WEBVTT - NFL 360 Producer TRENT COOPER 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.640 This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.920 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.920 Steve Smith Senior and I'm Little John, and this is 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:16.360 cut to it. Good do it, Good do it. Let's 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.880 get down to do it. Good do it. We asked 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.160 the questions you always want to know, but no one 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:29.600 ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard about it, 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:38.479 then we're about to let you. Now it's all. I 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:43.760 have a special guest of friend, a collaborator, show runner 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:48.159 of the NFL Networks Emmy A winning original series NFL 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:54.640 three sixty, Trent Cooper. Welcome to the cut to a podcast. 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.639 Oh I hear the applause. They are artificial appause. Here 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:04.400 a body of producers. Fantastic, Thank you for the warm welcome. 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.200 Excited to be here, by Well, why are you so 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:11.000 excited to be here? Gus Man, you said, collaborator, We 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:15.880 got a big collaboration. Our latest. We've had a few 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:19.560 good ones. This is our latest. Uh, it might be. 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.480 It might be my favorite piece ever that that NFL 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.280 three sixties ever done. I just giddy about this piece. 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.360 You and you and I got to work together. It's 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:34.000 coming out today. When this thing airs, which is Tuesday, 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:42.000 uh April. It's coming out on all platforms, uh and 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:48.240 it is called NFL three sixty Devin Lloyd and we're 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.640 we're gonna chop it up about that. Huh. So let's 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.040 let's jump right into it. What is the premise in 0:01:55.400 --> 0:02:00.760 and what's the premise of NFL three sixty. Look, NFL 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:07.680 three sixty is NFL Networks premium storytelling brand. So these 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:12.480 are the deep, deep stories that are human interest stories 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.280 that happened to be set in the world of football, 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:20.760 but they they really kind of unpack, uh, some some 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.160 bigger issues and things that that we that we always 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.239 say are bigger than football. And I know that you're 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.320 your show, your podcast is very much in the line 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:31.760 with that as well. You know you guys are you 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:33.880 guys are working to kind of figure out who the 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.079 guy is behind the jersey and that's what we do 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.520 or girl or girl or girl or girl. Uh yeah, 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.079 we gotta look at both sides of the coin. You 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.360 just can't look at it on the heads. You gotta 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:49.440 look at the tail, absolutely absolutely, So that's what we do, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.760 that's what you do. That's why we love working with 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:56.079 you on NFL three sixty the show, I get to 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.639 brag a little bit. We Uh, we just found out 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.760 last week that we have we are leading the entire 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:07.000 sports industry and Emmy nominations with twelve. That is more 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:11.960 than the Olympics, which is hard to do. Uh as 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:13.720 long as I've been in this business, the Olympics have 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.359 just steamrolled everyone to be able to get more than them. 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.920 As a big deal, We're more than double our primary competitor, 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:25.560 which is uh, ESPN E sixty. And your producer, Brian 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.239 will say, don't ever mention the name of your competitor 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.919 when you're on. There's a lot of people, not just Brian, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.520 there's a lot of people. I say, you never, So 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:38.720 why did I do that? I feel ever give you 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:44.920 never give people free advertisement, right, except that we had 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:48.839 double the Emmy nominations of that other entity, which makes 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:53.760 me very proud and happy. Why is why is the 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:59.920 Emmy winning something that needs to be on the tie 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.720 those of of series or or shows or you know, documentaries. 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:10.000 What's their importance of that? I think it just I 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.960 think it just kind of helps your your audience understand that, hey, 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.359 this is this is something that that that is that 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.839 people are recognizing and that we need to you know, 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.159 we need to take seriously and we were in for 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:26.080 something great. You know obviously it's it's uh, it's making 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.280 some noise in the industry and let's let's let's pay 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:30.000 attention to this is like when you know you'd be 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.919 all pro or or or you'd be um, you know 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.839 all start. You know, just just makes people, you know, 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.840 take notice, which is cool. And honestly, it's really good 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.480 for for morale with our team because you know, his 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:47.599 team is working eighty hours a week and just killing 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.200 it and for them to get that kind of recognition 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.719 just makes me happy for them and us and you 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:58.520 and it's just cool. So how how does a so? 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:06.719 How does it? How does it cooper decide on which story? 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:13.440 There's an NFL three sixty? But how does something get 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.600 green light? Yeah? How does something to get green land? 