Elijah Herbel and Will Wilson join you for this Thursday edition of Hail Varsity Radio as they open the show by giving their thoughts on John Butler officially being named Nebraska’s new DBs coach and by discussing if his addition changes the expectations for the Husker defense in 2024. Brandon Vogel joins the show to continue that conversation before Brian Christopherson checks in to lay out exactly what he thinks John Butler will need to do to create a high-level DB room in the upcoming season, as well as his thoughts on the three Huskers who will be representing Nebraska at Big Ten Media Days. Later, Danny Burke checks in for another edition of Burke’s Best Bets to give his preview of the weekend of sports betting action.
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00:00 – Butler officially announced
16:20 – Brandon Vogel
38:04 – Nebrasketball’s non-con schedule
42:17 – Brian Christopherson
58:46 – Nebraska’s representatives at B1G Media Days
1:11:34 – Burke’s Best Bets
1:20:25 – News and notes
the voice of husker nation is on the air this is hail Varsity radio Insight opinion expertise along with the biggest names talking Nebraska sports join in with the show at 42489 1240 or 1 1800 825 5865 now here are your hosts Chris Schmidt and Elijah herble welcome to it Thursdays here it’s hail Varsity radio powered by corn head logger Elijah herble joined here in the studio yet again by our friend will Wilson you can find him on Twitter at Willy ontheradio and you can find his show the morning hookup online Google it up throw it in the old YouTube machine the morning hookup him and his co-host Bill hooks taking you through Monday through Friday every single day from 10: to 11 Wills in all week long for Chris Schmidt who is uh off for the week but back next week and uh we’re happy to have will here in studio plenty of good stuff coming for you on a Thursday as we’ll have our usual Thursday appearance from Brandon vogle B Brandon is back from the road trip to Pittsburgh so we’re going have to get thoughts on how his road trip went as well as his thoughts on what has officially been announced the John Butler hire we’ll get into that here in just a moment coming up in hour or two we’ll have Brian kristopherson I know we’re used to having uh coach Gary Barnett with us on Thursdays Barney though is uh unavailable he is in Costa Rica so he’s on vacation unavailable for now we’ll get caught up with Coach Barney next week but we’ll have Brian Christopherson leading off hour two and then coming up at 5:40 another edition of Burke’s Best Bets with one Danny Burke the pride of Chicago he’ll be checking in we’ll get his some thoughts on the Home Run Derby the allstar game and cuz I’ve been talking about enough this week I think we have to talk both the euros and the Copa America final which is coming your way on Sunday I have the right to do so because it’s kind of a dead Sports weekend so uh with all that in mind well how are you doing today it’s good to have you in yet again in a dark studio today yeah these lights are bright and I just thought i’ I’d change it up a little bit uh the day’s been good kind of quiet around here today uh which is not a bad thing kind of gives us a lone time which is nice uh but yeah it’s a good day what about you uh can’t complain I’ve been uh dealing so obviously I’ve been filling in for Schmitty in the mornings as well I get a nice little break midday for lunch sometimes I’ll sneak in a little nap and uh that was tough today because had a couple of uh construction guys we doing the gutters on my house today oh good it’s which is good it was well overdue uh we had the roof done last week gutters done this week uh it’s funny the guys were complaining about the handiwork done uh by the roofing guys while they were working on the the gutters and I’m like I’m going to act like I didn’t hear that that this roof sucks it’s uh well it’s it’s my I don’t own the place I I rent so that’s not my problem but I was just trying to block that out but they were quite loud today so not much of a nap was had did enjoy my my downtime during the day today and I’m in here ready to rock for our Thursday edition of hail Varsity so a lot of good stuff coming your way today we’ll get to the hail Varsity radio starting 5 here in just a second I got to get our tweet up first though so uh it’s hard to type and talk at the same time I’m going to try my best to do so but as we look at The Hil vars radio starting 5 we started off brri was first in today holy moly he did it says bradick so bradrick congrats on being first into the hail varc radio starting five the other Dave in second uh Cliff is in third Cliff saying he outran the feds today moonshining ain’t easy so congrats Cliff not sure what to think of that one uh crew is in fourth crew is quite excited to be fourth Michael says fourth but I believe Michael is actually fifth uh crazy spider Adventures comes in off the bench at number six kg just a really really good guy in at seven we also have the real Matthew I got a good DM in from the real Matthew today maybe a talking point for later this week or next week on a quote from uh Big 12 media days today it was on serus XM uh thank you Matthew so for sending that over I think we’ll have to find some time for it once I’m able to pull the sound bite we also have Patrick moonbot uh Eric NASCAR Eric is in uh we also have other no that’s that’s same Eric Jimmy is in uh Jeff is in Shane is in eat beef is in s is in let’s not forget about Justin Justin also in the Stream as we speak to you here so a pretty loaded lineup of folks online with us here on a Thursday edition of P Varsity I think it’s funny how you you say starting five but it turns into the starting 15 well we we get through the starting five and then we get to the the folks coming in off the bench cool so there’s you know