HOUR 1 | SUU Football HC DeLane Fitzgerald | Utah State Football and Legal Woes | Technical Fouls...

[Music] welcome back oh yeah man how you doing you good I know you like that I know you it's the Saturday show 975d KSL Sports Zone I'm Christian aspara here with Alex Anapolis Alex let's do this thing dude how exciting is this it's the first day of college football it's the start of a new season and it's the start of a new era here on the Saturday part of a new Saturday show for those that missed it last week Jake hatch the longtime host of the Saturday show here on the Zone long story short he just had too much on his plate he uh had to give some things up to spend some more time with his family he's a very busy man and he deserves time with his family so he had to cut some things out and uh he cut the Saturday show out and big thank you to hatch for trusting you and I going forward uh thank you to Lloyd Cole our program director again for for trusting us with this show because it's a big deal not only do we get to kind of recap the biggest things we had on the station throughout the week uh we hit all the highlights hit all the biggest interviews that we had but then as you mentioned Saturday's our game day man so it's a it's a great opportunity for us to kind of wake up and talk about everything that we have because here on the Zone we are wall to- wall every Saturday uh BYU and Utah pregame and postgame then of course we are the the flagship station of the Utah State Aggies so we have their broadcast every Saturday here in a couple months we're going to have the Jazz rsl's still going uh we've got the bees still going they may they may make the playoffs as well so wall to wall man and we are just it's so much fun this time of the year is great we have so much going on but uh as you said Alex a new era it's it's amazing man and I'm so happy that not only that we do we have like you said we have the trust of Lloyd of Jake and and the ability to take over the show but to do this together man I think we have uh I think we have a good times together yes sir I'm excited and uh yeah we we we did a show together a couple weeks ago because hatch had something and uh I think it went great and now now here we are run in the thing every Saturday run the thing run in the thing every Saturday all right let's start the show off how we do we're going to keep some traditions going uh there were some traditions that hatch had said that we don't want to lose so we'll start off with highlights of the week Alex what was your highlight of the week highlight of the week for me has not happened yet I got I got two things coming up this weekend obviously this this right now is the highlight of my week us being able to be on the the air together taking over the Saturday show and starting this new era that's highlight number one and then tomorrow one of my best friends um just had a baby and I got to go meet her tomorrow so that's my oh there you go that's fun I got to go meet her tomorrow so big shout out to Jaylen Elsie and Sydney uh super excited to go meet the baby tomorrow those are my highlights yet to happen but super super excited looking forward to him we got Parker back there producing Parker what was your highlight of the week um so my my highlight I just bought a new car there you go that's exciting tell us about it I'm like I'm super excited like I've been driving a loner for a little while and it'll just be nice to have my own pair of Wheels again and that's pretty much it I'm going to pick it up today oh so you don't even have it yet I I have the keys I just I didn't have time to pick it up yesterday so I'm like okay I'll just I'll pick it up on Saturday it'll be fine that's awesome yeah all right I guess uh for my highlight of the week last night I went and played softball with uh one of my best friends uh he's in a softball league up in Leighton they needed a sub so they called me up and I went 0 for two at the plate uh but I didn't go down swinging grounded out both times I haven't played softball in a couple years but it was fun getting out and play good man good there you go so that's that uh let's get the show started though I'm super excited to start things off today uh for those that don't know I produce Jak and Ben here on the KSL Sports Zone Monday through Friday every day from 10 to 12 yesterday we had suu's head coach Delane Fitzgerald on suu is playing Utah week one that's on Thursday and uh I went to suu and I know coach Fitz so I was like yeah let's let's get him on the show um talk about his side of things because they are in The Wack or excuse me not the wack the UAC United they changed the name of of it recently so the UAC is the wack and uh another conference kind of combined for football because not every not every school in The Wack has football but uh they're FCS and they're down in Cedar City so not a lot of people up here know about them so coach Fitz came on and he talked about the youths he talked about his program a little bit um so Parker let's go ahead and fire that up let's play uh this is coach Fitz all right we got some technical difficulties no worries um we'll get to that in just a sec but let's start things off talking about Utah's side of things uh going into this game Alex it's week one and Utah of course their biggest storyline throughout fall Camp was the backup quarterback situation we didn't have Clarity on that for most of fall Camp until last week Kyle Whittingham announced Isaac Wilson is the backup quarterback to cam rising at Utah what are your thoughts on that I love it I I was talking to Jake about this last week too and we were talking about I said that I thought it was interesting that a true freshman uh was able to get the number two the the number two for the the Utes a super great opportunity for Isaac who I think is an