting wise. This is a program that's coming together. This is a program builder in coach Willie Fritz, and I think if you notice in weeks one, two, or three starting to have an effective run game mixed with a lot of talent on the back end, I think that could be a team who could jump into a conversation or at least kind of shuffle stuff up. Last person I want to mention

I mentioned it a little bit earlier. Caden Salter is a name to watch at Colorado. This is the guy who has achieved a lot in his career. It's his first time at a power conference. I think that coach Prime loves to run quarterbacks happy offenses, and I think if you start seeing some big numbers put up, I think that's a good signal for Colorado. Their defense really came

together last year. If they can maintain that momentum, that's another team that I think can jump all the way up into that ASU in Iowa s Eightier.

the college football playoffs. Then then it then it starts creating some credibility for the conference. So, uh, one last question before I let you go, who who is a player from Utah that we should really watch for? Maybe we're maybe we're not, Maybe we're overlooking him, maybe he doesn't get a lot of a lot of discussion. But is there a player that that maybe we should be watching for.

this year. It's going to be an interesting parallel just talking about the Big Twelve because Texas Tech, the Shrine Bowl one thousand was put out. Some of the best teams. Everyone is a transfer on that team. Man. I mean, they've spent twenty five million dollars. They're getting people in another team to watch, and so I think those guys who have been hand built by Utah across that offensive line, particularly at the left tackle position, Spencer Fanuho should be

one of the best players in the league. You've got to give some love to the offensive lineman. I think he's going to be one who could be in awards ceremony, all American discussions by the time this year. In so, I do want to make one more note about the Big Twelve here. I've mentioned Texas Tech, you mentioned Baylor as well. I just don't think the bottom of the conference allows for you know, people to get by on

schedule last year like they did last year. Taking Miami for example, last year didn't play a really good ACC team until the very end of the year Syracuse. Syracuse ends up beating them. I think the Big Twelve is a little bit better than that, and I think even the bottom of that conference is still very, very competitive, and so it could be a scenario in which every

team takes each other out. Obviously that doesn't look good for prestige, but I think it's because the conference itself is strong, tough to bottom.

such an important thing. You can also hear the full interview on the old website that's ESPN seven other sports dot com, or on the app ESPN seven other sports app. You get that, but we're also going to play a lot more of it here in the show coming up in a bit, and do a deeper dive, a deeper analysis, analysis by paralysis or paralysis by analysis. In other words, don't overthink things. People don't over complicate them. And people

do that sometimes in football. They over complicate things. They make it so much harder than it has to be. Like I said earlier in the show, just keep it simple, pick a guy and let it fly. And when you can just play freely and just play instinctively, play pretty good. See I could be a coach. It's not that hard. Yeah, I actually was a coach. We're all coaches. We're all coaching something. Actually, we're all salesmen. We're selling something, whatever

it might be. We're selling things. Constantly all the time, speaking of selling things. The NBA is actually going to go overseas and play regular season games. They're going to play in Berlin and London in multiple locations over the over the so in the next few years. So they play a series of games this year, next year, in the following year. Now, it's kind of a cliche, a niche thing. It's kind of a I don't know, whatever

it is. It's becoming a popular thing with these sports leagues to play their games overseas because everybody's doing it. All the kids these days are doing it. Let's go, let's bring our league over and let's play in another continent. We're gonna play on the continent. Now, hey, Buffy, let's go play our NFL games over Oh, NFL, we'll play the NBA. Oh, We'll have all of those games over on the European continent. Now, it's winter time. So I

don't know who's gonna go. I mean, people will be interested because basketball has become very very popular over in Europe. And so I read this and I'm like, all right, this is kind of interesting. But you know, people play basketball in Europe. Some of the best basketball players in the NBA are from Europe. Now, football is different. You don't hear of, you know, some player being the MVP of the NFL, or being a great quarterback in the NFL or running back or you don't hear it because

they don't play. And so that's why the NFL is expanding over there with an attempt to grow its audience. The NBA, I think kind of maybe already has an audience over there. Maybe they're trying to tap into, you know, a bigger mark. I get. I get that, you know, growing the game and part of it too. Sports are big in Europe. I mean, football, soccer is massive, and I mean it's it's almost to the point that it's unhealthy. These people get in violent conversations and interactions because you know,

the soccer team's lost to someone and it's bad. So I just I I guess, well, here, here's how I would do it. And this was an idea I had the other day, like this fusion of sports. You know, if you're going to go over to Europe, that's kind of the thing, like, even if you're a tourist, if you're going to go over there, you need to make

it worth your while. You need to go at least seven days, but more like ten, no more than fourteen, So because you're going over there, so make it worth your while so you can see things because you don't know when you're going back, and it's a long way to go. It's not like a weekend trip. And that's what you kind of feel like with these these games. It's like, why you're coming over for one game and then you can go back, don't you guys want to eat like some fish and chips, some bangers and mash?

