HOUR 1 | Which quarterbacks are separating themselves in the BYU quarterback battle? Aaron Roderi…
Hey, this is JJ and Alex. As you wrap up your day, it’s time to get your fix of the teams you live for and the sports you love. This is JJ and Alex, presented by G2G Bars on 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Welcome on in everybody to a Tuesday edition of JJ and Alex 975 EKSL Sport Zone. Alex Cury, Jeremiah Jensen, JJ, what’s up, man? Another uh another day in paradise, man. Another day as we await college football, await regular football. Any Jazz breaking news in the last 14 minutes that we uh could roll? No old players that they’ve acquired bringing them back. Do you have any hot European finish only uh highlights we could play? They didn’t trade Kevin Love for uh two second round picks in 2037. What is the standing the current standing of Kevin Love with the uh with the Utah Jazz starter. You heard it here first, everybody. Projected starter day one. That’s why they brought back the minivan. They’re making a run at a title now. That would be kind of fun. a Kevin Love. I’m trying to think what that starting lineup would look like. Okay, Kevin Love, Larry Markin, George Nyang, and then a uh and then throw in Mail. Mu, and then an 18 and a halfyear-old Ace Bailey. Boom. Let’s go. Let’s go from there. See what happens. Throw him in there with the vets. Might as well. Might as well. Is there a version of that in the I mean the NBA is funny because if you’re really good, you’re drafted highly and everybody wants you to make an impact. There’s no version of like a you know what, let’s sit him behind two point guards for a couple years. Let’s give him the old Jackson Dart treatment. Is there a Russell Wilson in this? That’s how it used to be. I know. Remember the Derry Darren Williams, Jerry Sloan? You know why Darren didn’t like Jerry? Oh yeah, he didn’t start him right off the bat, man. He never forgave him. That’s wild. But at the same time, now organizations are like, “Dude, he’s a fifth round pick. Eventually, they cleared the air. Don’t fifth round pick. We’re we’re we’re playing day one. You’re our guy. Yeah. No, it’s different now. And you have to and you and we’re paying you and you got to and you got to do it right now. Come on. There’s some rookies that sit still. I mean, but there’s so few veteran teams that are running making championship runs. And I don’t What does What does Philly do with VJ Edgecom this year? Oh. Uh are they starting him? Is he going to start on a team that’s going to make a run at a title? He’s playing really really well in the off I mean he played really really well in the summer league. What does that mean? Cooper Flag is going to start for the Mavericks, right? That’s a team that’s going to be really, really good. But that’s an exception. I think that’s cute that Cooper Flag, uh, VJ Edgecomb for Philly. Great. Cooper Flag for Dallas. Great. They don’t have the summer league MVP on their roster, though. That’s fair. Okay. All right. But hey, Flip is a vet now. He’s a He is a better vet. He’s one of the longest tenure players on the Jets roster. That’s terrible. serious. Oh, no. You’ve got uh which one? Which one? Okay. What happens first? Uh the Charlotte Hornets who won the summer league championship. I I don’t know if you knew that. Hanging a banner. They game one. Which one? Which happens first? They win an NBA title or Flip gets an actual league MVP? Any takers on that one? Hornets winning a title. Hey, John Matir, you want to run this one through your bookie? Oh. Oh, too soon. Sorry. Oh, wow. Too soon. Sorry to offend you guys’ uh sensibilities over here. Wow. Hey, take it easy on the young man. He’s just having fun with his friends. Sure. All right. Our program brought to you by G2G Bars. All natural ingredients and no preservatives make the G2G bar the perfect protein bar. Let’s get the show started off officially instead of all this back and forth nonsense about John Matier and his betting habits or lack thereof, whatever you want to call it. non-bedding jokes with the friends. We’ll bring that up a little bit later in the program. Let’s kick things off with the cut as we always do. Let’s get to some camp. Let’s get to some audio. Let’s get down to Provo because that’s where the news has been bubbling down there. So, let’s get right to it. It’s time for the biggest story of the day. This is what made the cut with JJ and Alex on 975, the KSL Sports Zone. It happened. It happened. JJ, I hear that music. You made the prediction yesterday. It’s developing. So, in news, JJ, you know this. It’s there’s breaking news. Like, hey, this just happened. This is what we’d call a developing news situation. Yes. And that is down in Provo as described over the weekend that they need to start pairing this quarterback battle down. And then as soon as the media was able to talk to A-Rod and Kehani, we got the spill. What do we have so far today uh from the race to be the starting quarterback at BYU news desk? JJ, what do you have? Uh coming out of Provo today, we’ve learned that it’s down to two and it’s Bear Bachmire and McKay Hilstead getting the reps and Bear Bachmeire getting would you call it starter reps? Yeah, first team reps. Yeah. Yeah. At least today you have like A-Rod being like, “Yeah, man. I mean, we’re just that’s the way we did it today. You have Keelani going, “Yeah, you know, A-Rod’s got his system. I don’t know what I don’t know what A-Rod’s thinking necessarily, but you know, he’s got his system working out.” I’m like, “Okay, you guys aren’t meticulously planning this thing out. Fine.” I will say, though, BYU fans, knowing that this is kind of moving that direction, it definitely feels like Bear Bachmire is getting a lot more attention. He’s getting a lot of those first team reps. Maybe it is just the first day. However, how would you feel about your starting quarterback being that true freshman after we had this whole discussion of veteran, veteran, veteran, veteran, but you know, is uh as A-Rod says all the time, the standard at at BYU at quarterback is the standard. And if the person is closest to it is a true freshman, then so be it. That’s the guy who’s going to get the start. If he beats out a junior and a sophomore that have started games previously in FBS games, I’m fine with it because it means he’s better than the other two and probably