absolute Gunslinger um and and an incredibly talented and uh young Prospect so we'll hopefully get to see him maybe against Southern Utah but uh super excited for Isaac and and yeah man yeah and that's the interesting thing because on one hand you've got so many players returning turning from injury on Utah that you want them to have the opportunity to shake off rust and playing in FCS school is the perfect opportunity to do that especially before you ramp up for Big 12 Play which is an incredibly physical conference so again seu is a great opportunity to get these players up to game speed but then you don't want to overdo it right and and you want to see what you have in in Isaac Wilson and and some of these other players so that's a fine line that Utah is going to have to uh kind of figure out next Thursday and I'm sure that's what the coaches are going to be talking about in the days leading up to it um but we've got Coach Fitzgerald ready to play we'll get back to Utah in just a second Alex uh here is coach Delane Fitzgerald J 975 the KSL Sports Zone pen college football is blessedly here and our uh next guest is going to be patrolling the sidelines at Rice Eckles a week from tomorrow 7:00 kickoff he is the head coach or yesterday excuse me yeah that's right uh it's a Thursday game apach what are you still doing here it's Friday seriously he is the head coach at suu uh he is Delane Fitzgerald with us here on jakc and Ben apologies coach I mean you've gota you got to pack up and get up here sooner than I anticipated it's coming up on us quickly hey guys thank you all for having me this morning hey we really appreciate you jumping on making some time for us what what does this next six days look like for you what's your schedule when do you head up to Salt Lake City yes our actually game week our game week will start today so this is a normal Tuesday for us and we go Tuesday today and then Wednesday tomorrow and getting in um we will give the guys off Wednesday Wednesday will be a travel day for us and that we'll visit the stadium and let them see rice echles and then we eat really really well on on Wednesday night you know we like to thank the University of Utah for for the um for for the money for us to eat well on and then we'll go to the hotel and get a good night's sleep we'll get up on Thursday morning and do a walk through and eat a nice lunch and then head over to the stadium and get ready so tell us about this squad coach are you excited coming out of camp we we like our team uh we're much better than we were 24 months ago um bigger faster stronger we have depth and we didn't have depth two years ago but we can have a kid get banged up now and the next kid can step in and be as good and we're happy about that um gu guys we're looking forward to our schedule and and we've got a 12 game season and I'm just going to be honest with you guys we're going to take the trip up to our state capital next Thursday night and try to get in and out alive and if we get out of there healthy on Thursday night we got a chance to have a really good fall well you turn around you play UTEP week to right I mean this is not an easy start to the schedule for you guys yeah we can we can go toe-to-toe with EP we played Arizona State last year which was a pack 12 team and had an opportunity to beat them at the end of the game um we're going to have an opportunity to be successful uccessful against UTEP you know nine G nine days after we play Utah um but guys you guys should be more pumped up about the fall than I am um that that's a top eight may maybe a top six program there in Salt Lake City my my prediction is that they win the Big 12 and and make the college football playoff um just just an exciting group and man we're we've sit here for the last three months and off and on I've watched them on film it's the best front seven that I've ever prepared for so with that with that said coach how do you kind of evaluate your team in this game and I know I I've you know interviewed enough players going into kind of Underdog situations to know that your guys are going to go out there and pour it on and and expect to win even though the opponent is is difficult and daunting as you put right there so how do you measure progress what do you want to see to make sure you're ready to go for EP I want to see our guys compete for three straight hours uh want to see them play really hard want to see them execute want to see them compete for three straight hours um our players and coaches understand the reality of this situation next Thursday night and there there's nobody that's that's naive as to what's really going to happen uh you do come in with some momentum you won your last four games of the season last year you got to six wins how does that help does that really carry over from one year to the next yeah it absolutely carries over football football programs are no different than any other college athletic program if you're hot at the end of the season it usually rolls over into the next season um guys if we were playing a team on the same level if we were playing another FCS team that had 63 scholarships the same way we have 63 scholarships um it'd be a little different story um but we've got a chance to be really really good but got guys for us for us the season starts next Friday morning uh I'm curious to I I want to talk to you about recruiting a little bit because I got to be I got to admit I'm biased I love Cedar you know St George sucks obviously Cedar City is where it's at uh talk to me about the the message he's recruiting kids from St George well you know he's bringing them over to the good side Ben come on now uh what are you talking about on the recruiting like what's your sell for suu as you build this program yeah you guys know as well as I do this is a special place a special