The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Julian Edelman on Brady, Belichick and the Return, Plus Brock Huard on CFB Contenders

Episode Date: October 1, 2021

Russillo shares his thoughts on football fans hate-watching NFL games (0:55), before talking with three-time Super Bowl champion and analyst for 'Inside the NFL' Julian Edelman about his retirement, his final season with Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick's nuance, the highly anticipated Buccaneers-Patriots matchup on Sunday, and more (13:00). Then Ryen is joined by Brock Huard of Fox Sports for a CFB roundup, they discuss contenders in the Big 12 and Pac-12 (34:10). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:09:20). Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Julian Edelman and Brock Huard Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody? I'm J.J. John G. Stramski. And I'm Jason Goff, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire, I'm bringing the rain from the Big Apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm repping Chi-Town with my new show, The Full Goal on all things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction of the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines. So whether you're uptown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant, make sure you follow

New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Great Friday podcast for you. Julian Edelman, who's going to join us and talk about Tom's

return to New England Brock Hewitt college football landscape national stuff really good uh little life advice and an open on everyone hating everything during an NFL game I think the tone of of this open today is going to be a little different I don't have a ton of notes here um this is just something Saruti and I've kicked around now for a while so there's not some big opening rant here and it feels a bit like a zag like a zag. But if you know one thing about me, it's that I actually am not convinced of that many things. Like, absolutely. I think there are arguments that I could have with somebody where I could think they have a valid point. I think that's a bigger problem that we all have is that we never think the opposition has one good point on plenty of topics, right? So there are very few times I will say, hey, this is absolutely the way it is. And it is undeniable. Like this is the only way we can see this story. And football Twitter, and again, I'm a little hesitant, but I'm doing it anyway. Because it sounds like I'm just calling out everybody in

my industry. But again, you also know me well enough that I don't care to, because I just think a lot of times people kind of congratulate each other. And I'm like, yeah, I know you guys don't even like each other. So I'm just not going to play that game. But NFL Twitter is, is amazing because like NBA Twitter might still be the worst and it's worse

for its own reasons. But NFL Twitter, and so Rudy asked a question last night. It's like, who do you guys think is good at coaching in the NFL? Because the Thursday nighter, as we touched on this week, as far as the hate list of the coaches that no one ever likes, no matter what, Urban Meyer's at the top of the list.

Zach Taylor's in the mix because people just resent the fact that he got the job. And I'm not even telling you that you're wrong for him getting this gig. But was anybody ever going to say, hey, it looks like the offense is doing some things now with Cincinnati. Like, it looks pretty good. Like, you're not even allowed to do it. The Jags have lost 19 games in a row. That roster sucks. The team isn't any good. Urban's been there a month. Is it okay to give it a year? I've already said this this week, but it's astonishing to me that it's like, oh, he sucks. This guy sucks. And again, think of it this way too. For the most part, social media is on the same page about how

terrible Urban Meyer is and how terrible every play caller is. We don't get to see the way they see the game. We're convinced we're right when we don't even have the right angle on any of this stuff. We don't know what the secondary's responsibilities are. We don't know what the blocking assignments are. We generally don't know what the quarterback's reads are. There may not be a topic in this country that we are more convinced that we're right about when we have as little access to the actual information we need. So when the coach, and we think this is excuse making, and at times it can be, but when the coach says after a game, hey, you know, reporter, hey, what happened? Hey, look, I got to see the film. You know why they say that? It's because they actually have to see the film. They have to see the all 22. to them. But then sometimes I think that bias jumps in. But then we've got the guys like me who I'm telling you right now, I don't know what any of the blocking assignments are ever. who I'm telling you right now, I don't know what any of the blocking assignments are, ever.

Never. But I'm not going to tell you that I do either. I'm not going to because I know that I don't. I can tell which quarterbacks are good. I think I'm pretty good at that. I can see somebody get burnt as a tackle, but all of us can see that. I can see somebody in the secondary get torched, but

that doesn't take anybody figuring that out. Every now and then, maybe I'll feel a little educated because I'll see a receiver over time and I'll be like, that guy doesn't really anybody figuring that out. Every now and then, maybe I'll feel a little educated because I'll see a receiver over time, and I'll be like, that guy doesn't really get a ton of separation anymore. I can tell running backs can't go side to side. You know what I don't know? Is I don't know if it's a cover three

from the television angle that we all have. So it kind of gets back to the point, Rudy, that it feels like there's this momentum of all of these guys suck. And I'm not telling you every NFL coach is good, but there's no way, I'd say 95% of it, maybe even in a higher number of us on the outside, there's no chance we know as much about what we're watching as they do.

And it doesn't matter. Because we root for who we want to root for, and we root against who we want to root for. And we root against who we want to root against. And we never change our minds. And the Thursday night game was two teams that, look, the Jags aren't good. What did you think they were supposed to do? Because if you don't like Urban, even though he's had an absurd, one of the great runs in the history of the college game,

that's another thing that happens with the NFL is you get so protective about it where you're like, oh, he's failing. Oh, not college. It's not're like, oh, he's failing up. Not college. It's not college anymore, Urban, is it? And it's like, I don't know. How good do you think this team is going to be? And I'm not telling you he's going to be awesome. I'm just telling you I'm going to give it a little bit more time than everybody else is. And I'm not convinced that I'm right about every single thing that I watch on Sunday and Thursday night. It just turns into a hate fest that all of these guys are morons. And I think NFL Twitter is gaining on NBA Twitter.

So, Rudy, what do you mean by that, though? Because I think I think NBA Twitter and NFL Twitter are totally different. I don't think there are many people. I mean, there are people calling out game decisions on NBA Twitter saying, hey, why did you call time out here or this play call or like, you know, end of a quarter, end of a half thing. There is some of that. But it feels like all the NFL stuff is so pointed to specific decisions that we have

real time reaction to. Like, right. We could see exactly what the result was. And then immediately everyone on Twitter is like, this guy's an idiot. That's a terrible play call. That's a terrible decision. But I mean, this guy's one of 32 people to have this prestigious job of being a head coach in the NFL.

Are they that dumb? Or are we just oversimplifying how easy or hard it would be to be a coach in the NFL? Because I think a lot of people on Twitter are like, oh yeah, that's an easy decision. Why would he do that? What an idiot. But this guy's been coaching his entire life. And I'm with you. I'm not saying Irma Myers is going to be some amazing head coach. I'm not saying Zach Taylor is an amazing coach. I'm willing to accept that there are probably a lot of guys in the league that aren't that great. But I don't know. We just constantly clown on them as a community online. And I think it's kind of just changed the perception of like, do these random people who are sitting on their couch tweeting about this, do they think that they'd be able to get in there and call a great

game and they would do something differently? I think we oversimplify how hard it is to be a head coach in the moment to have to manage egos, play calling, injury fits, chemistry, any other limitations of stuff that you're right, we don't know about, that we just say, oh, why wouldn't you do this? Well, there's probably a reason they didn't do that, right? Or there's a reason, like you brought it up last, what was it, last pod,

about going for it on fourth down. Well, maybe your offensive line is shit and you haven't been good in fourth and one, like you don't have a good fourth and one package. Well, maybe it wouldn't be good for you to go on fourth down. So I just, i'm always amazed by how many people we think suck at their job in the nfl as from a coaching perspective that i just i don't even know who's

good anymore yeah that's that's what it would be like if we sat down with the guy who we thought was one of the worst play callers and sat in a room with him and he whiteboarded out some stuff, I would say more often than not, you'd go, oh, wait, that guy actually kind of knows what he's talking about. And the thing is, who are we? How many people who watch the NFL religiously, I'm talking even the media, how many could go to the whiteboard and have Gruden draw out what the defense is

and then have you be like, okay, formation, and then what are your reads if the safety does this? Do 5% of the people get that right? I think they think they would because they'd probably play Madden. I don't. You think? I think people, because you know what like the average person maybe 20 years ago didn't understand cover two cover three I mean they understood man whereas

I think more people understand the game from a fan perspective I think that is true but I think because of that it's almost like in you know this is like a real world example too like we have so much information on our hands that I think we think oftentimes that we are smarter than we are like you know there's a reason that some of this stuff happens and you don't have all of the information to make a decision that this guy sucks at his job or this guy doesn't know how to play call or whatever when sometimes it can be true but i i just i don't know like remember the trent richardson thing where like there was that massive hole and everyone's like oh trent richardson he's an idiot doesn't know how to run through the hole and you're like i don't know this guy maybe maybe he has the yips maybe he just like forgot how to

play running back and he wasn't very good in the NFL so that's true or also maybe it was like a weird camera angle and we don't have all the information based on like whether or not he should have run through that hole or not like I just think there are things that we don't know that we take for granted well the screen grab stuff with plays in the NFL is totally unfair um in the Trent one was from what I remember it was like the screen grab made it way worse than what actually happened even though yeah he still missed the hole there's there's times too where like they'll show a guy at the back of the end zone and he looks wide open and you don't realize that the safety is already sprinting back to like get back in there and that's not a throw that the quarterback

wants to make but if you screen grab it you're like no and i guess i don't know maybe i'm saying i deserve more credit for telling the audience how often guess i don't know maybe i'm saying i deserve more credit for telling the audience how often like yeah i don't know what's going on like the idea that i know what the coverage is when i can't even see the full 11 on television and then to be like oh this coach sucks you know like i don't know i mean look i disagree with the fourth down call at the end of the half because i just think it's stupid to go for and fourth and goal when you're not going to get the ball back like the whole point of going go for and fourth and goal when you're not going to get the ball back. The whole point of going for it and fourth and goal is that you're going to get really good field

positioning because their playbook's going to be limited because they're on their one-yard line, and you're likely going to get the ball back at their 40, and that's when I don't have a problem. I have a problem with it when you do it last 50 seconds, but what I also don't do is be like, this Urban Meyer guy

doesn't quite get it on sundays boys or like you know trevor like trevor's a he's a rookie quarterback it's a bad roster you know i i i just i don't know i don't know why not why not go three scores you want to go three scores nah that's stupid the point is though that is we are I'm willing and I think you are, too, to hear from someone who is going to tell us like why there are like 20 coaches that don't know what the hell they're doing. I just I'm just more. I would like that guest. Yeah, right. I don't know who is there anyone that we could book that would have like I'm not even I don't want to be attacking.