the better athlete and better quarterback ultimately. What’s really fascinating and I don’t want we’re going to hear from Aaron Roderick so I don’t want to step on too much of what he’s going to explain about what’s going on here but I told you was it Friday when we left I said listen you don’t keep the third guy the freshman guy around in the mix if he’s not pushing these other guys and making the coaches think wow we we got something here they would have eliminated him very quickly the longer this thing lingered where Bachmeire is in play I’m like like I’ve I’ve covered heard so many of these, played the position,’ve seen it at different levels. I see what’s going on here, and this is exactly how it’s playing out. Said it again yesterday. I was like, “Look, Boach Meer is in firmly in the mix here.” Well, when A-Rod yesterday mentioned this perked our ears yesterday when we heard the uh when we played the audio from, you know, the whole scrimmage reaction and it was we got a couple guy we got a couple guys at quarterback who run the football and it’s going to be designed quarterback runs. That’s part of this offense. And we both looked at each other like, “Oh, is that maybe a little tell?” And then as soon as we got on the air again after that was over, you said that means it’s probably Bear Bachmeire and uh and uh uh M Hillstead. Those are the two. And I said, “Oh, that’s kind of that’s kind of tasty.” Well, we’ll find out tomorrow. And here we are. The uh So, we know now. It’s confirmed what I thought was playing out. Uh and I think Bach Meers got a great shot. Yeah. Now, if he took those starter reps and did well with them, if he’s this far up to speed where he’s he’s caught up, he remember he didn’t have spring. He was at Stanford in spring. He had a spring with them, but he didn’t have it with BYU. And so, he was behind the eightball to start. The fact that a freshman has closed the gap this quickly tells me a lot. This kid’s really good. Well, both mentally and physically really good. They keep talking about how sharp he is. like from from intelligence standpoint because it’s not an easy offense to get, but A-Rod has been gushing about that from the beginning when we talked to him about uh about the Bachmire brothers. The week that they got those guys to sign officially and they came to BYU, that was like the first thing he told us on the air was, “Oh, I I mean, this guy is so smart. He’s already got so many things down of this offense.” And when you talk to him about it, he has a vision of it. So, that’s a that’s a that’s a massive benefit. Now, I don’t want to be talking like this. we know that this guy’s going to be the starter or not because I don’t know that. But they are going to it it is down to the two. Let’s just get straight to A-Rod. He was available after practice today down at BYU and uh you know initially it was like just talking about kind of the day a little bit but sort of backed his way into a discussion about oh yeah by the way yeah they are getting first team reps or yeah Bear is getting the majority of of the first team reps today. But here’s what A-Rod had to say today after they made the announcement that it’s down to two quarterbacks. held back some of those first team guys a little bit up to this point and now we’re starting to ramp up a little more and get those guys more involved and when when our best 11’s on the field we’re we’re going to be tough to deal with. First team QB reps today. Uh Bear took the majority today and uh McKay got some as well. Um as I mentioned Saturday we can’t keep going equal reps with three guys anymore. So uh you know each day you’re going to see right now McKay and Bear getting the majority of the reps with the ones and the twos. And uh that’s that’s where we’re at right now. He gave a nice pass to Carson there. What we were allowed to watch there in that drive near the end of practice. He’s making those throws. He throws a lot of completions. That’s one thing. He’s he’s uh doesn’t take sacks and he’s very accurate and uh throwing throwing a lot of completions out here. What is a fall camp with a quarterback battle like for you? Is it is it nerve-wracking? Do you lose sleep or do you just deal with it a day at a time? Well, yeah. I mean, I I feel an obligation, sure, to do the right thing for our program. You know, the players, first of all, and the coaches and their families. You’ve got to want to do the right thing and make sure you get get it right. And uh and then all of our fans, you know, we we’ve got great fans and I want to make sure that we put the the guy on the field that’s earned it and deserves it. And and um doesn’t matter if it’s a a freshman or a sophomore or a transfer, the standard is the standard here at quarterback. And so we’re, you know, we’re not going to lower that standard. Um, no matter what, we’re going to we need guys to keep stepping up and playing like the QBs of the past year. Yeah, we have we have a lot of work to do still, but it’s getting a little bit cleaner every day, and that’s why you practice. And, um, having a a Big 12 officiating crew Saturday in the stadium was great. We we learned a lot of good lessons that day about just all the little details that can cost you. And I thought the last two days it’s been cleaner. And then that’s the goal is just keep keep improving each day. We have smart guys here. So yeah, we and um you know that’s all that’s been a strength of of uh this program for a long time is we get to coach tough smart kids and so yeah, I I think not everybody has it down completely yet, but um we have smart kids that are going to do what they’re told and they execute. What went into the decision and when did you make a decision to give the the reps with the ones to McKay and Bear? Well, the decisions it it happens on the field. I mean it’s it’s not like I just say, “Oh, this is what I decided today.” It’s it’s it’s what happens on the field. You know, the guy that moves the team, we want to move the team and score points. So, if you take care of the football and you throw completions and you make good decisions and a lot of times it’s things that fans don’t see, a lot of times it’s a guy’s got two plays and it gets us into the right play and you hand it off and make four yards and nobody knew that the quarterback just did the right thing for our program. He got us out of a bad play. Um