[Music] it's time to take you inside the Huddle here we go here we go here we go straight from the source this is the Players Club with JJ and Alex featuring huge running back McKai Bernard on 975 the KSL Sports [Music] Zone all right everybody welcome back it is JJ Alex 975 the KSL Sport Zone yes as you know every week we get to chat with uh a player from the University of Utah that player this year is of course Makai Bernard uh he is one of those veteran leaders on this UT Squad and 49-0 in week one against Southern Utah Makai thanks for being on the program man how are you I'm doing good how are you oh we're good man we're excited for you we were we were just asking right before you're not hurt that's kind of number one it's like hey you don't want to get banged up lots of running backs getting a lot of action this week how'd you feel in game one I felt pretty good you know just nice to be right back out there with the guys you know going through everything the lead up going through a pregame you know just seeing everybody out there cheering us on you know it felt good just be back out there once again you know M it's a weird game because you guys had so much success offensively and and and and moved the ball really well but the problem is you move it so fast and you have such big explosive plays that there's not a lot of Touches for all you guys that are on that team how weird was that game for you guys when you normally have a bigger workload and you didn't because you were so successful uh it's kind of weird you know I mean first game's always like that sometimes um you know you you play a team just like that and you you just go out there try to have fun you know you're not gonna get too much playing time you know you try to get the young guys in you know see what they can do let them have a little bit of fun but you know it was just it was it was fun all in all but I will say that you know I wish I could have played a little bit more just being you know you know missing football for all these months and just could play a half you know it's not the best but you know you just you happy to win well I have I have a strong opinion about it I don't think that the power four team should play FCS teams anymore uh because I I don't know that it value I mean I don't know how you guys benefit from it we the fans that watch I we want to see a more competitive game or kind of be able to be entertained a little bit more how do you feel about it as a player do do how does the FCS games help you guys or would you rather play a a uh I guess a team that's more on your level um you know just going out there and playing any team is fun but I will say that you know first game you never know what could happen you know you see a lot of these teams so far right now they're playing in big games and you know this ruining the record and we're trying to fight for a 12 team playoff right now so you know it could it could ultimately hurt some people and you just don't want it to be used so it's kind of nice to go out there and see what the team's looking like against a a squad that's not your own and uh you know get the kink knocked out in that first game rather than going in you know to a a big uh matchup and having all those Kinks appear in that match up how are you taking this year Makai you've done you've you've had a lot of first games in your time as a Utah Youth and you know we talked a little bit last week about how you start things off as a 17-year-old coming right out of high school then coming straight in you've got that veteran kind of leadership there what's it like being able to kind of start the season off and what does this year starting off feel like compared to you know some of the other first Seasons you you take some time to think you know what I'm not going to be doing this I'm not going to be able to to play football University of Utah forever do you take it do you take all these and like say and and I guess enjoy all these moments while you have them you know what I haven't thought about it till you said it I know it's my last year but I haven't thought about it that way till you just said it right now and you know I think it is crazy to say that I will not be playing you know here I won't be able to go the facility anymore I won't be able to you know go to practice with these guys anymore after this year but you know I I'm just going to throw that in the the rear view right now and just look to you know the present and I'm here now and we got you know 11 more opportunities to play this game that I love here at this University that I uh you know feel so great about so I'm going just you know take it one week at a time and see what happens when we get towards the end you mentioned about the game against Southern Utah chance for you guys to work out some of the Kinks what are some of those Kinks that you guys noticed cuz we're watching that game and you guys look fantastic you're rolling the the offense look great what are some of those things that you guys noticed or learned about yourselves in that game that you need to work on in preparation for Baylor a power four team this week uh you know that's a good question I I can say I seen any kinks as well um I think we played you know really good but you know those types of games don't happen like that often and uh you know like I said you watched college football this past Saturday and there was a lot of teams that you thought was going to steamroll you know a lot of these other FCS teams and you know that didn't happen thank for us we had the opportunity to go out there with no problems and you know get through the game with you know just no Kinks at all I feel like give us a little bit of an idea what it's like to have Quinton ganther as your position coach uh I mean I feel like he fits in right in step with the toughness at that Kyle Whittingham kind of brings overall but he's uh he's not one of those guys you want to mess around with I feel like coach ganther is a a No Nonsense dude but you've been able to be around him describe for people who are listening maybe what what it is to have Quinton ganther as your running backs coach up at Utah because he's got a lot he's got a lot of dudes in that room and and uh if you're not used to his style it might be a little bit abrupt you know Coach Q he's he's a great guy I mean I've learned so much in the past few years you know just being with him uh he's elevated my game tremendously and I think I thank him a lot because without him I don't know if I would have got to the level I'm at in this moment you know he taught me to see the game in a different view you know as a guy who came from the NFL he shows me and tells me what what needs to be done in order for me to get to that level and we work on it every single day and just being in the meeting room with him he's so knowledgeable and we we as a unit we have gotten way better than past years because of the the the knowledge he's G given us so you know I'm very thankful for him he's a great guy he he is you know kind of you know scary he can be scary sometimes but it's all coming out of a place of love you know um you know a lot of people don't know this but you know he doesn't his family doesn't live out here with him so he treat us like his kids and you know it's a good little relationship we have with him um just to be able to you know lift him up when he's down he's lifting us up when we're down well we saw the talent on display from that running back room against Southern Utah and we we knew coming into the season you guys had a lot of weapons and it was confirmed in that game on Thursday there's going to be some nights where it's you Maki that has the big numbers and then other nights it's going to be somebody else and it was dejon Stanley against Southern Utah what did you think about uh you