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:17.880 And how do you guys even come up with the 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:23.400 concepts or thoughts like take us, take us inside, take 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.679 us inside of the mission, you know, the mission statement, 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.839 just the vision board of the NFL three sixty. These 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.240 are the people you have to meet, the stories you 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.640 have to hear. These are the stories that are bigger 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:40.240 than football. And the standard is really really high for 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:42.279 what gets green light for a couple of reasons, we 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:44.039 don't do that many of them, right, I mean, how 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.919 many times have you called me and said, Hey, I 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.360 got an idea, let's do something, and I'm like, man, 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:54.360 we would truly answer that or lie a couple I 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.640 remember you called me. You call me like four in 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.359 the morning, and Steve, do you realize I live in 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.400 Los Angeles, US. You're calling me at four in the 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.440 morning with an idea. I wouldn't wear that. I was 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.479 on the West Coast. I'm sorry, Oh my god, I 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.039 was on the East Coast. I forgot. But I love this. 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.640 I love this question because it it's at the heart 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.719 of everything we do. Right. So, the standards really high, 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.360 and we have a team. It's a small team, eight 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:24.200 to ten people who are working on you know, wearing 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.080 different hats and working in different capacities. But everyone is 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.440 responsible for development, which means that you constantly have to 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.320 be looking for our next big story. And it could 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:36.120 be something that was that we found a year ago, 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:38.960 it could be something we found last night. There's pitch 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:44.000 meetings weekly. Sometimes a production assistant who was a year 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.680 out of college uh, it gets hot and sells three 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.040 pitches in a row. When I say sell that I'm 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.039 making any money. But these things get green light, and 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.920 it's a really proud moment when somebody brings us an 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.000 idea to get three let Uh. Sometimes an agent brings 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.839 us something. Sometimes it's just something that that I've seen 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.200 or you know, the my boss, the guy that Headstar Department, 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:08.440 Dallas Hitchcock, is you know, stuff that he's seen or heard. 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:14.120 So they come from everywhere. Um and this one. Uh 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.520 So basically, you know, once a year is the NFL 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.200 Draft and that is just an awesome time of year 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:24.000 for us because we love our NFL Draft special Uh. 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.520 We love finding what we you know, we take a 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.040 lot of pride in finding what we think is the 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.560 best story in this year's draft, the best story. That's 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:34.400 the story that everybody should be standing around their water 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.880 cooler talking about. We found it, and we we want 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:39.800 to believe that we told it in a way that 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.640 no one else I would think to tell it. So 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.240 the artistry and craft and how we tell stories is 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:47.400 a big deal to us, but finding that story is great. 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.680 So so this particular one came to me from our 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.000 writing consultant. Uh and and my my good buddy who's 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.480 worked with us forever. His name is Phil Guidry, and 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:58.480 he pitched it a couple of months ago and we 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.080 liked it and he kept pitching. Finally just kind of 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:08.920 hit me, yeah, pitched you how many how many times? Well, 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.760 you know, we're in season, so we're busy doing other 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.760 but we're also hearing draft pitches. So you know, he 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.800 probably pitched it six weeks before and we we we 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.240 we we said, oh, that's a great one. Put it on. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.760 Put it over here for a minute because we're focused 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.040 on the Super Bowl and Black History Month and all that. 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:28.760 But we know when it's draft time, we're gonna that 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.520 that's gonna be one we love. So so he probably 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.960 pitched it right around the time Utah was was winning 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.920 the Pack Throwel Championship, and um, he saw it first 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.559 and brought it to our attention. And so we're gonna 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:44.760 tell your audience what this pitch is now so they 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.520 can they can have some context here trying to get there. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.920 But you know that's all right. You want you want 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:52.960 me to drive this bus, so you want to drive 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.760 you know what. I'm just honored to be here. Maybe 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.880 I'll just im I'll say last say lest my night, 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:08.400 senior old say lest Yes, yes, listen, I I love 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.400 this role that we have right now because you've directed me, 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:18.240 you've produced me, you've angled me, you've made you the 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.600 man that you are today. That's that would be my 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.680 mom and daddy, my mom and daddy my wife. After 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.560 after those, there's track Cooper. Okay, you almost can put 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:32.439 us in the same sentence. But but I'll take the 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:37.120 second and sence. Listen, you could bring a horse to water, 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.600 but you can't make him drink, Okay, but you damn 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.079 sure sure can put some salt in his mouth and 