place and we're getting ready to hit 50,000 people in town but but although this is getting to be a little bigger Town it still has that small town homely feel um that food here is is extraordinary a lot of good restaurants and and a lot of good food the chefs here have to be as good as anywhere in the country so that's really really good but I go back to the people all the time we don't um in recruiting we don't beat anybody on facilities we beat no one on facilities but the kids get here and they spend a weekend here with us and they get to know the people here and the people on this campus and people in this town and it's a special place um what one of these places where you can be here during your college career and you leave here and 20 years later they still remember you they still talk about you they still talk to you they still remember you so so it's neat that way coach you came from ber Maryland you thought about DC in Baltimore didn't you yep yeah and it's it it couldn't couldn't be further it's like somebody here in southern Utah I'm thinking that it's in the middle of Salt Lake City about the same distance but yeah up up in the mountains and I used to laugh I when you would tell people you were 35 minutes closer to Pittsburgh they'd be like huh I'm like yeah we're we're in the western tip of the state closer to Pittsburgh than DC and Baltimore um you you asked about what it is I I think our coaching staff is is really really good um got guys I think we're sleepers people usually don't see us coming until we've passed them as a football program you know we we tell this is our third job as a coaching staff together and we take jobs and people don't think much of the higher and then all of a sudden a couple years later we're better than they are um I would I would say this surrounded myself with really really good people our assistant coaches are a lot better football coaches than I am they're better people than I am but just surrounding ourselves with good people and then we have an act for evaluation and we we evaluate kids and and we evaluate the the players parents and in the recruiting process we just do a little better job of looking at a 17 18 year old and knowing who he's going to be at 20 21 22 years old and we're also concerned with how they're going to be at 30 40 and 50 years old also so our evaluation recruiting strategies and stuff are a little different maybe a little better than some other places um guys I I have been lucky I have been lucky because as a head coach if you take a job with a bad Administration it sometimes it ends your career sometimes it's your last head coaching job I have been fortunate to have now two straight really good administrations um that that bunch at Frostburg was topnotch and and did it the right way and then we have a president here Mindy Benson and an athletic director Doug n that have surrounded themselves by really good people and a lot of fun to work with and to work for and they're making decisions BAS Bas on what's right for our students and our student athletes and that that helps you be successful but but I've been lucky um to have had back toback good administrations did they make sure you're really into Shakespeare before you took the gig they're like you gotta be Shakespeare our president's as good as they come and the best thing she did for me is she hadn't pushed sh Shakespeare on me one bit I would not like it uh I want to talk to you about the league uh the United Athletic Conference the UAC your thoughts on it and fit in it yeah thir third ranked third ranked FCS conference last year um anytime you've got a conference where half the teams are from the southeast or from the southern part of the United States it's going to be really competitive and football is going to be important um that this is where I think the conference is really good for us and and and the school down south from us as you got two schools from Utah and then there's three or four schools from the state of Texas and then we go one school from Arkansas one school from Alabama one school from Tennessee one from entucky and now one from Georgia um and football in those States is really really important so the fan support and tendance are big and then the teams are good because it's important to the town and it's important to people's parents in those areas um if you can align yourself with some schools in Texas and some schools in the Southeast it's going to be important um really really good play and every preseason poll that that I peeped at has us third or fourth in the conference preseason polls mean absolutely nothing we've actually got to go out and play um but I'm talking to you guys in my care it's my 16th season as a head coach this is the best off season that I've seen this is my 30th year in college football this is the best off season that I've seen and that all that being said we got hey we got to get in and out of get in and out of our state's capital healthy on Thursday night coach I'm sure you have 63 scholarship kids you'd like to talk about and even more Walk-Ons but is there a player or two who you think really represent what you're trying to build at suu and and what you guys mean and and what you're trying to to attract kids to yeah Conor cmore is a he was a freshman All-America and he's an all conference player um I think he embodies kind of what our state is and what our University is but he he's a returned missionary married from Phoenix Arizona his wife runs the 100 meters on the track team she may have the school record secret pelmore um but but I think that that he kind of IES you know who we are and what we're about um you know we we have a lot I'm sitting here and we've got over two dozen return missionaries on the team and I think those guys kind of embody who we are you know I'll give you another one