see him play in practice every day you know what he's capable of and we saw just how fast he was what do you think his a performance I think he had a pretty good performance he had a little bit of things to fix up you know he's young you know getting to play in his you know major Le and the first game in college and so you know we' seen a lot of good things from him but you know this week we going have to tighten a little bit of things up but I think he's going to be a great addition to this offense uh we get to you know use some packages with him you know he's a really fast guy we see that practice all the time and we try to exploit matchups just because of his speed and you know his speed was put uh on on the spotlight uh you know last Thursday so you know it's going to be a lot more of that who is the fastest guy on the team you know um that's a good question uh it would have to be it would have to be dejon Stanley um you know I'm not too far behind him not gonna lie you know he runs a cool 22 miles per hour I'm up there at 219 you know something M you're saying you can catch him on a good day is that what you're saying on a great day I can catch him you know I'm I'm I'm fast you know I haven't I my but I'm I run I run up there with him you know he might even might catch me uh you know out the gate or whatever but I I'll I'll hold on to him probably about a a step or two behind I think it's important I think it's just important that none of the wide receivers made the top of the list that's what's good how do we make this race happen n we got some fast wide receivers too but um you know we always argue about that it's a it's a big it's the John Stanley uh money Parks Zaya Von Tao Johnson myself you know we we're all pretty much up there that's a lot of talent you just mentioned there maai how do you guys keep everyone happy I know you want the ball all these guys do so many guys can do it isn't that going to be the biggest challenge for the offense this year is just making sure everyone's fed you said it um you know it wasn't it wasn't my game last Thursday it was Dej Stanley that's because you know we had a great uh package in for him that you know exploited some things that with the matchups and so it was his time to shine and you know we all seeing that and you know this week might be my time it might be Glover's time and so on with the other receivers and whatnot uh it just depends on the the match that we're going against and the defense they're showing us and you know I Believe In Coach L he's going to put us in the best position us as players we just got to go out there and make the plays you guys went down to Baylor last year it was uh it was absolutely blazing hot obviously now you guys get him at home it's a conference team but not a conference game just how it works out because they were already on the schedule and and uh you're going to play nine conference teams but this was already an out- of conference game for you guys and so they're going to keep it that way this is a very different team than facing off against Southern Utah obviously Dave oranda the head coach uh of Baylor is a really good defensive coach what do you guys see on film from Baylor and and what's the different I guess type of test you're going to get this week from them um you know I think it's going to be a good game by them on the defensive end uh they have shown that they got better I've watch film on them today a lot of film on them today actually and you know I've seen their dline plays pretty good you know they're very Stout in the middle uh their linebackers can move they're very athletic and so um you know we're just going to see what we can uh what coach L can cook up for us and we gonna go out there uh this week of practice and execute it and hopefully do that on Saturday as you guys get ready for this game and it's and it's game two and and week two uh how are you how are you kind of preparing I mean from from a week- to week standpoint there's there's that you know there there's the part where you at least got to play Baylor last year but getting into the play getting into having to play in the Big 12 how do you ramp up for that obviously playing in the Pack 12 it's a different conference and so there's a little bit of different Beast do you think about you know that that these teams are different you don't know that much about them is that does that come into the equation at all or I know coach Whit just likes to prepare for every team the same way no yeah we like to prepare for the team uh the same way every single time uh nothing's changed in my mindset about anything anybody on this schedule but the fact that you know each and every week we're going to go into the film room and watch the film and you know gather a lot of information and you know I didn't play in the Baylor game last year so just me Gathering a lot of information you know already uh it it doesn't change anything for me but the fact that it's another game and uh I don't see anything different that you know these guys are going to do that's different from you know playing in the Pack 12 you know it's just another team and we just got to go out there and prepare McKai Bernard our weekly guest here on the Players Club as we get you ready for Utah versus Baylor coming up this week uh Makai of course every week we like to get to people to know the non-football side of who maai Bernard is and so what are you studying in school what is the nonf football maai Bernard like to uh do in school what's the thing that kind of gets you going where you're like this is something this is an area that I like to to uh sharpen my mind on um so uh I got my degree uh in 2022 in Communications uh journalism emphasis so you know I really I'm really thinking about being a broadcaster after he that's what I did yeah look you could just be doing this just take over after I'm done so yeah that's what I got my degree in so right now I'm not really into any class and not getting the minor or anything but um I'm taking you know a couple you know I don't know what kind classes they are but like I'm in a arts class an anthropology class and couple other classes and just you know just expanding my mind seeing what you know interests me and stuff like that because you know you never know what's going to happen after football I might enjoy some of these other things I'm studying right now how do you stay up on I mean obviously playing your game and the best thing you could do for yourself to keep your football career going in the future is is to put the best product on the field right now how much do you talk in the offseason and and and now that you guys can have agents and things like that you look at kind of where you're at when it when you compare it to kind of where you grade to possibly go to that next level and be in the NFL next year um you know uh I don't I'm not too big on all that stuff uh you know I think I like I said I'm in the moment and the moment is you know college football right now and so like after all this is done you know I'm been re-evaluating see what happens but you know I just I just want to focus on right now I don't want to get to much into the next level at the moment it's just cuz it's it's not here I have to I have to continue and finish what I've done and what I've started here at the University of Utah before I can go anywhere so we go to we got to worry about the moment Makai Bernard running back to University of Utah they take on Baylor of course this week uh it is already week number two of the season and we're going to be chatting with him all season long be able to have these conversations as usual Mai thanks for being with us man we appreciate it uh good luck this week stay healthy dude thank you appreciate it got more to go around the corner stay with us 975 V KSL Sport Zone