HBO to feature the North | Is the Cleveland Browns culture strong enough for a Hard Knocks feature?

HBO to feature the North | Is the Cleveland Browns culture strong enough for a Hard Knocks feature?

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Jay Crawford Adam the bull Garrett Bush tyus Powell Jason Lloyd plus da da you’re loving him Mikey McNuggets and so many big names it would take me out hours to say all of their names the ultimate Cleveland sports show starts now booya hello everybody it is Tuesday and we have a massive ultimate Cleveland sports show in store for you today alongside myself it’s Jason Lloyd it is tiis Powell we have Earl a and Steve behind the glass and there’s three of us on the panel today and we have three very special guest lined up for you in the next two hours we have Ohio State head coach Ryan Day joining the show at 11:30 him and tiis go way back in their Ohio State roots and I’m very excited to see them reconvene on a publicly televised uh environment we have Coach Otis Levert who is Jamis Winston’s quarterback coach who’s going to join us at noon to talk a little bit about what jamus brings from a leadership standpoint and some of those crazy unique drills they run through how they originated then we have Danny Cunningham with a new lock on Cavs podcast joining the show to help us break down what the finals meant in terms of the Cavs and what we can expect from the Cavs moving forward but first guys happy Tuesday it’s about 90 degrees here in Cleveland tyus you’re wearing shorts and Jason’s wearing a sweatshirt duality of man here y out of line you out of line it’s air conditioning in here yes it’s so hot outside like when you I’d rather just deal with the air conditioning right now but like you you going to be outside like all day I go from garage to garage I go out my house get in the garage turn on the air conditioning Drive in here park in the garage walk in here in the air conditioning well if you’re looking to lose weight this is the perfect week to just you a you ain’t even got to run you ain’t got to do a lot you could go walk around the block and you will lose a good two lbs because it’s hot out there oh I was sweating like a fat kid yesterday at the uh where my son works out for baseball cuz I me there’s no air condition it’s just a big warehouse and I was sitting there dripping just on my phone while and I’m sweating that’s funny cuz I went in my I went outside in my garage I was looking for some some stuff that my wife stored away in my garage and I I had worked out before but I sweated more in that garage looking for something that I did in my workout it’s bad I threw my back out yesterday too oh watch AJ hit you threw your back out no I was working out and like you wasn’t working out I was I listen how you going to sit here get up here and lot of these people like that I work out at least once a week I work out what you do it’s a full hour workout it’s a leg workout give me one thing you did sleds ropes curls pup really yeah yeah I’m in better shape than you I mean I know I’m fat but I’m in better shape than you think but we were doing these like on your toes like on your tiptoes step and then curl curl curl okay and I went I like on my toes and I like and I’ve done them before but I curled and I like felt something grabing my back and like that’s called age it really is man sucks yeah getting old man I’m going to be 48 next month I an old man and my kids remind me of that all the time Ty would you think he was curling a p’s back out on some tip he was curling nothing but a beer bottle I let him lie to how much weight do you think I had how much weight do you think I had in your hands yeah 15 pound no that’s a that’s a 10 oh my to do are you doing tiptoe step step curl curl yeah step step curl curl curl 10 no I’m going to give him 25s I had 40s I’ll have you know that’s probably why I threw my back out impressive cuz normally normally normally I do 35s and like it’s it’s a class so it’s like one minute and then move yeah you go and I couldn’t find I couldn’t find 35s I saw so I just grabb the 40s that was D that was dumb and I think that’s I think that’s why like you just that and plus like you know how you throw your shoulder into it a little bit that’s so I like threw my shoulder into it and that’s definitely the the pull the back and I felt it grabbed I was like oh man and the dude who runs a class is awesome he was great you want to shout him out yeah Theo coach Theo at fmu and Avon man he was great he better a foam roller well that’s what he did he grabbed the foam roller immediately goes here get like foam roll it out so I foam rolled for a couple minutes and then he had me do like a plank he said if you stretch your chest it’ll loosen your back which I never knew that so we tried that and then I got a massage yesterday and that helped work it out so I actually feel better today than I thought I was going to the massage usually it usually takes two days to kick you should feel the best tomorrow well she she beat the hell out of me yeah that’s and it was like one of those like they lift the sheet and they say okay turn over I could not move it hurts so bad I’m like I don’t know if I can turn over that’s you got real deep tissue inside you going to be you should be sore today but feel great tomorrow oh man it was rough it was make sure you hydrate though that’s the biggest thing I got my coffee n ation is it’s a steel steel container we don’t really know what’s in there it’s my second pot we don’t know what’s in there we don’t know what’s in there could befe in a little bourbon stick around to 12:30 let’s see how how things go awesome we got a bunch of topics we’re to get into first and before we do that we’re going to check in with Earl behind the glass what’s up Earl what up brother y’all ready to go let’s rock all right summertime means baseball the NBA finals and more you can bet it all on FanDuel right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any $5 bet that’s 200 bucks you can use to bet everything from the N Finals MVP to who’s going to hit one out of the park visit fanduel.com youss and add a big win to your summer buckets list fandu America’s number one sports book we got news yesterday the Cleveland Browns will be featured on the first ever full division Hard Knocks the AFC North will be the debut of this new inseason hard KNX format it was clearly the best division in football and HBO agreed the camera Crews will follow around the Browns the Bengals the Ravens and the Steelers for the final six weeks of the regular season gearing up towards that week 18 all divisional game weekend which hopefully could determine whether or not the Browns are your division champs or whether or not they’re a wild card team or whatnot tyus they’ve been on Hard Knocks before they’ve never been on a Hard Knock like this it starts on December 3rd two questions how excited are you to get some behind the scenes footage of the Browns in the final six weeks of the Season as they gear up for what we hope as a playoff run and secondly do they have a strong enough culture to handle the cameras and distractions that come along with Hard Knocks being inside the lock room inside team meetings etc etc well first off absolutely they got the personalities I mean you think jamus Winston for one is going to be phenomenal on Hard Knocks I mean you think of just you know miles gear you got Nick chub probably be back and the thing about the Browns is a lot of the people that we we love and like to watch we don’t get to see them in a locker room setting like we get to see them when they deal with the media but I hear a lot of them like Amar Cooper even Nick chub and that setting in the locker room type setting they actually show their character a lot so I think it’ll give us a inside view of what these guys really are like and you get to see how fun some of them really are so I think from that perspective it’s great that these guys will be able to show their personalities I don’t think it’ll be a distraction to them because I think that the Browns realized that they did something special last year and the only thing they can do is they have to build off of that so I think that they’re going to be locked in and by the way I think Kevin stefansky does a great job of keeping everybody engaged I think that’s one of the reasons that I really do love him as a head coach for the Cleveland Browns is because he does a great job of managing crisis so with this distraction coming in I think he’ll still keep everybody locked in and I and at the end of the day the Browns have play play off in Super Bowl aspirations you know you never know what the roster is going to look like past this season so you got to go all for it on this year and I think the Browns understand that and I think they will be locked in and engaged for that this will be the first time I’ve watched hard KN in at least five years yes you watch it the last time the Browns was on it yeah I I think that’s probably the last time I watched it like the show felt like it ran its course right like I mean you’ve got the Feelgood training camp stories that they follow and and like it was it was cutting edge when the first came out it’s like oh this is in unbelievable access and then it became very sort of repetitive yeah I can’t believe that like Kevin stefansky is good with this like you know I don’t think he had a choice no I’m sure he didn’t because I’m saying like this is a guy who on the record doesn’t want to confirm to you that DeShaun Watson will be the starting quarterback for the Browns if he’s healthy like he want he’ll give you nothing nothing on the record nothing and yet now they have to open up and let the cameras and now the good thing is it’s not just the Browns there’s three other teams this is the best division to do this for 100% you know this is It’s if you got to pick one division this is this is the division to do it and you know by by having four teams and spreading it out it’ll it’ll soften the spotlight the fact that it won’t come out until December is a good thing you know it’s not like this is a year-long thing where they have to answer questions about it every single week sort of like they have to do in the preseason when these things there but you know the flip side of that is if it starts December 3rd well that’s in the heat of you know you’re trying to make the playoffs then yeah so I’m curious to see how it goes uh like I said I haven’t watched this show in forever I’ve I sort of lost interest in it but I’ll be certainly I’ll be watching this year yeah hard KNX did something similar to this the last two years with Arizona and Indianapolis and I didn’t watch I I speak it’s Arizona and Indianapolis single second of it the way I looked at this when I heard this yesterday was there are only two options for this there’s no between it is a this or that the this is this is going to be absolutely incredible because if the Browns are as good as we think they can be and Deshawn Watson plays up to the level we hope he can and Nick chub comes back and Miles Garrett comes back and jamus Winston which you alluded to earlier tyus we’re going to get some behind the scenes footage that we never would have gotten otherwise about the Browns potentially fighting and hopefully clinching a playoff spot in a division title and the access we’ll get from Hard Knock if that’s how it plays out will be incredible and it’s stuff that we simply could not and would not get unless HBO is following the Browns the Ravens the Steelers and the Bengals around I mean now those six games by the way the six games they’re going to follow at Denver at Pittsburgh verse the Chiefs at ciny verse Miami at Baltimore you talk about a gauntlet of games the time it is the perfect time if the season’s going well I told you it’s a this or that that was the this the that is if the season goes to shambles the Browns for whatever reason aren’t particularly good they’re out of it Deshawn watts is not playing up to the level that we expect him to it is going to be an absolute catastrophe to watch because someone else is going to be winning the division and they’re going to be focused on that while the entire Brown segment is going to be focused on dysfunction Deshawn’s Port play Nick chub not being back all the stuff that we don’t want to talk about and by the end of the season we just want to put in our rearview mirror and get behind us is going to be brought back to the Forefront there’s no in between what’s the date of that first one the first 3rd is the first episode Tuesday all right cool so that uh that uh trade deadline have been passed by then I that would have been actually very interesting to see if they got it like leading up to a trade deadline somebody got traded to see how that would react but no they absolutely did it right I think listen they they giv the Browns all we’ve been talking about how the Browns get no National nobody nationally talks about the Browns oh they done so well last year nobody really talked about them the NFL said we going to fix y’all this year we giving y’all the first game with Tom Brady’s first nationally televised game so they gave you that week one and now they giving you this they giving you all the exposure and they give you a gauntlet of a schedule that that’s going to be on a lot of night games like that you going to get all the exposure we going to find out about the Cleveland Browns this year last year it was everybody calls it a nice story and I always say they might have creeped up on some people people didn’t really know what to expect with the Cleveland Browns until they got the game and the Browns punched them dead in the mouth now everybody kind of expects the Browns that they’re good it’s a good team now they got the right pieces how do you do when you know that the team is prepared for a Jurg out of a game and we going to find out them six weeks of that that hard knock we going to see exactly what it’s supposed to be it’s the hunt Hunter versus The Hunted mentality and last year despite the fact that a lot of us here thought the brown should be competitive I think the national media for the most part so as they could be a threat but for the most part they’re not as good as the top teams in the everybody thought that they would the Browns would do the Browns thing eventually and this year and we talked about it we did the team roster rankings yesterday the 33rd team had him as the third best roster in football the ringer ranked their top 10 defenses entering next season the Browns were number one like they ain’t catching up and they’re not sneaking up on anybody this year and to your point tiis four Prime Time games they’re featured on Hard Knocks they got the Tom Brady debut they’re in a number of other Marquee games that may not be Thursday or Sunday night they’re going to get Prime Time nationally televised TV slots and Jason I I don’t know when the last time the Browns have had this much attention heading into a season Odell Odell was that that was it was the Odell the year of Odell there was a ton of attention so half a decade at minim they got the Prime Time game at when Odell went back to the Giants uh and you know to Ty’s earlier point the Browns the the league was trying to hide the Browns because of the Deshawn yeah the mess that came with DeShawn like game to his return game to Houston you would think would be a prime time Sunday night Monday night type game they buried it at 1:00 and they try to keep them off national tv as much as possible well that’s like probation’s been lifted that’s over and and now they’re the Browns are one of the Marquee teams and they’re getting with the Marquee team treatment do you agree with thus that they have the culture to sustain having the cameras inside the lock room inside the meetings based off what stefansky Andrew Barry Jim Schwarz the leaders of the team have built I if you can withstand what they went through last last year with injuries you can withstand some Camas that that was far more devastating trying to survive without Nick chub trying to survive