those things are big and so we’re we’re evaluating that every day and the guys that play the best the guy the guy that plays the best will be the one that starts in the first game. Yeah, I think it’s kind of similar to last year where you know nobody thought we were any good and we um had something to prove last year and I think there’s a little bit of that going on right now too. You know I think people have lost a little faith in in us offensively and our players I think are determined to show that we still have a really good team. How are your skill positions doing catching the football? Yeah, we have a lot of good, you know, like our obviously receivers, that’s their job, but um our tight ends are doing a nice job. Carson Ryan’s an excellent receiver and our running backs are really good receivers. We we’re uh using those guys a lot in the passing game. What’s a decent timetable for the quarterback starting naming and does is it affected by the fact you’re either playing FCS opponent in the first week or competitive advantage? How do you kind of view all that together? We haven’t set a deadline. Um, but the sooner the better and once it’s clear, we’ll we’ll make the move. If you know that as soon as as soon as it’s clear to us who the right who it is, we’ll make that we’ll make that statement. Yeah, there it is. Mayor Bachmire getting the me the majority of the one reps today. Don’t know if that’s going to change tomorrow, but you heard A-Rod talking about, hey, the play on the field is the only thing that determines this. Has nothing to do with, well, we want to we want to babysit somebody’s feelings over here. We want to make sure they’re making the right decision or just holding a guy out because of the year that they are in school. is not going to be part of the conversation. If they wear number 47 at quarterback, that might be a dealbreaker, but here we are. We’ll have to get used to that. That’ll be a weird one, right? It’s really jarring for me. I’m not going to lie. You’re like, that’s not that’s not okay. We can’t have that out. Here’s the other thing is he is he kind of has a little bit Bear has so he wears a number 47. He’s a large kid. That’s what I’m saying. He has he already looks like an outside linebacker. I think it’s I think it’s all a ploy to miss the media on the way out the door. You know what I mean? Like I think no no media members looking for number 47 after practice. Where’s number eight over here? Number 47. If you put us all in a room and ask us how many number 47s have you interviewed in your career? I’d be like can’t can’t recall one. I actually cannot in my head like I’m number 47. Yeah. So Bear Bachmire wearing 47 looking like an outside linebacker. Still though, I mean it’s I don’t know if you hear that. I I think that if you’re a BYU fan, read between the lines. Uh they paired it down to two and they did it right then because there was probably a stark difference from two to three at least. And I bet you’re starting to see even a difference between one to two. They’re starting to that’s starting to come into focus a little bit. And so and that’s good news. I mean you you said it every day that it’s a quote unquote close race is bad. That’s bad for business. It’s terrible because then you go, “No, you the team will try to sell like we got really we got three really good guys out there. I’m telling you.” And you’re like, and we’re all back here going, “No, you don’t. You don’t have one phenomenal guy. If you have three, you don’t have one.” Because one phenomenal guy would rise to the top here. And I think we’re starting to see it. Again, this is all just speculation on our part, but yesterday’s speculation worked out, didn’t it? Yeah. Come on, let’s speculate a little bit more. the KSL sports investigative team here. Let’s let’s get a picture of us downstairs back us BYU. We figured you out. Let’s get a little Let’s get a picture of us downstairs on the on the TV wall trying to hide that freshman you have JJ and Alex investigating. Slow turn. Excuse me. Excuse me. Is that your starting quarterback over there? Get away from me, sir. Wait, are you telling me that your freshman still taking reps two weeks into camp? I didn’t tell you you could film here. That’s interesting. Uh, all right. Here’s Kehlani Sitake after practice today. Uh, this is a guy who’s talking about a lot of the work that’s being done overall with the offense, but uh, focusing a lot on obviously what’s going on at the quarterback position, but he talked a lot about a lot of other positions as well because it’s not just that that quarterback battle that’s one that we’re all talking about, but so much of it is all coming into focus for all the different positions. And I think that BYU feels pretty good about where they’re at right now with everybody else. And so here’s what Colani had to say after practice today. Got some good live work and um happy with what I’m seeing from the team. And you know I tal I last time I talked to you guys was before the we saw the film. So thought the film was good. It’s probably told the guys it’s never as good as you think and never as bad as you think too. So um it was there was some really good things there and the good the good part is that I like the physical part of the game and how our guys were able to tackle and block. Just a fundamental part of the football. So, um, but we can build on that. And then yesterday and today were really good practices for us. Kani, how good can this team be? Yeah, we have a lot of work to go. I mean, it’s just not I’m not going to make any statements how good we can be. We just show it on the field and let people find out for themselves. Bear leading this race right now. He was the only guy we saw with the first team offense in the media window. Yeah, I think I think A-Rod knows where he’s going with everything. And I think the key is like um we settle it on the field, you know, let I don’t control it. It’s the players. If you want to win the spot, it’s there for the taking. And so um you know, I think we our job is to put them in the position where they can win the spot. And that’s in every position, including quarterback. And so I I think it’s we still have some more time to to see who’s going to be the best fit for running our offense and who’s going to be the best fit for that, you know, for game one and then we’ll go from