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Speaker 1: Just keep grinding.

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Speaker 2: All right, We're getting better eating every day. No, it's

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Speaker 2: Texans all XCEX.

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Speaker 3: Our off season kickoff here in the Hyundai Texans Radio

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Speaker 3: studio with executive vice president and general manager Nick Cassario. Nick,

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Speaker 3: thanks a lot for being with us. Well, congratulations on

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Speaker 3: a great season. I know the conclusion wasn't what you wanted,

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Speaker 3: but your thoughts as we get into twenty twenty four

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Speaker 3: on a spectacular twenty twenty three really, yeah.

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Speaker 2: Did a lot of good things this season.

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Speaker 4: I think anytime this season ends, you always it's kind

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Speaker 4: of mars. Maybe what the things, the positive things do

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Speaker 4: you accomplish during the course of the year.

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Speaker 2: But players and coaches did an outstanding.

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Speaker 4: Job to get to the point where we did accomplish

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Speaker 4: a number of things. A lot of credit to the

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Speaker 4: players for their effort and the work that they put in.

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Speaker 4: Coaching staff. There's just so many people that put a

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Speaker 4: lot of time, a lot of effort into this. Certainly

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Speaker 4: disappointing at the end, but you know, Baltimore is one

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Speaker 4: of the best teams in the league, and you know

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Speaker 4: that's the competition that we're dealing with and in the future.

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Speaker 4: So but their players should be proud of what they

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Speaker 4: accomplish from what they've done. You know, really, the reality

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Speaker 4: is we kind of put a bow in the twenty

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Speaker 4: three season and now it's about twenty twenty four and

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Speaker 4: putting the twenty four team together. But you know, certainly

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Speaker 4: a lot of good memories though we could take it

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Speaker 4: away from anybody, but now we got to move forward.

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Speaker 1: Nick is pride.

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Speaker 5: It was almost a year almost a year ago where

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Speaker 5: Dimiko has announced as the head coach, and we talked

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Speaker 5: about this a few times, but since we're at this

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Speaker 5: point now thinking about meeting him and getting to know him,

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Speaker 5: hiring him to where you guys are, now, what's this

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Speaker 5: year been like doing this alongside Dimiko?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been awesome. And the reality is, it's funny.

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Speaker 4: He's the same person the day that we hired him

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Speaker 4: as he was after the Baltimore game. His consistency, his attitude,

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Speaker 4: what he brings to the table on a day to

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Speaker 4: day basis, it's just infectious, and the team and the

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Speaker 4: building everybody fed off of it. So it's been awesome

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Speaker 4: to work with him step by step. We're excited about

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Speaker 4: what we put in place this season and we're looking

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Speaker 4: forward to the off season and continue to build on

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Speaker 4: some of the things that you know we have in place.

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Speaker 3: When he's asked about expectations back in the offseason prior

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Speaker 3: to the twenty twenty three campaign, he says, well, the

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Speaker 3: team you guys put together, you guys expected to win.

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Speaker 3: That's always the expectation to win football games, as many

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Speaker 3: games as possible. What were your expectations versus what you saw?

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Speaker 4: You're always looking for progress, that's the most important thing,

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Speaker 4: and then are you improving? And as we put the

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Speaker 4: team together, we felt that we would have a competitive team.

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Speaker 4: And nobody really knows what that entails, what that means

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Speaker 4: in terms of wins and losses, but we felt that

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Speaker 4: we had enough good players that if we went out

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Speaker 4: there on a week to week basis, we at least

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Speaker 4: give ourselves a chance, an opportunity to potentially win some games.

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Speaker 4: Start off slowly and then kind of hit our stride

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Speaker 4: there a little bit. Won the two games, So we're

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Speaker 4: what you want to be able to do is get

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Speaker 4: off to a fast start. We didn't really get off

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Speaker 4: to a fast start, but we're able to kind of,

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Speaker 4: you know, sem it high there a little bit, and

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Speaker 4: then we kind of worked through the course of the

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Speaker 4: year and essentially every game other than a few, we were.

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Speaker 2: In every game.

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Speaker 4: You know, we're relating get blown out of too many games,

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Speaker 4: but we were in a lot of games, and we

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Speaker 4: felt with just the makeup and the composition of the

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Speaker 4: people that were in the building and on the roster

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Speaker 4: that at least we would have a chance and have

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Speaker 4: an opportunity. And it certainly came to fruition. So our

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Speaker 4: job is to just focus on the short term, just

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Speaker 4: focusing on team and individual improvement and let some of

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Speaker 4: the other things sort of take care of themselves. If

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Speaker 4: you have good process with the right people and you

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Speaker 4: do the right things, then you would hope that that

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Speaker 4: correlates to wins, and you know, fortunately that was the

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Speaker 4: case in a lot of situations this year.