without your your quarterback all the injuries they had across the line to to thrive under those circumstances a few cameras shouldn’t affect it and again like you you do have some buffer here where you got September October November where you don’t have to answer like none of this is public you don’t have to answer for anything so I don’t think again I don’t think Kevin probably loves the idea of opening locker room to cameras and microphones But ultimately I think overcoming what they overcame last year is far more significant than than some some cameras and microphones this year we’ll move on in one seti you mentioned jamus Winston earlier as a guy who the more cameras that are around jamus the better it is for us because we’re going to get awesome content the dude just is genuinely hysterical yeah outside of jamus I think he’s the right answer who’s someone else you’re excited to see with this unprecedented access give you maybe a little more than we would see a traditional press conference media scrum interaction well see it’s different for me cuz I I hear a lot of them and you know I do the brown stuff I actually hear stories and I hear about a lot of them but a guy that I want like who do you think will be a star when this comes out for the brown a star I think a guy like Juan Thornhill will be a star why Juan Thornhill because Juan Thornhill is a he’s energy you know we talked about how G new was big with the energy on the defense and we saw him doing the dances but but when I went to OTAs last year the person that talked the most trash on the defense was Juan Thornhill and I seen some clips from OTAs this year he’s still on the same thing um obviously we know he’s taking some shots on Twitter about to Browns fans that’s been speaking negatively I think that if you get to see him and follow him around and see how he interacts and practice I think people will become a fan because you’ll see how passionate he is how he can make practice better just from being a competitor and challenging wide receivers and stuff like that so I think he could become a star from this Jason that’s a good question I’m trying so like we’re taking out the obvious guys like yeah like no chub no Watson no miles um I’m gonna make Earl very happy I think erson Martin Emerson is like he’s got a lot of personality in the locker room you don’t always see it I think he’s a guy who get like J I think people I told J one time I think he’s like he’s he’s unbelievably intelligent yeah and I just don’t think that he loves doing media MH and a little bit like Nick in that sense but in this setting it’s a little bit different so I think a guy like j a little bit more of his personality could come out so I’ll go with I’ll say Emerson and JK JK was who I was going to say but because you didn’t say Wyatt teller I’ll go with Wyatt teller who as soon as you put him in front of the camera I do feel like Wyatt teller’s personality is going to shine some of the stuff we’ve heard about Wyatt uh off the Record is just incredible in terms of the person he is the personality brings you see a little bit on social media his wife talks about it on social media a ton and I think Wyatt teller who offensive lineman as good as they are they don’t get enough appreciation for what they actually do no matter how good Trent Williams fonio like the best ones in the league even though we talk about them we don’t talk about them enough because of how important they are to everything that happens on offense and a guy like Wyatt teller in an opportunity like this where they’re getting behind the scenes stuff in the locker room kind of content I think Wyatt teller is going to come across an absolute Superstar from this one of the first lessons you learn beat riding 101 when you cover football go talk to the offensive lineman yeah like that’s in almost every locker room unfailingly those are those guys are the the gems they know everything they’re super smart and they know everything that’s going on in the locker room and those that’s that’s just that’s one of the first rules is I mean safey too thank you I saw you looking at me like look like I with a newspaper the safeties don’t know everything and they know the off the field stuff what you mean awesome Earl you want to do a read move on to our next uh next topic here yeah don’t forget to catch the ultimate Cleveland Browns show every Monday and Wednesday hosted by G Bush as he keeps us in the node with everything related to the Browns as we inch closer to training camp so catch G on the ultimate brown show every Monday every Wednesday edel Barry was on NFL Network show the inside yesterday and he spoke about deshun Watson being ahead of schedule he also spoke a little bit about the Omari Cooper hold out contract situation so Mike take it away yeah I thought he said three big things that at least we could discuss here uh from his interview with the inside about 10 minutes long he said the Shan’s ahead of schedule and quote if you didn’t know he got hurt last season and you just saw him in the spring you wouldn’t know he’s hurt he said he’s looking forward to Nick chub taking the field again for the first time one of the most anticipated moments of the year for the Cleveland Browns and do we have uh coach here Earl before I go I just got a message from Steve all right well we’re going to hold this topic till afterwards because we are now joined by Ryan Day the head coach of the Ohio State Buck guys coach thanks for taking some time to join us today how you doing doing great doing great how are you guys we’re doing great coach we got tyus Powell here Jason Lloyd I’m Mikey McNuggets we appreciate you taking some time and Coach we had Dane bugler on the show yesterday and he was talking about his early 2025 draft prep and said he was already looking at Ohio State and he said there’s potentially more players that’ll get drafted off this Ohio State team than any team in the history of college football all Ohio State teams are talented you guys recruit at an elite level but do you get the sense that this team has something special to it in terms of talent wise that just puts it even ahead of some of the other great teams in Buckey’s past I think what makes this team different is you know we’ve always had talent but the Talent this year is more veteran when when these guys decided to come back you know we got a lot of fourth and fifth year guys that decided to forego the NFL draft and come back you know a lot of them will tell you they have unfinished business a lot of them have personal goals but their team goals are to win the Rivalry game win the Big 10 Championship win a National Championship and um I I think that’s probably the thing you notice the most about this team is just um more experience and more veteran but uh it is a great group uh they’re coming together this summer and having a great June we’ve been very very busy here in June uh but but it is you know and and you know this year is uh going to be a new year because of the playoff and so there’s new challenges ahead for us but I think we’re um you know we’re in a position to really make a great run you know coach that you in a you’re in a interesting situation because you took over in 2019 and college football was a certain way you fast forward to just 5 years later and it’s so many rule changes so many different things how have you been able to adjust to those as a head coach yeah well t as you know just so many changes that have been going on and it’s almost like in the last five years every year there’s been something new you think about you know how covid kind of hit in in 2020 and then you know what that season was like and then every year there’s been something different and so it’s almost like you just come to the conclusion that every year there’s going to be something different that’s going on and we have to adapt with the times and you know I I feel like we’re very very well positioned and and a big part of that and it goes back all the way to the history of Ohio State football and Woody hay said you win with people is just surrounding ourselves with great people and you know former players like yourself uh you know parents current players uh recruits uh family members you know people in the community just all of the people that make Ohio State great uh have surrounded our program the last couple years and I think between the players the coaches and staff members uh we have a great group of people and you know a lot of things have changed uh but a lot of things haven’t and so ultimately we’re going to count on the people making the difference this year kind of along those lines of change I can’t recall another Power five head coach leaving that position to go be an OC somewhere else how did that come about with Chip Kelly and do you approach him does he approach you I know you guys have a deep history going all the way back to New Hampshire but how does that come about to where he’s he wants to jump from where he’s at to come work for you well like you said we always had long you a lot of conversations we we’re very good friends that goes back a long way and um you know he shared with me that after the bowl game when he had an opportunity to to coach the quarterbacks leading up to his bowl prep he really missed that part of it and you know I I that stuck with me and so as we started to you know push towards uh hiring an offense coordinator you know I had a few guys in mind mind and he was certainly one of them but I know for him you know it wasn’t easy because I know he really wanted to create a secession plan there in place because of all the people that you know work under you it’s one thing to just take another job but when you care about relationships it’s not that easy and the timing um you know the second time around was just right and uh you know boy he’s had great energy uh you can tell he loves being in the meeting room with those guys and working the game um the game that he loves and the game has changed a lot uh but the X and O’s haven’t and he’s dove into that and done a great job building relationship with our players in a short period of time I know he’s excited about this team coach the Columbus to Cleveland pipeline has been broken open the last two years between the Browns drafting Mike call JR in the second round this year last year it was Luke whipper Ronnie Hickman Dewan Jones Hickman and Jones in particular had really successful rookie Seasons when they played are you surprised at all that those two were able to make such immediate contributions on the NFL level in their rookie seasons I’m proud of both of them but I’m not surprised when you come to Ohio State and we talk about this in recruiting every day in practice you’re going against great players so we say iron Chens iron it’s been said a long a long time around here but uh you know if if you can you know cover Marvin Harrison then you can cover anybody if you can you know uh block JT Tu amolo out you can block anybody in the country you know if you can get around uh you know Jimmy Simmons then you know you can you can rush the passer against anybody and so it’s just this this ongoing thing in practice practice where you’re sharpening your your game it’s not the 12 Saturdays in the fall during the regular season it’s the everyday grind and it isn’t just on the field it’s off the field guys who have an elite mindset who want to be great and U you know so I think for those guys to step into that environment it wasn’t too big for them and I think you’re seeing that with a lot of our players you know they’re not just going on to the NFL uh it’s what they’re doing with that opportunity and you’re seeing a lot of them succeed coach last year you guys went into the season with kind of a still of a quarterback B ATT between Kyle McCord and dein brown um you go into the transfer repter you get will Howard Devin Brown is still there you add Julian saying Lincoln Kyo all of these guys and you know you leave out of Spring ball with not necessarily a number one quarterback do you think it will take as long this year to name a starting quarterback or is that something that you hope get addressed right away yeah I hope not but um we’ll kind of see how the battle goes I I think we’re going to need a bunch of guys in that room um and the one thing about all of them is they can run and I think that that’s significant and uh you know the guys are going to have to be that that sixth um you know weapon on the field in terms of the skill guy and and you know whether it’s extending plays or you know counting in the Run game pulling the ball reading people uh we need all those guys to do that and so um you know that room has got to win that room has got to be the best room in the country um you know I know we are going to have to identify you know where the reps are going to go here in the preseason um and so you like to see some separation there uh but that room has got to be strong and I think you’re going to see a lot of them play this year is that one of the big changes as we talk about the evolution of college football I me if Kyle mcord beats Michigan he’s probably still a quarterback is that fair and and like that one loss and all of a sudden he’s in the portal and you’ve got a whole new room of guys that you’re trying to sort through I can’t imagine that happening 10 years ago it’s a different world it is yeah there’s no question and um you know we we know the expectations here we know what’s on the line every time you come to Ohio State and we embrace it that’s the same way in recruiting and uh you know we know we need to get done and when it’s not done then we all have to take a you know a deep breath and figure out how we’re going to move forward but like you said you know the the landscape has changed and we’re doing everything we can to make sure we have the best team in place the right people in the right seats based on the parameters that that we’re dealt with you talked about recruiting coach and you guys especially recently have recruited at an in incredible level in the Ever Changing landscape of college football how much have you had to change the way you not only recruit high school athletes but kids in the transfer portal and essentially re-recruiting your own guys on a year-to-year basis as well well the first thing you have to do is you have to treat them uh once they get here like you did during the recruiting process I think when there’s a disconnect between the recruiting process and when they get here that’s when problems can to occur and you know hard feelings happen and you know guys feel like wait a minute now this is not the same thing that we talked about during recruiting so there has to be uh consistency there there has to be great communication there has to be followup um and so you know we really try to do that at a high level knowing that you know it’s not always going to be perfect you know there’s going to be things that happen uh but we try to be as po you know as transparent as we can we try to be as honest as we can give honest feedback um and then push through from there but knowing that when you come here like Ohio State’s not for everybody you know and and you know we want to have guys that want to be the best in the world at what they do and understand the expectations here you know if you’re coming to be a cornerback at Ohio State the expectation is you’re a first rounder you know if you’re coming in to be a quarterback here the as expectation is that you’re coming to be a Heisman trophy finalist and you know again that isn’t for everybody um you know some people in the recruiting process they don’t go to Ohio State they have too many guys in that room too much talent you know and I say to them well if you believe that then then probably this isn’t the right place for you uh if you want to be great if you want to be challenged every day and maximize and have high goals will’ll get you there and you know I think a lot of people are are are feeling that right now and recruiting couldn’t be any better I think you’re seeing us you know really come off of this off season