is Colin garders are starting left tackle he's in his third years is a starting left tackle um but but his wife is the best offensive player on our women's soccer team and return missionary married they're both Connor Connor's a a 33 34 student um Colin Gardner is a 36 37 GPA student I think they kind of represent you know who we are and then you know taking the the return missionary piece out of it you we've got you Braden Whistler who was a great player in high school at Bingham and and he's now a three-year starter for us at tailback and a Salt Lake City kid and you know he he does a nice job for us uh targi lamson's another one of our tailbacks and he's a Temp View grad and does a really really nice job for us at those two at the running back position I think they kind of embody you know who we are and what we're about um but good good young men off the field good students in the classroom and then they they just play their rear ends off on the football field whether it's practice or games they play extremely hard and it embodies you know what our coaching staff is and what our football program is guys y'all want some good ones and y'all are in Salt Lake and the people are listening I haven't had a chance to tell these stories so this is good we went up and played Utah um we'll be one week short of 24 months when we get up there next week and one of the two of the things that happened while we were there that really made me uh smile was is we got there on on Friday evening last time and we're going in for our walkth through and one of the um older female ushers she said we'd like to welcome all of you guys to Utah and I looked at her and looked away and I was going to let it go and I turned and I said ma'am you do know Southern Utah is location Utah right and you never you never know if it's a retiree or transplant and she didn't she may have not even known what our school name was but I thought it was funny I wanted to say you know this is not like North Dakota and South Dakota it's not two different states U but but that was a good one and then the the student section and we TP we kicked off at 11:30 which I approve of 11:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning so the fans there didn't get a chance to get lathered up and Loud before we played last time but we come out and the student section is there and they're Rising us and they keep talking to us about elevation and they keep saying how are y'all going to handle the elevation how are y'all going to handle the elevation I didn't have the heart to tell them that we had drove down a th000 feet to get from here to Salt Lake I think we're gonna be fine I did decide one thing two years ago I'm never going to pay for my I'm never going to pay for my children to get a degree in geography at Utah University coach that's hilarious and we really appreciate you coming on that's so cool good luck next week and and seriously thanks for a few minutes hey guys I appreciate y'all have a great fall hey you too coach thank you very much welcome to Utah welcome to Utah thanks coach oh man I love coach Fitz he's such a character what a funny guy oh he's hilarious I had no idea Coach Fitzgerald was a was a comedian like this man yeah he's very funny I love the way he talks his Cadence his southern accent it just makes everything comedy that was awesome that was that was a really great interview and it's not only obviously I mean the seriousness of it of like him getting into his team getting into this matchup but like just the funny stories of hey welcome to Utah and oh Southern Utah's in in Utah yes I think big takeaways obviously from that interview number one he knows what this game is right um he mentioned basically they're just trying to get Get Out Alive on Thursday and then essentially their season starts Friday okay it is what it is for seu and then uh after this game against Utah they prepare for UTEP but uh I mean coach fit's given love to the UTS he said that he thinks they're going to win the Big 12 he thinks they're a top eight team in the country he said that Utah has the best front seven he's ever prepared for uh keep in mind he did play Utah two years ago so very very high praise for the Utah Utes from suu head coach Delane Fitzgerald and I think warranted praise u i mean we've been talking about it on this station all all preseason long this is a that Utah front 7 is is looking better um more and more each day they're looking healthier more and more each day and it's that front seven for the for the Utah defense is going to be absolutely incredible yeah and uh we've got some sound that we'll play later on in the show uh running out of time this segment so we'll we'll talk about the UTS more in full in another segment um I mean you and I both spent some time up on the hill uh during fall Camp going and getting sound from players and coaches and the the excitement up there is palpable I think everybody's excited and one thing I'm excited for for the youths is to see how they walk the line of going about their business with all the hype that they have because everybody's picking them to win the Big 12 everybody's picking them to make the college football playoff and so it's really hard to go into a season in your first year in that conference with all this hype everybody sees you as a villain so how does Utah handle that it's going to be interesting to watch that kind of unfold because Christian you're you hit it right on the head you know even in the packo era even with the back-to-back packo championships they weren't necessarily the favorites no you go back you look at that USC game everybody talks about the the Caleb Williams Pack 12 championship game and USC was favorite in that one yeah because Utah had won in in earlier in the season and everybody was like oh Heisman winner they're not going