Do you know what bangers are? Porter, I guess that's no.

play like you're going over together, you play simultaneously. You play, you play in these big arenas or these big places, and you play multiple sports going on at the same time. That would be something that would really garner some interest. I'm not sure I feel it with the NFL, I really do. I feel like, Okay, the NFL, Yes, that's a good move, and they're gaining a lot of traction and to the point of potentially having a division over

in Europe. That's my goal, the European because then the super Bowl becomes a worldwide They're trying to make it like the World Cup, but only every year. Right, wouldn't that be big? So you you literally are world champions because right now in the NFL, I don't want to burst anyone's bubble. The Super Bowl is just an American thing. It's not world champs. Same thing with baseball. But they like to say it and people are letting him get away with it, and that's fine whatever. Okay, I I

think this is a debate. And I have friends that have tried to get into coaching who are former NFL players, and now coach Prime Dion has hired like almost the Mount Rushmore of coaches at Colorado. This is like, this is seriously Marshall Faulk running back coach. You could argue one of the top running backs of all time. If I'm picking a team and I got to pick my running back, he's going to be up there on one

or two. If I'm picking a defensive back, Deon Sander's going to be one or two, like, he's going to be up there. I'm picking a defensive lineman, Warren Sapp is up there. There's some other I mean Aaron Donald's pretty pretty freaking good. Some other other guys are pretty good, but so is Warren Sapp. In fact, in my generation who I played against Warren Sapp, it's, you know, just talking to office linemen, they're like, he's the hardest guy

in the world to block. He because so athletic, so quick. He just he's just really quick. Uh And and I think people didn't completely understand how good he really was. I mean, I think people thought that, but you know, they talked a lot whenever. So then they bring in now Byron Leftwich, who isn't a Hall of Famer in the NFL, pretty darn good quarterback, won a Super Bowl, been to multiple Super Bowls as a coordinator. I know he had Tom Brady whatever, but still pretty darn good.

All of these guys are in Colorado, every single one of them, and you have to want So the dilemma is, does the fact that you're a Hall of Famer or a really accomplished professional football player. I'm not talking about a guy that wasn't drafted or whatever, or got cut their rookie year, never really made it in the NFL, or was on the practice squad for a while, or was kind of a you know, just it wasn't wasn't an everyday player in the NFL fringe, barely lucky to

just be on a team kind of guy. I'm not, you know, not talking about that. I'm talking about stars, superstars, some of the best stars ever. And and the debate is can you be a good coach if you were a great player, Because a lot of people don't seem to think so. They just think for a new numerous reasons. They'd say, well, you know, the game was different for them. They had a skill set and an ability that no one else had, And so how are you get to

coach from that perspective? How do you coach players who don't have that same ability? You can't. I mean, that's kind of the senses and we all know that, you know, some of the you know, kind of bias about players, and like certain players can't play certain positions, or certain positions are kind of not really all that relevant, like tight end like tight ends, Like yeah, it's kind of an afterthought. Now It's like guys are getting drafted right and left in the first round that are tight ends.

Tight Ends have now become a massive part of an offense. You get a hybrid type of tight end. You create massive mismatches for teams that he's too big for a dB and he's too fast for a linebacker, and so you get a mismatch almost one hundred percent of the time that because you're going to get like the fourth or fifth best defender on your tight end. And and they figured this out and and the tight ends changed, they got much more athletic and different things. And but

the point is is there's a perception. There's this there's this mindset about players that are really good that they couldn't be good coaches. And and so then there's the work ethic. A really great player doesn't have to grind it out, doesn't have to work hard because it just all comes so naturally. And as a as a player, you don't you don't have the same work schedule that

a coach does. You know, you go to practice, you go to the meetings, you go home, and the coach that when you go home, that's when their job starts or or before you get there in the morning. So they're there all night long, and they're there early in the morning while you're gone. And so the perception is, well, coch players just can't they can't make that commitment. It's an eighty hour week. There's no way they're going to be able to do it. And then there's another thing,

and this is what I think it really is. There's this threat because most coaches are or the fringe player. We're the guy that maybe you know, maybe got through high school, maybe played some in college, maybe played pretty well in college, and it just says, Okay, I'm done playing football. I want to get into coaching. And they do. And so they start out as a graduate assistant, and they go through all these levels of coaching, and they travel around the country to different jobs and they build