whether um you know was with the the 24 class you know the guys that we identified in the portal and now in this next class there’s a lot of momentum around the program kind of along the lines of recruiting does does state lines matter anymore I remember when Jim Trussell got there he basically put up a wall around Ohio and he didn’t lose hardly anyone from Ohio he was all oh Ohio kids it was all ton of Ohio kids won that O2 title and now it’s such a national recruiting power do you even look at in terms of like trying to protect home as much anymore or is it just nationally just go get the best talent no matter where he’s from because you guys have made obvious incredible inroads in states that 20 years ago you couldn’t touch yeah I think it’s it’s a long conversation but but the first thing you would notice when you walk into our recruiting room is you would see all the Ohio guys are in a different color because you know they have priority so all things are equal you know we want Ohio guys they grew up here they understand what it means to be a buckeye they understand the Rivalry and they are the foundation of our program always have been and always will be um you know that being said there’s a lot of Buckeyes that that you know are are spread throughout the country so there’s a lot of loyal people in the Southeast there’s a lot of loyal Buckeyes in Texas and throughout the country so uh although some of those folks may have moved away you know their family roots are still here and they’re still very very strong and so they understand that as well and then there’s other families that you know don’t don’t know about Ohio State you know and when they come to Columbus for the first time just so many of them say man really this is surprised me you know when I hear about Ohio State when I hear about Columbus I wasn’t quite prepared for this you know they’re they’re pleasantly surprised so to answer your question that the first thing is the foundation will always be Ohio uh but but when I say Ohio there certainly the state of Ohio is critically important and they have priority but then also the families from Ohio like Donovan Jackson’s a great example like he has lineage in Ohio I can’t tell you how many of our people on our on our roster even guy like Garrett Wilson you know he was in eighth grade he lived in double in Ohio so you know that may be a Texas guy but you know he grew up in Dublin uh you know I could go on and on about all the folks that uh you know have come here from different parts of the country but have Roots back in here in Ohio and some of those recruits that we’re recruiting right now uh but we are going to go chase the best talent in the country because we know the expectation Coach Dave you went after this off season y’all had some coaching changes you you dominated the transfer portal you had a great recruiting class and you got those guys that was NFL draft eligible to come back I don’t believe in The Natty or bus but some people do so I need to get you on record is this year Natty or bus for you do you look at it that way well every year we know what the expectation is you know that I mean in my press conference we said that you know it’s when the Rivalry game win every game after that and that that hasn’t changed uh but I do know this when I going to the season we like to have good players and I like with high expectations I like to have a great coaching staff and a great group of players and I think we’ve addressed a bunch of the things that have gone on um we’ve tried to enhance the areas that we think have gone well and the things that we need to do to get over that hump and so um you know again uh you know fired up about this team uh but ultimately it’s gonna it’s what matters is what we put on the field what we earn on the field no one’s going to give us anything you know we got a bullseye on our back and and we know that uh but that’s nothing new again it’s been Ohio against the world for a long time before I got here and it continues to be today awesome well that’s coach Ryan dayve we really appreciate you making a few minutes join us here on the ultimate Cleveland sport show best of luck in the fall coach and once again appreciate you uh hanging out with us for 15 minutes today you got it guys thanks go Bucks Go Buck well that was Ryan Day great insight as always the recruiting landscape has changed so drastically it is abur Jimbo Fisher at A&M used to say uh I don’t care if you’re from Texas Florida California if you could play I want you on my team and that’s how they recruit at Ohio State taking that same Mantra and they’re getting guys from all over the country now and he mentioned the 2024 class which was led by Jeremiah Smith will the 2025 class which is still developing they currently have four of the top seven prospects in the country committed so the recruiting train in Ohio state is not slowing down anytime soon Earl you want to give us a read we’ll get back to the Andrew Berry topic yeah if you missed the latest episode of the ultimate 26 show I interview Cleveland Legend and current Atlanta Dream assistant coach Barbara Turner go back and check that out um dope interview let me know what you all think yeah so as we were saying ADW Berry was on NFL Network the Insiders uh yesterday I do believe or the day before yesterday night yesterday and he talked about deshan Watson being the head of schedule and he also gave some insight to Amari Cooper’s uh contract situation let’s start with the Shan Watson part of that Andrew Barry told it was Ian raport Mark garolo and one other person I’m drawing a blank on their name right now but he said if he didn’t know the Des sea was hurt last season just saw him thr the spring you wouldn’t even know he was hurt mhm he said he’s ahead of schedule he took his regularly scheduled rest days where he just did the mimic throws during OTAs in mini Camp Davis are you buying what Andrew Barry is selling at the Shawn is actually ahead of schedule right now I mean when I watch him throw the clips that I the the little clips that we’ve seen that they allowed us to see via social media he looks fine I mean he he seems to be throwing the ball with some velocity it doesn’t seem like he got a hitch in his throw so I mean yeah I don’t I anticipate that he’d be ready for week one I never thought that he wouldn’t be like I say if Baltimore would it broke or would it messed up he still had a good game second half of the game so I figured that with it fixed it should be better so I don’t think that he has any limitations at the moment I think the Browns went about this the correct way giving him those rest days and letting him go through the motions on air um I know a lot of people laughed at it but I think it pays a lot of dividends to be able to go through your reads not miss a play because you can’t get those reps physically but you can still get those mentally and keep your mind sharp and at the end of the day that’s really what it’s about it’s about the mindset you know making sure that your mind is locked into to what you have to do on those plays and not really giving him a chance to relax so I I I like what they did there I expect him to be really good this year um and I don’t think Andrew Barry’s lying about this at all Jason no a great answer that was a great answer we don’t know what the exact rehab plan is so for him to say he’s ahead of schedule I have no reason not to believe him other than does he look good to you when that’s what I’m saying he he may be supposed to be throwing every day at this point and we have no idea and he may not be able to throw at all yet and he’s throwing he’s headed we just have no idea so June that’s I said you can say he hit a schedule or not it doesn’t matter right now on certain days that I’ve seen it seems like he took every the Reps that he was supposed to take if you wanted simulate to to a game he would take the Reps on Sunday and have the rest of the week off until Wednesday so it’s the same thing and he threw a couple passes in the last day of mandatory mini camp was out there that were deeper had some nice velocity on it looked like he was stepping into it so everything we’ve seen has looked positive it’s just how are we us three here with all du respect to the two of the smartest football people I know how the hell are we supposed to know what his rehab schedule was to know if he’s ahead or behind or right on track with schedule so yeah I uh I’ll take him at face value I don’t think Andrew brry is any real reason to hide that I don’t think he would say it if if it wasn’t true I mean the only the only lies that we ever heard from Ab was that he felt good about the quarterback room and the wide receiver room that was about the only two lies that we ever heard well speaking of the receiver room I thought the more interesting tidbit that came out of the interview with the Insiders yesterday was about Amari Cooper who by the way it was his 30th birthday yesterday so happy birthday Amari or 29th to 30th or you look up how old he turned 30 30th birthday yeah turned 30 so happy belated birthday by day Amari Cooper uh he was asked about it in a typical Andrew Barry fashion said you know it’s my policy not to comment on any contract negotiations but we truly truly truly appreciate the contributions of mari’s given us he’s an Pro bow caliber receiver we’ll see if we can figure it out but I can’t comment any specifics Jason I’m not sure if you were here today we talked about the Amari Cooper contract situation and extension potential and him holding out do you have any sense on where the Browns are coming at this from where omari’s coming at this I I have a theory but I haven’t heard anything definitive I don’t I don’t fault either side of this if I’m Amari of course I want a new deal coming off a monster year he knows that there’s not much sand left in The Hourglass in terms of his career like this is his time to get paid from the Browns perspective I’m not investing big time money in a guy that I know that the cliff is coming and you know I think they got you know the Jack hlin contract I know it’s a different position but it’s sort of the same thought of you know he’s getting up there in age you know it’s a risk and they sort of got burned by it and and I don’t want to make that same mistake again with Amari so I would not be in a rush to go out and pay Amari and you know everyone says like well just give him a one or two year extension how do you know he’s going to take that how do you know he doesn’t want three more years or big when you look at some of the receiver contracts that are being handed out it’s not as easy as just pick up the phone and say all right we’ll give you two years what if he says no what if he says no I want three I want four well my my theory tyus and I want to hear your thought four total not four more my my theory on this is it’s not the money they can’t agree on it’s the length and I feel like the Browns based off a couple of the moves they’ve made are trying to keep as much flexibility as possible in 2026 so not for next season but for two seasons and they have to extend Deshawn wat not in case that’s not the right word in case they decide to extend Deshawn Watson because he’s played up to the level that they H they were getting when they traded for him and if that’s the case then I can understand why you don’t want to have money tied up to a what would be a 32y old receiver at that point who based off historical records and track records would be on the decline there’s always the exception but you would assume in two years Amari will be passed this peak so I’m I’m guessing the Browns are coming to the negotiating table say Amari we’ll give you a little raise this year we’ll give you next year guaranteed but 2026 you’re on your own and I’m not sure if Amari to Jason’s point is willing just to take a one-year extension because he might be thinking I play well again this year hit the open open market in 2025 and I’m going to get another two threee deal on top of that for more money so I I think it’s more of a length issue than it is a financial and money issue between these two sides I think you might be right on that one um you definitely wanted this much money as you can you want like the Von Miller contract Von Miller contract is terrible right now to Buffalo but you want something like that where you get extended years with knowing that you’re protected you know and financially I think that this situation is one of those we going they going to try to call each other’s Bluff I think that’s kind of where this relationship is headed to the Browns are going to look at this season and say you know what we got Jerry Judy we got Amar and we got Elijah Moore this is what we’re gonna do we gonna go out there we gonna see what this offense looks like if Jerry Judy takes off we could say Amari we appreciate everything that you’ve done you’ve been a professional brown you’ve been you’ve gotten backtack thousand yard seasons you’ve done so much for this franchise to help elevate it we appreciate your services but we’re going to we’re looking to move younger we got to get this money tied up into some of these younger guys so we’re going to draft and try to draft us a wide receiver won’t be quite their caliber of Amari Cooper but you know you get the point we we got to save some money um Amari Cooper’s going to look at this season like I got to absolutely insane this season because if I go insane this season it’s going to push the put the pressure on the Cleveland Browns to come holler at me around mid season trying to extend me for a little bit more money and maybe it give me an extra year that I want maybe instead of two years they give me three or if they don’t want to do that at all I still got a ball anyways because I need the next team to look at this so it’s really a lot of pressure on theark Cooper this season and you know over the LA I say for the past couple of Seasons he’s missed what a couple of games a year with some type of nagging injuries and stuff like that serious yeah it wasn’t serious but it it did affect him enough that he kind of slowed took him took a step off of his speed a little bit so I think that’s kind of where the Browns is like like dude we can see that you know when you when you get older obviously the body doesn’t recover the same and we can see that it does affect you at some point in these games so I can see why the Browns want to go younger at the wide receiver position but until you got that definitive answer that you got two good wide receivers you ain’t got no choice but to try to keep Cooper around because you know at least what you’re getting out of Amari Cooper yeah I did a hit this morning on the morning show with Ken and Anthony in the very end they said who’s got the leverage and it was interest I said I thought the Browns had leverage I’m curious to hear from a former player I agree with that by the way slight yeah slight like omari’s Leverage is look at the rest of the receiver yeah what like what are you going to do if I’m not here exactly so that’s where his leverage that’s his leverage play but the NFL is such a different animal because the contracts aren’t guaranteed I feel like in any situation the team has the leverage until proven otherwise as a player in this situation I would say that they do because at the end of the day they can still draft somebody young why the thing about the thing about wi receivers is college football has done such a good job of churning them out every year like it’s multiple good wide receivers in each draft every year the Browns can’t seem to find them yeah cuz we are we wern’t picking to the third but we got a first next year so if they can secure that left tackle spot then they can spin you know they can use that draft PE to get a first round Talent at wide receiver and I think that could possibly be the threat right there where it’s like if the wide receivers are killing it and it’s a bunch of wide receivers they’ be feel comfortable moving off of Amari because they feel like they can Reet another one that could be I won’t say as