to lose to Utah twice y so you USC is going to win but behold now it's different yes now it's different now Utah has the expectation now Utah's coming in uh I I remember having this conversation with hatch too a little bit ago where we were talking about how imagine how Kansas State feels imagine how Oklahoma State feels right where they were potentially going to be the favorites and now you have this new guy coming in just kind of walking in with a little bit of swagger into this new conference and saying hey we're going to come in we want to run this exactly these these programs that had been in the conference for a while they had established themselves big National Brands and then all of a sudden Utah kind of comes out of nowhere as far as winning the B the Pack 12 recently and then now they're everybody kind of sees them as a top 10 top 15 team in the country but uh again we'll get in more into Utah later college football week zero man what a game a we've got Florida State playing Georgia Tech over in Dublin Ireland uh Florida State got on the board first 80 I saw the touchdown I didn't know they went for two I didn't either I didn't either they went for two got they got it obviously 8- Zer and then Georgia Tech uh just scored a touchdown to make it 86 so are they going to go for two or are they going to kick the extra point they're kicking look at that 8-7 wow we got a game over there in Dublin Alex there's a there's some a little bit of hype on Georgia Tech usually Georgia Tech's not one of those teams that you hear about but apparently people are um looking for Georgia Tech to kind of Make some noise in the ACC this year yeah and I think it's super cool obviously we're all very excited for college football to be back week zero we got a fun slate of games today we're gonna have this game on in the studio so we'll be updating you The Listener in case you can't get to your TV and keep tabs on that but uh we'll get more into college football on the other side of this break Alex stay tuned this is the Saturday show on 975 the KSL Sports Zone this is my recital I think it's very vital to rock that's right rock rock around that's right all time is trick it's the Saturday show 975 the KSL Sports Zone Christian Esparza and Alex Napolis big first down for Florida State he's still going down to the 50 oh my gosh Alex I'm excited for college football what's your favorite game of the day today week zero favorite game of the day today that is a that's I I mean it has to be this one right this is probably the biggest matchup um of the day today here in week zero this Florida state Georgia Tech game but I think a lot of locals are going to have their eyes on not only uh SMU Nevada for obvious reasons that be why you will play SMU later on this year and also I think a lot of people will be tuning into Montana state New Mexico Bron menal getting his uh first game as a head coach of the New Mexico Lobos plus a little USU interest in that one as well yeah little USU interest uh and me again I went to suu most of my time there they were in the Big Sky so I love Montana state they're a really fun program to to watch but you mention USU there in the Mountain West Conference along with uh the Lobos and uh Nevada you mentioned them earlier first off you had some thoughts we talking about their helmets their helmets uh so this year on April Fool's Day they tweeted out a picture of a a cow printed helmet that they were teasing as a joke but it got so much attention on social media that they announced that they're going to wear it week one against Robert Morris it's fantastic it's a great marketing tactic I think I feel like for uh USU you bring out the helmets you have now t-shirts that are going to go along with the the kind of the cow print theme um incredible marketing from from USU but I'm I'm not sure I like the helmet really yeah the cow print you don't like the Mah State no I don't think I'm a fan really I don't think I'm a fan I do I I like the dark blue my favorite Utah State helmets are the ones with the the state outline on it I think those ones are really cool and we've had this conversation before but I don't like those ones either oh yeah that's right uh you like just the Classic just the Classic give me the U the UST state so are they doing a white out week one are they wearing the white helmets with dark uniforms I hope not I hope they're doing all white that would be really cool I think it would look better with the all whites yeah I think so too but let's get into actual football with with Utah State um we had some more news more updates in the the crazy drama that they've had up there in Logan former head coach Blake Anderson is suing Utah State that's huge and and he's using a local Law Firm to do it Alex he continues to talk about how um he was wrongfully terminated uh we I mean when when all this kind of broke and that show that we did together uh a couple weeks ago uh when J catch was out we mentioned that it was going to get ugly and I think we're starting to see that there's going to be situations going on with Blake Anderson some legal uh legal situations going on with the former head coach of the Utah State agies and so going to keep an eye on it and see kind of what comes out of it one thing I think is interesting is as I mentioned this is a A Logan based law firm and I thought it was kind of silly towards the end they mentioned um all of the attorneys all of the attorneys at Barson and Caldwell are true blooded Aggies in all caps so that's really interesting I think it's it's it shows the Divide up in Logan um because everybody up there is loyal to Utah State and it shows how much that this situation has really just divided that City that college town up there and it it really is huge and I keep using that word huge but that's what it is because people up