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Speaker 5: Is there any moment, Nick Mark and I have ours,

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Speaker 5: when I know a lot of Texas fans have their,

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Speaker 5: as coaches, players have theirs. Is there a moment that

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Speaker 5: stands out to you most about this twenty twenty three season.

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Speaker 4: It's probably difficult to just pinpoint one, right, but give

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Speaker 4: us a couple, you know, I think the Pittsburgh game,

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Speaker 4: you know, was certainly a good team victory because we

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Speaker 4: got contributions from a number of different people in a

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Speaker 4: number of different phases.

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Speaker 2: And then against a good team.

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Speaker 4: I mean, they were a good football team, talking about

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Speaker 4: two good edge players, good offensive skill players, and we

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Speaker 4: played well. We played with the right mindset, we played

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Speaker 4: with the right mentality, and we did some things, I

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Speaker 4: would say in all three phases where when you look

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Speaker 4: at that game, you say, all right, that looks like

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Speaker 4: a pretty good football team, you know. I think the

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Speaker 4: road win in Cincinnati, you know, was certainly you know,

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Speaker 4: a big win on the road against you know, one

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Speaker 4: of the best teams in the AFC, and we played

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Speaker 4: well in critical situations and critical moments. So there were

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Speaker 4: just at different points you're able to see kind of

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Speaker 4: the evolution of the team take place. You know, kind

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Speaker 4: of hit a little rut there with the Jets game

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Speaker 4: and kind of right around there. But the end of

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Speaker 4: the year we ended up winning three or the last

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Speaker 4: four or four or last five before the Baltimore games,

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Speaker 4: So you know, I think everybody realized there was an

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Speaker 4: opportunity for us to maybe put ourselves in a position

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Speaker 4: to do something pretty cool. And we've talked about this

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Speaker 4: on the show. There was a collective belief amongst one another, like, hey,

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Speaker 4: maybe it didn't go well the week before, but we

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Speaker 4: believe in what we're doing, believe in the people in

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Speaker 4: this room, and we have enough in this room. Demiko

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Speaker 4: has multiple times, whether it's video or whatever it was,

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Speaker 4: we have enough people in this room to believe in

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Speaker 4: one another. And I think you saw that. So it's

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Speaker 4: a credit to the players, it's credit to the staff.

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Speaker 4: So I think there was I would say glimpses at

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Speaker 4: different points. And then as we got going there midway

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Speaker 4: through the year, and especially after the Cincinnati game, all Right,

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Speaker 4: you know, we might have a shot here to put

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Speaker 4: ourselves in the businis beinning and it comes down to

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Speaker 4: our individual execution in each game. And we kind of

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Speaker 4: took a week to week approach, and you know, at

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Speaker 4: the end of the year, we were playing pretty good

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Speaker 4: football and put ourselves in a position where we have

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Speaker 4: a chance to play January football.

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Speaker 3: Well, you won eleven games total. You did a lot

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Speaker 3: of great things. When you look at it in the

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Speaker 3: grand scheme of things, What do you want to see

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Speaker 3: done even better as you move forward into twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, we understand this team is going to be different

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Speaker 4: the team, the twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 2: Team, like you kind of put a ball on that.

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Speaker 4: Now it's about the two thousand and we have thirty

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Speaker 4: five thirty six players are going to be free, so

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Speaker 4: there's gonna be a lot of new faces, a lot

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Speaker 4: of new players on this team.

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Speaker 2: We have some I would say, young players out low return.

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Speaker 4: We have some players, well veteran players that are in

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Speaker 4: a contract for future years.

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Speaker 1: But when I.

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Speaker 4: Think when you look around the league and you even

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Speaker 4: look at the division games over the past weekend, I

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Speaker 4: mean every game was a one score game. Oh I

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Speaker 4: mean it was ten ten at a halftime. In the

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Speaker 4: second half, we couldn't really do anything. We didn't stop them,

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Speaker 4: we didn't get enough first downs, and then the game

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Speaker 4: kind of go out of control. But I would say,

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Speaker 4: when you get to January football, your ability to run

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Speaker 4: the football, your ability to stop the run, your ability

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Speaker 4: to play physical, and the takeaways like those are areas.

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Speaker 4: If you do them well, you're gonna have a shot.

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Speaker 4: So what does that look like in terms of the

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Speaker 4: team composition. That's what the next however many months are for.

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Speaker 4: And then once we have our team sort of put

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Speaker 4: in place, you know, once training camp rolls around.

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Speaker 2: Because the team, as we all know it is pretty fluid.