it up and build a resume. I mean Jim Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, by the way, was not Jim Harbaugh was a long time NFL quarterback who was you wouldn't say had a Hall of Fame career, but he had a very he had a very successful career. You know, played fifteen years in the NFL and was pretty good. Former first round draft choice, his first round draft choice out of Michigan, uh and and he you know, he stuck around a long time. But when he started coaching, he

went to the University of San Diego. He was he was an intern ish type of player, an offensive assistant for the Los Angeles or the Oakland Raiders, and then he went to Stanford, and then he went to the forty nine ers, and then he went to Michigan, and then he went back to the Charge. So he's bounced around a little bit, and a lot of people say, well that, you know, so there's a there's a there's an envy. And I wouldn't say Jim Harbaugh. I know

there's I know there's coaches. I know that there's really successful, popular, well known coaches today, maybe even one of them coached at Utah. At one point think that Jim Harbaugh is not a good coach. And I think there was some resentment and some jealousy because he was a former player. Because former players guess what they get. You walk in the door and you instantly have credibility. People are gonna listen to you, and so you don't have to you

don't have to build this massive level of trust. You don't have to convince players that you know what you're talking about, or that you can actually share information with them that they will find useful. You know, a former player just has a built in library of information that's like really good, and a lot of coaches resent it.

And that's why I don't think if you see a lot of former star players who are coaches, and you could argue that the star players don't need money, right, they just like, Hey, I made a ton of money. Why in the world would I want to get all this brain damage trying to be a football coach and just dealing with all the headaches and everything that you have. Now. I coached high school football and I will tell you it's one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.

And I you know, it was interesting to listening to Trevor Riley early on the show talk about coach Prime and how a lot of you know, he's really about these kids, and he's about, you know, changing lives and about helping them in their lives. And I get it, and I could totally see that being a very worthwhile and worthy cause to be a part of, to literally change lives. And what I found was, man, it was really cool to teach someone else to do something and

then watch them have success at it. That was amazing. That was very cool. And as a player, you have that opportunity to just do it for yourself, right, you focus on getting yourself ready to play, and you learn and you study and you prepare. Then you go out and you play, and it's very rewarding. But to do it and to be able to do it for a lot of people is a really really cool thing. So I can get why while he's into this now, it might open I don't know, a can of worms, a

new opportunity. Maybe former really good players might end up being really good coaches, maybe even better than some of the coaches that are there now. And maybe you'll start seeing a trend of well known popular coaches getting into the players getting into the coaching rings. Who knows, we'll see, but it's certainly one of those things that they got going on at Colorado that you know, if they have success, you might go, yeah, maybe we should consider more of

these people. I don't know. All right, it's about time to take a break. But if you need help feeling and looking better, Pure Life Medical can help you. They have two locations, one and Latent and one in Cottonwood Heights. Pure Life Medical is especially known for their stem cell therapies to help harness your body's own ability to regenerate tissue free consultation and more at purelifemedical dot com. It's pure pure life. I'm Scott Mitchell filling in for Spence

all week long. I'll be here all week so having a lot of fun. It's been a great show. If you miss any of the show, don't worry. Just go to ESPN seven hundred sports dot com or the ESPN seven hundred Sports app and you can get the podcast version. You can get anything that you missed. So driving along in your car and you just have to get out for whatever reason, it's okay, you're not going to miss anything.

So and always glad that you tune in. So we have a great time, having a great time today, and it's even going to get better because we're speaking with none other than Roxy Bernstein. He joins the show. Of course. He's a commentator on pretty much every sport invented. He is a play by play guy. Roxy. Welcome to the show. How you doing.

But was a great event. It was cool to see guys like Ronnie Lott and Keena Turner show up yea and in support of Tom Homo. But it was a fabulous night at it at Provo.

so we're getting ready for that. That's been the hardest Scott, because there is very little information out there on even the team's website. It is very elementary. So that has been the hardest sport to prepare for. And you know the thing that's challenging is, and you deal with this too, is, for example, an opening college football game, because the rosters are so big and you have the guys that are

the top of the depth chart. Right if you get a one sided game, which for example, I'm probably going to have one of those week one, Well, how deep will the school go into their depth chart, what true freshmen are going to play? And how how big can I get my spotting board to make sure I have

every potential player on there? So that that's challenging because you know, right when if Utah has played, for example, when they were heavy favorite over I don't know Southern Utah or weirder state, Right, how deep do you go in your depth chart? And you know, you try to quiz coach Witt and his staff, right, who could possibly see the field? That's a challenging I think, as it is to prepare for a game, to be honest with you.

hundred dollars a month when I played. I can't fathom what these players are getting with money and how it's all really changed. It's so fascinating.