there. But as soon as we figure it out, we’ll let you guys know. And and probably the sooner the better from h from your experience, you know, covering or uh working with quarterback battles. How does he compare to, you know, past true freshman that have competed in battles that you’ve experienced before? Yeah, really good. I I think they all have you have to be something special with your mindset coming in out of high school right into the, you know, to college and then adapting to the offense and understanding it, studying it. He So, he’s got I mean, all the quarterbacks are are smart, they’re intelligent. Um he has a good feel for the game. Um I think uh the more he’s around the team, the more he he and and McKay practice and play with the with the with the guys on the field, the more the more comfortable they get and then the more they they don’t look like a newcomer. I think if you look at me year one and year two compared to now, I’m much older, more gray hair, things like that. But it comes with a little bit experience of just knowing how to handle um camps and how to make adjustments. Um I think we’re in a really good um feel right now, good momentum as a as a staff and it helps that you’re able to keep the whole staff together. So um with all the continuity going on and and the I think that the foundation being kind of settled, I think we can focus on other things like these guys competing and putting the right guys on the field and and having a problem. If you have a problem where there’s, you know, 18 guys that deserve to play and you only have 11 spots at a time, then we need to find ways to get the other the other, you know, the other seven on the field, too. Has there been an update from NCAA on blow body? No, not yet. If if there wasn’t, he’d be practicing. So, the day you guys walk up here and you see him on the field and that then that decision was made, but he’s out here doing as much as he can and we’re just kind of in limbo until we hear from them. We have an an idea of what we’re going with. Um, I think we can rotate a lot of different guys at different spots. Um, this quarterback’s the one that you have a hard time rotating through, you know. Um, it’s probably one that you don’t want to deal with as far as touching the ball that many times. The same thing like a center. So, the ones that touch the ball every play, you probably want to have as consistent as possible. And, um, that that’s that’s what we’re looking forward to. I I I think getting as many guys as we can to be able to start is going to be that’s that’s the goal that we want to do and then decide on how we want to use uh, 11 at different times. You say you got a lot of work to do, but do you feel like your team’s on track at this point in camp? Uh, just hard to say. You know, where we’re still we’re still a couple weeks and and some days away. So, two and a half weeks away from everything. I feel good about where we’re headed and how and the progress we’ve made in the last, you know, especially over the weekend since Saturday. And to have the guys be able to be physical even today after um over 100 plays on Saturday, that’s a good sign. And the guys are all bought in right now. 90 to get them away from football for a little bit and we just go, you know, and just to build some some connection together and some camaraderie with each other and and then be back and be ready to roll when we get back Thursday. Well, we saw on them. I I think Saturday I were they I think the main issue was the pre pre- snap issues like I think A-Rod mentioned that we were kind of we weren’t set and so we got a a few um illegal formations and and so when you look at it, it was it was two false starts. Um it was three illegal formations that we need to fix. Guys not being on the line and then uh or or or guys were fidgeting and not set. So illegal formation or illegal shift. And then we had two holdings. And so that’s in 100 plays. That’s not bad, but it’s like and for a first scrimmage, that’s that’s pretty good. Um defensively, we had a few missed tackles, probably more than what we would want. And um but we had uh two defensive penalties, one holding and one PI. And so play man coverage, you got to be able to use your feet and not your hands. And we’re still working on that. So overall though, the team did a great job uh with everything the the entire weekend on Saturday and then seeing the film. I was really really impressed with it all. I asked you about Bearball. Where do you see McKay at his best when he’s operating with the first team? Like where does he shine the most? Yeah, I think A-Rod does a great job at at calling plays. They’re suited to their strengths, but there’s things that we need to do that that are strength for us on in on the football team. uh Chase Roberts being one of them and Carson Ryan and others that are you know LJ Martin. So it’s a matter of how do we how do we attack uh defense and who do we want to give the ball to? Who do we want to highlight in certain areas and what the defense has given us. So um I think having A-Rod be able to do that with McKay and then do that with Bear is going to be the key. And then what you want to do is get to the point where you where you’re building the game plan on on your starter and then you have a game plan for the backup just in case and even third string if it goes there. So, uh, in the the past since camp started, we’ve had to balance all that out with three. It’s really difficult to do and that’s why we made the move to to kind of head to towards this way and see how how further this competition goes. And then if we see how far this goes and once we we know and have a good feel about it and once they’ve established themselves and whoever wins the spot gets it then away we go. You said get away from football. You have an activity plan. Yeah. Yeah. We’re going to a team camp. We’re going to go hang out and and then do some team bonding stuff. So it’ be good. We did that last year too. River rafting? No. What is it? If there was a lazy river, we would do that. But like, you know, I think it’s just there’s a lot of really cool things that you can do that that will build the team, you know, connect them together and and then make football, although football’s part of it, just everything’s been about football now. So, we can just take a break from it and looked at it and most of the