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Speaker 4: So what the team looks like in April is different

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Speaker 4: than the team's gonna look like in July, different than

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Speaker 4: the team may look in September. So I think we

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Speaker 4: have an understanding of the mindset and then the mentality

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Speaker 4: that's going to be required to be successful here in

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Speaker 4: our building.

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Speaker 2: And then it's always going to come down to execution.

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Speaker 4: Do you execute your Can you execute your job and

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Speaker 4: the details of your job on a consistent matter on

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Speaker 4: a week to week basis.

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Speaker 2: Ultimately that's not going to change.

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Speaker 5: It's kind of nice, Nick, I gotta admit that this year,

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Speaker 5: and I don't know if you'll go to the Senior

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Speaker 5: Ball or not, but at least during stream seas much time,

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Speaker 5: at least Senior Bowl time, you won't be locked into

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Speaker 5: finding a new.

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Speaker 2: Head football coach.

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Speaker 5: How much of that I don't want to use for pressure,

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Speaker 5: but just that the onus of adding the head football coach,

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Speaker 5: taking off your play, taking off everybody's play, really kind

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Speaker 5: of opens you up to do maybe a little bit

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Speaker 5: more as the team building part goes into twenty four.

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Speaker 4: Sure, the arc of the off season just takes on

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Speaker 4: a little bit different shape. I mean, that's the reality

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Speaker 4: of it. So we're pretty well positioned, so we're kind

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Speaker 4: of a different point than we've been in previous years.

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Speaker 4: So we know what's in front of us. So all

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Speaker 4: Star games, off season, the combine will be around a

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Speaker 4: corner before we know it. I mean, we're probably I

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Speaker 4: don't know, a month away, less than a month away.

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Speaker 2: Or give or take.

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Speaker 4: So you can just kind of transition into some of

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Speaker 4: the let's deal with our team, deal with our players.

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Speaker 4: What's the status of some of your players the off season.

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Speaker 4: Players need surgery, they're gonna be right at the off

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Speaker 4: season program, and it's really we're starting to have discussions

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Speaker 4: about free agency, so you just kind of move the

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Speaker 4: calendar forward a little bit in terms of your roster building.

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Speaker 4: Off season preparation weren't a really good spot where there's

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Speaker 4: a lot of work that's going into this point. Now

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Speaker 4: it's a matter of kind of taking a big list,

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Speaker 4: shrinking that down into a targeted group, and then focus

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Speaker 4: on the players that they think are going to fit

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Speaker 4: on a married levels and then get that information to

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Speaker 4: the coaches will obviously be involved in the evaluation process.

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Speaker 4: In the team building process, so they are input they'll

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Speaker 4: probably have an opportunity.

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Speaker 2: To go to the Combine, whereas last year they didn't

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Speaker 2: have it.

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Speaker 4: So everything kind of just gets moved forward a little

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Speaker 4: bit and hopefully we can just stay ahead in terms

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Speaker 4: of our preparation and roster building.

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Speaker 3: You signed a number of players to the reserve future contracts,

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Speaker 3: and that happens right after the season for every team.

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Speaker 3: I guess, can you explain to the fans what that

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Speaker 3: means some familiar names, guys who have been around here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Sure, Typically it's most of the players that were on

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Speaker 4: practice squad. So practice squad players, those contracts expire essentially

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Speaker 4: a week after the season, so essentially they're free agents,

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Speaker 4: but the vernaculous time of years is their future because

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Speaker 4: it's for basically after the Super Bowl, where they're kind

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Speaker 4: of in a different category. But essentially they're mostly practice

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Speaker 4: squad players that are just signed. They're under contract for

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Speaker 4: the twenty twenty four season or through the offseason program.

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Speaker 4: So the idea behind that is so they can kind

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Speaker 4: of start their offseason their training February March, they know

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Speaker 4: kind of where they're going to be. The offseason program

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Speaker 4: will start middle of April is sometime in there. So

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Speaker 4: it's just that pool of players and you're kind of

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Speaker 4: making it official that they're a part at least a

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Speaker 4: twenty four roster for the time being. So most teams

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Speaker 4: are going to re sign not all, but all of

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Speaker 4: their practice squad players. You may not re sign some.

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Speaker 4: You might tell some players say look, let's wait un

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Speaker 4: a little bit later on once we kind of have a

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Speaker 4: better idea, so you can be a little bit more

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Speaker 4: honest and forthright about what the opportunity is. So so

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Speaker 4: that's kind of that category of grouping of players.

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Speaker 1: All right.

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Speaker 5: I want to ask this Nick because I think I

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Speaker 5: think explanation of it is is paramount for you know,

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Speaker 5: for fans, for listeners to understand, well, you got cap money,

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Speaker 5: you got to go spend it.