I would just be like, all right, let's go over a bunch of your tweets on a Sunday. attacking, I would just be like, all right, let's go over a bunch of your tweets on a Sunday. Because the funny thing is, is like, you know, I'm not, my roster isn't stacked with NFL players, active or former, but there's enough that they'll ask me about other guys in the media. Sometimes you'd be like, Hey, do you see so-and-so's tweet about this? Be like, you know, that they're totally wrong about what this thing was. And I was like, yeah, I go, you know, look, the one time, I think I said something about the offensive line. Jeff Schwartz was just off the top rope on me. Like within five, he has some sort of alert thing where there's an O-line, non-O-line guy tweeted about O-line attack. And I was like, oh, you know, shit. But what was I going to do? Like, I still kind of thought I was right, but I was like, you know, I don't know. I'm not, I'm not going to get to this argument. I rarely would ever go, like, I can't believe this coach is is doing it i don't know like it's a weird deal to be like so you're just gonna sit back all day and watch games and say how every coach's decision is awful and i'd like to have that guest on to kind of dig in and go through

some of those tweets and be like well why were you so convinced of this um but it's also look this is this is not new play call monday is one of the worst topics ever. I do not miss local radio where it's like, cool, local team lost in the NFL. Let's blame play calling for four hours. And as anybody that's hosted a talk show with calls, thanks for the passion,

but I'm never in the car listening to somebody else's talk show with calls. I'm like, so psyched that caller called in. That was good. That was really good. And the play call thing has never been, you know, this isn't new, but it's a really weird deal. I hope that made some sense.

And again, like I said, sometimes you just, you have to remind yourself of how few people have, you know, we are in this world of, this is how people watch games and you peruse it and you look at it all and you're just like, so everybody sucks tonight, huh? So, um, I don't know. I don't, I don't, I don't think we're solving anything here by adding to the conversation, but it's just an observation. Fired up to talk to Julian Edelman who uh now after a stellar career with the Pats CBS Viacom

Paramount Plus uh let's you know we know where we're going with this at some point but let's talk about you a little man you miss it nah yeah I mean you miss the little things the relationships the fellas the locker room the night before the game those feelings but like right now I don't miss it this is I'll miss it more when it's like playoff time nut cutting time like when it's one or done and then also I still have in the back of my mind the feeling I was feeling last year where like it was such a grind to get through a week of practice and then go to a game. That's still fresh. So I'm like, I'm good right now. I'm excited to have time with my family and explore the different ventures that I'm exploring

and starting my new passions. So I'm good, bro. Yeah, what do you have going on? Because you never sleep, man. I have, well, I'm doing inside the NFL that's streaming on Paramount Plus which has been a great fix for me to get my football like talk and like that little atmosphere you know having Mr. Sims, Phil Sims, Brandon Marshall, JB, Ray Lewis, Michael Irvin. So like you get your locker room talk and all behind scene stuff. You get that fix of football then. And you have to, you have to stay so engaged watching all these games to actually come up with

your take. And that's when I feel most prepared is when I see every game. And then I, you know, then you can talk on it instead of just going through certain things. So I'm getting football in with that. I have a production company. We're in developments with a documented docuseries and then also a scripted comedy, which I hear you're a writer.

I heard you on, I forgot what podcast you were on. You're writing scripts and stuff. Man, we got to talk. And then I got a podcast that we're about to launch, which I'm really excited about. I don't know if I can say it. Can I say anything? Yeah, it's going to be basically a podcast that we're about to launch, which I'm really excited about. I don't know if I can say it. Can I say anything? Yeah, it's going to be basically a podcast that goes over important games

throughout history of sports. I'll be sitting down with two people from each side and just talking shop and, and, you know, bringing some actual stories that guys felt during those games or their perspective of the game. So that's going to be fun. And then also, you know, I'm getting a lot more time with my little girl. You know, I just had her out here in New York. I'm in New York right now for the first time.

We did Boston last weekend, got her out here to New York for the first time and tried to explain to her that spider-man's not everywhere and paw patrol and all these little things in the city it's it's around but not always around so you know got a lot going on how how tough was last year for you because i mean anybody that's watching we knew i mean it was tough for a bunch of people for a bunch of different reasons but for you you physically, how tough was that? You know, I think physically it was tough, but I think more mentally it was tough because, you know, the year prior, I was feeling great. You know, you're coming off a Super Bowl and then, you know, you're having a decent year and you're getting banged up.

But you still felt good until I hurt, you know, your lower extremity. So like mentally you're sitting there like, I, there's gotta be, you know, I can't go out here and play and look and, and feel this way when I know there's a standard that I've played at for such a long time where that's where I was getting killed. That's what pushed me away and made me ultimately make my decision because I got too much respect for this game. When I was younger and I saw a guy that was out of his prime,

I was licking my chops. I wanted to embarrass this guy. You know what I mean? And you also looked at him like like why is this guy still in the league or why is he still hanging on and you know putting all those together I mean I've played in an outstanding organization with unbelievable players Tom Brady, Coach Belichick, Anthony Slater a lot of these unbelievable football players like I've won super bowls i've done everything i've wanted to do in the game so i was like you know i'm i'm good so i think more mentally yeah physically it's stuck but

our pain threshold is as you know professional athletes or certain professional athletes uh you know it's pretty high so it wasn't too bad when it comes to the physical. It was more mental. Was there ever a time, because as you're saying, like your eyes light up when you were like, if I saw a vet on film who was fading, like I'm hyped. Did any young defensive back talk shit to you in 2020? Did they come at you? You know, it was, I mean, there was a couple actually.

I think, who was it? Someone I played with. I think it was like Logan Ryan or something. And he goes, hey, man, you ain't looking this fast. Or I go, no, you wasn't playing. That hurt. That honestly hurt. And then when you hear guys say, man, I was watching you in high school.

Man, I'm such a big fan. No one really wanted to talk crap to you or anything that's when it also hurt like maybe i'm gotta get out gotta get out one of the things i'd always heard about new england that you know i don't know how specific it is to just them but you would usually hear from somebody who came in from another organization it's like these guys build again their expectations are always to be playing for a super bowl but they build through the season in a way that's like very specific um because this this game i think we lose sight of like whatever we can think about these teams the first month half of them are going to be completely different just based on injuries alone so what is it about the time in new england specific to them

and how they would kind of build to all the different stages of the season hoping to be who they are as they get ready for the first round of the playoffs I think you know one thing that was always said that September was the month for improvement and and honestly seeing what your team's going to be because you have new players on both sides of the ball you have new coaches And there's not really a synergy or like a mesh point that you can gain really in training camp or OTAs. That has to be done on the actual football field against other opponents. So that was one thing that I constantly heard in New England. Constant improvement.

Everything's about going out to practice. Practice was like little mini games. There was such a premium on practice that it was so insane that like they put it at such a high standard that it gave guys no choice but to improve therefore raising like the competitive level of everything therefore making like a a synergy and like guys performing to their absolute best. So I think it, and Bill would always say, you know, hey, your team's not going to be the same, just like as you did in September, as it will be in December. The good teams will continually improve and the bad teams kind of just flutter away and worry about injuries

and come up with excuses. The good teams always adjust, adapt, and try to improve weekly. And that's how it was in New England, especially in the early months. But you're still, I mean, you got September and you got October. Like those first two months are kind of in that same category. And then after that, like it's either you either have your team or you don't, you need to get on a run because the teams that I went on to go win Super Bowls, we always had like a, we'd lose a game maybe in like early, mid November. And then we'd go on to like a 10 run,

a 10 game run. Then like, it was like a reality check. All right. We know what we are. We know we have to do this. This is what our team team this is what we saw had the most success for these first two months so let's stop dilly-dagging around with these things that we're trying to get in there for a tendency either this that let's just sharpen everything that we have you know what i mean so that's what those first two months were and then by that time when you get in that third fourth month then it's about all right now we got to start sharpening. Now we have to start getting things going because it's getting time where you either win or you're done. You go home on the couch.

Your story is unique. You know what I mean? I don't know if you, like, did you have this vision for yourself? Like if somebody told you, like, when you were leaving college, hey, this is what you're going to end up doing. Would you have believed any of this? You know what? I, I, I probably wouldn't have honestly. Um, I remember my senior year, my, my buddies brought home, they went to like Nike town or something at Kent state and they brought in a Welker and a Troy Palomaro cutout. We put it in our, in our,

in our fricking apartment and you know and it was a party gag or whatever. We'd be throwing things in. But I would sit there and I would look at it and then I would watch film of Wes. And I was really insecure and scared about that whole first process of really making a jump from quarterback, which I wasn't like a pocket passing quarterback. I was an athletic guy, back, which I wasn't like a pocket passing quarterback. I was an athletic guy, but going to receiver against guys that have played receiver for four years in college, potentially even in high school, they had a lot more reps. So like, looking back on it, I wasn't really thinking about where I would be. I was just thinking about, damn, I need to like really find a niche. I need to really do everything I can

to make myself the most valuable I can to make really find a niche. I need to really do everything I can make to make myself the most valuable I can to make a team not cut me. And that was kind of the thing that has always led me to success is really worrying about what's on my plate right now. Because if you think about the past, you get stressed out or you get anxiety. You think about the future, you get stressed out, you get anxiety. If you really focus all your time and energy on what you have right now, which that's what my dad always preached to me, you know, that's when I had my success. So that's kind of where I was at. But by no means, I think I would, you know, go out and win three Super Bowls and play in some of the best games that, you know, the league has had and had some of the teammates games that, you know,

the league has had and, and, and had some of the teammates I've had and had the longevity that I had. I didn't think that maybe, you know. Yeah. I mean, the number, the number of buddies that I have from the area that absolutely love you to death and will always love you and they'll never meet you, but are just like, you know, you're, you're, you've had some of those, like you said, I mean, you've referenced a few times, but you have like legacy type moments. And in that community, you know, you're, you're, you've had some of those, like you said, I mean, you've referenced a few times, but you have like legacy type moments. And in that community, you know, who's very used to success, it's almost hard to stand out because there's so many guys, there's so many guys who've gone through there in 20 years that have had their moments. And I just know, you know, personally from my friends that are lifelong Boston guys, just being like, man, Jules. being like, man, Jules.