good but could potentially be as good as Amari Cooper yeah you’re not going to draft a guy who immediately steps no he no now there’s the rare exceptions there’s the Justin Jefferson who comes in and has like 1,200 yards as a rookie and you trade away Stefan Diggs and you get Jefferson and it’s a wash but you can’t Bank on that happening with a draft pick that you would hope the browns are taking next season in the 25 to 32 range like that’s a high ass from a rookie to your point Jason on who is the leverage I do think it’s slightly in the Browns favor Le’Veon Bell is the only guy we’ve really seen like call A team’s Bluff and say I’m just not coming in and look at the rest of his career panned out he did get his money but he was never the same player again now he was younger than Amari Cooper when he did that I’m not saying Amari would have the same complete drop off and I don’t think Amar would sit out the entire season he’s I feel like he’s too far can to do that so I feel like the Browns do have a slight advantage in The Leverage battle but it’s certainly not 80 to 20 it’s like 55 45 because the Browns do need his presence in the receiving room especially with knowing how much is on the line this year for so many different guys here’s where the leverage flips for him and I I have this is total hypothetical which I hate doing I hate doing hypothe but I’ll play along for this one let’s say Omari holds out to start the year and I he ain’t gonna play in the game one yes like I have no knowledge that he would actually do this but let’s say he holds out for training camp waiting for a new contract misses the preseason misses week one against Dallas and Judy gets hurt and they just don’t look good oh they look terrible and Deshawn is 14 of 31 for 180 yards two picks Judy can’t get open and the offense looks like trash you think Andrew Barry might pick up the phone and call Amari at that point yeah but do you wait that like now you’re missing checks like do you want to wait make that check back up though well yes but like that’s where I if he really if he really wants to dig in his heels that’s how long in my opinion that’s how long it would take for him to create leverage over the Browns well interesting now the flip side of that if Deshawn’s 26 to 30 against Dallas for 280 yards and three touchdowns and he’s not out there but the interesting thing is he missed all the camp or or spring ball right OTAs Omari Amari yeah and he missed mandor minic camp this year yeah so this is the interesting thing this the funniest part about all this so remember about a month when they made the Judy tra and I got on here and talked about it they would have got a kid from Alabama kid from South Florida so they can say Judy could then study Mari ain’t there for him to study under so he might be the same as he looked in Denver so now it’s like maybe he’s like you know what I love I love you Judy I really do but this is a business deal like I I can’t give you I can’t give you the sauce of how to be successful and then just let you take my spot without me getting down so that could be the leverage that playing like I’m not about to coach up no young dude to take my spot that makes no sense I don’t blame Amari one bit in this if you’re Amari and you just busted your ass for this team and they just trade for a guy who has underachieved did he did he break extend them right away did he break the record for most yards in the game against Houston yeah I how can you not pay how can you not how can you not pay him cuz he’s 30 years old that’s how you can he just came off of a good year he just broke the record that doesn’t mean going be two years from now I agree with you that’s what I’m saying there is there is no bad guy in this I don’t think there’s nobody in the wrong here the business of football and the difference and I’m not sure you hear the day we talked about it and then we’ll move on to the Guardians in one second but if I’m already signed a contract now he’s negotiating against Jaylen wad or not he’s negotiating the same ballpark as Jaylen wad Nico Collins he’s not in the Jefferson am mon Ros a brown dollar worth but he’s in the Devonte Smith that range if he does not have a great season and then tries negotiating next off season he’s working off the Adam Thelen 3 for25 contract and if you’re Aur you’re looking at 25 mil a year are you’re looking at 25 mil total for three years give or take and he’s better than Adam thel but what’s up so when I talked about this last week I proposed two years I think it was 52 million what y think about above this year and then for next year so one year yeah I mean like like I said I would do the money I’m just not sure would take a one I think I think that’s the disconnect here if the Browns can get him under contract for this year and next guaranteed I think they’d sign a deal today I think Amari wants an extra two three years that I think I think the interesting thing about this one is you know the Browns typically take care of the people that feel like has done something for their friend like Nick chub they took care of Nick chub so they would think in their mind the way they would take care of Amari would be this year next year but beyond that like they don’t want to really move off of that I’m interested to see it’ll be interesting it will be interesting cuz I can see it both ways I see it both ways and that’s I guess that’s the good part of being out of it now that you can see I can see both sides of where they coming from obviously I’m leaning more towards Amari Cooper because I’m a former a I got another question but real quick this is amar’s last chance to get paid yeah yeah this is it why he want are you going to take a one year you going to take a one-year deal on top of what you’re at now just one more year I don’t think so totally hypothetical and I asked this on uh X this morning hypothetically speaking do you attempt to trade say you trade Amari Cooper for Brandon I and pay Brandon I or do you keep Amari and just pay Amari A’s better than Amari and younger I was about to say you TR you don’t think it’s it’s the easiest thing you’ve ever thought about if you if you believe in auk and you got the funds to pay him you would definitely trade him cuz now you got Judy and I you got essentially your two wide receivers now you can take that first round pick and worry about your left tackle yeah I think that’s that’s pretty locked up um what would you do real quick ear than without guards would you keep Hooper I would try if a can pay Brandon aay just for the simple fact he’s younger I think omari’s had a clearly a better career but I think his potential says he can probably match or surpass the production of Amari Cooper going forward so I think auk was auk was an all pro last oh you are Hur holy hell I’m I’m fine auk was an all pro last year I don’t think Cooper’s ever been an all pro in his career so it’s uh it’s close but auk’s younger and has definitely a higher ceiling at this point of their careers let’s talk a little Guardians Earl Cleveland welcomes the Seattle Mariners to town to start their home stand it is Tristan McKenzie vers Bryce Miller tonight on the bump two first place teams Jason what are you looking forward to most in this series from the Guardians and the Mariners this is a big stretch the next 12 or so games really the end of the month it’s they’re going to be tested it’s the Mariners it’s the or Orioles there it is yeah the Jays the Royals so this is a good little stretch for them this Mariner series you know the Cleveland and Seattle developed pitching like hardly anyone else and I’d put Tampa in there as well so I expect to see some good pitching battles this week good to have them back home they’ve been out on the road for a little while Bryce Miller is another one of those young upand cominging pitchers the Mariners have a ton of them you’ve probably never heard of them but heard of him but he’s really good you going to see him in a sec by the way I got a little special something for you guys I’m Bryce Miller we get toach all right McKenzie obviously you know we know what he is this year he’s managed to duck Dodge dive and Dodge for the most part he but when he misses he gets hit hard yeah he do it’s just you hold your breath every time he’s out there right now uh but it should be a fun battle obviously stepen vote against his former team me for me for tonight I’m that McKenzie thing is the one that I want to see the most because he do when he when they hit his ball it it’s probably a home run but if if they miss it’s a strikeout he misses his spot it’s incredible to see I think Seattle is at a it’s a good team I think that they have like every everybody in baseball they have moments where they’re not as good and then they just it’s like this um but I think that the brown or not the Browns the Guardians coming off of this loss to the Blue Jays I’ll be interested because Jose should be back today right he’s had his I don’t know if he’s back they haven’t put the lineup out yet but he left for paternity Le I thought they said he’d be back for this series well we’ll see when I guess we will see well hopefully it’s like usually it’s like three days hopefully Jose is back uh for today it’ be interesting to see how he how he comes back after being off or missing the last couple of games but for me it’s about the hitting you know if if the pitching for Seattle is supposed to be really that good then we got to start this is a game where we can build our confidence on hitting and continue that home run stretch I think everybody’s been hitting the ball pretty well even when they’re down they still do a great job of rallying hopefully that’s not the case where they have to Rally back against the Mariners but I love the way this team is playing right now um and hopefully Jose is out there to knock R over the fence I want to see Josh Naylor get out of his slump too cuz you you cost me a couple of days ago T you ow down the Mariners lineup is it’s okay it’s not great it’s okay their starting pitching has been very good this season and with Steven Quan on his quest for 400 he’s at 398 now I’m really curious to see how the Seattle staff in particular did you tell Jay that we talked about it yesterday for a while yeah just curious to see how I wish I was on yesterday how he’s not there yet he’s at 398 but he’s inching his way closer and closer and he’s the most unique hitter in all of baseball right now what he does from an offensive standpoint is is unmatched by anyone in baseball no one else is even hitting 330 in baseball he’s hitting 398 but I’m curious to see how Seattle who has a unique approach to attacking Hitters from an entire philosophic iCal standpoint how they try to attack Steven Quan especially on the second and third times through the lineup all their pitchers Bryce Miller who’s going tonight who will talk about in a sec he’s been phenomenal in three of his last four starts two of those last four he’s gone six or more no one runs allowed eight strikeouts or more in one of those he went six allowed two runs had nine strikeouts and then he got absolutely destroyed by the Royals gave up seven runs in five innings so he’s been consistent but he can be hit uh if needed and I’m just curious to see how these guys who all have whips that are right around one how they attack a guy like Steven Quan because they throw strikes they’re all strikeout lad in pitchers Steven Quan doesn’t strike out ever so I’m really interested how that battle unfolds over the next three games if he gets to 400 Jay owes me an apology he does at 400 at any point no finish the season for the season Jay said he would shave his head if he h 400 for the season he did say that so wow we are all he did say that not not that we had any we all are now rooing heavily for I want right here live on air I want to see this man sh it would be epic um so I mentioned Bryce Miller a second ago he’s pitching tonight for the Guardians I want I he went to A&M and right before covid happened at A&M I started an agly athlete Challenge Series where I would challenge an Aggie athlete to their sport oh you did what I did yeah I did it before I did four years before you did you stole my idea and then Co happened and it got washed out but I tried to hit Bryce Miller and the goal was I had 10 pitches CU I put one in play you it’s a little two-minute thing you want to see it yeah yeah St the pack this is me versus Bryce Miller back from 2019 wait what’s your bat what’s your baseball background I played in high school okay I wasn’t very good I played in high school all this is uh 2019 me vers Bryce Miller who’s facing the Guardians lineup tonight and hopefully they fa a little better than I did the texus A&M pitching staff was historically filthy in [Music] 2019 as a team the agies recorded 673 strikeouts that’s a new school record so for our second Aggie athlete challenge I’m taking on Bryce Miller Bryce throws an awful lot of strikes very athletic it’s going to be anywhere from 92 to 96 mph every now and then he’ll lose a little control he’ll miss arms Side High which means right at the right-handed hitter’s head so make sure you’re really safe in that respect Miller rung up 57 batters in just 43 Innings of work last year my goal today simply put the ball in territory do you think I have any shot at hitting your fast ball I mean you said you play baseball in high school so I think you got a chance I warmed up with some soft toss and yeah I was hitting dingers left and right what’s up Bryce you ready for that if I hit a home run can I get a scholarship no doubt we’re we’re going to put you in the lineup we’ll write you in if you run one out of the park today you’re our guy we’re going to find a way to get you eligible so while you watch me try and take Miller deep enjoy the play-by-play commentary from agie infielder Bryce blob hey compete with two right here how’d that look little bit earlier almost got it hey it’s not a sword by the way don’t chop at it that was my pitch though that felt good hey you need to start your swing before the ball’s in the glove that was it that was close that was it even even earlier shoot hey start your swing earlier than you ever thought possible the goal is to hit the ball oh Bice keep going right there right there throw him a slider see if you can hit the slider hey we’re letting you know a slider is coming right here a foot away one last pitch dig it in I’m about to crush [Music] this there you go not easy um 0 for two in challenges now but next week I’ll probably be over for three we’ll see yall after the break and Justin you couldn’t have done any better let’s be honest uh full disclosure the one I did fou tip at the end he like lobbed in 60 mes an hour so the answer was no I couldn’t hit himself with the Guardians have a much better effort tonight and Bryce uh I like you he’s my guy we still keep in touch I hope you get absolutely smoked tonight you need to get in the car and come with me to bios sport in West Lake That Swing is not basketball player that’s so unfortunate you know I felt like I could have I felt like I would you more you would take him deep oh clearly th would had 10 for 10 with list he put a scholarship on the line it ain’t even about the challenge no more this is money on the w i I have no eligibility left you looked that looked like a eastn bat from 198 I need the Ohio State coach do that to me ADM bat that’s what they gave me well and I’m sure it was a good bat it did not look like a bad I need if Ohio State’s coach says that to me I say right let’s go right now that’s right yeah and and I oh I look like Mark McGuire and I take him right over I don’t know who he is but I take it right over the fence pitching tonight for the Mariners no I’m talking about Ohio State’s pitchure I’ll take him right for a scholarship to play baseball it’s gone cuz Jay Crawford was on my list and anytime Jay whenever you after you know take your meds and you know you do your thing you ice up your elbow you know you get you some Icy Hot on there with your shaved head with with your shaved head you going