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:48.439 make them pretty thirsty. This is role reversal. Today. You 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:53.679 get to three sixty, you have all the team, the 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:59.600 eight to ten, and they're constantly pitching concepts ideas given 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:07.520 a text textual understanding of these young men come that 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.360 are going to be drafted, and you know, there's what 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.000 three something guys, there's gonna be thirty five the forty 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:19.599 guys drafted here in draft because of all of the 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:25.480 madness of the NFL, and we have a top ten 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.679 draft pick who's coming out of a school that generally 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:35.120 there's not necessarily always have this caliber of player. Devin Lloyd, 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:42.080 linebacker from the University of Utah, my school. He's going 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.400 to save that your school part for the end of 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:46.559 the pitch because that's what made it. That was the 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:50.520 cherry on top for us. But let's should we get 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.240 into what the pitch is. Absolutely, let's get into the pitch, 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:57.240 all right. So here's Devin Lloyd. He after his junior season, 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:03.080 which is COVID year. After his junior season, he could 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.280 have come out in the NFL Draft probably, you know, 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:07.480 a lot of people thought he would have been a 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.720 first rounder, might have been a second rounder. He was 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.200 a top prospect in that on that on those draft boards. 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:18.440 And he makes a decision to go back and uh 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:22.240 and play his senior year, and and that gets everyone's attention. 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:27.320 But the the why behind that decision is what's really 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:33.960 what's driving this pitch, and that is that they had uh. 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:35.920 You know, this is a school that has has never 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.400 won a Pack twelfth championship before. He wanted to win, 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.120 helped lead that team and have that experience with and 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.520 for his brothers. But the bigger part of that story 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:52.920 is that they had tragically lost. They're superstar freshman running 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:57.240 back Tied Jordan's who in a COVID shortened season, had 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:01.800 lit the college football world on fire and had shown 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.839 the world that holy cow, Utah has a dude playing 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.280 running back, that this could be a Heisman candidate. This 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.559 guy has he has it all and and on top 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.640 of that hell of a kid freshman and he's a 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.320 hell of a kid with the biggest smile you had 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:21.880 ever seen, and just is transforming this this this program. 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:29.200 That kid is tragically killed Christmas night of six days 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.480 after their last game of the season. That oh, by 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.679 the way, he had succored three touchdowns and led a 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:41.400 thirty h point come back, the most electrifying game of 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:45.200 the year. So so this kid is tragically killed. It 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.760 was a accidental discharge of a firearm. It was an accident. 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:54.720 Uh you know, somehow he shot himself and and he dies, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:13:00.720 and it devastates the Utah football program, particularly the leaders 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.520 of that program, the entire community. And you I was 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:10.520 an alumni. I was, you know, it was the middle 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.080 of COVID, so I was I was working from home, 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:19.040 uh in my makeshift studio at the house on air 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:27.800 doing a pre show and uh, all Wartsy says, check 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.120 your phone. And usually on you know, he usually doesn't 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:36.320 tell me to check my phone, he says. Producer, He says, 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.920 check your phone. I don't, I don't, I don't. I 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.240 know you haven't seen it. So just check your phone 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:48.080 and and behold text message from the a D. Text 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:53.959 message from uh Jeff Rudy, text message from from my 0:13:54.120 --> 0:14:01.560 son Peyton. It's true that you can't believe it. Oh no, um. 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.679 And so we had a break and I called some 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:10.560 people and they said, it's true, uh kid that everybody 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.560 loves that kind of represents hope for the entire organization 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:19.040 has been killed. And now our guy, Devin Lloyd, the 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:23.320 All World linebacker, decides he's going to come back for 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.360 his senior season and and they want to win a 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.480 championship and they want to do it in honor of 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:33.200 thy Jordan's. So that's the first leg of the story. 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:36.360 Now that that alone is probably enough to get this 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.200 thing Greenland, because that's killing. I mean, come on, I mean, 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:44.480 this is what leadership is, right, be selfless and go 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:49.840 go uh go, try to do something bigger than yourself 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.560 with your brothers, for something bigger than all of us. 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.600 It's one of those stories that people make movies out 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:01.800 of that that hadn't really happened. You know, he didn't 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:11.320 really sacrifice that. And the caveatough to Devin Lloyd coming 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:16.040 back is I spoke to some scouts heading into I 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.080 spoke to some scouts a couple of weeks ago, and 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:23.240 I asked what was Devin Lloyd's prospect as a junior. 