fights happen around practices 10 to 13. So, let’s go let’s go camping during that time. What do you plan to close down? Do you have Yeah, I think I think we want to start working on our on our preparation for our first opponent uh at the latest uh a week and a half before the game. Um best to do it maybe two weeks before the game. What what they’ve done already, I mean, them lead the way and when you’re you’re a guy that’s started a lot of games here and people are are giving you all these these honors and accolades and things like that, they’re they’re leading the way with the live work. So they’re they’re out there tackling and hitting and doing all the drills, playing all the special teams. So it helps that your top players are doing that. Chase Roberts does it on the other side. Carson Ryan does that, too. So like there’s a like the guys are all bought into the team first and it helps when your your best players are doing that. There you go. Keani Sitake today after practice. So yeah, they’re going to go off and do their team building thing. I think it’s interesting. They’re like, well, part of the reason we’re doing it is because fights happen the most right now in camp. So, we’re going to go we’re going to mitigate that before it even starts. And we’re going to just uh we’re going to go I don’t know, cook some burgers out in the uh out in the wilderness. What? Let them go punch each other on a campfire. He said camping. He said camping. I don’t know if that’s literal or not, but he’s uh he said camping. So, I don’t know. They’re at camp. And so, I don’t know if they’re camping or Anyway, bottom line is uh Kehlani’s got a lot on his plate, man. But it doesn’t change year after year. or the expectation has just gotten insane. Um, and and you know, it’s tough because I think that there’s part of you that I think goes, okay, so they’re so they they’re they’re pairing it down and let’s say that Bear Bachmeer, what does that change expectationwise for your team? If Bear Bachmeer is the starter and do fans have a thought in their head like, uh, okay, well, so this isn’t the year just get a year under his belt or what does that do? No, I here’s what it here’s what’s already done. Okay, you had a lot of high expectations because you were bringing back a senior quarterback who had done it before, who had won 11 games in a season. He started every game last year, Jake Redsoff. It was a roller coaster ride, but it was effective. It worked. You knew what you had coming back. We just don’t know yet. That’s it’s just uncertainty. I don’t know what Bear Bachmire is going to do if he wins this job. I don’t know what McCase Hillstead’s going to do. That’s all. That’s all. That’s all it is. It’s uncertainty. And but anytime you’re trying to predict or trying to figure out what’s going on, if you have uncertainty, you’re going to go with the more sure thing. That’s why we’ve seen like this narrative around Utah and BYU kind of turn a little bit in Utah’s favor as far as who has the chance to have a better season simply because you know who the quarterback is going to be and that’s such an important part of success with a team. But look, if Bear Bachmire or McKay Hilstead wins this job and either of them go in there and they just get the job done, take care of the football, get the move the team down the field, you know, let’s say they throw 20 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, this team could be right back where they were last year. Okay, th they have everything. LJ Martin is a stud running back, could rush for a thousand yards. Chase Roberts is one of the best receivers in the country. I think the old line is going to be fine. I love what they did to restock at the defensive front. Their linebackers are some of the best is might be one of the best groups in the country. I think their secondary is deep and solid. BYU has everything you need to do exactly what they did last year and contend in the Big 12. We just don’t know how the quarterback is going to perform. We will not know, not even week one in my opinion. Portland State’s not a good enough Yeah. measuring stick. Stanford will tell us how good these whoever the starter is, how good that quarterback is, and if they’re at the same level as Jake is as far as production, BYU will be fine. More than fine. Okay. All right. We’re going to uh take a break here. We’ll come back. We’ve got more to go around the corner. Uh we’ve got tons to uh still get into here. Did I talk about Trajan Wealth yet? Trade Wealth brings you this portion of the program. T R A Jan Wealth.com. That’s Trajan Wealth for all your trusted local needs in retirement. Let’s take a break. We’ll come back. We’ve got more to go around the corner. Stay here with us on a Tuesday 975 the KSO Sports Zone accessing when TV and radio collide. Love it. This is what you get. You’re listening to JJ and Alex presented by G2G bars. Don’t touch that guy on 975 BKSL Sports. Welcome back everybody. JJ and Alex 975BSL Sports Zone. Thanks for hanging out with us on a uh beautiful Tuesday. Lots going on of course across the uh state and college football. BYU is going to take a couple day break, get the uh team together. They uh metaphorically drop the mic. Oh yeah, it’s down to two quarterbacks. Bye. So they go out of town and uh go on their team building situation. Until next time. Just do uh Stake Football Youth Conference. It’s fine. State football youth conference. Now, that is a youth conference I would have signed up for when I was younger. Hi. You signed up to bring a cooler, right? Uh we’re going to need that. Can we pick it up from your house? Yeah, sure. Sure. Why not? Um every Wednesday, by the way, on the KSL Sport Zone is a win ticket Wednesday. This Wednesday, that’s tomorrow. Got tickets to give away to Chris Stapleton uh for this I want to say Friday. Can I have Can I have some of those? Oh, yeah. This f No, you can’t. But this Friday, we’re giving away those or we’re giving away tomorrow for Friday’s Chris Stapleton concert at Utah First Credit Union Amphitheater. You got two days of Chris Stapleton. We’re gonna give tickets away for that August 15th date. They’ve got dates on the 15th and the 16th. Go to livenation.com for tickets right now or listen tomorrow all day long on a win ticket Wednesday for your chance to win those Chris Stapleton tickets. He’s incredible in concert. That’s