right over the fence my brother and I heard y’all talking about me yesterday G talking about some tyus is crazy talking about he can hit a baseball listen I’m just telling you right now it’s something is is is gifted like I just it’s nothing that I can’t do are we doing the ucss channel 3 softball game are we going to do that yeah Bull’s trying to like and I’m I’m trying to choose my words carefully here yeah bu was so upset about how the teams were split last which by the way Stephanie who does a great job they look fine to me of course you was on the winning team why you it’s not like she was scouting you’d have to submit a scouting report of how much experience of playing softball the teams he was so upset that now he’s trying to be uh create a fantasy draft for this softball game so he can help pick his own team so yes it will happen I don’t know when it’s going to when it happened last year sometime in August it was August so we’ll find but we we got to get Tyrus up for this game such a busy time so that he and Jay can go one-on-one after the game before or after the game well no we’re going to do once the panan games are done Jay’s going to pitch to all of us we’re all going to get one at bat versus Jay or 10 pitches vers Jay all right and hit so uh first pitch tonight is 640 K be sick last time McKenzie pitched his stat line looked good but those were the two hard hit balls against Cincinnati that Tyler Freeman Robin center field he was two plays away from uh being severely injured and I’m getting a phone call from coach Otis right now Earl so uh you want to do a read Steve kill my mic and let me talk to coach Otis for a sec what’s up coach great TV coach do your read all right summer times mean baseball to NBA finals and more and you can bet it all on FanDuel right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any new winning $5 bet that’s 200 bucks you can use to bet everything from finals MVP to who’s going to hit one out the park visit fanduel.com youss and add a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America’s number one sports book keep reading perfect keep reading read it again Earl read it again Earl tus make sure you said that parlay that you put in for the night oh I got you he the hottest man in ucss right now what you four out of your last six parlay or something like that that wasis he just finished throwing with jamus literally he’s walking off the field jamus said hi in the background so now jamus officially been a guest on ucss I guess uh he’s walking into his house it’ll be on in five minutes so we will have Coach Otis here in a sec jamus going to join him I hope so I miss there I missed my I missed mine last night ear by one one game should have been more yeah I should have but it it man didn’t matter you need to stop saying that to me too do up or down and all your $5 bets are you up or down oh I got to be up by now I got to be up I’m only five I I used to be 10 now I’m just doing fives that’d be hard for me to stay I need to bet more than that I can’t see I but when you do so many games like I’m doing six seven legs like 10 10 it probably get you like 600 bucks but I’ll be like you know what this is just for fun $5 and Bam I’m I can’t get excited over a $5 bet well while we’re waiting on Coach Otis let me uh do a little tease of what’s coming up in the next few days after today’s ucss Jason and I are going to tape an ultimate Cav show which is going to air tomorrow at 11:00 because we don’t have a full ucss show show in honor of juneth but we’ll still have content for you guys if the Cavs make a coaching higher between after we tape and then tomorrow morning we’ll we’ll hop back in we’ll do another breaking stream but we’re going to record a ultimate C show a little longer than usual in studio that’ll air tomorrow Earl’s back with a 216 show at some point Earl you g to do it this week or I know you got to fly out so maybe not this week uh I’ll get something recorded he’ll do something G’s got an ultimate brown show coming up uh so we’ll have content all day tomorrow just not your typical UCS is Jay Crawford barbecuing tomorrow since he f for his new found 3% Blackness for juneth yeah for June 3% he said he did he said he was like three two he did ancestry.com or a 23 and me thinging it came back that I’m saying out of this one look look at me I have no he said he’s like two or 3% black I got to do that now I got to and I said so that mean juneth party at your house right on a yacht on a yacht uh well wait for Coach can we go back to something that Ryan Day said a second ago or when he was on he talked about the recruiting landscape and the talent tiis and you mentioned the NAT or bus question at the end M how much pressure do you think he’s actually feeling going to this season like is it palpable amounts or I would think that he feels pressure every single minute of the day because I told you it’s just so many different things your your they went all out okay let’s start from the top you got a new ad who don’t have no ties to you so whether you you’re not his guy anyway so if you if you don’t do well he can move on and get the guy that he wants in there that’s first and we saw Ross bjor in A&M get rid of Jimbo Fisher to oh pay you $72 million and say here have a nice day so that’s not an that’s not an option um on top of that everybody collectives boosters donors everybody has went out and essentially got you all the top transfer portal kids that you wanted so you got those you got the roster you got people to come back for another year give up the NFL for a year to come back for another season so you got that veteran leadership that he he mentioned on there um and on top of that the guy that is the heavy favorite to replace you decided not to take a job and decided to just be an analyst and oh by the way he’s two hours away you know Ryan said any this isn’t groundbreaking but coaches say this all the time not everyone not everyone can play at Ohio State not everyone is built for Ohio State you don’t want necessarily that competition or that pressure that comes with that same goes with coaches like not everyone can handle coach in Ohio State like and I that’s probably unfair for me to name someone but the first name that came to mind was Kirk fens at Iowa like Kirk could left 150 times over to go to the NFL to take a bigger job and Kirk was like you know what I got job stability here I got security I’d go seven and five every year eight and four you know s- six8 and four 9 and three make a couple bowl games and I’m good for 20 25 years man I’m good with that life and and I’m not saying that as a disparaging thing Mike I told you on the phone a couple weeks ago I could have gone higher in my career I don’t work that hard did I can attest those you say that because like to be on the level of like work but like the news Breakers at the top of my profession are on their phone 18 hours a day Tech I don’t want to live that life I don’t go play with my kids so I’m good doing what I’m I’m happy doing what I’m doing like I’ve made it to a pretty good level I’m good here like I’ll stay here for as long until I get thrown out call me Kirk forence I’m good with that like you know like KK dos a job yes but he he’s made an incredible looking for just fire son his job is go come to in because okay he’s been there for 25 years but it’s coming to now that it’s up to 12 teams now and it’s no east west in the Big 10 no more see he was going to the big 10 Championship out of the West because he that was the thing now they’re just taking the top two teams so he might not see the Big 10 championship for ever so at some point they gonna be like you ain’t getting into the cfp and we ain’t going to the big 10 Championship we got to move on okay he’s made a lot of money being mediocre at Iowa a lot of money and he’s had a good life had his put his son on and everything he kept his kids in one place he didn’t have to drag his kids all over the country like there’s something to be said for that and and you know Ryan day’s at the other end of that where he’s in the pressure cooker you are 100% right there is pressure on you every minute of the day and you could be fired he could be fired at the end of the year things don’t go right this year he’s probably out the the the thing about KY mcord is insane to me he lost one game and he’s out like one game well that’s it no you’re right though no Jason’s 100% right and and there’s other schools and it’s not just Ohio State Ohio State’s a good example of it but the expectations are so high that if you don’t deliver at the highest of levels year in and year out and that’s what makes what Nick sain did at Alabama for two decades as incredible as what it was a bad season for B was two losses the best season in history St too L that’s saying we lost twice no no that’s what I’m saying like they’re in that Elite Class where they have raised the bar to such a standard that just maintaining said standard is a franchise program altering season for 97% of college football I do want to be on record by saying I do NE I do believe that Ohio State I don’t think he gets fired after this year I do think if I think they make it to the National Championship whether they win it or not I think him making it there is good enough I do think they beat the team up north I do think they win the Big 10 and I do think they make it to the National Championship so I don’t think he’s going to get fired after this season um I do believe that he is a really good coach there I just think that he’s falling into some unfortunate situations you know the the the 2019 loss to Clemson like that’s you you get a you get a fumble that got overturned and then you get a targeting a bad targeting call against Clemson like that’s just unfortunate then the Georgia game the M targeted on Marvin and he’s out of the game for the rest of the game and then your defense kind of just Falls to Sham it’s just unfortunate situations that’s happened 2020 against Alabama that was just that yeah we can forget about that Alabama was just on another level at that time and that happens so that that’s just part of it but I just think that he’s F he’s falling into some unfortunate situations to where all he needs to me is if he gets that one I think he just got to get over that hump one time and I think he could just it could be a domino effect for him he could do the same thing Kirby Smart is doing because he’s recruiting that way and he’s developing that way he just got to get over there huh and if whoever the quarterback is loses to Michigan he’s out shot you’re out that’s of this whole roster construction especially the last two years in Pacific for Ohio State Elite running back Talent this year in particular Henderson and Judkins might be two of the three best running backs in college football the receiver room’s loaded it was even more loaded last year defense D brw is at 15 draftable guys the quarterback’s the question in college football if you have the quarterback like LSU last year they had Jayden Daniels MH no they had Talent elsewhere I’m not saying both receivers no no I’m saying they had talent but just in general you have the quarterback you could kind of get away with everything else MH this is the one and this is a talented room don’t get me wrong but none of those guys are are preseason Heisman preseason first team All-American caliber guys now they can end up being that but say you just don’t know because I mean will Howard with Kansas State like that’s just Kansas State and Ohio State that’s two different leagues like that’s two totally different talent pool that’s my point Deon Brown you don’t have no tape on him because he play every now and again and then when he had his moment to be the starter he got hurt so it’s just you just don’t know there I got a question what’s up bro and I guess this is for anybody but tyus you would probably know more than us a couple years ago did Ohio State over recruit at the quarterback position and that’s partially why we’re in the situation we in now cuz we seen a lot of guys that was five star guys ended up you know transferring elsewhere because they didn’t have an opportunity to play and some of those guys are still in college and now we’re sitting hear what uncertainty at the quarterback position this the reason that the that the Buckey are in this position that they’re in is only one name that has put him in this and his name is Quinn Uris he transferred out of Ohio State and it messed up everything it really did it made guys have to be because it would have been what CJ it had been CJ stra then it would be Quinn ERS right now taking over the Realms from last year and when he transferred away you end up getting getting Kyle McCord and Devin Brown but I don’t think they was quite the M they didn’t have the same upside as Quinn did Quinn obviously was like the number one quarterback in the class I think or something like that he’s the number one quarterback recruit like ever yeah he was like the highest recruit in Ohio State history or something like that it was ridiculous and when he left you got you had to scramble to try to feel that void and that’s why you ended up with what you ended up with so I think that’s the reason why Ohio State’s in the situation that they’re currently in no and it also feels like there’s no such thing as building a program anymore at least not like no it’s it’s year you win every it’s your year and there’s no such thing as starting a sophomore quarterback and giving him three years like no it’s it’s year two you got two at bests yeah it’s just it’s crazy you Landing a plane over there or what kill my mic coach Otis is call me back this is hilarious you got to read Earl read the fan read the just just more to that conversation I was just thinking about that like man if we still had Queen yours this wouldn’t even be a thing no not at all but he and from his standpoint there is no such thing as waiting anymore for guy like well I think I think for him he did the smart thing he wanted to nil was new he wasn’t going to get it in high school so he was like well I’m going just go ahead and reclassify myself and go to college early I’m going learn under Ryan Day who is one of the best quarterback Minds in college football year then I’m transf back toex where I’m and and take over from there he did he’s smart for what he did and now he’s looking at potentially a first round pick next year so yeah I ain’t mad at him for what he did but he definitely left a hole in Ohio State’s quarterback room for sure yeah so update on Coach Otis he’s trying to get in having Tech issues but I just sent him another link to try it worked this morning when we tested it so hopefully that’ll get him to pop right in well talk about uh Jaylen Brown leading his uh the Boston Celtics to an NBA championship Jaylen Brown yeah I just sent him another link so if you see him pop up on line three coach should be on line three here in a sec uh but yeah the Celtics are your NBA champions was a boring series it was a ter here’s and it feels like the drama gets more attention than the actual games now you know what’s what I’m amazed at is that Kyrie Irvin performance in this finals like you you talk about a guy first of all he’s my second favorite player in the NBA but you talk about a guy who has the experience he has more experience than all because he actually is one thing and to show up and do what he did like have a good series I it he it’s really something with him in Boston playing in Boston like he really cannot play in Boston that’s crazy to me yeah he just wasn’t good enough he had 15 points in the close out game he had a very good game three and that was it game four or they blew him it didn’t matter in all three games in Boston he was essentially a non-factor that’s amazing to me here’s what I took from the it was not a good series it wasn’t it was a very me postseason in general nor the NBA postseason the Timber wvs and the Nuggets probably was the best but even that series only game seven was even close the other six games are all blowouts for everyone who wanted parody in