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Speaker 1: I know you love hearing.

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Speaker 5: That because it's like you've got this blank checkbook and

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Speaker 5: you can go spend. But everybody knows, okay, there's a

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Speaker 5: little bit of cap money all that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 5: But how do you approach that in your role because

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Speaker 5: as you said, there are a number of number of

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Speaker 5: our players that are are you know, seeking new contracts.

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Speaker 5: You've got players out there from other teams that could

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Speaker 5: be there, and then you've got this cap money and

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Speaker 5: all that kind of how does that kind of all

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Speaker 5: go and your thoughts about all that you're gonna hear

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Speaker 5: you know, well, you got this check book, got you know.

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Speaker 2: What I mean.

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Speaker 4: It's not an unlimited budget, right, So we always start

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Speaker 4: with our players first, and we can talk to our

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Speaker 4: free agents from now up until the start of free

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Speaker 4: agency March thirteenth or March eleventh, whenever the negotiation period is.

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Speaker 4: So you have an idea of maybe what their market

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Speaker 4: may look like, what the range may be. So what

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Speaker 4: you try to do is try to create some buckets

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Speaker 4: and the project this is where we think these players

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Speaker 4: are going to fall. And then you look at your

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Speaker 4: allocation of resources. If you sign x number of players

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Speaker 4: at a certain level, that means you'll be able to

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Speaker 4: acquire and sign less players at a different level. So

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Speaker 4: it's all about resource allocation. We're trying to be as

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Speaker 4: fiscally responsible as we can, but also if there's an

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Speaker 4: opportunity for us to get a player and there's a

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Speaker 4: cost associated with it, then we just have to weigh

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Speaker 4: the benefits and the risk reward of that. So we're

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Speaker 4: well positioned, we have some flexibility, but we also have

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Speaker 4: to think, I would say a little bit towards the

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Speaker 4: ind season component as well, because you have to factor

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Speaker 4: in practice squad injured reserves, so that's going to eat

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Speaker 4: up a certain chunk. So if you use every cent

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Speaker 4: and every penny in the spring, no problem. What are

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Speaker 4: you going to do on the back end. So I mean,

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Speaker 4: it's as simple as we're balancing a checkbook here. You

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Speaker 4: want to make sure you don't have any overdraft fees.

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Speaker 4: So you want to make sure that you stay within

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Speaker 4: the rules, and if you go over a certain level,

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Speaker 4: the league is going to tap you on the shoulder

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Speaker 4: and say, hey, wait a minute, you have to do something.

288
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Speaker 4: So there'll be opportunities for us to acquire players, and

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Speaker 4: we've shown a willingness to spend. I think one thing

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Speaker 4: that's a little bit different maybe the past couple of years,

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Speaker 4: we don't have multiple first round picks.

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Speaker 2: So when you have multiple first.

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Speaker 4: Round picks, there's a cost associated with that, so you

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Speaker 4: kind of have to budget and plan for them accordingly.

295
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Speaker 4: So we're in a little bit different situation than we've been.

296
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Speaker 4: We certainly have some financial flexibility. Part of the evaluation

297
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Speaker 4: process right now is taking place. Quick acquire this player.

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Speaker 4: Here's the cost associated with that, and really you have

299
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Speaker 4: to look at it. The cap that the salary cap

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Speaker 4: charge is. Really you're talking about year one and year

301
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Speaker 4: two and then the bigger than number then it's going

302
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Speaker 4: to eat into future years. So some of this is

303
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Speaker 4: financed one on one, but we're also if there's an

304
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Speaker 4: opportunity for us to add a good pl like if

305
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Speaker 4: we think that's the right thing to do for the

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Speaker 4: football team, then we're certainly going to do it all right.

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Speaker 3: So the information that you have available, it's voluminous because

308
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:10,920
Speaker 3: sometimes we see on Twitter or x one little video

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Speaker 3: of a guy running a round.

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Speaker 1: Oh look he can do this.

311
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Speaker 3: But you guys can pull up every third down route

312
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Speaker 3: for player X for the whole season, right, Tim Brog

313
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Speaker 3: and his crew, and you have all this information, Can

314
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Speaker 3: you take us inside a little bit to tell.

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Speaker 2: Us, Yeah, that's technology just comes so far.

316
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Speaker 4: So you have access to if you want to watch

317
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Speaker 4: a certain corner and look at just specifically all of

318
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Speaker 4: his targets, it's a matter of two clicks and there's

319
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Speaker 4: the video.

320
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Speaker 2: Then you can go through all his targets.