It is an incredible business now. I'm anxious to see how it changes moving forward and with some of the regulations they're trying to put in, but it is nuts when you think about high school kids are being approached by professional agents.

with the whole thing. So yeah, it's a real thing, and they're going after these kids at a young age.

It's the trade deadline and it's going to get fast and furious here over the next probably twenty four hours, as these trades and teams are trying to strengthen their roster heading down the stretch toward the postseason.

on a trade deadline. But or if a team that realizes, you know what, we're not going to get there, so they start unloading some key veterans or some big contracts to try to gear up for the next season or at least replenish their farm system.

Douvall is another one that the Giants closer. But I just find it hard to believe the Giants and Dodgers are going to get together on a trade where the Giants would send their closer to their bitter arch rival.

But teams are gonna go for it. They're going to roll the dice knowing that everybody else is also trying to better their team and the only way to do it is is to be aggressive and will teams overpay, and the teams that are the sellers are trying to hold those teams in the club's ransom to try to get the best deal, and they'll try to wait until

the eleventh hour to make a trade. But the Dodgers are going to be aggressive, and it wouldn't shock me if somebody like Detroit is aggressive or Toronto with how well they're playing. Those are teams that feel that they have a chance to contend it. And frankly, Scott, I think the American League is wide open.

cancer for a number of years. But that's a part of my childhood right growing up watching Major League Baseball, and the Braves and the Cubs were basically on TV every day in every household if you were a baseball fan, because they were on those superstations and you got to see Harry Carey broadcasting, Ryan Sandberg and Mark Grayce and those great Cubs teams from the eighties, and he was

the dominant offensive second basement of his generation. And what was it like, ten time All Star I believe, but gold gloves that he won Silver Sluggers and he was a no doubt Hall of Famer and just a phenomenal career that he was an MVP led the National League and homers one year. Just a tremendous player. But also you hear the great stories about him off the field

and what a great person he was. And that's what makes it even fatter, is just you lost somebody so young, had such an impact and was really revered and loved by every Cub fan everywhere.

significant consideration for a spot when expansion happens. Do you get a sense that that's reality or are we just living a non reality life here in Utah.

Like could they go back to Oakland? I think every option is on the table. Could they stay in Sacramento. Could John Fisher, who owns the team, get fed up with a situation and things are stalling in Vegas? Because keep in mind, he's got to pay for the majority of the ballpark himself. And as he get frustrated and decide to walk away and look to sell. And if that's the case, then would for example, Ryan Smith be active about trying to get the major league team there

to Salt Lake City. We saw how aggressive he was in pursuit of bring him the Coyotes up and now the Mammoth getting ready for their second year and it is the whirlwin and how crazy it was that how quickly that deal came together. But I wouldn't rule anything out at this point. But I think major League Baseball has some other issues Scott to deal with as far

as both Tampa Bay and the Athletics. And I also think the whole labor situation because we could be headed toward a lockout potentially after next baseball season.

they did things. And for example, the movie Moneyball, really it cracks me up, to be honest with you, because well, for example, it featured Scott Hadiberg and Chad Bradford, who were key players on that team. I'm not saying they weren't, but what the movie neglects was the aides had three dominant ages at the top of the rotation. They had Tim Hudson, Mark Boulder, and Barry Zito, and two of those guys won cy YOUG Awards at one point in their career. Yet it kind of gets glossed over in

the movie. And oh, by the way, that year they also had the American League MVP and Miguel Tahata, which kind of also doesn't really get featured in the film. And the other thing, I hate to burst the fan out, there's bubble, but you never had to pay for soda in the clubhouse.

the best team in the world. So yeah, it's to do that is absolutely incredible. To win that number of games in a row. All right, let's go ahead.

You know, they get the number one prospect in the country, and and it looks like they've got a pretty solid basketball team this year. And it's and it's mind boggling to me because here you're in the Big Twelve and you talk about what is this This This conference is known for basketball, and it's certainly not known for BYU basketball, but they are making a name for themselves. And I'm just saying, hey, big brother up the street forty five minutes away, you better get your act together. Are you

going to get left in the dust. That's my take on this.

and they go out, as you alluded to, HJ. Debansa coming in as the top prospect of the country, Richie Saunders staying, they have depth, they're really talented, and they're going to be really good and I don't see it

flowing down anytime soon. And maybe that's what motivated the coaching change in Utah and to try to kind of copy I don't want to say copy what they're doing, but certainly the way the Utah puts their stamp on it, because we know how proud of a basketball program the running Utes have you do you think.

the NBA. Do you think that's a just a one or two off just just because of it, you know the nature of the schools here, or is this potentially a trend in college basketball in general?

played in the NBA for a long time. USC Eric Musselman was a head coach in the NBA even the mid major quote unquote programs. Mike Bibbie gets hired as the head coach at Sacramento State. You're seeing that NBA influence now come in to the college game. And it's not just that influence, but when I watch Arizona play, for example, the free flowing offense that Tommy Lloyd has and when they were doing at Gonzaga when he was there as well, that's kind of what the thought process is.