your six-man which you know that’s that’s kind of my role in the basketball court much more of a six-man I bring some energy Off the Bench occasional three-point shot if it’s fallen for me yeah that’s that’s my role I think I mean you might be the same we’re we’re similar basketball players in that way well I’m a better shooter uh but if I’m on if I’m on I’m on yeah that’s what you say you know you’re kind of annoying player to play with because you have height you’re tall why don’t you get down low and I like to shoot through I I I play defense well down low offensively though I don’t have a well defined post game um I always cuz when you go to an open gym to go practice your game which I did when I was younger what do you do you go step to the three-point line and go Chuck a three yeah one to 15 times Trevor uh chimes in the Stream can confirm well is a better shooter Trevor knows thank you Trevor damn Trev Trevor’s on my corn CR State Games basketball team next week so I need some support thank you if you need a coach let me know might be available it’s possible we had a coach lined up and now he might be going to the Creed concert okay instead of supporting so let me know so we may need you in I’ve seen hoers um is that what what what kind of offense would you have us run I was running the Phil I was thinking we run the Phil Jackson triangle offense well no I wouldn’t be there to tell you what to run I would just be there to be in a suit and argue with the ref all I okay so you’d be the what’s the alcoholic guy’s name yeah I don’t remember I don’t remember his name in in hooers I don’t remember his name somebody in the chat will definitely yeah no but anyway yeah that’s uh that’s a great positive word of encouragement from Trevor my teammate saying will is a better shooter I so but back to my point this isn’t aside we’ll get to Husker football here momentarily I promise I as a youngster in the basketball floor they’ always put me at the center MH and defensively I did pretty well there pretty go straight up you know I was I was a force in the the low block in terms of trying to back me down I did well there I could box out offensively though it’s hard to go practice a post game whenever you’re going to the gym alone you know yeah it is it is so what do you do you go practice your dump shot you go practice your handles so I never really developed an offensive post game and it leaves me feeling I’m like a stretch five maybe a stretch four but like defensively I still go play Down Low it’s awkward so you’re so you’re you’re like a Kevin Love but Kevin Love is an outstanding three-point shooter so I I can’t on on my day you know I’m a good three-point shooter whenever I if the first two go down for me it’s going to be a long day for the opposition I just hate giving you credit yeah yeah you’re right we’ll get to football here as we have plenty to get into coach John Butler officially announced quickly though I do want to just throw something out there Ty Robinson hopping on Twitter today announcing an nil deal and it’s always good to see the Husker student athletes getting some nil deals I won’t mention the company they’re a local plumbing and a uh plumbing and water heater company here in town they’ve offered the promotion uh one certain water heater that they have this fall uh they’ll install it this fall and if Nebraska wins the Big 10 champ chionship they will refund your water heater at the end of the year which seems like a good promotion you can look into it if you want I like the promotion but it got me thinking got my wheels turning uhhuh is it legal from a business point of view to go throw down some heat at the sports book on Nebraska to win the Big 10 title and then use that money should you win to go refund your business for what would be a pretty massive expense having to refund everybody is that legal is that right to do cuz it got me turned like that’s not a bad thought now that Sports gambling is legal in Nebraska a $5,000 bet which I assume you’ll make at least that much money with this promotion because people are going to think man I get my my water heater for free if Nebraska does well I bet you they’ll probably do $5,000 in business at least if you go put down $5,000 at the sports book here in town if Nebraska wins the Big 10 Championship it’ll actually you $100,000 wow and so you’re wondering if if this is a legitimate business strategy to offer this promotion and to go put down $5,000 at the sports book well I’m sure they would have you know is that legal uh I’m sure they would have looked into it it only making it because then if you get $100,000 back that that’s probably recouping your losses and then some should Nebraska win the big tentel I’m just wondering is that a legal and legitimate business strategy yeah you know speaking of nil uh I’m sure you saw the news about the the Georgia players and and you know this kind of goes along with Oklahoma State too I I don’t know why these schools aren’t making nil deals with Uber so that you know these players can get free Uber rides something to think about uh moonbot saying with that nil it’s probably an insured promotion I know moonbots done his fair share of insured promotions back in the day which is usually what like those half courton full court shots you see at NBA and college games are right insured promotions so somebody else will pay it off if somebody does in fact hit it that’s a good thought we also have ringer chiming in here along with Grant he chimed in on Twitter saying the the alcoholic coach’s name in hoers was shooter shooter got it that could that could work for you you could be shooter Off the Bench for us well you want me to show up drunk to the courts that could be electric no not doing it no our good friend Dave the cor State Games would probably not like that but I’m really looking