321
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Speaker 4: And then you can do your evaluation and a player

322
00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:41,079
Speaker 4: in less than an hour versus something that could take

323
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Speaker 4: maybe a day or so. So the speed with which

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Speaker 4: you can make an evaluation and the access is a

325
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Speaker 4: lot quicker, which is the benefit of everybody. So a

326
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Speaker 4: coach can say, I just want to watch so and

327
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Speaker 4: so these plays.

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Speaker 2: Here are you going there? You click if you want

329
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Speaker 2: to watch the.

330
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Speaker 4: Receiver all his inside the formation plays because you think

331
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Speaker 4: like that's what the the player is going to be.

332
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Speaker 4: You have the ability to valuate that. So it all

333
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,839
Speaker 4: goes back to evaluate the player. What are strengths, what's

334
00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,160
Speaker 4: the role we foresee for that player? How are we

335
00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,080
Speaker 4: going to utilize that player? And then there's a discussion

336
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Speaker 4: between whether it's the offensive or defensive coaching staff. Here's

337
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,000
Speaker 4: how we see the player, here's how you would use them. Okay, great,

338
00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,760
Speaker 4: do we have a unified vision? That's step one. Then

339
00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:24,080
Speaker 4: step two there's a what's the cost associated with that?

340
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Speaker 2: Okay?

341
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Speaker 4: Well, the players think their market is this, we see

342
00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:31,000
Speaker 4: the player valued here, can we come to a point

343
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Speaker 4: where we agree or do we have to go another direction?

344
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:37,320
Speaker 4: So all those things between now and call it March eleventh,

345
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Speaker 4: like that's what's going to take place.

346
00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,080
Speaker 5: You're deep into it from I know your college scouts

347
00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:43,720
Speaker 5: are deep into it because there's probably been three or

348
00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:45,520
Speaker 5: four All Star Games and not a lot of people

349
00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:47,640
Speaker 5: talk about already that have already been out there. Now

350
00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:49,200
Speaker 5: you've got the Shrine ball coming up, and you got

351
00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:51,840
Speaker 5: senior ball coming up. But nig one of the things

352
00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:52,960
Speaker 5: we actually talked about this a little bit.

353
00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:53,600
Speaker 1: I want to hit on this.

354
00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,640
Speaker 5: There were about half of the players that declared early

355
00:14:57,760 --> 00:14:59,320
Speaker 5: then we've seen in prior years.

356
00:14:59,320 --> 00:14:59,840
Speaker 1: There was a number.

357
00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:01,440
Speaker 5: It was growing up in one hundred and thirty hundred

358
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,720
Speaker 5: and forty range, and I think this year is now sixty.

359
00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:06,280
Speaker 1: Do you feel pretty well positioned?

360
00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,240
Speaker 5: Like, Okay, we did work on those guys, but they

361
00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,000
Speaker 5: decided to go back to school. Okay, let's shelve that

362
00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:11,960
Speaker 5: and we can focus on the ones that are actually

363
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,000
Speaker 5: in there. How do you guys feel position wise as

364
00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:14,960
Speaker 5: potases are drafted?

365
00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:15,680
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely.

366
00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:17,480
Speaker 4: We go through the course of the fall and we

367
00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:20,840
Speaker 4: evaluate players based on maybe what we think is going

368
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,160
Speaker 4: to happen, understanding underclassmen are going to factor in in

369
00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:25,240
Speaker 4: some way, shape or form.

370
00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:26,640
Speaker 2: So it's interesting.

371
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,960
Speaker 4: The board is sort of built as you go, you know, August, September,

372
00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:32,680
Speaker 4: and then to December, and then we have the official

373
00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,200
Speaker 4: declaration and we go back to the board and maybe

374
00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:37,040
Speaker 4: you had a player that was up there, Okay, we'll

375
00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,040
Speaker 4: take him off. We can eliminate him. So what happens

376
00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:43,200
Speaker 4: is it may increase a pool of other players in

377
00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:44,800
Speaker 4: other areas who want to make sure that we go

378
00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,560
Speaker 4: back and are really diligent about the pool of players

379
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:48,600
Speaker 4: that are actually available.

380
00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:50,400
Speaker 2: Do we have the evaluation right? Do we need to

381
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:51,720
Speaker 2: do a little bit more work.

382
00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,440
Speaker 4: We know there's going to be two hundred and fifty ish,

383
00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,480
Speaker 4: whatever the number is players that are drafted. Doesn't we're

384
00:15:57,520 --> 00:15:59,600
Speaker 4: going to have going to have draftable grades on two

385
00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,080
Speaker 4: hundred fifty players. So we're still going to kind of

386
00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:04,520
Speaker 4: take a targeted approach, but there's just less players that

387
00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,440
Speaker 4: are available. It is just the underclassman typically makes such

388
00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,760
Speaker 4: an impact on the draft, and this is this year

389
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:13,960
Speaker 4: more than any they're going to have less of an impact.