there are picking sides um fans of of Blake Anderson Jerry bie feel like they got wronged of course Blake Anderson and Jerry BBY themselves and and Amy uh Crosby feel like they got wronged and they are taking action to to write that wrong and so Blake Anderson believes he he deserves to get paid out by Utah State and Utah State feels like they shouldn't have to pay him so so this is going to go to court it's gonna get ugly it's gonna get ugly but let's F I want to obviously focus on the football yeah I um talk about the football and I think Utah State opening up the season against an FCS School in Robert Morris I think it's a good opening game for the you for for the yaggies you have an opportunity to welcome in an FCS School kind of see where the team's at I don't really know what to make of the agies just because of there's so much turmoil and there's so much uncertainty I feel like with everything that's happened this offseason for for Utah State but I do expect guys like Royals uh guys like aarson to have great Seasons yeah uh Jaylen Royals was just named number six to hen Scotty's 60 and 60 Ike Larson is yet to be named so I'm going to to assume that he's in the top five I don't think he was left off of that list Alex but uh how do you think that the team is going to respond to this all of this emotional stuff and then they on top of that they had the the tragedy of a teammate passing away so those are those are things that can really sink a team and really hurt their confidence ahead of the football season do you think that these guys are going to Rally around the adversity or do you think it's going to be too much for them to overcome I think they have to they have to Rally around the adversity it's it's it's a challenge for guys like Royals guys like Larsson the leaders the veterans on this team to Rally their troops and get them ready for this game against Robert Morris there's as the leaders as the vocal leaders you have to get your team to focus on what you can control and what you can control obviously is going to be the game plan and your performance against Robert Morris yeah if they come out and struggle against Robert Morris I feel like with everything that's happen happened up in Logan this season that can really hurt that team's confidence yeah and especially if you start out slow you know and they've got a rough schedule to open because they play Robert Morris week one but then week two they go to LA to play USC and then week three they're back at home but they're against Utah so if if you're one and two out of the gates like that's rough it really is rough and then not long after that they play boisey state so they have a tough slate Alex they do they do they got a they got a tough schedule to open up the year and again I just I don't know what to make of this team but just because of all the turmoil just because of all the controversy and everything that's gone on with this Utah State AI team on the off season so this is the challenge this is the challenge to those leaders rally your troops get them ready go get a big win against Robert Morris uh week one yeah and I think one thing that we kind of need to touch on too is after a coach has fired players get a a transfer window a new transfer window that's right and they lost I believe two players to the transfer portal one I don't remember his name I'm sorry but he was not essential to the roster uh they did lose Micah Davis wide receiver which was a big blow but uh other than that their roster is intact which is huge and Ike Larson especially was a name that everybody was watching out for because we know that he's wanted around the state around the country these bigger programs are trying to poach him or or players like him from the smaller schools so for Ike Larson to stick around through this and show his loyalty to Utah State and the program huge great show of leadership from IE Larson and then when when other players see that they want to Rally around that and say yeah this is a this is a guy that I want to take the field with this is my brother that I want to go out there and play football with every single Saturday so that's huge for the Aggies and that really pumps me up absolutely it's a it's a big sign of the show camaraderie um to to have one of your your your biggest leaders and one of your best players on that roster decide to stay in Logan decide to stay with the agies um despite everything that's happened if I'm a younger guy right I'm looking at that and I'm going to Rally behind him that's my guy that's my brother I'm GNA do everything I can to make sure that I can put my team in a position to win because he potentially gave up moving on to a bigger program yeah to stay here and and play alongside me so I'm going to do everything I can to make sure uh we get that win he was on the hen Scotty show a couple months ago talking about how when the the national transfer window opened schools were offering him500 $600,000 o to leave and that's a big paycheck for a 20 21y old uh that's I can't imagine how hard it is to pass that number up but he's he went to Sky View he's from the Cash Valley so he's loyal to Utah State but uh let's talk about the offense Alex they've got a new quarterback this year Spencer petus what are your expectations from him this is a guy we don't really know much about I'm looking at him to come in and kind of show show what he's got against Robert Morris like I said taking on this FCS team first game I I think it's good for Utah State to to have this FCS opponent come in first game uh because you allow Spencer to kind of show what he's got I wasn't necessarily impressed with him maybe down the stretch at I at Iowa but if he can really turn around take this offense and and really run this offense because if I remember correctly Utah State struggled at quarterback