I wonder, I mean, I have a little bit of this. How much one-on-one coaching does Bill do? Did he do it with you early as he's trying to get you ready for that transition? Does it happen later on if he's picking something up? But what's that relationship like from somebody who's unproven to somebody he clearly would trust? The one-on-one coaching would be very subtle if you did something. Like I remember when I was catching punts for the first time. And, you know, Scotty O'Brien, he told me the fundamentals

and then you got to do this, you got to do that. And, you know, I was struggling with something. And then Bill walked over. And, you know, we didn't talk that often because he would you know pretty much talk in front of the team and put out like highlights and lowlights of practice and that's kind of where he would get his coaching and but then he came to me on the field and he you know he gave me some pointers of the ball goes over here it's gonna be this go team you know he was doing his whole spiel and like the fact that

he came and talked to me like i never you know i thought about that for the rest of the you know time i was there like those little times that he gave you were so impactful because of the respect level you have for a guy like that but like he would also coach you in meetings like if you did something good as a younger player on a on a good player like on scout team like if i went up and i i ran a good route against lee bodden back in 2009 he would put it up there a to give me some flowers and b to let the other guy let lee bodden who was a veteran corner at the time, like, hell, you better get your shit together. Or can you swear? You can get better stuff together, you know what I mean?

He held everyone accountable, and that way of handling things made the little times that he would come into you in the hallway and say, hey, George, come here, and give you a pointer on this DB. That's when it was crazy impactful. It wasn't a lot, but the. That's when it was crazy impactful.

It wasn't a lot, but the times when he thought it was important, it was like, man, coach talked me out of it. I got to get this shit going. You know what I mean? So we'll get to the headline with Tom's return loaded up with the team here that's facing a Bill team that he doesn't know who they are right now. I think that's pretty clear a few weeks in. Your perspective on this is unique

because, you know, I know your relationship with Tom and you're a guy that Bill believed in a lot. How did you see that last season? Is there any, because I mean, look, you're talking about you got a podcast coming out and doing some storytelling. Is there any, I know there's only so far that you're going to go on this

because these are your friends, right? I mean, I'm just the guy interviewing you. But is there anything from that time where you felt like, this is something I'll always remember about this last season with these two guys that have been aligned this long? You know, you could tell it was coming to an end just on certain things that I really can't get into. But I mean, those two, for whatever, like I knew because I was there for a while, but no one else really could know or saw just because those two guys are insane at compartmentalizing and showing.

Tom was the same guy every day coming into work. When it came to anything, his mother had cancer. No one knew about it. Maybe something was going on at home or this was going on there. He was the same guy always. And Bill was the same exact guy always too may have not been the same person as tom but they were they were the same types of people at all times so like it was very hard to tell for like newcomers or guys that really weren't around or coaches i mean i don't

know how it was in coaching meetings but you know it that last year, I mean, there was just so many other distractions as well that were going on, you know, Gronk retires, AB's here, AB's not here. Josh Gordon gets this. There's like so many other things and that in our organization and those coaches really do a great job of keeping you like into like what we're doing right now. And like that, you couldn't tell. You couldn't tell that it was that bad. I mean, Brady here and there would he would poke fun at me like, oh, you know, we're going to do this next year.

Like, all right, bro. But like he joked around like that all the time. You know what I mean? For like the last eight years so he didn't he didn't know i heard a story this actually happened recently i was out with um some staff college staff guys so i can't i can't name them i'll tell you maybe later but it's not that big of a deal and i think tom was working out on the campus and i think you guys were there like there was a bunch of pros and what's that no no it wasn't bc i'm not i'm not going to name

where it was but it was it was it was some college guys but it was also some pro guys and tom the way it was described with me he was he was just throwing some deep balls up in the air like up and easy right that's what you guys call it. Just like, hey, just, you know, let's all get loose. And then it was time to go through the drills. And this guy told me the story. He's like, you broke. And then he was standing behind, like getting ready to go, looking down the line. And Tom just went, no, like waved him out of the drill.

Was like, no, dude, like, I don't know who you are and i'm not throwing to you and then apparently some of the other guys that were on the pats were like he didn't throw to us either so you can't like i just love hearing about different stories about tom and how he was wired i think in a weird way we don't quite understand how what this dude is all about and even though we've watched him for 20 years we we still don't really get it with him. We would go out and like, he was very particular who he would throw to. And, and if people were,

he didn't like people around, he won't like, cause it was work time to him. He, he literally, anytime he was on that field, it was about like, I need to get an edge.

I need to get something out of this. And he's not going to get something out of this with throwing the little Timmy Tommy from fucking or from, you know, North Dakota state or something. You know what I mean? He's not getting anything out of that. It's a going to ruin his time. Like, and he, he wasn't bashful to say anything like, Hey, you know, Hey, but I'll throw it.

No, he would say, no, not, not, not this one, buddy. Jules get up. And that's how he was. And that's, and you got to respect that out of him. I love the story. And the guy respected it too. And again, I'm not going to name everybody that was involved, but there were other really established receivers that were like,

hey, don't even sweat it, bro. He's not going to throw to us either. Jules is a guy and he's going to throw to his guys. And it's just the way it is. He's got his own language. That's also what made us us because or you know him with the guys that he had good related walkers the brandies because he we would throw so much with each other that we would know each other's body languages he'd know when i'd be

coming out of a cut and say i would have to break it two yards short because it's man coverage and depth doesn't really matter where he would know that i'm breaking two yards short he knew that i was going to cut the angle off where I would cut it so it couldn't get undercut. So all those things, there was a purpose for all that. It wasn't because he was trying to be, you know, an a-hole, even though sometimes you can be. So what do you think he, again, I know that he's probably would share, but I'd imagine he wants to embarrass the Pats. You know, it's not like, you know, this is a guy that it's the only organization because of Bill that would have not paid him. Like, hey, look what this guy's done. He's been here 20 years. Let's just if he's not great on the back end of this deal, who cares?

And Bill's the only guy that would have said, no, I think you're declining. So I'm going to move on. And he goes to Tampa. He's won the divorce. But what do you think he's actually saying to himself, if you can give us any perspective on that? Because I imagine there's a private moment. Go ahead. Go ahead. He definitely wants to go out there and put some points up. That's the kind of guy he is.

He's very competitive. And we'd all be ignorant to say that like there wasn't a little extra on this, on this game, you know, and that, and that's how he is. He's going to want to go out there. He's going to want to perform at the absolute best of his ability to show them, you know, like, Hey, you could have kept me. I mean, this is the same guy that was, we had, didn't we have the Brady six where he was crying or something because he was drafted a certain way

and he already had like four Super Bowls at the time they were making this thing and he's still thinking about this. Like, I can't read minds, but I can read mannerisms. You know what I mean? These things are, he's a repeat offender. Did, did he hit you up

and be like, hey, we're getting the band back together down here once you hit up Gronk? He may have called me. He may have called me right when he signed. But I wasn't. I'm cool with that. You know,

go into your own competitive mode. You want to do better than what Tom's doing. You're going to have to get that pliability down. Cause that has me sold. I walked, I walked by the TB12 spot in Boylston the other day and I was like, maybe I should go in here and grab some bands or something. A protein shake that has no flavor,

a couple of avocado ice creams and get a ball, bro. And start rolling out. Look, I wasn't a believer a couple of avocado ice creams, and get a ball, bro, and start rolling out. Look, I wasn't a believer a couple years ago. What this guy's doing, sign me up. I may need to get on the plan. Julian Edelman, one of the greats, CBS, Viacom, Paramount+, doing the Inside the NFL his first year.

I hope you're having fun with it, man, and anything we can do to help, man, so let me know. I appreciate that, man. Big fan. man and anything we can do to help man so let me know I appreciate them and big fan I think he's done one of the best jobs so far this season it's not a surprise Brock Huard with Fox

and also on Sirius Radio does a show three days a week talking college ball EJ Manuel Ben Harstock so Brock let's start with a game that you did I went to it was the first game I had gone to in a while. LSU up at the Rose Bowl against UCLA. UCLA wins that one.