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.400 He said, he's pretty good. I said, well, why is 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.600 he a top ten today compared to what he was 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:38.120 a year ago? They said, because everything that Devin what 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.840 we call is a weakness, right, his lack of ability 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:48.240 to share, blocks, his his his his ability to recognize 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:53.480 things defensively fast enough. They said, everything that was a 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:58.680 weakness that was on his his scouting report coming out 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.560 if you came out, he actually worked on every single 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:08.000 one of those and turn him into positives. No mastered 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:13.400 his craft. Mm hmm. He mastered his craft, which made him, 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:19.320 which makes us we make which makes this story even 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:24.840 sweeters for a kid who was a unfinished product, he 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:29.000 actually went back and start chiseling and working on himself 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:33.920 through all through all the things that possibly probably people 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:37.600 would say, why should you work on it? You know, 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.720 you got your team just lost one of your superstars, 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:45.840 young kids. The best time, the end is now, and 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:51.840 instead he took the He took the road let's traveled. 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:56.160 You have a decision to make at the end of 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:00.240 your junior year to declare for the draft. I had 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.320 just passed away, and deep down in my heart, I 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:07.480 just felt like staying for another year and accomplishing everything 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:10.080 that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to come back 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.240 and help them win that championship. We've never won a 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:21.119 Pack twelve championship. He didn't come back to better his 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:26.639 draft status. He came back to twin and Pack twelve championship. 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.240 You know, he talked to the guys that he was 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.480 gonna go to war Withood. He liked, dude, this is 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.640 my plan. I'm coming back because I want to do this, 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:35.320 this and this. I want to win. And he wanted 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.720 to win that Pack twelve. Right, So consider what we 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:43.359 what we've just pitched. Act one a three acts story. 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:48.520 Act two is the start of the season, which was 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.240 is the last college football season. Um, you know, yep, 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:57.280 six months ago, six months ago. Uh. They they have 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.120 one of the things they're doing to honor Ty Jordan's 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:04.639 they have a first ever Thy Jordan Memorial scholarship at 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.879 the school. University is funding and the team and the 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.080 leadership of the team get to vote on who would 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.000 who would be the the winner of that scholarship, and 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:19.200 they pick a kid named Aaron Lowe. Aaron Lowe happens 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:23.040 to be from thy Jordan's hometown. They played high school 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:28.440 football together. But more importantly, he embodies everything Ty Jordan's embodied, 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:32.680 which is is this this ridict work ethic, this competitive 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:38.280 fire burning desired to compete and win. And then on 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.720 top of all that, he has that same larger than 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.000 life smile that lights up the locker room. You know, 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.840 the reason Ty came no Utah was because of air. 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.080 Because Aaron, Aaron's a year two older. Yes, he was 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:57.480 making a big brother figure to Tie. So Aaron gets 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:01.400 this scholarship and it just feels right right, and everybody, 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.040 of course Aaron gets this. And and one of the 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.920 things Aaron does to kind of honor Tie and to 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.840 just you know, set this thing in motion is he 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.679 changes his number to twenty two, which is the number 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:18.800 that that Taie war So now he's wearing Ties number. 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:23.680 He's got the scholarship, Uh, you know, the let's get 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:25.760 back to football, right. So so they have a big 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.280 win in week four of the season and uh, and 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.440 some guys are celebrating the big win. They're going into 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:33.879 a bye weeks and you know in college, you know 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.600 you go to a little house party. Crazy. Let's set 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:41.119 the stage though, because I think it is something that 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:49.320 we've missed. Ties last game is again to Washington State, 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:52.960 and this was the game. He scored three touchdowns, they 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:58.600 came back from seven halftime deficit, had thirty eight unanswered points, 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:02.560 most of them were his, and they finished the season 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.400 on this incredible high. So here we are a year later, 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:10.040 also playing wash quh wazoo. What we're gonna call it 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.560 this time they blow him out. They blow out washed 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:20.400 doors off of the Devin Lloyd's on fire of that game. Um. 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:23.080 By the way, he had a ridiculous senior year. Like 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:25.200 they said, he didn't have a bad game. He just 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:30.159 every day, week after week. So some kids go to 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:34.480 a house party and uh, something happens. It ship gets 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.919 out of control and Aaron Lowe is shot and killed. 