last year there was a lot of questions where uh with hillstead with with legga um I can't remember the third one but Williams got some snaps yeah there you go and so if he can come in and make himself the Undisputed number one I think that'll really really help this off right and Undisputed number one is a great way to put it because they also brought in Bryson Barnes uh he hit the transfer portal from Utah and he ended up going to Utah State and he had some good games last year for the UTS ultimately he was not the answer and they couldn't hit their ceiling with him under Center but moving in the Mountain West Conference maybe he does that maybe he does have that opportunity to to lead a squad in that conference up there so I mean petus is kind of under the microscope because Bryson Barnes is there nipping at the bit and look looking at Pet's stats uh so Spencer petus former Iowa Hawkeye he was injured in 2023 had a shoulder injury so he did not play his last full season was 2022 threw for 1700 yards five touchdowns five interceptions like not eye popping numbers right those those numbers are not goingon to don't really move the needle no not at all so again maybe the change in competition going to the Mountain West Conference and of course uh Iowa does not have the the weapons at wide receiver the Utah State does Jaylen Royals is one of the best receivers in the country in the entire country and and whoever is under Center whether it's Spencer petus or Bryson Barnes is going to benefit from that absolutely and man I I can't wait um daggies I think have the potential to be a really fun football team they could and it can go one way or or the other it can go really really well for the aies this year or it's going to be not so great for the aies this year right like we kind of mentioned it's with everything that's happened it's either going to make or break their season it's they're either going to be a really cool Underdog Story that's going to get a documentary on ESPN or they're going to just be forgotten about because they only win two games and I hope they can do it obviously you know I always want the local teams to to be successful I always want the local teams to do well and some really I'm really ruing for you state to have a good year um if they can potentially surprise some people right turn some heads and start competing for for a potential uh Mountain West Conference game uh championship game right that would be amazing that would be absolutely amazing for the aies especially after what happened uh this offseason yeah and then you look at uh Nate drying the kind of interim head coach he was brought in he he was at New Mexico and he's very young young 30s he came in Utah State to be the defensive coordinator this season this is his first year with the program and then all of a sudden they're like like hey hey Nate we need a head coach looks like you're going to be taking over like you're going to be the head coach and look he's playing for a job man yeah he's coaching for a job I should say uh if if Utah State can find some success this season there's no what there's no reason why Nate dring shouldn't be in the conversation to potentially just take over fulltime yeah and take that interim tag off whether it's at Utah State or at another program right yes absolutely absolutely if if the Aggies can find some success Maybe other program start sniffing around and saying hey maybe this is a guy we want to bring in to potentially lead our program um we'll see what happens first quarter coming to an end Florida State eight Georgia Tech seven that's going to be such a fun game uh we'll see how the rest of it plays out but we're going to hit a break coming up next on the other side we're going to do technical fouls another tradition that we just can't let go of one of our favorite segments every week so uh stay tuned 975d KSL Sports Zone if you're coming from the street with dirty shoes on your feet that's AAL foul if you switch the radio to some music show that's a technical foul if you touch the you'll get hit with a B cuz that's a technical fou you will feel my w technical foul personal file 69 office he was giving them the business a techical [Music] fou it's the Saturday show 975 the KSL Sports own Christian aspara Alex napis real quick Alex got to give some love to to some listeners loyal listener clinto Pete getting after us for uh not talking about BYU yet clinto we got a whole other hour of the show man stay tuned 11 o'clock stay tuned we'll be talking about BYU we've got some great sound from them uh from their media availability earlier in the week so uh we're going to get to BYU later but right now Alex let's technical fouls do you want to go first yeah I'll take a run at it first um look what it seems like it's becoming a constant reoccurring theme Here on technical fouls on the Saturday show where we kind of poke at Dion Sanders because he's making it difficult uh over there for in Colorado uh a Colorado Reporter was banned from interviewing Dion for over criticizing the Colorado Buffalo's football team that's crazy he was banned he cannot ask questions he cannot interview Dion Because Dion didn't like his criticism so who do you think has more technical fouls on the show Deion Sanders or Draymond Green or Lebron James I'd say those are our three all-time leaders in Saturday show technical fouls I think right now Deion Sanders is taking it yeah it seems like every other week something something's going on with Dion Deon Sanders win Rookie of the Year for technical foul Christian what do you got this week oh my gosh okay so let's do this Alex we're gonna talk about uh one of jazz fans oh vices oh Gordon Hayward Gordon Hayward in case you missed it he sat down and did a podcast with JP chunga of the Utah Jazz so it was like an official Jazz podcast yes uh