390
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,040
Speaker 5: Along those lines, Nick, when you have a player that

391
00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:19,360
Speaker 5: I don't know, maybe in the second or third year,

392
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:21,160
Speaker 5: and he's in a particular region and you have a

393
00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,320
Speaker 5: scout in that region, and now the transfer portal sends him.

394
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:24,760
Speaker 1: I don't know.

395
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:26,920
Speaker 5: He goes from Miami, he goes to Washington, and all

396
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,520
Speaker 5: of a sudden, you've got another scout that's looking at him.

397
00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,240
Speaker 1: How do you kind of marry the two together? Does

398
00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:33,320
Speaker 1: it actually make it a little bit.

399
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:34,800
Speaker 5: Better because you've got two sets of eyes on him

400
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,000
Speaker 5: at different points in his career.

401
00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,080
Speaker 4: It's a great point. So we're essentially we're going to

402
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:39,920
Speaker 4: pool all the information. Anyways, Let's say you have a

403
00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,040
Speaker 4: player at Ohio State, soever is the Midwest Scout.

404
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:43,400
Speaker 2: You're going to have their background information.

405
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,360
Speaker 4: You probably have two or three people that go through

406
00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,240
Speaker 4: the school are going to have a report. Then he

407
00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,200
Speaker 4: goes from Ohio State to Miami of Florida, so that's

408
00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:50,960
Speaker 4: a different area of scout. So you do you get

409
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,880
Speaker 4: another set of eyes that maybe otherwise you wouldn't have.

410
00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:57,400
Speaker 4: So all that information gets populated into our main database.

411
00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:00,840
Speaker 4: So whatever report, whatever information we have from whatever school

412
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,200
Speaker 4: where they were, we're gonna have access to that. So

413
00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:05,800
Speaker 4: is it the information similar to what we had here?

414
00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:09,639
Speaker 4: Is there something different? What's different? What's changed? There'll be

415
00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,800
Speaker 4: some players that have literally been to three or four

416
00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:16,800
Speaker 4: different schools, So you're trying to take all an information

417
00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,119
Speaker 4: in still arrive at a snapshot and a summary of like,

418
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,000
Speaker 4: here's what we think the player is, here's what we

419
00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:26,080
Speaker 4: think it can be for us, here's what his character

420
00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:28,920
Speaker 4: makeup says about him. And in the end, we're either

421
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:30,840
Speaker 4: going to be comfortable with that player or we're not.

422
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,640
Speaker 4: And then once we get him here, they're essentially back

423
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:37,040
Speaker 4: to square one because they have to learn the elements

424
00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:40,159
Speaker 4: of our program. What's important do they assimilate with the

425
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:44,240
Speaker 4: players that they fit? Team fit and makeup is absolutely

426
00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,520
Speaker 4: critically important because who you're in the room with, if

427
00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:50,239
Speaker 4: you have the wrong composition of people, ultimately that's going

428
00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:51,680
Speaker 4: to affect what goes on on the field.

429
00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,760
Speaker 3: Well, it's got to be interesting in the meeting rooms

430
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,480
Speaker 3: when you're evaluating a player. And some of this is subjective, right,

431
00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:59,520
Speaker 3: You just don't know until you know, right, So there's

432
00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,800
Speaker 3: some dim but healthy disagreement, right.

433
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,080
Speaker 4: Absolutely, there's a lot of good dialogue, a lot of

434
00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:06,359
Speaker 4: constructive dialogue. And if we can't agree on a player,

435
00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:08,720
Speaker 4: then likely we'll just leave where he is and go

436
00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,280
Speaker 4: on to another player because we can't really arrive at

437
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,280
Speaker 4: a consensus, So we'reever to make a decision a vacuum

438
00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:16,920
Speaker 4: while any and somebody's gonna override the other one. Ultimately,

439
00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:18,320
Speaker 4: we have to make a decision how he feels best

440
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,040
Speaker 4: for the using Texans organizationally, not one individual.

441
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:23,240
Speaker 3: We talk about guys standing on a table for a player,

442
00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:27,840
Speaker 3: has anyone literally stood on never mind, I could see myself.

443
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:30,280
Speaker 2: I was standing on the table.

444
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,000
Speaker 5: Give me a kicker along those lines, Nick, when you're

445
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,400
Speaker 5: and I know that, I know this happens. And I

446
00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,719
Speaker 5: think about Willy Anderson because just from what we were

447
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,439
Speaker 5: able to hear, like out in the public about a

448
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:48,320
Speaker 5: guy like Will that a big part of his evaluation

449
00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:51,080
Speaker 5: in his sense was he was in alpha, like he

450
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,480
Speaker 5: was a he was a dude. He was the leader

451
00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:55,520
Speaker 5: of that team almost from the day he walked in.