what I hear. Yeah, I hear him play White Horse Live. It’s awesome. Uh let me see here. We’ve got some camp updates. Uh I think it was uh the University of Utah got together today. Got a got a couple of pieces of sound from some players. Let’s start first uh defense availability today. By the way, Blake Cotton right off the bat, one of those uh defensive backs. It’s hoping to make an impact. Here’s what he had to say after practice today from Utah’s fall camp update. For me, development has been really my emphasis on just daily improvement. um just taking what the coaches are saying and taking one step forward every day. What do you feel like this group can provide the team this year? Man, uh I think we could pro provide physicality, uh relentlessness, um and just the will to go on whenever things get tough cuz that’s what you got to do as a DB. So, how well prepared do you think some of the new faces in this room are are to provide depth? obviously behind you or Scooby, whoever’s starting. Uh I’d say we’re pretty well prepared. Um obviously, you know, we go with the mindset that we always got to keep improving, but you know, for the most part, we got the talent, the speed, the strength. So, I think it it’s going to be it’s going to be good. What have you learned from guys like Scooby and Smith just getting implemented into the defense as a new as a new transfer? Um just the mentality uh you have to have as a defensive back. Just like I said, when stuff goes wrong, you just got to keep going. Just have that dog mentality. What What stands out about being a quarterback in and Morgan Scall’s defense. Um obviously all all the man we play, you know, we’re going to be on that island most of the time. So, you know, we got to just buckle down and play our best defense. A lot of people want to talk about how dynamic this offense is. How when it comes to, you know, defending it, how challenging is it to be able to see what Devin’s able to do and what Jason Beck’s able to kind of draw up? Oh, man. Um, like I said, you know, we played a play a lot of man. Um, and Dev is obviously, you know, we can run. So, he scrambles, so we got to, you know, that challenges us to stay on our man as long as possible. Um, and heavy RPO team, too. So, we got to, you know, not, you know, get too picky and have good eyes and stuff like that. What do you feel like has allowed you to emerge on the other side opposite of Scooby? Um, I would say my physicality and um just my mindset, you know, I said it a million times, but stuff goes wrong, just forget about it. Keep going. The Big 12 kind of allows a lot of physicality with their wide receivers and corners. I mean, is there anything you’ve learned about kind of watching tape or anything that kind of helps you move forward for this year? Um, yeah, in terms of physicality, um, you just got to be smart, especially as a DB. Um, feel like most of the calls are biased towards the offense, so we got to be smart with what we do. Um, for example, we got to, if we’re in a tug, we got to tug low so they can’t see it. What’s been the biggest difference kind of stepping up to the power four level? Um, for me I would just say the coaching. You know, football is football, but you know, the coaching is way more technical. That’s what I’ll say. JJ, one of the more steady groups uh on this uh on this defensive side of the football for Utah has been this defensive back group. And I think that uh Morgan Scally shocker has done it again where he’s built a really really good defensive backfield and it just continues to the attitude and how they prep and the certain people they look for at those positions seems to be paying off. Yeah. No, look at this Blake Cotton. um going out and finding a kid that uh played really well at the uh FCS level, UC Davis, and now he’s coming in and you’re able to bring a kid in like that that’s going to be able to compete in camp and suddenly you just plug and play a senior that’s very experienced and very talented and that has developed at at a different level and is able to go out there and play for you. So, it’s just next man up for Utah. They’re just able to plug and play. And when you have a program like this that’s established, these guys want to come play for you because they know it’s a they’re going to be playing on one of the best defenses in the country and b NFL scouts are going to see them. So you have that going for you, have a reputation, and because of that, you’re able to plug and play. You’re able to find guys like this, maybe a little bit of a diamond in the rough that’s able to come in and contribute immediately. Speaking of guys who uh now this is one of the guys who came out of Florida, one of these uh one of these recruits who you know this is also this has always been a place that Kyle Whittingham and and Morgan Skeley’s had success is bringing guys in from the state of Florida. And one guy who’s been here for a long time now is a guy Elijah Davis who continues to make, you know, a lot of uh a lot of impact on this team and you don’t hear his name nearly as much. Here was Elijah Davis after practice uh today. Availability. Also one of Utah’s uh cornerbacks, one of these solid defensive backfields. So far it’s going well. Just getting better every day. It’s going good. How much how different do you feel this year compared to where you were last year in terms of now that you have the experience and all that sort of stuff? Just how different you um I feel more experienced. Last year I was still trying to learn the playbook. Now I’m knowing the playbook, playing confident, playing fast. So I feel like big improvement from last year. fall camp. A lot of the depth behind you are new faces. How do you feel like they’re kind of acclimated to the Utah defense? Oh, they’re definitely coming coming along real well from spring to now, man. The improvement, especially from Blake. Blake is a guy. So, yeah, it’s great. You guys had a lot of guys with quarterbacks, either veterans, just losing eligibility or somebody transferring. It’s allowed you to have an opportunity, I guess. How did you approach that this spring and off season, just knowing that you could be the starter on the outside? Um, I don’t really look at other people. So, I just keep my focus on what I can do and just trying to get better for myself every day. So, yeah, that’s about it. What have you