the NBA there you go this this is what you get when you when you do everything you can no I’m serious when you do everything you can to disassemble super teams and you’re trying and this new CBA is going to make it really impossible almost to build these super teams and put all these stars on one team okay well then this is what you get you get parody and you get everybody’s got a chance to win and that’s part of it is great but the theatrics and the drama of tremendous talents going against each other and and and like teams loaded with Stars playing against teams loaded with stars that’s probably over as well you you don’t think the t- wvs versus the Celtics would have been better no I mean Boston was my pick from the start to I mean the best team all year once they got Drew and Chris it was done and and and I didn’t know if that made them better and I was so wrong on that it made them significantly better I when they got Drew I was like it’s done it’s done but when the just like the the path that they took I got so mad watching that team play against the Cavs like the Celtics yeah it was just it’s an underwhelming team to watch them play it really is you don’t at no point did I walk away thinking this team is dominating this team is one of the best ever like and about the Celtic yeah like you looked at them and you’re like man they should be better than this and they won the championship it’s cuz they just be they Cruise like they they play with their food more than any good they they until they got pressed they didn’t really give a crap Indiana in game one had their best chance to uh or got text he says he’s in I feel like a young like a Kobe or Lebron they would have got that they’ have found a way to win that one to beat Boston I mean but again like I think that era is over in terms of what that’s boring this is what you wanted this is what and and and and it’s good for the Cavs and it’s good for Oklahoma City and it’s good for small Market teams in a way although the Cavs Dan would spend like a big Market team so it may actually ultimately hurt them a little bit in the end but when you want parody and you want equal playing field you want everybody to have a chance that’s a good thing but the flip side of that is sometimes it’s a pretty boring postseason and that’s what we saw between the injuries between just the dispersement of talent and it’s not going away it’s it’s going to continue to be now the NFL has thrived on that for years the NFL has thrived on parody on anyone can win and the playoffs are are tremendous to watch now we’ll see if the NBA can get there all right I think we got him finally coach Otis thank you fighting through the technical difficulties but there he is coach Odus he works with jamus Winston he just finished wrapping up a throwing session with jamus so coach I gotta start with that how did james’ arm look today and he he’s on fire we getting ready to play this what we do this what we do for a living so he trained our play so man he play our train let me let me rephrase rephrase that but yeah what we do for a living so we just uh getting ready to get in Camp and get the Cleveland faithful something to all seey you you rocking his merch right there that shirt he a d baby oh always man we we we we’ve been we’ve been rocking together a lot of years so he is I and I and him how did this relationship start between you two uh I started training at age 13 um um all the way until leading up into his freshman year in the high school and uh uh been with him every uh we had missed a beat since that time so went all the way through high school before uh um you know before he even had an offer I I was there from the early conception to now why was Cleveland a good fit for him I’d imagine he could go to another team and start right away so why is Cleveland a good fit for him I just I just feel like uh uh jamus is a person that’s very opportunistic so he wants to be in the best opportunity it’s never been just about money it’s just it’s never been just about a starting role is is it’s more about at this point situations opportunity and and I do I just I feel like the whole Cleveland organization when he looked into the free agency market they this team was headed in the right direction and the opportunity to work with desan um to work with uh the offensive staff coach tasy uh you know the GM all these people I think it was a collab like it was a holistic uh uh decision and we did a bad job introducing coach Otis by the way coach Otis played in the NFL for a few years he had two career sacks 31 tackles and int so he clearly knows the ins and outs of football and coach now you’re working with uh modern day fitness and jamus and a bunch of other athletes and you guys do some uh some unique training drills and I wanted to kind of hammer down and ask where the inspiration for some of these I’ll call them unconventional but clearly effective because they’re working where’s the inspiration and and the design for some of these unconventional training methods come from that have become an internet sensation with James well first of all I want to say this now because I did I did kind of hear uh some of the some of the banter and and and and the juses that were made early on when when James first signed about some of the stuff we do and you know we we we can take it um but I I want to say this um we want you to we want everybody to know who listen is that you know jamus is a funny guy you know I could be a funny guy but we’re not a joke meaning everything we do is is we don’t thought out uh uh very uh uh very systematic we’ve been at this for a long time and again now again I’ve been with him since he was 13 years old so a lot of these drills you see we perfected a lot of them and and been doing them for years and if you go back and and you know you take some of the internet the internet uh uh narratives out of it you’ll be able to see that that that a lot of stuff we doing actually applies directly to the game U with with with it it’s a it’s a it’s a real marriage because I was a defensive lineman and James is a quarterback and so we do a lot of a lot of things he do from a pocket standpoint um um I have been you know a part of helping him put these drills together and over the years and like I say you know from number one player in in in high school to a h the trophy to number one draft pick I think you know uh uh We’ve did we’ve done pretty well uh with with these drills so regardless of what the internet may feel sometime um I think I think if you go back and we starting to get calls from other people Pros College people who want want us to imple you know want Implement some of these drills so it’s just kind of funny to watch how the narrative roll coach when when at what age did you realize that jamus was special you say you’ve been working with him since he was 13 at what age did you realize like this kid can go on to being a a really good player in the NFL one day well first of all Man U I remember early on um uh probably about third or fourth training session one thing I picked up on and I knew he was you know he was you know a lot of people don’t know James was an honors graduate in out of high school uh uh Honors Society I mean Beta Club member I mean he was just a he was a you know a natural uh uh uh you know brain as it was academically and then once I started to realize cuz sometimes some some people can’t marri that academics with that Athletics and I realized wow he’s a Sant on the field and off the field early on it was just as ability to apply you know of course everybody see the arm Talent you know you see the athleticism you see the the throw you see the the the obvious intelligence that he has and his ability to beat you from the pocket but what what threw me off from day one and made me just just took me to another level was his ability to apply you could tell him something in a short period of time and he would know and be able to apply it and do it immediately it wouldn’t like a with certain kids that take four or five months to turn stuff over James could to have it done in four or five minutes and I knew then uh his ability to to just pick it up and put it down uh was just uh unmatched and that’s when I knew that that he would be special just with the obvious tangible attributes but it was the intangibles for me and the leadership skills was through the roof at a young age yeah coach with jamus he obviously won a Heisman Trophy and naal Championship was the number one overall pick had a successful early fraction of his NFL career and he did that before he got lasx surgery it came out and turned out that jamus was doing and accomplishing all these things while I don’t want to say barely being able to see but with subpar Vision to me that is one of the most incredible accomplishments knowing how much goes into playing the quarterback position to do what he did without being able to see were you aware that jamus needed Lasik and does that make what he did until he got lasic even that much more impressive in your eyes considering the fact he was not seeing crystal clear but still throwing touchdowns all over the field yeah I I mean of course you know jamus was just raised uh his dad and I I gotta give his dad credit for this anono Winston and his mom Letta Winston you know when I first got jamus from the very beginning he just a no excuse kid and a man now um you know I call him a kid because he been with me so long but a man obviously but he he’s just a no excuse man and there a lot of things that James was battling through uh uh even his early years in Tampa uh some of the injuries and and and some of the you know of course we know about the stigma he had with his eyes and some of the other things but he just never was gonna make an excuse so to tell you that I knew how bad it was I didn’t even know sometimes because jamus is just not I mean you talking about somebody absolutely will not make an excuse and and and and and sometimes that that almost goes to his death because a lot of times people didn’t know what he was dealing with physically uh uh even in some his years in Tamp and some of some of you know you later find out goes on the the Saints and and win a game against Atlanta Falcon with a broke back a torn perona attendant tended uh coming off of ACL and and and and and most quarterbacks and most people wouldn’t even thought about playing if they would have they would had a caveat in the middle of it he never made any excuses so to tell you I knew uh about how bad the stepen was I knew it was one I didn’t even know because he that’s just not him he’s not g to make any excuses and that’s part of the foundation of who dad and mom raised him to be oh I want to ask you about just your relationship with NFL teams but first we were playing a video earlier I assume that was jamus in the helmet swinging a golf club I got I’ve never seen that before as we talk about unorthodox training tactics what’s the Ben I’ve never what is the benefit to that because that looked really interesting to me well well well well I can tell you uh um one thing I know about most great athletes uh that make it to the NFL level and you got a guy that’s been to the NFL level on that set and I’m sure um um he can testify to this they are multiport athletes and and a lot of time cross trainining you get a skill by being a footballbasketball player you can get skills from doing that that you can’t get from other things well you natur know swinging a Actually I don’t even know that’s actually a baseball bat if we’re looking at that that’s actually just a small baseball bat but what we were trying to do and what we done and we have saw in the go golf club because if you look at the the force and the way you use Ground Force to drive a golf club that’s some of the same uh uh uh foundational muscles you going to use on the back half to throw that football but we went back to baseball because you got to think man James was a a lot of folks forget a division one starting baseball player in his whole time through Florida State when he was at his most successful he played football and baseball so we made make sure that he he HS in on those skills because there are certain things that happen in baseball that we don’t want to lose that still apply to his football game so so that’s why you see a lot of the Cross training and most great athletes were two and three sport uh athletes I’m curious I’ve never asked this before to you guys who are personal quarterback coaches when you’ve got a guy like Jameson I think of like Quincy Avery with DeShawn what’s that relationship like when the NFL team has their own quarterback’s coach that they obviously trust is it is it always a sympathic relationship is it ever Clash with what you want guys to do and how you train guys and teach guys and how the NFL wants it to do I’m just curious how NFL teams view guys like yourself and Quincy who have coached these quarterbacks since they were kids or since college or whatever and there’s obviously a lot of trust in that deep relationship there how do those things align well well first thing thing is I want I would be remissed to not correct it I am technically not James’s quarterback coach uh jamus worked with a guy by the name of John Beck um who actually is his actual technique quarterback coach what I am I’ve been intent conditioning guy I have been um his foundational guy helping in build his athletic Foundation since high school okay a mentor I mean I have been through with him through that whole way but I can’t speak to that relationship because I have been there just like prime example as as his primary strength coach I also worked with uh with with with his guys at the Cleveland Browns and when he was at the Saints and and Tampa Bay I worked hand to hand with the strength coach to let them know some of the things that we have been doing uh in this summer to make sure that that that the goals in which we set from a strength conditioning standpoint and from an athletic uh uh training standpoint are being met so so it it really is a good marriage because again the way the NFL is cut back with the with the making all the different rules as far as it pertains to time that that that coaches can actually spend with athletes it gives you an opportunity and with me being an ex NFL guy I don’t have any issue with going in no ego whatsoever with merging with these guys and making sure we on the same Accord with billing the athlete so I can speak directly that from the strength and conditioning side again I am not his actual fundamental quarterback coach I am not that guy so I I I want I want I want to correct that because I think think sometimes that that can be uh one of the mishaps is being spreaded online as well yeah I appreciate that coach oh you know back in your Prime when you was banging you know and and jam is in his prime you coming off that edge you know and jamus is at quarterback you making the sack or is he you you he good enough to elude you hey man I’m a competitor I I’m a comp we g go we g go at it you know hey we still go at it still this day the day chasing him down man believe it or not at 46 years old so we go at it man but but uh but it’s just it’s a competitive nature man we we G we gonna go at it man we we we laugh about some of that stuff now but uh of course man hey he he he he he a lot younger than me right now so it’s his moment I had my moment in the sun man but that’s funny question coach when uh we talk about jamus because we we love jamus like I think he’s awesome every time he’s in front of a camera he makes us laugh can you give us a jamus story that uh not necessarily special to you but it’s jamus story that we probably haven’t heard about kind of the person jamus is away from the football field not just the player he is on the football field uh man I I can just I can just go on and on U matter of fact we just did a a camp here in Birmingham Alabama um well he did a whole weekend James com back he does a library deal uh where he goes into his old uh um the city he grew up in b Alabama uh and pass out books and and and and and