452
00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,639
Speaker 5: And those are intangibles that you know, people that just

453
00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:00,679
Speaker 5: throw on film it can't see, but you have an

454
00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,240
Speaker 5: opportunity to understand that you should talk to coaches and

455
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,560
Speaker 5: you learn more about the player. How much is that

456
00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:11,000
Speaker 5: in the evaluation process, Like, yeah, we see this guy,

457
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:12,560
Speaker 5: we see what his fit is and where he could

458
00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,960
Speaker 5: fit for us. But man, in locker room, this guy's

459
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,359
Speaker 5: an absolute dude, and we'd love to have because of

460
00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:19,120
Speaker 5: the intangibles that other people can't see.

461
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,520
Speaker 4: It's a huge part of the evaluation because reality is

462
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,200
Speaker 4: the players are with each other for X number of

463
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:27,560
Speaker 4: hours on a day to day basis. So they're in

464
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:29,600
Speaker 4: the meeting room, they're in a dining room, they're in

465
00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,919
Speaker 4: the locker room together, they're on the practice field. And

466
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,760
Speaker 4: it doesn't everybody's that have necessarily have to like each other,

467
00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:37,959
Speaker 4: but there has to be a healthy respect for one another,

468
00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:41,520
Speaker 4: and players young and old have to figure out.

469
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:43,280
Speaker 2: A way to work with one another.

470
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:45,959
Speaker 4: And I think a lot of young players sometimes are

471
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:47,600
Speaker 4: a little bit hesitant. They always want to defer to

472
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:49,520
Speaker 4: the veteran players, which they should, and it takes a

473
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,439
Speaker 4: certain level of humility and emotional awareness to realize you

474
00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:55,800
Speaker 4: have a lot to learn, you have a job to do,

475
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:57,919
Speaker 4: and you're respectful of the people that are there. And

476
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,399
Speaker 4: I think if you show that, i'd say degree of

477
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,399
Speaker 4: humility to veteran players, they develop a healthy respect for

478
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,840
Speaker 4: younger players. I think the worst situation is when we

479
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:08,960
Speaker 4: have a younger player who comes in acts a certain

480
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,560
Speaker 4: way and he really hasn't done anything or really earned anything,

481
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,199
Speaker 4: because you've either played a lot of football without that

482
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,320
Speaker 4: player or won a lot of games without him. So

483
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,320
Speaker 4: that's where getting the right person with the right mindset

484
00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:23,439
Speaker 4: is critically important and all goes back to you know

485
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,040
Speaker 4: what Dimiko has talked about, like this swarm mindset, the

486
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:31,200
Speaker 4: relentless mindset, the team first attitude. So and players are smart,

487
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:33,520
Speaker 4: so they see when somebody comes to the locker room,

488
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:35,560
Speaker 4: does he have those attributes? You guys practicing what you're

489
00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,399
Speaker 4: preaching or are you doing something different? You're saying one thing,

490
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,359
Speaker 4: but your action suggests something else. So this is where

491
00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,080
Speaker 4: a lot of dialogue, a lot of discussions take place,

492
00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:47,000
Speaker 4: and we have to be very i would say diligent

493
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,320
Speaker 4: and intentional about who we add to the team and

494
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:52,400
Speaker 4: the reason why we're putting him on a roster. Well,

495
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:54,719
Speaker 4: I'm not in the locker room, but it felt like

496
00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:58,119
Speaker 4: this team was real together. This group you had in

497
00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,080
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three achieved that what you're looking for. And

498
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:02,960
Speaker 4: I know every year is different, but you had to

499
00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 4: be happy with that part of it. Yeah, they were

500
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:08,600
Speaker 4: very connected. I think they cared about one another. They

501
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,320
Speaker 4: wanted to do well for one another, and there was

502
00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 4: a healthy respect among each other. And you saw that

503
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:16,399
Speaker 4: and how they interacted with each other, whether it was

504
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,920
Speaker 4: on game day, whether it's during practice, how you practice.

505
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:22,480
Speaker 4: I mean, we're fortunate we had very few i would

506
00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:24,800
Speaker 4: say dust ups or issues during the course of the year.

507
00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,800
Speaker 4: So that's a positive reflection of the coaching staff and

508
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,320
Speaker 4: the way to Miko handle the team, and ultimately it's,

509
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,800
Speaker 4: you know, a sign that the players did the right

510
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 4: thing along the way as well. So you're never going

511
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,040
Speaker 4: to necessarily reduplicate. We're not going to have the same team,

512
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,040
Speaker 4: that's the reality of it. But in terms of the

513
00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,679
Speaker 4: components and some of the dynamics that are important to

514
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,480
Speaker 4: the team, like, we're not going to lose those, and

515
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 4: those are going to be at the forefront of our

516
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 4: minds as we're building a team out.