seen from Blake Con in practice? Um, just a confident corner, you know, um, from, like I say, from spring to now. Big improvement. He’s gotten better every day and still getting better. What do you feel like has been your biggest improvement this year? Oh, I feel like um, in the offseason I was gaining weight, so just coming up being more aggressive. I feel like that’s been the biggest thing so far. How has someone like JC Hart came in and like, you know, maybe push the rest of you guys to, you know, keep keep going at it and not get complacent. Um, yeah, JC, he’s still learning right now, but JC has came in making big plays and he’s getting better every day, too. He’s still learning right now, but JC will be ready when week one comes. How have you, I guess, embraced the leadership role alongside Smith and, you know, what what does that look like for both of you guys? Um just trying to bring along the transfers. Um I think me and Smith are really the only returners in the corner room that has played meaningful meaningful snaps. So we just trying to bring them along, letting telling them the playbook, telling them what to do and just stuff like that. If I’m on defense for this University of Utah, I get I go I don’t know. Everybody else seems like they get a crack on offense. I caught a few touchdowns in high school. Come on, man. I mean, Smith Snowden is a is a special talent, right? And these guys, what’s crazy is is that Smith Snowden still looks like he’s 17 and a half, but he’s like the definitive leader on that on that in that defensive backfield. He’s just one of these guys that I think everybody looks up to. He’s a potential all-American performer. He’s so good and he’s a legit leader and I think all these guys, you know, inside that locker room and that defense has got a lot of a lot of great leaders, but I think the defensive backfield’s got the most. I I agree with you and you Smith Snowden’s one of those names that pop and it’s really the work ethic. He he nobody outworks that kid. He’s been and I knew about it in high school hearing about how hard he worked and he certainly earned everything he’s got. But guys look up to that and when you have people on your team that are that focused and dialed in and serious about their craft, it elevates everybody else because they have to keep pace. You know, they say if you if if you if you hang out with five really successful people, you become the sixth. Well, I mean, that’s how it, right? If if you have a group of guys, offense, defense, special teams, doesn’t matter, and you have five guys that are that are dedicated to excellence, and you have and you have enough of those guys, the rest will follow. And you can certainly tell sometimes when a team is led by the wrong guys because things go the wrong way. Who was the leader on offense for Utah last year? Who was it? Well, that’s why went Did things go sideways? Right. So, now it feels like they’ve got somebody that’s going to lift that group up, right? And you’re already feeling that vibe. Now, they got to go prove it out on the field. But on defense, you know, you look at Smith Snowden, you look at Alander Barton, you look around, you start seeing those guys. And I think on offense, I think Spencer Fono probably realizes, look, I’m the best overall player on this entire team. I need to elevate people. I need to be more of a leader. I’m sure they feel that and they’ve been talked to with the coaches. You know, the coaches have probably sat them down and said that. But I I think you’re getting a sense of that this year with this Utah team where last year it kind of you had to ask those questions. Who’s leading the charge here? Who’s who are who It didn’t feel that way uh once Cam was gone and Cam wasn’t involved in the day-to-day. Yeah. Well, it’s interesting to hear every day how this team’s coming along here. And obviously, people want to hear about this offense. They want to hear what this offense is doing. But you’re going to see a lot of names pop up, I think, on defense as well that are going to be that solid. I mean, this this Utah defense is going to be they were the number two overall defense in the in the conference last year. And they had a sevename losing streak, you know, like in the middle of the season. That is that is stark to go from no offense and a tremendous defense and still lose those football games. I mean, there’s a reason they lost. I mean, you you think about those scores, too. Your 13 to sixes or 13 to7 or whatever it was for TCU or, you know, the Houston so much more talent than that Houston team. Ridiculous. It was it was they were just bad losses. Uh, all right, let’s take a break. We’ll come back and when we do, I’ve got a would you rather around the corner. You don’t want to miss. Uh it has to do with I I’m pretty sure it’s a Big 12 themed one. So, I’ll uh I’ll keep you updated here after I I can’t I can’t differentiate sometimes between the top 10 and the and the would you rathers, but uh it’s a fun one when we come back. Stay here. 975 ESL Sports Zone. You patiently waited and waited and waited and now it’s here. It’s college football season as the Cougars, Utes, and Aggies get ready for the upcoming season. Nobody will bring you better coverage of the teams you can’t live without than the KSL Sports Zone with daily updates from camps and interviews with all the coaches and players. Your home for the best coverage of college football is on air, online, and on the KSL Sports app. This is 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Baby, listen everybody. real life hypotheticals to get your brain churning. As JJ and Alex ask, would you rather? [Music] Welcome back everybody. JJ and Alex 975 EKSL Sports Zone. Alex Cury, Jeremiah Jensen. I’ve got an interesting one here for you today, JJ. Uh the would you rather has hit a I wouldn’t say a new low. I think this is uh the best we’ve ever done. I think we’re at peak would you rather right now. You know why? Wow. Oh yeah. Because uh football season approaches and I was looking at a couple things today and I thought, you know what? It’s not enough to be ranked and receiving votes. Let’s determine who the best Let’s determine who the best market is based off of their official foods for each of the big 12 states. You ready for this? Yeah. I wanted to start with Oklahoma. So, I’m going to give you a would you rather. You