The reason I want to start there is just trying to get a sense of who the Pac-12 is. Because even with Oregon's win at Ohio State, I think Anthony Brown is kind of hit or miss still at quarterback. I think they're the most talented team. But I just have a hard time believing that any of these Pac-12 teams are going to run through the season 13 games clean. I do as well. I think in many ways, you mentioned doing the show on Sirius on a national level. It's been great for me because it's, and while I call games, you know, all over the country or with Fox, actually Big 12, Big 10, Pac-12, that radio show opens up the conversation coast to coast and kind of gives my optics instead of just my view of my game during

the week or these conferences. It does stretch me really across the whole country. And Ryan, I would say the Pac-12 is just like everybody else, save for Alabama and Georgia. And that may change this weekend. Ole Miss and the lane train may even change that conversation. But, I mean, go ahead, three through 30. Throw them in the hat. Throw them right in the hopper. And pull the number out. And some of the teams, like Oklahoma,

are more physically gifted and talented than number 25. But Clemson's 25. They're pretty physically gifted and talented. Cincinnati's pretty physically gifted and talented. but every one of them is vulnerable. I think that's how I look at the Pac-12, and it's what you just said. They're not going to run the table because in your gut, in your instinct, in your eyes that have watched this for decades say, yeah, they're still vulnerable. UCLA's past defense, still pretty vulnerable. Excellent against the run, but they're vulnerable. Oregon, they're playing up and down to their competition

each and every week, and you can't do that. You're not going to sustain over the course of a season. You're playing to other standards you have not got, either through your quarterback or your best player is a standard that's totally set that, hey man, this is our standard no matter who we play. So I think there's a level of vulnerability for just about everybody 3 through 30 in college football. And that's where, unfortunately, for I think George Klevkoff and the Pac-12, even their top teams, UCLA and Oregon, are still in that vulnerable phase of the landscape. Who do you like then? Do you like UCLA

better than Oregon? No, I think I like Oregon at the line of scrimmage, Ryan. I think what they did in the horseshoe was pretty special. And Joe Moorhead is phenomenal. He didn't get enough credit. He is a phenomenal coordinator. I talked to a lot of people in college football. I talked to him after that game, and you watched what he did with his plan. There's a certain number of guys. I think Dan Mullen is phenomenal week in and week out of game planning and scheming and scripting. Ryan Day, over the course of his career, I put in that phenomenal category.

Joe Moorhead's phenomenal. Just a straight X's and O's. Not even the Jimmys and Joes, just the X's and O's, not even the Jimmy's and Joe's, just the X's and O's. And how am I going to get my guys in the very best position to defeat you schematically? And I think he does it a cut above the rest. I think they, you know, there's still a little bit of a work in progress defensively, new defensive coordinators, new defense pieces,

obviously personnel as well. But I would say if I had to say, okay, it's how I kind of often do this, Ryan. If I had to pick my team out on the playgrounds, right? And we go out on Meeker Elementary Playground in Puyallup back in the day, and I get my team to play your team and I get to pick my guys. I'm going to pick more, I think, of the Oregon guys and that Oregon team than anybody else out West. Completely agree. I don't even really think there's much of a debate as far as talent one through however many you want to go.

I will say this though. UCLA is tricky, man. UCLA has got, I think the two best tight ends in college football. Those two guys from a, from a downfield and a blocking Mike Martinez, their tight end is just a freakazoid.

He's just not a human. He's got the biggest hands. We hit that on the broadcast and I don't know why I'm infatuated with it, but they measure them, you know, their tight end is just a freakazoid. He's just not a human. He's got the biggest hands. We hit that on the broadcast. And I don't know why I'm infatuated with it, but they measure them. You know, that was my only gift at the combine was like 10 and three quarter hands or whatever I had. These are 12 and a half. The biggest hands, when he goes to the combine, he will have the biggest hands. Nobody is registered at 12. And not only are they enormous, he latches on to people and he just, he dominates the edges. The running back, Charbonneau, special. That old line is not elite, but they buy in. Left tackles, an NFL guy. They got pieces there now each and every week that

are going to give anybody and everybody fits. So they're going to be good. It's too bad for them. They don't have a piece or two on the perimeter that's elite, right? It's too bad they can't have one of the Ohio State wide receivers out on the perimeter. Just give them one, give Chip one of them and DTR one of them. And then all of a sudden you'd be like, man, I don't know how to defend those guys, but they're vulnerable defensively and Fresno State exposed that. Yeah, that's, I hadn't heard the tight end thing there because I think everybody looks at 85 Dulcich who's just so fast and was a receiver.

And I saw him. He's the kid that I saw at elite 11 when I went to Mira Costa's high school workout and Rattler was there and all those guys are there. And I remember watching 85 for UCLA and they were just in, they were just in, you know, dry fit. And I'm like, who the fuck is this guy?

And they were like, no. They're like, he was a receiver and now he's a tight end. 215 pounds and now he's 255 pounds. And we asked Chip. I enjoy Chip a lot behind the scenes. He is gracious and really good with us. I think it's time actually in the media, you kind of learn like, wow,

there's an opportunity to use this appropriately and to let a few people in. And I've been fortunate to be let in a couple of different times. And he loves to talk about the science and everything he does in the development of their program, projecting guys. And it's a fascinating, it's ringer worthy, man.

At some point in the off season, if you can get them for like an hour to talk about how they recruit, how they project, how they develop, how they study sleep patterns, how they study nutrition and what guys buy in and which guys have the discipline to do it. And I said, just point blank, then who is it out of your 85 scholarship guys? Who is the most disciplined? If you could take one of your message, right? And who has ingested it? Who could teach it? Who has lived it? Who's the one that's the most disciplined? And there was not a second of hesitation. Oh, he's like, he beats me here. I mean, he's five in the morning. He's in bed at 830. Like he's transformed his body from what you said, a 215 pound receiver to a 250 pound pass catching difference, making tight ends paired with Martinez.

Who's an, uh, I mean, an animal. If you study the actual tape, uh, the, the, just the, the decimation he does at the point of attack, those two are tough out. So they're going to score points, but like that Fresno game, are they going to be good enough in coverage? Right. And, and those're going to score points, but like that Fresno game, are they going to be good enough in coverage? And those are going to stop the run, too. They throw the whole game that you were at, man. They throw the whole artillery.

Let's go. Throw them all. Put the pawns and the rooks and the bishops and throw them all at the run game. We're going to just destroy the run game, but there's big voids left in the pass defense, and that's going to be some of the challenge you'll face this season. You were on the call for the Jackson-Dart game.

You know, SC's made a change. They're down 14-0 at Wazoo, and Jackson-Dart comes in, and it was great because you're like, okay, this kid was a baller in high school, and he has no idea what he's not supposed to do at the college level, and it worked, 45 straight points. And then it didn't work. Give me your assessment of what USC is right now. So a couple things. Number one, I would love to see Ryan Russillo's face

when Jackson Dart is in the locker room pregame with his eye black. And he's like, dude. It's not just eye black either. It's something else. It's, I couldn't, I mean, the first 10 minutes, I was so distracted. I wasn't even like watching the throws. I'm like, oh, that's right.

Okay, analyze the throw, mechanics, go back to your job. Because he had eye black that started, the commitment he made to that, it started in his eyebrow. And then he went over his eyelid and down straight down his cheek. Right. Just the, just the one line. Like, and I said to Joe Davis during the break, I said, Oh, it hit me. He's scar from Lion King. Like it's just that, that look actually said it on the air. I was like, that's, that's pretty good. Joe, Joe's Joe is awesome. Uh, so that, that was the first one like okay if you've

got the stones to do that you're from utah and he's fascinated ryan because he didn't do much his first two three years of high school i believe he transferred and then he threw for 67 touchdowns i mean just went to a school that's pretty dynamic and he showed out and big big time early enrollee wins the backup job keaton gets knocked around you know strains his neck and then Jackson was just he was special set USC records now unfortunately for them he tore meniscus but played through it so like it's unfortunate that he didn't play last week against that Oregon State it's unfortunate that they didn't get to make a decision of whether or not they wanted to turn the page and give him the keys to the Ferrari and all of that

because the injury knocked him out of that game. You could see in that game he was getting his ass kicked even though he was the reason they came back. It was actually, I don't know how many people saw the game, but it was the kind of game where it was beyond just football. It was like this story and you're going, I wish this kid could protect himself. When he got up on that one hit, he's looking over the sideline being like,

it doesn't look like I can walk right now, guys. And then he stayed in for the rest of the game. And they're like, what do you want to do? You want to put the other true freshman in? No, I'll just suck it up, and then I'll just start throwing darts. And the last name is appropriate. I had someone text me in the business, pretty good text, and said,

the USC job became that much more appealing. We talk about this with NFL franchises and people wanting a young franchise quarterback. Urban Meyer left the set because he's got Trevor Lawrence to build around. People were intrigued before Deshaun's 150 masseuses came out with that job because, wow, I got Deshaun Watson. I got a young franchise quarterback. That kid's got some special attributes. He showed it and displayed it physically with his physical toughness, his physical arm, and all of that. But USC also then turned around and showed the next week they're a mess.

They're a mess. And what they are at the line of scrimmage is, from a USC standpoint, embarrassing. Embarrassing. That if you looked at Pete's dynastic run there for 10 years and I know it's super unfair to compare it but it wasn't 50 years ago right Ryan like this isn't a job where you go oh my gosh in the 70s in the 80s no no no it was like a decade ago Pete showed you how you have to do it. And what he did at the line of scrimmage was just, was destruction.

It was NFL first rounders again and again and again, not just the position players, not just Reggie and Matt and receivers and corner. It was like the line of scrimmage. They were salty. I believe one year, I remember looking back some time ago, they gave up less than 10 points a game.

Couldn't do that in today's college football too hard. The world change, RPO, all that stuff. But what they were at the line of scrimmage was just night and day from what they are. And when I start to study teams and look at their rosters, that's usually where my eyes go first, Ryan. It's not to the quarterback anymore, the receivers. Okay, let me see you at the point of attack because that separates the men from the boys. That's Georgia this year.

That is Alabama this year. That is and has been the national champions the last 10 years. What are you up front? And what they are up front at defensive line is it's hard to fathom you could get to that level with the recruiting opportunities and the demographics recruiting-wise within a couple hours of you. I know you're prepping for Oklahoma. They get Kansas State, who suffered a loss to Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State, I think Michigan State are two teams none of us really have talked about enough.