And I thought how creative Mark Pope was when he was the coach at BYU and how their offense and now he carries it to Kentucky. So I think we're seeing more of that NBA influence come into the college game.

to history. What is it going to take and have the Mammoth done enough to make it to be a playoff team this year? In this in this NHL season.

to give them some more firepower up. Look, guys that score twenty five thirty goals a year, they don't grow on trees. And when I look at the top six offensively that they have with the great season that Keller had, the emergence of Gunther like, this is a team that can't compete. The problem that they have is you look at the division and how good Dallas is and the firepower Colorado has. It is a very tough division to compete in, and that's what they're going to have to do.

But I think they can push. I think that there's a lot of young talent that's pushing under the radar move I like to pick up a Brandon tanneb You need to have a little sandpaper out there and some depth. This is a team that I think is definitely in the upswing and could push for a playoff spot next year.

for a child at the road home. Is the drive was spent? Check its here on ESPN seven hundred ninety two one FM. Utah's the number one sports talk a fun show today, A lot of crazy stuff to talk about. I just enjoy it, I really do. I hope you too. I hope you enjoy the stories, the insight, the interviews, all of it, the analysis, paralysis by analysis, pick a guy, let a fly. These are all the things we just learned. Right now, we're going to do a little Camp Kyle assessment.

Of course, we have the coordinators talking to us, and we have none other than old Morgan Scaley. He's gonna tell us what's going on up with night Hill.

being smart with with their health. At the same time, as a physical sport, you got to practice physicality, got to be able to tackle and do the things that football players do.

that we've gotten better. Coach Palace done a great job of developing that group, and it's going to be a competitive fall camp for those guys.

to strike right? There comes a time where you have to make that decision as a safety. Am I am I going to be able to get to the ball if not strike him? If I can get there, steal it. So again, drill work is a big part of that.

help us immediately. I think it's a big challenge for programs in this day and age, where you have the transfer portal, you don't have the years to developing.

spring football. Another thing that I thought was interesting was that like there's a lot of depth at certain positions, and and I think I think the absolute key to this defense is to be able to get pressure on the quarterback. I I when when the season ended last year, if it was me, I would and and I had like money to spend and to go out in the transfer portal, I go find the best defensive lineman I could possibly find in the transfer portal, and I would do it in you know, I spend the money at

because because it just makes this defense go. And you have you have athleticism in the secondary, you got experience at linebacker. You put pressure on the quarterback, and it really spells uh up. You know, a healthy, positive thing for your your defense if you can do that. And so they've got a lot of guys, and it's really good that there's competition because that that's going to raise all boats, you know, the competition type of thing. So it'll be it'll be fascinating to me to see what

happens was this defensive line. And and there's some guys in there that could potentially really emerge and and and you know, you listen to Morgan, you know, he doesn't sound like he's full of baloney. It doesn't sound like he's just kind of I mean, I know that there's you know, there's whatever, but I think he really feels confident that he's got some depth at that defensive line position, is a defensive end position, and that that someone will

emerge out of the pack. And you know, it's this as this team evolves, as this team develops, the quicker that they can create, that assimilation the team, whatever, I think the better off they're actually going to be. You were there, porter, what what's what's some of your thoughts?

This is the first interview of spring. We haven't practiced yet. Check back next week, check back after kickoff. And for me, that tells me that there's still questions.

take shape. I really want to know who the first four or five guys are at corner and I really want to know how deep that defensive tackle rotation is because, as you know Scott, on this Utah team and on this Particularler defensive scheme, if you can have four, five, six guys rotating a defensive tackle, it adds an element to this defense that completely changes the way they can play.

really good player you know, the backups. If you think about back in the day at USC, the backups might be better than the starters and and that's where Utah really made a move to be a different team. So it's challenging now now the backups. Now the depth is coming through the portal and it's coming late, and so can they get up to speed. Morgan did say from a physical standpoint, we're good. So we don't have a bunch of fat bodies that we got to get in shape.