and uh and supports and sponsor a reading program they doing investment and then he was able to this week this this this uh deal to bring in Inky Johnson who actually did a leadership seminar and we were all a part of that Symposium but I can just go on and on with the man that jamus is I mean just just I’m just using just recent just as recent as last weekend he came back and put probably close to 100 ,000 in inner city youth in Birmingham and touched over a thousand kids in just a three-day period so for me one of the greatest story is the man that I’ve watched him become um because again like I say Jess is recent as this weekend you know he comes back and and blesses the whole city of Birmingham with with with his leadership Symposium a youth camp and his deal that he does at the library in B Alabama so uh for me to greatest stories of James Winston is the man that he’s become not just the quarterback but the man awesome coach Otis we really appreciate you taking a few minutes to join us today we apologize for the technical difficulties when you’re in Cleveland next if you want to stop by I’d love to have you in studio and talk some more about football jamus and what you guys are doing with the uh just win program and your training program so coach we appreciate you thank you so much and uh have a blessed rest of the day all right guys hey I appreciate you guys giving me this opportunity and not just going with with the narrative and and and and man I’m looking forward to this to this opportunity in Cleveland I’m I’m loving the way all you guys are handling business in Cleveland look forward to speaking with you guys again at this season rolls along awesome that is coach J former NFL player jamus is trainer not his quarterback coach his trainer and that’s why jamus is in as good a shape as any guy in the NFL coach we appreciate you and have a great rest of the day my friend all right awesome we’re going to go from some uh browns with jamus Winston we got a read we’re going to bring in Danny Cunningham of the lockdown cast podcast here in one sec uh yeah the read today is just subscribe to the ultimate Cleveland sports show make sure you ring the bell uh even check out overtime all that good stuff joining us right now from the newest host of lockon Cavs and my homie from 923 the fan Danny Cunningham Danny what’s up bro thanks for joining the show of course what going on guys how’s everyone doing today we are doing well Danny is your new host of the lockdown Cavs podcast make sure you guys check that out is a daily podcast wherever you find your podcast Spotify Apple podcast it’s on all platforms so make sure you guys give Danny a follow and a subscription because he’s putting out Cavs content on the daily Danny I want to start with this the Cavs have yet to hire a head coach they’ve had a multiple in for inperson interviews are you surprised it’s taking this long for the Cavs to make any type of announcement to formally make someone their new head coach I’m a little surprised that it’s taken this long but I also think that they’re in a position where you know there’s not another there is one other head coaching opening with the Lakers but I don’t necessarily think that they’re competing for candidates I know James bgo has been mentioned out in Los Angeles but I think a lot of people would be pretty surprised if it’s not JJ reck and the Cavs really haven’t been connected to him so I am a little surprised that it’s taken this long I know Kobe Malton mentioned at his postseason availability that they ideally would like to have someone in place by the NBA draft although that might be a little bit aggressive for them but that’s next week and I sort of at this point you know I know they want to be thorough but I also don’t exactly know what they’re still waiting for if I I think James brego probably is going to be the guy that’s my best guess um but you know time will tell I suppose when you look at all the moves that they have to make this off season obviously the Donovan Mitchell extension I don’t want to talk about that one I actually want to talk about Evan Moy do you think he should get the the rookie Max extension I think that’s what it is he’s eligible for or do you think they should wait until next year to let him sign a deal so I think it makes sense to give him that big extension this year and that extension it’s it’s not the same one Donovan Mitchell is eligible to sign in terms of money it’s it’s far less percent of the cap for the Cavs I think that they should because when you drag this out and let’s play this out say they don’t sign him he becomes a restricted free agent next summer and that is something that can be somewhat damaging at at times to relationships between teams and players I know Evan hasn’t progressed offensively the way that just about everybody thought he would to this point but he is still a really good basketball player he’s a phenomenal Defender I think there’s a lot of stuff that simple tweaks can make his offensive game much more impactful so I would give him that extension this summer um I think it’s something that the Cavs will do I would be pretty surprised if he’s not on a you know he’d be on the last of his rookie deal this year but if he’s not on that rookie Max extension uh two years from now I think that’s the most likely outcome here I’m with you I think Evan gets the max I don’t think there’s much of a question over that I think Donovan resigns the one I’m curious about is Isaac okoro is he on this team next year you think he’s on this team next year I think so um because I I don’t know what his Market’s going to be elsewhere like there’s not a ton of teams Jason you know this with a ton of cap room and the teams that I do think have a lot of cap room are they going to overpay for a Coro to the point where the Cavs wouldn’t match that offer I don’t see a situation out there and maybe he finds something you know in the sign in trade market that makes more sense for him but I’m not necessarily sure I see a really good Avenue for him to be out of Cleveland you know I don’t necessarily think he’s going to be on someone on the Cavs for the rest of his career but I think he’s back next year I think he’s a very useful piece too um I do wonder if you know he becomes a more willing shooter how much more valuable he can be or if you know if that back court is split up and I know we can talk about that too but if he’s playing more of the two guard alongside Donovan Mitchell if that’s something that sort of allows him to be a little bit more impactful too yeah Dan before I ask my next question my executive producer said your shirt reminds me reminds him of me so what what does your shirt say I can only see like it say it it says Hoops for breakfast oh yeah a great shirt just a simple Nike graphic shirt just says Hoops for breakfast it was uh I’ve got it on today because it’s clean hey Elite shirt and I I appreciate that Steve Becker I guess uh Dan my question though is you mentioned aoro possibly playing the two when I look at the Cav’s big picture they had so many roll guys who you never knew if you were going to get a great performance or a terrible performance and there was kind of very little in between especially come playoff time Aur was in nothing Nang was a nothing Levert is the epitome of the roller coaster either here or there I think I’m kind of over the Cavs with their entire cast of role players being completely volatile and I’d prefer some more consistency so with that in mind Caris Levert’s a guy who could potentially be moved this off season I know he’s not one of the big names we’ve talked about on this show a lot but would you be in favor of moving Levert for maybe someone a little more stable if the right deal is on the table for the Cavs in that regard I would be um but I think with KT you kind of I I think it’s smart to think a little bit bigger there because if you put together in we know that the Cavs have privately been saying and and other teams have been saying that the Cavs don’t want to break up their core four but if you combine Caris lever’s contract and jar Allen’s contract you can get up to $36 million there Levert’s making I believe just around $16 million next year you could trade two guys for a bigger piece on the wing that is a little bit you know brings more of that consistency that you’re looking for is a better basketball player someone that can is a is a better fit alongside what the rest of the Cavs have that’s what I would be looking for because I’m not sure what sort of value Caris LT has just as himself as a as a contract in the trade market so I do think that if you’re looking to move him you might want to combine him with another salary just to be able to get something that’s a little bit bigger and a better talent for the Cav’s back what do you think the Cav’s best option moving forward is is it to to keep the core for or do you think they should trade one or two of those pieces for something better I think the best option is to break it up um I understand that continuity is is something that’s rare in the NBA and it’s really good when you have it but I think Donovan Mitchell’s a superstar I do and I think he and Darius Garland can work together in the back court but in the front Court the Cavs aren’t getting the most out of Evan Moy and I think that when they traded for Donovan Mitchell that was a move that raised the floor of this organization like if everyone’s healthy they’re going to be a team that is a top four seed in the Eastern Conference they absolutely have the capability of winning a playoff series maybe two he’s that floor Riser but I still think Evan Mobley is the ceiling Razer for this team and I don’t think that Evan Moy can get to his potential where the Cavs need him to be where the Cavs thought he would get to when they made that Donovan Mitchell trade if he’s not playing Center more often than not and he can’t play center more often than not if Jared Allen’s still on the team so that’s the move that I would make and I also think Jared Allen’s value is probably about as high on the trade market as it’s going to get think about coming off the knck series last year how low it was and then he had a fantastic season I think he’s a pretty sought-after guy from other teams in the NBA so that’s the move I would make because I think that one you’d get a lot back and two that’s sort of how I think you unlock Evan Moy and that’s got to be a pretty important thing for the Cavs who’s your pick at coach who do you want him to hire um you know for me it’s bgo that’s the guy I I like him I think what he did in Charlotte and I understand that that organization really was a mess before he was there um certainly at times when he was there and has been since but if you look at what they were able to do offensively with a young lamelo ball and Jason you know it’s really difficult in the NBA to be good offensively with a rookie or second year ball Dominic art that just does not happen often and for them to be I think they were sixth in offense lamelo’s rookie year that’s something that that shows me okay he can if he’s the guy he’s someone that can optimize this offense and I think that’s what so badly needed because the bones of this team being a good defensive team are going to be there just by who’s on the roster I think they really need someone that can Kickstart the offense and I think bgo would be that guy I like Kenny ainson a lot too um I think it matters that he’s been in a great Organization for the last several years in Golden State um and I also really liked a lot of the stuff that he did in Brooklyn on those those young early Nets team before Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving got there that a lot of Cavs fans watched because the Cavs had Brooklyn’s pick that year um but I like a lot of the stuff that he was able to do there and then being around Steve Curt and the Warriors the last several years I think is a really good thing for him too as a future head coach I like bgo too for the record I did a whole film breakdown on how his offense would translate to the Cav’s current uh Personnel last week if you want to check it out it’s on our YouTube page and his last year in Charlotte when they made the playing game with 43 wins they were actually second in the NBA with 115.2 points per game he does get the most out of young guards and especially uh young guards that are necessarily not as tall as a Melo ball as Terry Rosier and Devonte Graham had their career years under bgo uh Danny we talked about this in the show last week I’m curious what you think in your dream ideal scenario who’s the one guy that Cavs and you could go as as crazy as you want or keep it in the uh terms of realisticness if you want who’s your ideal addition to this caps team um I think the dream Edition would probably be M Bridges from Brooklyn um you know I don’t know the direction that Brooklyn’s going to want to go in this summer they I think they’re pretty far away from being a team that’s competitive I know they were a team that has been talked about as one that could sign Donovan Mitchell next summer if he didn’t sign a contract extension and the Cavs didn’t trade him um but I just don’t see their Avenues right now and I know they have a lot of other organizations picks they don’t have their own picks but they have quite a few picks from other organizations I’m not sure the Avenues they have to be a real quality Contender over the next couple of years and I think that Bridges is someone they could get a lot for and I think he fits Cleveland perfectly with everything that he does I think he’s miscast in Brooklyn as their best player right now but if he’s your second or third best player the way he would be here I think that’s that’s pretty awesome and he he handles a lot on the wing he’s a really good Defender he can make shots he can create for himself and others especially if he’s in a little bit of a lower usage role than what he’s in in Brooklyn right now I think adding to this roster obviously you’d have to give up something but if you’ve got male Bridges Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley that’s a really good best three when you look at the trade that the Cavs made to acquire Donovan Mitchell looking at it today how do you grade that trade um I think it is as of right now a win and I think the moment Donovan Mitchell puts pen to paper on a contract extension you can kind of close that door on on it not being a good trade if the Cavs acquired a superstar and yeah they gave up a lot to get him in terms of draft Capital Lowry Marin’s become a terrific player in Utah but the Cavs got the best player in that deal when Donovan has been healthy on the Cavs he’s been a top 10 player in basketball he finished sixth in MVP voting this year or last year excuse me I think he was on track to make the all-nba team again this year he’s been fantastic yeah some of those draft picks have the opportunity to be pretty painful but if Donovan signs the extension and stays in Cleveland the the burden that those draft picks carry I think goes down quite a bit and it really tilts the scale um in the Cav’s favor as far as that trade goes what you think of the finals I was watching the Red Sox and blue jays last night that’s how much I interest had I I mean I I expected more um and I think that was obviously foolish of me because you know I thought I I have bought into Luca like I think Luca dantri is obviously a fantastic FC player probably one of the three best in basketball um it’s very clear he’s beat up and Boston is just for as I think uninteresting as they are they’re just better than everybody else right now they they are um it’s weird because all of their Advanced numbers and and even their record like just points to them being a historic team and maybe you guys feel differently about this but when I watch this I’m like yeah they’re they’re pretty good like but I don’t put them in the same breath as you know the Warriors when they added Kevin Durant or you know some of the other really great teams in in basketball history it was