Agreed. And I love Michigan State's Coach Mel. Every time he talks, it doesn't surprise me. They've got the wake transfer running back who's absolutely on fire. But I kind of want to go with Oklahoma here because I know you're doing the prep. What are you seeing right now from a group who are always, and I mean the irony of this is that they finally got the defense. Correct, it is.

And now it's the worst offense we've seen in six years. It's exactly right. And I saw Oklahoma my first year year at fox and the way that our crew works is kind of in the second half of the season we start to get spun the games that have playoff contenders that are either in it you know top five or what have you if you're fortunate in the big 10 big 12 back 12 to have a team there or a team right on the cusp of it so there was one year i believe i saw oklahoma in 19 five times r right? And five times Jalen Hurts and that crew. And they were so imposing physically up front.

They just mauled you. And Bill Biedenboe, their longtime O-line coach, there's NFL first rounder, there's another one, there's an NFL tackle. They're all over the place in the NFL, the guys that he's produced. But they didn't play nor want to play defense. Alex Grinch was his first year in 19 and he said to me i'm as much psychologist i am football coach like the it's just been beaten

down here like defense just don't screw it up just try not to give up 50 just give us a ball a couple times if you give up 35 or 40 whatever right we'll score 50. But just don't get in our way. And now you put on the tape and they're like flying, man. They're playing 25 guys last game. Close game, one possession game. They got their like second on the depth chart, their second string guys in, in the final six minutes, like the biggest possessions of the game, like a hockey line. Like they just play 25 dudes. They couldn't play and find 11 in 2019. They want to run out some of them. So now they got 25 guys that are feisty, that want to hit you. Got NFL guys up front in their defensive line, defensive tackle, Perrion Winfrey's an NFL physical guy. Isaiah Thomas, which is so weird for me to see a DN named Isaiah Thomas because I think of cold-blooded and Isaiah with the Pistons.

But maybe it is Isaiah with the Pistons. I've got to retrain my mind because that's what they are, man. They're physical. But then flip it around and offensively, they're just – that whole line is – Yeah, it's not – this isn't all on Rattler at all. Now, when I watch the West Virginia game, and I'm watching Dante Stills,

and how about Akeem Mesidor, the sophomore? I mean, these guys, for whatever you think of the Big 12, and honestly, most of the Big 12 criticism was totally accurate. It used to drive me crazy when Big 12 fans would be like, oh, whatever, and send you a clip of a missed tackle in an SEC game. Do you seriously want to do this? Do you seriously want to do this during the peak Kingsbury, Texas Tech run

where you were just like, nobody tackles anybody. West Virginia's front, they can hang, man. I don't know if it was Oklahoma going, how the hell does West Virginia have it? They should have seen enough at this point because I like their personnel. The Rattler part,

though, I can't figure out because I think in arm talent, the way I would describe it, again, you're the guy who played in the pros, but I don't think there's many kids I've ever seen that are as good as understanding velocity differential. I'm like, hey, this is what I have to do with this pass. But there's an arrogance to him, which we already knew if any of us spent any time with him.

And let's just face it, be honest. A lot of times when people spend time around Rler they don't leave it going i love this kid um all right and that's being about as nice as i can be and so kind of started on the high school show right it started on the high school show and then i think people i think a lot of the football guys would be like hey let's give him an open and then it was like no i mean it just sucks for him because he's doing it to himself in that way and And I think the arrogance isn't so much the part from the TV show or the interaction. I think there's an arm arrogance to his game so that when it's not working out, Brock, it's like, OK, now I'm going to be. I don't know. I mean, it was really weird because I give Stanford Steve all the credit in the world.

He's like Spencer Rattler's the Heisman favorite and he might also get benched for Caleb Williams. And then you had the home crowd chanting for the five star backup. Yes, I think all of that is very fair. And speaking to a guy that played with an immense amount of talent my first year and two years in college, second year in particular, we were very talented team, maybe one of the three most talented teams in all of college football in 97 in Washington, preseason top five. We end up losing to Nebraska who wins the national title that year with Scott Frost and I got beat up and our team got beat up that year and then I come back for my final year and everybody left and it was like oh this is a whole new old line this is

not there's no Olin Krutz there's no Benji Olsen, right? There's no Jerome Pathan. It was tough sledding. Fundamentally, I got broken emotionally. It was broken. It was hard. Spencer's not there yet, but you start to compile and pile up more games like West Virginia, where you can't take a drop back. I mean, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, if you were to study the amount of air, just like volume of air in the pocket that those guys would throw from, Ryan, in college, just compare and contrast that with the pocket right now that Spencer has and the amount of space, the lack thereof, that he has. It is night and day difference. Oklahoma's O-line, left tackle, more than likely this week will be a transfer from

Tennessee. First year guy, they wanted to play their young guy, grow him, develop him, struggling so much. Okay, got to go to the transfer from Tennessee. The center they started this year had been, honestly, like four different schools. They bounced around everywhere. Arizona was his last stop, comes here. Okay, experience. Well, can't play. So now we're going to bench him for our true sophomore that's up against it right now. Having a hard time. The right guards transfer from UCLA, who was an okay player at UCLA. But you know, Chip and crew kind of said, yeah, you want to go play somewhere else? That's their old line. The left guard's a good player. He's been there for three years as starter starter. Like, he would start on the O-lines five years ago.

He would. But that's about it. And the right tackle has been their right guard that they have to move out to right tackle. He's not a tackle. So that's what you got up front. And that's Stanford Steve. I don't know if that was his intuition with Spencer or if it was all Spencer. But if he looked at that O-line and then he started watching tape and go,

Ooh, yeah, this is not, this is not the war daddies. This is not the NFL dudes. And these are not the road graders that we had that was able to mix in run and play action and everything that Lincoln can do. Well, it's some tough sledding in that pocket for Spencer right now. Okay. But what does that mean for them against the rest of the big 12? You had Iowa state and Baylor, which was a great game.

And shout out to Aranda and Baylor. I thought some of their stuff this year, like, hey, we need to figure out how to be coaches. They were honest about it. Correct. And Baylor's a competitive team. Again, here, they're 4-0. Not that Baylor extends itself

in their non-conference, as we know. But they beat an Iowa State team, the highest preseason ranking ever. extends itself in their non-conference, as we know. But they beat an Iowa State team, the highest preseason ranking ever. I mean, do you still think Oklahoma turns this thing around and gets through a clean? Are you off of Iowa State? Texas has made the change at quarterback here. I'm still not sure that's necessarily who they're going to be. Tech lost their quarterback in that game, which is just a weird game

because Texas is kind of whatever number they want. Doesn, the Big 12 feel back to our kind of starting conversation a little bit like the Pac-12, other than Oklahoma has been head and shoulders, has been the frontrunner, has won at six consecutive, has been to the playoff, has more culture, has more been there, done that, has more just chops than obviously Oregon or UCLA or anybody out west. But as far as the rest of it, if you want to compare and contrast, I mean, I think there's a ton of similarities to the Pac-12 that, that each team, if you just took what their strength was, go, yeah, man, I like that. I like UCLA's run game.

I like their two tight ends. Well, you know what? I love Iowa State's linebackers. I love their two D linemen, McDonald and Wazirike. I mean, they're dominant dudes. You could take bits and pieces from a bunch of them. Iowa State will still be an incredibly tough game for Oklahoma. Baylor is going to present some line of scrimmage challenges for Oklahoma.

Oklahoma State, who you just said, right? We're not talking about Michigan State and Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State's defense is salty. Those safeties are salty. Those edge players get a feel. They are salty. So there is going to be enough over the course and journey for Oklahoma in this conference where you say, geez, you know, this pocket and this line, it's not going to get a breather. It's not going to get, Kansas will give them a breather, but then there's not a ton of other just, whew, we can exhale, not really challenged physically. A lot of these teams physically with this O-line as they're composed right now

at Oklahoma, and no one's walking through that door right now. You've got what you've got up front. They're going to be physically, Spencer's going to be physically challenged in a bunch of these games here in the second half of the season. You did A&M and Colorado and I don't know what to make of the Jimbo thing

because I was reading a piece on The Athletic the other day and it's like, do we look at Jimbo and go, hey, what's the deal here? I think his record's the same as someone's through 40 games. When I read that, I was like, wow. But Jimbo also has a ring and he's got a team on the cusp, or at least last

year. My big thing is, are you in the mix for even a chance at this thing? And A&M was that last year. And other than the gold standard programs, really just Bama and Clemson of the last few years, I'm not leaving out Ohio State, but you get the point like everybody else should just be a are we at least alive to play for a national championship that's not enough for Clemson and Alabama right yeah so I know that

Calzada wasn't the guy you know I read something else too was like hey it was really close yeah but the guy they picked isn't playing in Haynes King so we can pretend it was close all spring I don't think it was really as close as other people made it out to be. They made the decision right before the season starts. What do you make of this offense with somebody who has weapons? The running backs are awesome. Weidenmeier, the tight end is terrific. I might take Leal defensively over any other player in the country,

and that means Kayvon at Oregon. That's how much I love some of their personnel. And they lose to Arkansas, and that wasn't even really close like arkansas was in control for 60 minutes gonna be hard calzada is not haynes king uh haynes king here's a little story behind the scenes uh doing that game and truth be told i have a brother on staff so i may be a little biased in this question when it comes to A&M because I know an awful lot about them behind the scenes and what they're doing. So you're not going to rip Jimbo is what you're telling me? Probably going to have a hard time ripping Jimbo here, yeah.

But Luke had told me, my brother, he's like, man, Haynes King is fast. This little kid is fast. He's not the thrower that some others are and that Jimbo's had in the past, but Duke can run. And then he gets nicked up in camp. So going even into that Colorado game and into this season, we didn't see him at 100% lower leg injury and everything else. Well, then he breaks his leg, right?