tell me what you think. Now, Oklahoma. Now, not every state has an official food. Utah, for example, doesn’t really have an official food. It has an official snack. Some states have official snacks. Some do have Now, Oklahoma, do we vote on this as a general public? I think that I think this other one was like based off of like, hey, we need something for to run up to the Olympics here. What do we do? We’ll get to that. But Oklahoma is one of the few that has an official uh meal. Okay. And I think that I’m going to I’m going to throw it out there first because having an official meal is better than the official food. And the big and the Oklahoma uh official meal is fried okra, cornbread, and barbecued pork. That’s not a bad Yeah. And then they like added on top. They’re like they’re like plus biscuit, sausage, and gravy. And I’m like, what? You can’t just throw in every food in the South and go, “No, that’s artificial food.” So Oklahoma right out of the gate, fried okra, barbecued pork, cornbread. Okay. Boom. Now, let’s go to the state of of uh Texas. Do you are you familiar with what Texas official food is? No. Now, this is funny because I grew up I grew up a good chunk in the state of Texas and I had to do I had to do uh Texas State history, which they they they pound the Texas state history on to you, man. So, the official uh the official food in Texas is a bowl of chili. So, you’re gonna go fried okra and and pork or chili concarn or a I mean, it could be any, but I mean like a legit chili, like an award-winning chili. Gotcha. Versus what Oklahoma’s bringing to the table with fried okra and pork. Man, I’d have to try that chili. And I’m guessing if it’s the best chili in Texas, I’m going with the chili. I think so, too. But I’ve had barbecue in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma City, there’s great barbecue in Oklahoma City. I think so, too. I’m still going to go with the chili. West Virginia. Would you rather have that or West Virginia’s official official food as possible? I knew you were gonna go roadkill or something like that. No, no, it’s the golden delicious apple. Ah, chili. Get out of here. Chili. That’s not a meal. You can’t I know you can’t do that. Do you know what your home state Golden Delicious apple in West Virginia? Do you know what one of Do you know what your home state’s official food is? Apparently, no. Now, they don’t have an official state food, but they do have an official state mammal, which you can turn into food. Is this Wyoming? Yes. An official mammal. Yeah. I’m just going I’m going side I’m going on the side here just because elk. It’s the bison. Oh, okay. Give me a bison burger. But that’s an aside. Wyoming obviously not in the elk’s not bad either. It’s not elk. No, no, no. An elk roast. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Uh, okay. So, we got those out of the way. Now, Utah’s apparently the official snack is jell-o. I’m gonna push that to the side because I don’t like being uh I don’t like that we get that we get stereotypes here. Nobody actually eats jelly. I know the official fruit of Utah is the uh cherry. Oh, I thought I would have went raspberry with the Bear Lake shake. I know. You know what? I thought I thought so too. Maybe the cherries. 1997 was officially I’m still going with chili. Okay. I thought the cherries you could get some you could get some cherry pie out of that thing. You could uh I’m sorry. Fruit’s not a meal. Okay. Colorado. Any guesses on what Colorado is official? Now, it’s they also don’t have an official food technically, but they do have an official snack and it’s proclaimed the uh there’s a there’s a there’s a certain city there that’s proclaimed the melon capital of the world, and it’s the watermelon. Watermelon in Colorado. Really? Yes. Yes. I guess still going chili. Okay. Where where did the watermelons come from? Not sure. I mean, look, it’s in Colorado, I guess. Interesting. They This is what This is what the Food Network told me. Is that in Grand Junction? I mean, they grow a lot of uh watermelon, Green River, Utah. This is going to be a tough This is going to be a tough one for both you and I. Okay, Arizona. The Chimmy Chunga. Okay, I’m I’m going Chimmy Chunga. I think so, too. Right. I think so, too. A really good fried chim chunga. I think so too. Oh man. Absolutely. Uh and then finally, oh no, I I have to do two. By the way, did you know as an aside, Nebraska has a worse uh food than we do? Jello has nothing on this one. What Nebraska has is corn nuts. No, no, we can smell it from here. Beef beef and and Nebraska, they go in hand in hand. Yeah. The official The official beverage of Nebraska is Kool-Aid. Are we kidding here? The Kool-Aid guy lives in Ohio. That’s some low That’s some low quality stuff. And then of course the corn on the cob out of Iowa. That makes sense. A legit corn on the cob. Like in the peak of freshness. That’s pretty good. It’s not enough to beat out Chimmy Chunga in Tucson. Okay. And then finally, uh do you know what Kansas’s uh official state food is? What is it? Any guesses? Just go. Kansas. Yes. Mhm. Uh, I mean, I would have guessed corn there, too, but I don’t know. The official state food is also a fruit. It’s the only recognized state edible item. Now, they say, “Oh, ribs are our are kind of what we’re known for, but they don’t they haven’t they haven’t married themselves to an official anything.” City has incredible. No, and I would as soon as I could. The plum is recognized as the state fruit. Could you get more? I could. the the Kansas is the most boring state of these states and they decided a plum was going to help that cause of all the fruits you could choose to eat. Are you going to really eat a plum? No. Come on. All right. So, there you go. Okay. So, uh I think Arizona gets the win. Chimmy Chonga wins. Congrats, Arizona. Absolutely. All right. We’ll uh take the break here. We’ll come back. We have a uh couple things going on next hour. John Wilner is going to join us. College football writer for Mercury News and an AP poll voter. We’re going to ask him about how his uh top 25 rounded out for that uh for the AP top 25 preseason poll. We’ll talk to him about the people who are the most interesting on that list. Stay here. 975 ESL
Hour 1 of JJ & Alex with Jeremiah Jensen and Alex Kirry.
• BYU quaterback battle
• More from Utah Fall Camp
• Would You Rather?