Gordon Hayward just retired I think two or three weeks ago so uh it was a little weird for him to sit down and do a podcast right away considering how he left Utah and the way that he left Utah but I had a clip from this podcast that I wanted to play so Parker let's fire that up this is Gordon Hayward it's hard to look back and say like what if ultimately I think and I've said this before like all three choices were really good choices I think really good well-run organizations you know all three at the the time extremely well coached it was really hard to to make a decision to choose and I was torn up until the last minute that I made made up my mind and you know ultimately it was something where I felt like Brad was one of the biggest reasons as to why I left I mean Brad was the first coach to kind of tell me like he thought I had a chance to play in the NBA so Gordon Hayward mentioned three teams there as uh for those that don't know his free agent decision came down to the Utah Jazz the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics of course he ultimately did decide to go to Boston um he had some promise but then he he he got hurt he broke his ankle and then was never really the same he never returned to the all-star caliber player that he was here in Utah and I I think that it's a little weird again for him to come on and do this considering the way in which he left the Jazz he was a free agent and he kind of led the team on making everybody think that he was going to resign in Utah dragging it on with their hands tied behind their back and then on the 4th of July 2017 ruined everybody's holiday he announced that he was going to go to Boston and that was hard for the Jazz because they're sitting like I said they were sitting on their hands uh waiting waiting waiting and then Gordon Hayward kind of just screws them over and of course it worked out because we just the Jazz happened to just fall into Donovan Mitchell but normally that doesn't happen the Jazz got lucky so we we could have seen a few years of kind of tanking from the Jazz if if Donovan Mitchell didn't turn into what he was immediately but again I just think it's really weird for Gordon Hayward immediately because he knows how he is perceived in Utah he knows how fans feel about him yes but he does a podcast to endear himself to the fans right away I think it's kind of awkward right now it is it is a little bit awkward I think because he realizes too that jazz fans have not forgiven him for the whole debacle so you think it's like a play to uh say like hey guys you know it really was hard maybe a little bit to try to clear up his name a little bit here here here for the Utah Jazz fans because you talk to Jazz fans I've had these conversations before with jazz fans and they they have not forgiven Hayward no for that July 4th decision yeah it was tough so it's an opportunity I it looks it seems like it's an opportunity for him to try to clear his name get in the good graces of Utah fans now that he is no longer in the NBA my grandma bought me a Gordon Hayward Jersey for my birthday my birthday is in May so may of 2017 my grandma got me a Gordon Hayward Jersey then he left in July that's rough Florida State just kicked a field goal there up 11 to7 Al you said you have another technical file I do got one more I do have one more and my technical this technical file goes to uh Fox Sports and the Associated Press the obviously Rayos Lake back in Action tonight against the San Jose Earthquakes Andres Gomez no longer a part of this Rosa Lake Squad but there was an article posted with the by line being Gomez leads Ry alsa Lake against the San Jose Earthquakes but Andress Gomez is no longer a part of this team right so technical foul for not knowing for not being aware uh David James uh shared this picture uh earlier this week and I thought I saw it laughed for like a solid three minutes yeah so I came in I filled in for hatch on DJ and PK yesterday and I was of course I get in super early I have to be here at like 5 to to prep the show and everything so I was looking at stories looking at RSL because I knew they're back in Action then uh I saw that story and I was like wait am I sleep deprived because I swear Andres Gomez got sold like he's is he going to be in France in France yeah he's going to start Rene right so I knew Andre Gomez was not with the team anymore that kind of just happened with the last couple weeks but then I saw that that headline I was like oh DJ's gonna love this and so yeah big Miss by Fox Sports uh if you're listening andr Gomez is not on RSL so he can't lead RSL against San Jose says bottom line Andre Gomez leads rake into a match up with the San Jose Earthquakes following a two- goal performance against the Colorado Rapids which that part did have two goals that was true yeah but he's no longer with the team yeah RSL back in Action tonight are you producing this one Alex I am yeah I'll be here with uh Jake hatch and Spencer Warren on the pregame show what time's that at that one will be here on the Zone pregame show starts at 6:30 kickoff 7:30 uh all the action here on the KL Sports Zone let's go uh RSL coming off of the leagues cup break they haven't played in like three weeks or something like that August 5th was the last game so super excited for RSL to get back in Action they are third in the MLS Western Conference behind both La teams uh La FC is second right and then LA Galaxy is first correct so super ex again excited to see RSL back in Action uh Chicho arango having a monster year for the club but uh yeah as I mentioned earlier we're going to be talking about BYU the next segment we've got some sound from uh coaches and stuff throughout the week we're going to get to that on the other side of this break coming up next this is the Saturday show 975 the KSL Sports Zone