He gets just cartwheeled and his leg slams into the Colorado defender and breaks his leg. Different injury, but breaks his leg, so he's going to be out. We're sitting there the day before the game, a couple of the A&M players, the two safeties, great guys, O'Neal, hilarious. If you ever want to talk to a terrific player, player interviews can be tough. This guy, home run, O'Neal, the safety for A&M.

So I kind of in my back pocket knew that Haynes was fast. And I said to them, okay, obviously A-chain, world-class speed, running back. Six fastest 200-meter time in the world. Okay? I mean, world- When you take Spiller out and put an A-chain, you're just like, okay. World-class speed. I said, if we line up the A&M guys and you put them out there,

football uniform or whatever or not, put them on the line, run to the 50, who's second on the team? And they both kind of look at each other like, should we say this? Right? Kind of read the room like, should we be honest? And they're like, honestly, Haynes. And, you know, there's kind of a little,

everybody on our crew, I kind of knew that answer in a way that's why I asked it um so I was curious from their perspective and they were telling stories of conditioning in the summertime like it was hilarious like we're out there running gassers and Haynes just like this dude can run so that was going to be an element to add into their mix with his inexperience as a passer that at least he could compensate their inexperience up front and throw them, Ryan, and I know it's not sexy and it's not the greatest podcast nor the greatest radio to talk O-line. Ooh, let's talk O-line because nobody knows their names other than when you start to study them, you know, kind of week to week. But look around college football.

Clemson's O-line, huge delta from what they've been. We talked at length about Oklahoma's group. A&M right now, where they were a year ago, what were they called? The Maroon Gang or whatever. Like they were one of the best right there with the best O-line in college football. They're not. They were one of the best right there, the best O-line in college football. They're not. Hey, look, Ohio State, I saw moments against Tulsa where I'm like,

Tulsa's D-line just wrecked your entire run plan, like off the line of scrimmage. Yeah, so I had Matt Stinchcomb, and I was chatting with Matt, who I love to talk to, another great interview, former NFL lineman, All-American at Georgia. I said, Matt, what is it? Because we can go look at this, and when we talk about kryptonite and vulnerabilities of teams in college football,

my eye constantly comes back to the difference, right? The difference they are. What is Clemson, Ohio State, A&M, Oklahoma? These teams, we've seen them just run the show, just make it look so easy, and my eye goes to that line of scrimmage. They're not moving people. They're not protecting that pocket I talked about earlier. You know, look at Trevor Lawrence and Taj Boyd and Deshaun Watson's air, just the air around them, right?

If you had a measuring tool and now look at what DJ and look at what Spencer and look at what these guys are feeling around them, that matters. There's not space. Space isn't just on the perimeter. or feeling around them that matters. There's not space. Space isn't just on the perimeter. Space is in that pocket. And Matt made a pretty good point. He said, you know, I mean, I think there's a lot of different reasons.

Construction of rosters. You know, if you're going to run spread, you need more receivers. And, you know, are you committing 15 scholarships truly to that O-line? Or are you, hey, you know what? We can get away with it. And we run this RPO stuff, and it's easier on linemen, right?

You've heard that. Oh, RPO, easier. They don't have to be great. Just kind of get in the way. And, you know, you kind of reference, you know, roster construction. You reference scheme in that way. Like, heck, linemen today, they don't even know if they do their job well. Just go out there and get in space.

Walk inside zone and get in the way. Or RPO, just get in the way or rpo just get in the way like is there a you know an evaluative tool to project no this guy's a difference maker for you um and then i i go back to david shaw conversations and david shaw when when the ncaa passed the rules of no two-a-days and you know kind of like the nfl we're not going to hit we're going to take pads off we're going to have walkthroughs and can't have back-to-back two-a-days and david shaw's like well there goes the essence of what we do like that strain and that leverage and that callusing at the line of script we got to callous our guys got to play low and the only way you do they can

do that in a walkthrough sorry so I think there's different reasons for it. But, you know, I have my eye over the course of this season, Ryan, on that maybe more than anything else to point to why these behemoths are having a hard time against Tulsa, why they're having a hard time against Toledo, why they're having a hard time for A&M at Colorado. That group up front, man, those five, that's half the team. It's half your roster. And it's front, man, those five, that's half the team, half your roster.

And it's a lot more of your identity, right? When you're a big, physical, nasty, just punch you in the mouth team up front, that sets a tone for the whole AB5. And when you don't have that, you feel the chasm, the difference between when you had it and when you don't. Okay, last thought here. I don't know how much tape you've done on it

because you haven't had either assignment, but Ole Miss going into Tuscaloosa here. We know the numbers Ole Miss has put up. We know what Lane is capable of in game planning and all that kind of stuff. And look, Bama did something against Florida we've never seen under Saban. I mean, they got gassed and they couldn't run the football.

It was 21-3, and then you're like, what the hell happened with the rest of this game? And it was kind of weird watching it. I don't know if it's the college thing football. It was 21-3 and then you're like, what the hell happened with the rest of this game? It was kind of weird watching it. I don't know if it's the college thing where you're up 21-3 and you're Bama and you go, who cares? The thing what I would say, when I looked at Ohio State's struggles defensively, I go, okay. Then when I would look at

Alabama's, I go, these are two different things. Bama has the personnel to fix this next week. Ohio State doesn't. Other teams don't. I don't know how deep you can go on that game. So take it anywhere you want to go. Well, there's a couple places I go. I would love to be in that press box or on the sidelines before the game

because I think you're going to have more NFL evaluators, difference makers, GMs at that game than you will just about any other game in the regular season this year. I mean, Georgia-Alabama, if they get there in the SEC championship, obviously, but Matt Corral. Like, we can talk about O-line, and I enjoy doing that, but we know what drives conversation and what's easy for the fan to digest.

It's easy for them to digest quarterback, right? Ball's in his hands every play. You get get to see it you can make that judgment really easy i can't i can't wait to watch this tape of him because i think he's the most intriguing daniel jeremiah said it before the season like the whispers around you know the manny camp they all kind of got together you get to see him down at the manning camp compare and contrast i test a little bit sam howell's arm was terrific malik willis is a phenomenal athlete and and growing as a thrower but most of the nfl guys pre-season were like man this matt corral tape is like i keep watching it like this dude is twitchy he is and he's got a little lightning in the bottle. And the first game of the season, back to Spencer Radler, right? And kind of your conversation about him elevating people.

People like him. Do they want to be elevated by him? Are they? They believe in him. And they're still searching, I think, for some of that in Norman with him to grow. You see, the first game of the season stood out to me against Louisville. I might be saying that wrong. How do you say Louisville?

I say Louisville. You say Louisville? Yeah. I think there's a way to say it. So I apologize to all those folks in Kentucky if I screw that up. The Cardinals. And player gets ejected, or for Ole Miss, player gets ejected. And who's on the sidelines coaching?

Who's the one picking the defense up? Who's sitting on the defensive side encouraging? It's Matt Corral. And it wasn't fake leader guy. You can cut some of that. It wasn't, hey, where's the camera at? Let me go pat my guys on the back. Hey, come on, let's do it for the team.

It was a genuine player gets ejected, arm around him, sit on the bench next to him. Hey, man, I got you. We're good. And I was like, man, you just don't see that a lot. That's a hard trait for today's young people to have as a leader. It's hard. It's harder, I think, ever than ever before in this like and dislike world that we live in, man.

And I talked to these coaches a lot about that. It's hard to find someone that can be outspoken, that's willing to put themselves out there. For some reason, that image just, it stuck with me, that game. And then you just watch him play and distribute, and the ball is out in his twitchiness and his run and his quickness and his quick release in his eyes. And as I said, man, this is one where he beats Alabama.

We've watched meteoric rises of quarterbacks. Kyler Murray become a number one pick. Baker Mayfield become a number one pick. We've watched meteoric rises of guys. Joe Burrow, meteoric rise. We've watched it here the last five, six years. Matt Corral goes to Tuscaloosa, takes care of the football, which he's done this year.

He's learned to throw it away. He's learned to get down. He's not thrown five picks. He's taken a significant step. He does that, Ryan. He's the frontrunner now in Heisman odds. I think he jumped even Bryce Young in Alabama. So I think you've got one-two in the Heisman odds right now.

He beats them. He's in New York City. And even more for him, this intrigue of the NFL becomes reality. Like, man, if we took Zach Wilson, number two, speaking of meteoric rise, if we took him number two, what's the difference between Zach Wilson and Matt Corral? That will be some of the conversation if he gets it done. That's where my eyes will be. And he had seven touchdowns against Tulane, and maybe I'm wrong about Tulane and catching him twice this year. I don't think they're terrible.

They're 1-3. Nope. And they were in it in Oklahoma. That wasn't really fluky. I know they lost to UAB after they gave up a million points to Ole Miss, but I don't think that that's – that's not seven touchdowns against some FCS school where you're like, what the hell's going on? And he could have had 10 if he wanted to.

And I like that right there. I like that they pulled him out. Yeah, Lane Train is – he's eccentric. He's going to mix it up. They could have kept him in. He could have had 10 touchdowns. If there's a guy that you would have thought was going to stay in, it'd be Lane doing it.

I get it in college. It actually drives me crazy now with some of this stuff. Like when Klay Thompson gets yanked out of the game, I'm like, no, let's see what can happen here. Brock, I can't tell you enough. Every Saturday, man, when I catch you and Joe, I was like, you guys are just so good start to finish. So check them out on Fox and again,

Sirius XM with the college stuff as well. What's the time there so people can catch you? This week on Sirius, I am on 1 to 4 Eastern time, Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays. And just, yeah, have a good time with that. And it'll be fun to see Oklahoma. It'll be fun to see Ohio State. So I get to see those two teams next couple weeks.