certainly not what the NBA needed like the NBA I thought needed a a longer series needed a better series a more competitive series it was it was without question disappointment and and like I can’t blame you for watching Red Sox Blue Jays last night Jason like there’s there were better things on TV than game five of the finals and as just a basketball fan yeah I hate that I’m saying that and I feel like it’s true well here’s the point I made earlier for all people and I’m not saying you’re wrong on this but for all the people who wanted rid of super teams and wanted even playing field here you go like this is what you’re going to get with with parody comes so now this is a little bit to the extreme because so many teams were hurt that Boston had to go through but there I it just it was not a compelling postseason at all because the star power driven teams were not part of it and I I absolutely believe that is going away with the new CBA and the new the second apron is real and the levers it takes away from you are real and I just think that this very much could be the future of NBA playoffs good or bad right or wrong and now the NFL’s made a killing with parodying with everyone to someone different winning every year I’m not sure the NBA can have the same fate they lost a lot of money like for all the TV contracts that they’re going to sign and all the money they’re going to sign they lost their ass this year with that Series going five games uh that’s not a good look for the league in terms of financial Revenue no it’s not and I I do wonder how other matchups would have looked like had you know I think Denver was all Minnesota was just always a bad matchup for Denver but if you got Denver against Boston in the finals how does that look you know obviously we’ll never know I think that just because everyone that Boston faced was hurt it made for they were never stressed and I I just don’t think it makes for good postseasons when even if you’ve got a dominant team it it doesn’t make for good postseason unless that team gets stressed at a certain point or LeBron James is involved and obviously neither of those things happened with Boston and none of the stars for either team played particularly well start to finish throughout the series there was guys injured we talked about the Celtics a little before you got on Danny about their historical dominance but they just seem to play with their food a lot and until crunch time came they would just kind of Walt through the motions and it’d be an eight-point game then all right let’s decide to actually play and we win by 17 I saw a stat they actually won in the 101 games they played this year they LED 50 of those by 20 points or more at some point there in the game which is absurd which means they’re way better than we probably think they actually were and they just didn’t give a crap for most of the game with that being said Danny one thing I took away from this finals especially watching the coverage of the finals is we are moving from a period of media where the game was the most important thing to now it’s the drama and the ancillary topic surrounding the game way more than the game itself did you get the same sense watching especially how ESPN and their halftime show and and get up and the ESPN shows in particular only because it was on ABC and ESPN I’m singling them out on how they cover the finals that we’re moving away from the game itself and into an era where all the other things who’s the best player the extensions Legacy game for Kyrie in game three when he obviously had the biggest game of his career in game seven here in the finals were those story lines are becoming more important than the actual basketball itself you know I think we’ve been there for a little while in the NBA because you know some of the the things that everyone always wants to talk about is you know who can my team trade for who can my team sign this off season and I do think a lot of that and I think this is a a very big picture discussion that I’m sure we don’t have time for today but a lot of that is kind of how content is consumed right like this right now is being watched by however many number of people on YouTube like 15 years ago that wasn’t the case so now you’ve got kids that might not actually even be watching these NBA games but they’re seeing highlights on Instagram or YouTube or Tik Tok so they’re consuming the game differently so it does make some sense if you’re and I’m not saying this is how I want to consume this stuff to be clear like I want the games to matter I care about the games I love the game um but it’s so much easier to go out there and to put together a 90 second clip of why you know the Cav should do this and put it on Tik Tok and watch how many views roll in and that’s how you can boost your profile so I do think that’s why some of these media companies are going in that direction um I think it probably started about the time LeBron went to Miami with the decision being on ESPN like I actually think that is a pretty big Pivot Point when it comes to how basketball’s been covered how it’s been talked about and then it’s also you know you watched that halftime show last night I didn’t have a stopwatch on it but how long did the studio team actually talk about basketball during the halftime show they get like two minutes between all of the commercials so like it it is putting those guys in a bit of a tough position because what are you supposed to do if you’ve got five people on a panel at halftime you’ve got about two minutes and 30 seconds total you’ve got to get in you’ve got to get out that leaves about two minutes for four people to make a point that’s a tough ask that’s a very tough ask and for the record we do plenty of trade rumors and free agency rumors and all that stuff here on this show so I’m I’m well aware we are calling the kettle uh what’s it called the calling the kettle black pot calling yeah I understand that we we do a lot of that stuff too but to see PN who’s covering the game and has the halftime show for the game kind of stray in that direction kind of open my eyes but I guess you all right it’s not the first time it’s happened it certainly won’t be the last time uh Danny we appreciate you taking some time to join us today make sure you guys check out Danny Cunningham the newest host of the lockdown Cavs podcast it is every day is there a set time Danny is depend on what what you’re feeling when it comes out so I mean if something big happens like if the Cavs decide decide in 30 minutes they want to hire James brego like I’ll get an episode up about as quick as I can can once I can digest some thoughts but for the most part it comes out on YouTube uh around 11:00 at night and it hit your podcast feed first thing in the morning about 5: am it should uh should be in apple Spotify wherever you get your podcast awesome Danny appreciate you taking some time we’ll see you again in the ultimate Cleveland sports show make sure you check him out on the locked on Cavs podcast thanks Danny anytime guys that was Danny Cunningham of the locked on Cavs podcast some good Insight he took over for Evan and Chris and now Danny is running and doing his thing with the show so make sure you guys check it out good for him oh we got any Super chats today no we don’t but you can wrap this thing up with some final thoughts uh final thoughts well haven’t done a final thought in Co Jas texted us and said when he’s in Cleveland he wants to come on so he’s welcome anytime that’d be fun I want him to put us through some drills I want to see Jason go through some of those quarterback drills I got back apparently he he’s fit he lifts how many times a week now three live three times a week well the class is three times a week the class is Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays I’m there probably one or two what’s up bro try and get there three uh and you I saw you smirking when he’s talking about multiport athletes and everything yeah I know last time you h a golf club it wound up in the water so you can just pipe down over there with the with the golf club here the thing like I say y’all all everybody remember is the golf clip but y’all don’t y’all wasn’t there to see what happened after the golf clip yeah you swimming a good in the lake to go get it no I didn’t I actually took some more swings like cuz people continue which is weird they hear the story about me throwing a club in the water one my to see you go again I would never give you one of my clubs so my last one I ended up hitting like five more times on that same spot and my last one was on the green are you a big offer I haven’t played at all this sh year I normally I I mean do you want to play in July no he doesn’t actually I’m going I’m at uh are you talking about Austin cars I’m doing Austin’s Audi that might be so you’re already there yeah that might be the first time you going you a golfer I’m not golfing but we’re doing a live show from there oh we are yeah who is we what day is that on it’s a Monday July what is it ju ju ju has nothing to do with me if you want to stop on we’re we’re doing a live show from out there yeah I I I’m I said I would I mean yeah I’m part of it cool but I haven’t golfed at all this summer normally I go out that’s the the co summer I golfed all summer long you telling me go golf isn’t something that you could just pick back up and be good at it still I mean you’re not good at I’m not it don’t matter how often I play I’m just not I think if I become consistent like if I go for like two straight weeks I think I could be really good no the co summer I do Chris Fedor and I played all summer and I would just go on Twitter and say where should we play this week and then wait for a course to invite us to play for free because I’m so cheap I don’t want to pay for I don’t pay for golf I I only play if it’s free I hate so if you ever see me on Twitter going where should we play this week it’s nothing but just me grabbling and begging for a course to say hey come on out and play I’m like all right we’ll be there oh you had that’s a shame you for that’s such a shame what what’s wrong with that as much money as you make uh training camp dates I a wasted on golf the rookies uh for the Cleveland Browns report on July 22nd the veterans report on the 24th and of course they depart for the Green Brier on S day and they start the green Bri right that’s where they start training camp this year I think you going out there I am yeah can I go with you if you pay for gas this is the athletic cover that yeah but if I can scam him I can scam him for two out in golf yeah I’ll go I’ll go hilarious I’m going for a couple days of the start probably last year I went at the end this year I’ll probably go with the start start Phil Dawson’s a 2024 Ring of Honor guy for the Browns now well deserved well deserved ucss guest Phil Dawson so shout out to Phil when does Kade York go in I can’t believe he’s back with the team by the way I don’t know what you can’t believe like think of the circle for Kade York from where he started yeah to making the field goal against Carolina yeah now coming all the way full circle and Lon it’s all happened in the the realm of the show well it’s all happened in the realm of this particular Dustin Hopkins gets hurt again do you trust Kade York if he gets hurt again he’s done it before he’s done it before hey I have a question for you actually so you played special teams I did with the new kickoff rules M do you think you would have been not a better special would you have been more valuable in today’s NFL with the current kickoff rules on what on kickoff or kickoff return both either well like like as a guy who was a a backup secondary guy and a like you would have been more valuable and how how would your skill set have fit into the way these new kickoffs work well due to the fact that see the new way the new way makes it to where anybody can I feel like anybody can make the tackle on this thing now I feel like when it on the old kickoff you had to have speed like it was they had your best players was in the middle was your two fives in the middle It Go five 4 3 2 one the the ones was nothing but the safeties the FIV was the players that had no rules they went straight down the field they could switch lanes cross over all of that cuz they didn’t have no rules everybody else had integrities they had assignments that they had to do and the fours kind of fitted off the fives but now that it’s only five yards yards apart like that’s nothing but like block destruction that’s just boom look at two Gap him look where the ball at throw him to the side and make the play like and I was really good especially at the end of my career with my hands so I feel like if you good with your hands you can shock share somebody and get off like you would make a ton of plays on on kickoff um as far as the kickoff return I little I’mma let y’all know something every NFL player hates kickoff return as except for the returner everybody else hates kick off return they pray to God that that ball gets kicked out of the back of the end zone because it’s no worse feeling than trying to block somebody that’s running full speed a backup linebacker that’s a fifth string that’s never going to play that’s been in the weight room or it’s that fullback that don’t even get no utilization he got to come down the field 40 yard Head Start you got to turn around and try to catch this man and it is ridiculous so now that that is gone and there only five yards I wouldn’t mind that all you got to do is really just block rip and run the numbers and just get your dude a seam he should be able to make it through there I know we got like 30 seconds is how much is this going to change who is on the field I think you got to put your best blockers cuz now they ain’t got to worry about will starters be on teams more no they’re not doing that okay they’re not doing that all right I did hear the Chiefs and I know we got 10 seconds the Chiefs want Justin Reed to do their kickoffs because they think the kicker is going to be a valuable tack in the situation as opposed to trying Chase window I can see that so maybe that’ll be something we see we’ll see you over time we talk about the Ravens disgusting new uniforms [Music]

The Cleveland Browns will appear on HBO’s Hard Knocks this year, as the series features an in-depth look into the AFC North. The Cleveland Browns appeared on Hard Knocks before, but things didn’t go so well, and a toxic culture was displayed for the world to see. Fast-forward to 2024, when the Cleveland Browns have extended their GM and Head Coach for the first time under Haslam’s ownership. Is the Cleveland Browns culture strong enough for another Hard Knocks feature? UCSS will discuss it.

The AFC North is ready for its close-up.

The division best known for heated rivalries and star quarterbacks will be featured on the in-season edition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” TV series this season. It’s the first time the Emmy Award-winning series has chronicled an entire division.

Last season, the AFC North’s four teams — the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers — all finished with winning records.

With quarterbacks Lamar Jackson , Joe Burrow , Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson , who was traded from the Denver Broncos to Pittsburgh in the offseason, there are plenty of storylines in the North along with a reputation for tight, testy games.

“Hard Knocks: In Season with the AFC North” will debut Dec. 3 and run through the rest of the regular season and playoffs | https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40370791/afc-north-featured-season-version-hard-knocks

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The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show is your daily source of the best conversation about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as sports throughout Northeast Ohio. Hosted by Jay Crawford, Adam the Bull, G Bush, Jason Lloyd, Brad Sellers and Tyvis Powell.

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