517
00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:53,000
Speaker 5: I know we'll take a break from radio for a

518
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 5: little bit and the coaches will get a little break.

519
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,120
Speaker 5: And Demiko talked about, you know, his wife is pregnant,

520
00:21:57,840 --> 00:21:59,640
Speaker 5: and I know we're right in the midst of draft

521
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:01,639
Speaker 5: season and bullseye all that kind of stuff.

522
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:02,959
Speaker 1: Are you gonna get a break a little bit?

523
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:05,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be the Senior Bowl next week.

524
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sure my wife is ready to hit me

525
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,120
Speaker 4: over the head with a sledgehammer.

526
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,280
Speaker 3: But this is a really busy season for you right now,

527
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 3: right this is the ke busy.

528
00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:15,600
Speaker 1: Season for accountants. This is their time.

529
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:19,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, here we go, Nick, there's gonna be a senior showcase.

530
00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,479
Speaker 3: This event has happened for years at the Bubble at

531
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 3: the Houston Methodist Training Center. This is for high school

532
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,359
Speaker 3: athletes in the area to audition if you will, for

533
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:32,119
Speaker 3: D two D three NAIA opportunities and millions of dollars

534
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,520
Speaker 3: in scholarship funds have been awarded over the course of years.

535
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,119
Speaker 2: I know you went to a D three school.

536
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,520
Speaker 3: What kind of opportunity is that for a young athlete

537
00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:40,920
Speaker 3: to get that chance.

538
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:41,719
Speaker 2: It's tremendous.

539
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:44,239
Speaker 4: I mean, any opportunity that you have, you should take

540
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,840
Speaker 4: advantage of. And the reality is there's so many good

541
00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:49,360
Speaker 4: football players out there in the country and they come

542
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,679
Speaker 4: from a varietyal I think sometimes the focus is always

543
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,240
Speaker 4: on the Power five and Division one, but there's a

544
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,480
Speaker 4: number of players in a history of NFL that have

545
00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,520
Speaker 4: come from lower level programs we have going on to

546
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:01,080
Speaker 4: have successful careers.

547
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,960
Speaker 2: So it's a great opportunity. It's a great platform for players.

548
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:05,639
Speaker 4: Anytime you have a chance to get in front of

549
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 4: people and to be able to compete.

550
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 2: With one another.

551
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:11,760
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm very fortunate to be able to play football,

552
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:13,760
Speaker 4: even know it was at the Division III level, But

553
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:15,480
Speaker 4: I wouldn't change it for the world. I mean, some

554
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 4: of my best friends are some of the still to

555
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 4: this day, those are some of my teammates.

556
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:22,480
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of good players out there. There's

557
00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:24,399
Speaker 2: a lot of good people. You really never know where're.

558
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 4: Gonna come from, and we don't care where you come from,

559
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 4: how you get to the team where you were drafted.

560
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,520
Speaker 4: It's ultimately just about what your performance and what you

561
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,679
Speaker 4: do when you get that opportunity. So sure it'll be

562
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 4: a fun event and it's a great chance for those

563
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:40,960
Speaker 4: players to compete and put themselves into position to maybe

564
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:42,239
Speaker 4: prolong their careers well.

565
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 1: And that's just an opportunity to play more ball.

566
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 5: And I think for young players a lot of times

567
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,199
Speaker 5: they don't know a lot of the schools that are

568
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:50,880
Speaker 5: out there, like wait a second, wait, I can play

569
00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:52,160
Speaker 5: football at your school.

570
00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 1: And I can get some scholarship money.

571
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,680
Speaker 5: And they just don't realize it because they see the

572
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:57,680
Speaker 5: Texas A and M in the Texas, but they don't

573
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,400
Speaker 5: realize there's Southwestern Trinity.

574
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,200
Speaker 1: There's other D three schools that they.

575
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:03,640
Speaker 5: Might have an opportunity to go to where some they

576
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,720
Speaker 5: may not even know that might end up in Ohio

577
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,360
Speaker 5: like Mountain Union, like that great school.

578
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:15,240
Speaker 3: You went there, or John Carroll, get in right, Get

579
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,080
Speaker 3: Ceecil Shorts on here next, Nick, Thanks Left for all

580
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:19,120
Speaker 3: the visits all season long.

581
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,160
Speaker 2: We appreciate it. Thanks Fellows, appreciate you guys,