And maybe we do this week 12 or so. We'll be fun to see Ohio state. So I get to see those two teams next couple of weeks. And you know, maybe we do this a week 12 or so we'll catch up again. This was a blast, right? Yeah. Love to. That's right. He's got Oklahoma.

That's at Kansas state. That one's going to be three 30 Eastern time. Thanks Brock. You got it. Ryan's. Yeah, bud. You want details?

Bye. I drive a Ferrari three 55 cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.

All right, we got some good life advice follow-ups. At times, it can feel like a community. If the topic is the right one and people rally around it. The dunk email, the amount of people that have responded to that and offered up their own stories. I had a ton of side texts from guys just being like, what? And then I had one friend who was like, you used to round up some of your stuff to set goals for yourself. Are you a psychopath? And I was like, nah, whatever sorry um so um i don't know so rudy kyle do you guys have any more thoughts on any of it because we had a lot we also had a lot of people chiming in too about the coaching um the youth coach deal but that that's like politics that

thing could veer a million different directions where dunk guy was pretty succinct uh most people were like there's no way that guy dunks here's my story i don't know if you guys had more on that because i have one i liked i like the i didn't if anybody said more than one sentence on it i didn't look at anything but i did like it was sort of like an america votes thing where it was like that i think he dunked most people think that he didn't dunk so i just kind of i didn't read it into it anymore that if there was another sentence in there i kind of turned my brain off but i just kind of liked like even on your pot like i'll look on on your pods that you post on twitter to see if like i miss an edit and i have like a little you know thing in my stomach like oh fucking kyle so i look and i can see even on past podcasts or like that guy definitely dunked

it's like kind of they were spamming some of your your twitter posts so that i've been following along that way so rudy I feel like I would bet an unhealthy amount of money that that guy could not dunk and would have been very comfortable with it. And that's where I'll, I'll leave that. But then people were actually, I did, I did see a lot of Twitter sort of mentions about your lifting strategies and whether or not that was actually genius or just kind of like a random you thing. So I don't know, maybe people should start doing that. Yeah, because I mean, I could have been called out in a different way, which is fine.

I mean, at times, I can't be the coolest guy ever, every single podcast, which I know is certainly not the goal. But I don't know. I'll sometimes let you guys in. And it was some weird thing. I really wish I hadn't told anybody

I was trying to be a writer. But I think I may have subconsciously told everybody because I was trying to be a writer, but I think I may have subconsciously told everybody because I was like, well, now you have no choice but to succeed. And I'll admit, I kind of like, maybe I should have just shut up about it, but I think I did it to motivate myself a little bit. I also think I did it too so that people that were in the industry that I had made contacts with may be like, oh, hey, are know, are you sure you're really doing this? Yeah, get the word out. So I could probably do a better job of that and I don't. And it's honestly turned

into this long running joke where now people don't even think it's real and it's just a joke. And I went on with Adnan and talked about it a bunch, but I kind of like, all right, you know what, until you're actually doing something that's really exciting and you're really proud of, we've probably just shut the fuck up about it at this point. So maybe that's a statement. We're issuing

a statement now on the writing career. Okay. Let's get to this because this is a really good one. I found myself in the same situation as the dunk guy. 26 years old, 6'1", 160 soaking wet, surprisingly athletic. Oh, is he white? Yep. Okay. Me and my three best friends were out drinking,

watching a football game, and a kicker missed a kick from 30, 35 yards. I made the comment that I could make the kick, to which one of my friends said, no chance. We went back and forth for a while, and I agreed on a $100 bet that I could make three of five from 35 yards. Prior to the bet, I went to test it out. So solo, I go out and buy a bunch of footballs,

or excuse me, one football, and the leaning kick holding thing and went out to a Pop Warner type field near where I live. Again, this is a 26-year-old by himself on a field kicking field goals. I think that's America right there is what that is.

I started at 25 yards. Not really a problem as you don't have to put a ton of leg into it. But when I went back to 35, I couldn't make any. Dejected, I headed home. But when I got out of the car, I couldn't lift my kicking foot. The toe would drag across the ground

when I tried to take a step. I called my doctor and he diagnosed drop foot, prescribed a ton of Advil and said I probably shouldn't do whatever I was doing. That's another thing you'll notice too. At 26, I'm surprised you got immediate drop foot. But I threw a baseball a few months ago. threw a baseball a few months ago. And of course, you know, you grew up throwing a baseball and pitched a little bit in your life. You know what you're going to do. You're going to start winding up.

You're going to start seeing if the slider's there. Even though it sucked, it was never there. But you get the point. It's not as egregious as the guy who just... There's always one guy that's going to punt the football.

It's a law. If you're out at the beach guy who just, there's always one guy that's going to punt the football. It's a law. If you're out at the beach throwing a football, there's three guys. One is going to punt it. It's the biggest lock ever. There's no better bet than one guy's going to punt it. And then everybody else will be like, oh, you're the guy that was going to punt it. You're always going to kind of gear back a little bit. So I threw, I don't know, I don't know, threw a baseball back to force for 10, 15 minutes.

The inside of my hamstring hurt so fucking bad because your body's like, Hey, what's this movement we haven't done in forever. And kicking is absolutely one of those things. Uh, kicking, if you don't do it and then all of a sudden you start doing it all the time, your body's just going to reject the entire process. So our guys drop foot, can't make them 35. His question is, do I come clean to my buddies? Do I claim that I went out to practice, had some success, probably would have been good bet. My doctor said I couldn't do it anymore. I love that you're thinking of lying to them and having the doctor, but they're going to make fun of you so bad if you do that.

And they should because you're lying. Pay the hundred bucks. Tell them you were wrong. You'll get more respect from that instead of this this is going to be like a lifelong tragedy that'll be brought up it'll never be forgotten it's going to wear on you like the murder and crime and punishment maybe not because that guy was kind of tapped but you get the point um i would i would absolutely come clean i love that you're even asking about this but there's far more to lose whether it's respect and future arguments and it's going to come up again when you're drinking five years I love that you're even asking about this, but there's far more to lose, whether it's respect and future arguments.

And it's going to come up again when you're drinking five years from now, and you're going to have to stay married to this lie over a hundred dollars. I think it's, I think it's such a better story. If you just totally come clean, own it, drop foot and all pay the hundred, they laugh at you,

but you're going to gain way more from all of this by handling it that way than going with a conspiracy. I would reserve the right to try at least. I would tell them your story, but also reserve the right to try when you're healed and then don't practice anymore because then you at least have one shot of not losing 100 bucks. I would say come clean and be like, listen, it's not going to happen right now. You don't have to tell them what your make and miss ratio was. Just be like, I really hurt myself. Or even say that I couldn't hit him. But I think you should still reserve the right to try because that is part of the bet.

Okay, but it just sounds like you're doing whatever you can to avoid giving up the $100 now. Is that fair? Well, how long does he need? I mean, what is this, hamstring detached? How long does he need? Yeah, but you're saying he's never going to do it later on either you're just you're not saying never do it later i'm saying like do it later on still reserve the right to try like obviously be like how long is too long before you guys say i have to give you this money like yeah but he knows give it one

shot he knows he can't make it so that you're delaying the inevitable here but what if you can i didn't think kyle was going to be as good on this one and he was once again i i i cannot believe how often you bring it and your your efficiency is off the charts oh my god sorry that's just a little love for our guy kyle here so rudy no i appreciate the never say die attitude from kyle I mean, I guess, you know, I don't think he's there's no way he's gonna miraculously be able to kick a 35 yard field goal. So you could give your friends the entertainment of you trying which and then say, Hey, like, okay, I'll embarrass myself. Maybe I maybe because I do that. I don't have to pay you the 100 bucks, like make some sort of deal there. But the worst case scenario in all of

this would be you ducking out and giving your friends a doctor's note. So definitely don't do that and lie about how you... Oh, I can't do this physical activity anymore because a doctor said so. That's an immediate... This guy's lame. This guy's a loser. So I think you either try

and maybe bargain down with embarrassment the amount of money, or you just say, hey, I'm going to pay the $100 and walk away. That's... That's... I just think it's there's the value

of the hundred dollars is not greater than the value of I don't know maybe you have sick friends who knows you know they just want to see you go out there and injure yourself again I think there's a lot of guys listening to this though going no like why why admit it my point is you made the bet

and you've admitted you're never going to be able to make it from 35 so just get it over with you know because at 26 you guys are going to keep bringing this up all the time because you don't have enough distractions in your life yet you know that's why when you're younger you can remember music and all the lyrics and you can recite movies and you know everything that's going on because you know whatever your storage is isn't taken up yet and then as you get older it's taken up with shit that's way more important than knowing every character from a tv show or every lyric from your favorite artist and you're just like okay so i'm just saying at 26 you guys are going to put way too much time

into this because there's just not enough i mean unless you guys are like all married or something and i don't know anything about it but anyway um. Okay, I think we have enough on that. I want to, I don't do a lot. I could probably do maybe a full podcast on life advice for people that want to get in the industry. I've thought about it. I don't know. I mean, I already talked for an hour and a half,

so maybe we could do it at some point, but I'll do one here because people really love the Tyson Fury interview. I'll tell you, I think I'm actually getting too much credit for it now at this point. It was a strategy, I guess. And we already rehashed it and everything after the fact. But I'm pretty floored. And it always can be a nice reminder of when you do something that people like, it does feel good.

So I want to thank everybody that, that reached out and liked that interview that much. Um, and look, I just was kind of like, all right, this interview is going to suck. So I'm going to sit here longer.