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:43.600 So now the kid that embodies the spirit of Thy Jordan, 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:48.240 it's wearing his number. That that literally runs onto the 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:53.760 field each game, rock and a flag and ties number 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.800 to honor Tie has now also been killed in a 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.480 matter of how many months, nine months later, I mean 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:04.359 tim months later. You're talking about two guys, two guys 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.960 from the same neighborhood, at the same school, trying to 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:19.240 do the same things, both tragically die by gunfire. So now, Steve, 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:27.080 you've probably got another text, right, got another text. And 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:34.680 it's crazy because in his Texas you won't even believe it, y, 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:37.440 I mean I it's hard to even talked about. I 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:40.639 wouldn't I didn't go through it. But it's just you 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:45.000 know this, these kids represent hope and and it's bad. 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.879 It's horrific to lose one, then to lose two. And 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:51.159 you know you, I love you in the piece and 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:53.760 by the way, this is you know you guys can 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:58.160 see this piece today. You can go to NFL dot 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:02.040 com forward slash NFL three sixty. You can see it 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:04.560 right there. You can see it on TV tonight on 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.119 on NFL three CC. But but Steve talks to the 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:12.959 head coach, UH Kyle Whittingham, and and Kyle says, you know, 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:18.320 we were so devastated that we thought are we going 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.040 to cancel the season, Like, how do we how much 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:24.800 more can we put our kids through? Can you imagine that? 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.400 Can you actually canceling a college football season halfway through 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:30.400 because the kids are so devastated and heartbroke? Yeah? I can't. 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:37.560 I can. And here's why. The reason I can everything 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.000 that we've went through in the last couple of years 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:44.280 just as a society. Right. And and here's the part 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:46.840 that you know we didn't get into on the NFL 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:50.840 three sixties just because of time. If you go back chronologically, 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.320 this is this Pack twelve decided they weren't gonna play. 0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:02.840 But yeah, you had kids like ty Aaron oh Devin 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:09.440 Lloyd who they're going into their junior year and they're 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:12.280 told come to school. Then they told, well, we won't 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:15.600 go to school. Uh, come to school. Well they're canceling school. 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:18.280 So you have families and and I know this because 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:22.240 just having ties to the school. I remember talking to 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:25.600 them when they were talking to UM officials at the 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.760 University of Utah, and they were saying they literally had 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:32.160 kids that their parents just came to drop them off 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:35.960 and they were told that they got to come back 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:40.920 and pick them up. And the school had to help 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:43.960 some of these young men and women because a lot 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:47.520 of these young men and women, their parents spent a 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:50.960 lot of money that they didn't have getting them to college. 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:54.840 And now you got to pack them up. And then 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:57.679 they come back in in November and they have to test, 0:23:58.880 --> 0:24:01.960 They have to have fourteen days of isolation in the 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:05.320 in the in the hotels. Then they come back and play. 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:10.399 They lose the player right after that, Jordan's passes. Now, 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:17.159 these young men who, let's be honest, as as as fans, 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:21.040 we don't really look at them as human beings. We 0:24:21.040 --> 0:24:24.159 look at them as our superheroes, and all of a 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:27.280 sudden are superheroes. Now there's a chink in their armor. 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:32.160 They're human, They're they're not even human. They really are 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:35.600 what they are, which are young men who are trying 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:39.199 to figure out life. And in this case, you know 0:24:39.240 --> 0:24:41.080 you want to go behind the jersey. These are young 0:24:41.119 --> 0:24:44.439 men that light up the locker room. These are the 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:47.240 two guys you can't lose. These are the guys with 0:24:47.400 --> 0:24:49.960 that that that that bring the love and the hope 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:52.440 and the joy and the smile and they just make 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:59.560 everything better. The joy makers in football, there's energy takers, yes, 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:03.440 and full ball. There's tone setters, but you rarely hear 0:25:03.480 --> 0:25:11.840 about it. Joy center and tie and air we're joy centers. Man, 0:25:11.880 --> 0:25:15.440 that's different when you're talking about football. That's usually not 0:25:17.000 --> 0:25:22.399 words to associated football players. Right, you know you've got 0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:26.560 your ship talkers. Never heard almost one of them is 0:25:27.760 --> 0:25:31.760 on the call with me. But no, man, Joy listen. 0:25:31.880 --> 0:25:35.520 Energy giver not energy taker. Joy is that's what we 0:25:35.560 --> 0:25:38.440 need right now, especially in that year. And to lose 0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:42.720 both of those guys, it's just ridiculous. And so here's 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:45.600 a here's a program that was as devastated as as 0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:50.240 any has ever been. And there was a turning point. Uh. 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:53.879 Aaron Lowe's mother, just a day or two after the death, 0:25:55.400 --> 0:25:59.119 made her way from Texas to Utah and she spoke 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:15.920 to the team he loved. I don't know. That woman 0:26:16.040 --> 0:26:19.679 is strong. She came in and she just told us 0:26:19.680 --> 0:26:22.040 to keep on going. That's what Aaron would have wanted. 0:26:23.480 --> 0:26:26.280 You know. That sort of gave Devin Lloyd and the 0:26:26.320 --> 0:26:29.119 other leaders of the team, because there's a great leadership 0:26:29.240 --> 0:26:32.080 group there wasn't just Devan, but the other captains and 0:26:32.119 --> 0:26:36.400 the team permission to to to kind of put this 0:26:38.040 --> 0:26:41.280 in a place where that they that they could could 0:26:41.280 --> 0:26:44.359 move forward. I mean, the coach says, we're never gonna 0:26:44.400 --> 0:26:46.600 get over this, but we're gonna try to get through it. 0:26:46.760 --> 0:26:50.040