Um, for those that are asking like, Hey, how did you do? I probably wouldn't have done it 10 years ago. I definitely would have done it when I first started out. Uh, I wouldn't have had the balls to,

and it wasn't even like, Hey, I'm so cool. Look at me challenging Tyson Fury. That wasn't really why I was doing it. I just was like, Hey, I spent, it was a later taping and I was so annoyed that I'd ruined the rest of my day waiting around to do it. And I was like, Oh, and now it's going to suck. And it turned out great. And he was terrific. And I have no hard feelings about it at all because it wasn't really that bad. It was just, Hey, I'm not going to sit here and keep doing this if you don't want to do the interview. So, um, I, I do appreciate people making it out to be almost bigger than it

was, but I, I don't know. So Rudy, I feel like, again, I'm getting too much credit now for it. Cause I don't think it was like, it was okay. It wasn't, um, but I don't know. Um, but let's, let's hit this guy's question because I can answer interviewing stuff, um, in a different way. All right. So anyway, guys, what's up? My man's writing from Mexico, sports journalist, 25 years old, focused mainly on the NBA. Got hooked on the podcast about six months ago. All right. Shout out.

Shout out to Mexico. A couple months ago, I had a similar situation. He's referencing the Tyson Fury thing where the interviewee was in a bad mood, did not give me anything to work with. And I simply just ran out of questions. I'd had complicated interviews, but never like this this for months i've wondered how to attack these types of interviews and i think they found i think i finally found my answer by listening to your interview with fury all right i would tell you i don't know that you want to make a habit of it

every interview that doesn't go well be like hey dude you want do you not want to do this um you know what i mean it would actually be kind of funny if that became one interviewer's style that as soon as he felt like it was going wrong, you just would constantly question your guest. I don't think you can go to that well that often. So I don't know that that would be the best. Here's what I should do. And I'm just going to he was basically, can you give us more thoughts on interviewing? I'll tell you this.

Most of us aren't as good as we think we are. And I have done, especially when it's radio and you're probably doing three hour show, 12 segments, six guests. So you're doing six interviews every day, 30 a week. Some of them don't go great. And sometimes it's, you know, the radio interview, the format of it is outdated and it kind of sucked where you felt like if you had somebody for eight minutes, that was pretty good. But I think the reason podcasts have been so successful too, is like, we actually want to hear from people longer. You know, if you're interesting, I don't want to hear, you know, it's hard to really, right as you warm up, you're saying goodbye. So I don't know if it's the clocks and the ads and the national broadcasts and a place like ESPN,

there's all this technical stuff that goes into it that I'm sure some of you don't realize. Like the infamous time, one of my co-hosts decided to do a moment of silence and didn't tell anybody. And I had people screaming in my ear being like, if you don't talk in the next five seconds, the entire network's going to crash. And I was like, okay. So there's some technical stuff that prevents, just, hey, can we stay on and break through the clock? and you know i think i asked once i was like is there any interview that any guests that you could think of that we could have on where i would be just allowed to break the clock which means not go to the network out the hard out that resets everyone around the country that's picking up your programming

and they were like no not really like we can't i think it may have happened once with somebody or something like seriously and i don't even know what it was. So look, the point is, is that doing a radio interview for seven or eight minutes, you've got to be efficient. Like I used to have a thing with Van Pelt where I go, let's get to our third question first. You know, like let's not dick around with how's your golf game and let the other shows do that. And we used to always make jokes about when he would ask somebody about their golf game. And then he would kind of look at me and it was his way of fucking with me a little bit and it was actually became kind of a funny little routine that is different um i can't i can't

map out things like i'll say this that a lot of times when you hear me ask questions you may hear me i call it disarming the guest where i'll know it's something that I have to ask. It's probably the only reason I have the guy on. And I know that he probably doesn't want to give me what he wants to give me. So I will try to disarm in a bunch of different ways. I think the Texans, I'm trying to remember, was it the Texans that had the number one pick? We had J. had JJ Watt on when he still liked us and he came on with Van Pelt and I, and all anybody had been asking him

about was I think the number one pick. It was this, it was this thing. Basically he'd been asked a million times. So if you know, the guest has been asked about this thing a million times, but you know, you have to ask him the million and first time, because it's still the question you have to ask. You got to figure out a way to do it where you're not immediately getting him to shut down. Because any times, like these guys are famous and they're rich and they're on the phone for eight minutes with guys they don't even know. The Zoom thing has made things better. I mean, one of the weirdest things about the pandemic and Zoom is that it actually made, again, this isn't nearly as important as the rest of the awful stuff that happened with COVID, but

it forever will change the podcast industry because now the norm is, again, this isn't nearly as important as the rest of the awful stuff that happened with COVID, but it forever will change the podcast industry because now the norm is, hey, you're not going to be on your phone in the car for 30 minutes. You're going to be sitting down in front of a screen.

I can read your facial language and all that kind of stuff. But I would try to find a way when it's that kind of question to disarm. And so what I did with JJ Watt once is I was like, hey, I know everybody's

asked you about this. What's the best way for me to ask you about this and get the best answer. And it actually kind of worked. And it wasn't really that clear. I was basically saying, ask, tell me the question to ask you, which again, no professor would say, Hey, that's a good way to do it. And you know, I, I wasn't a huge fan of the Swatsky seminar because it was eight hours a day for three straight days. So it was 24 hours. And his style of interviewing was, look, I'm not telling you, this is the guy's life's work, but I'd be like, for radio, this doesn't apply to us in radio. I can't waste time asking all these lead up questions to get to

the meat of it. And then all these interviews that we're watching are edited. You know, with 60 minutes sit down, that's edited. So you can just sit there with the subject the entire time. Time is not a factor. And then you can put it in the order that you want it to, depending on how he answers. Like these are two completely different worlds. It's almost like they're both interviews, but it's like one's in

Chinese and the other's in sign language. It's not even close to being the same thing. And I tried to tell him that and he was like, who's this idiot? So I was like, all right, fine. So I do think when it's a difficult, when it's the same question, it's not if the guest is being difficult, but if it's the kind of thing where like, look, if you were this person and you're like, oh, cool, you're going to ask me about this again. It's like, yeah, I am going to ask you about this again, but try to find a way to ask it in a way where you're almost giving yourself a hard time to the guest, where you're almost trying to like get that person on your side. Like, hey, I know, you know, I know I'm doing this thing and whatever, whatever, and you're going to laugh. So you'll hear me try to do that with somebody. And it's

kind of the way I set up getting a better answer. Um, so that'd be one part of it. And then look, there's a bunch of other stuff. Like sometimes you do a warmup question podcast allows you to do it radio. If you want to be good at radio interviews, the warmup questions, you know, you're only going to get like five questions in with a guy in those radio interviews. And I used to just despise wasting them on anything other than, let's just get to it. You know what I mean? Like, let's get to the interview. Let's just start it. I'm trying to think, none of us, you know, you got to listen, listen to answers. I constantly listen to answers or write down notes. And my questions, I could write down 20 questions for a guy and I may only use five of them because I get new questions based on the answers every time.

I didn't always listen, especially radio, because you're still worried about a million different things. So it was podcasting. I lock in more now than I did then. There's a lot of times where I'd be arrogant about it and be like, ah, whatever. I know what to ask this guy. And then you get done with it and you go, you know what? You mailed it in on that one and you didn't do as good of a job. And it usually pissed me off enough to be like, hey, don't do that again. And then I'd probably do it again in six months or something like that. Um, because you can get really arrogant about interviewing and just be like, yeah, whatever. I'm really good at this. I'll figure it out. But the extra time to just go, you know what? Give me 15 minutes on this. Cause there's always a time too,

where you'll see something. What I do try to refrain from is like the Wikipedia question. Although it's funny if the person wants to play along and there's a ton of wrong shit about them on wikipedia but it also you know i worked with one guy that used to just as soon as we get a guy on the phone he'd be like the wikipedia page is up and then out of nowhere he'd be like so you donated to a junior high team in tennessee what was that like you're just like what are you doing like if you want to prep, prep the interview before, don't prep it while we're doing it. So, uh, the radio thing is very, very different because you're, you're traffic hopping so many different things that it almost allows you to get a little bit more distracted than you do in the long form stuff. But I think

it's very clear. Everybody, everybody is down with the long form now. And if you're going to do the long form, mapping out a timeline is important. Listening to their answers and getting questions out of their answers is important. The warmup questions are a little bit easier to get by in podcasts, but figure out when it's that thing that you need. Think of the one soundbite, the breakout part of an interview that you're doing. How do I get to that moment? And I try to get to it as much as I can. And I don't always get it. You know, I'm guilty of trying to get stories out of people all the time. And sometimes I completely whiff on it, but I'm, I'm not going to, cause it's hard sometimes to be like, you know, I've done kind of sometimes, Hey, tell me

a story about this. If the guest isn't built that way to do it, the question is going to flop. But when it doesn't, it's a, you know, it's a home run. And I can try a bunch of different ways. And if I don't know the guy personally, it's a little harder to break through because you just so often be like, hey, tell me about this guy or tell me something that happened about with this guy that you say to your friends. You know, how do you describe this guy to your friends or what are the stories you tell your friends about playing with this person and it doesn't always work even though you know those stories are in there so that's what i always try to get i don't always get it um so there you go i don't know if that was helpful or not at all i think so rudy's probably like yeah dude i've worked with

you for 10 years i already know all this stuff i don't want to listen to it kyle you probably have nothing on that one, correct? Surprise, surprise. Got nothing to say. Not even a comment. All right. There you go. All right.

So maybe we'll do one of those longer form things on the business. But I don't know. I mean, when I came up, it was very different than it is now. So I think there's just way more opportunity for everybody now, which is great. But it also means there's way more competition. So I don't know. I don't know what's better. All right. Please subscribe to the Rhymes for the Podcast. Thanks to Kyle and Steve as always. And this is a fun one today. Enjoy the weekend. Outro Music