forward to the cor State Games I hope our team is going to do well Trevor I could use less trash talking in the Stream Eric also chimes in and says heal assistant coach as well so thank you for that offer Eric next Saturday I’ll get you the schedule should you be so inclined we’ll take as many coaches as we can get we’re trying to win it all we’re playing in the bronze division so we’re not going to be any good most likely we’ve never played together as a team I think we want to hit an open gym at some point next week I’ll follow up later on the show should things go well if things go poorly you’ll never hear about our corn State Games performance anyway to football we go uh the official news coming down today uh John Butler as expected has been named the defensive backs coach for Nebraska the statement from Matt rule today who is on vacation how do you know that I got sources will that’s kind of weird to know you should know this by now you should know I got sources let the man have a vacation I’m just saying it’s just but I’m I’m just alluding to the fact that I don’t think he gave this statement today this has been in the works for a while we’ve known it’s been in the works for a while there’s some HR Hoops you got to jump through to get John Butler announced people are questioning it I’ve seen it on Twitter I’ve seen it in our stream why hasn’t this been announced it’s been known this was coming he’s been working behind the scenes I know he’s been down doing some meetings as well as some film work this week so he’s been in town he’s been on campus anyway long story short the quote from rural John Butler is one of the Premier defensive back coaches in football he has a diverse coaching background in a history of being a part of winning organization and Elite defenses at the highest level of football he will be an outstanding addition to the Nebraska football program and to our defensive staff that’s the quote from Matt rule on John Butler coming to the Husker football coaching staff uh already has his boots on the ground and he will be getting going I mean already but uh ASAP as uh pen has been put to paper and that is now done Nebraska as their coaching staff I assume set in stone for 2024 barring any more late drama I don’t want to put that out there because as we know there’s never a dull week in Nebraska there always seems to be drama behind the scenes but you think that with this move Nebraska’s coaching staff is set in stone and the question I want to ask today which I think is a multifaceted discussion we’re going to get Brandon’s take on it here in about eight minutes we’re also going to get thoughts from Brian Christopherson to lead off hour too how do you define success for the defensive backs and for John Butler in 2024 cuz I think there’s always going to be that easy out should the defense backs not play well should the top rated quarterback in EA Sports college football shadur Sanders will’ll also get to a little bit later in the show should he go and have a great day against Nebraska let’s say he comes into Lincoln God forbid picks up the win 400 yards four touchdowns zero picks type day for shadur Sanders do you blame the defensive backs and do you blame coach John Butler that’s the question I think I have right now with this hire cuz I don’t want to go easy out with this guy but it’s hard for me to set expectations in that defensive back now going into 2024 with this turn with this turnover and with I accidentally hit a q button in here I’m not sure if that picked up on the mic I heard it yeah okay so that did go out over the air apologies but do you change the standard because Matt Rule’s been big on the standard is the standard we’re going to have guys play up to the standard no matter what the circumstances are but from a media and from a fan point of view does this change your expectations for the defensive back room and does this change what you think success is for the defensive backs in 2024 given the turnover I guess does it just change what you think the floor of the defense is in 2024 I don’t it’s hard just knowing how long it’s been since Butler uh you know was in college I don’t know how much that matters uh but like you said the other day it sounds like you know his his his players in Buffalo you know were were playing pretty well um I don’t know I think it all matters on how Cooper left the room I think that’s a big thing if if he left them in a pretty good spot well then you know you’re hoping Butler can come in and and make them even better um you again to me it’s just a big wait and see thing I I think uh you know that room is a little concerning moving in so um yeah to me it’s just a big wait and see I’m kind of in the same boat as you and that’s kind of what makes it tough because it’s a defense that comes into this season with high expectations because when you discuss chasing three the three points better Nebraska was chasing this off season we didn’t talk much about the defense you’re you’re looking at the off in the special team be like man they can get you back three points and the defense was kind of a uh uh just a an afterthought in terms of well they’re going to they’re going to have their same standard as they had in 2023 and and they’re going to even have less expectations less pressure on them because of the fact that the offense if they’re able to hold up their end of the bargain a little bit better it’s going to leave them on the field a little bit less it’s going to set them up with their backs to the goal line a little bit less if you are able to control the turnover problem so it’s it’s been an afterthought that defense in terms of of are they going to be the same unit in 2024 they are in 2023 and it’s fair with all the returning production you see but does this coaching staff change here and I want to get your thoughts in the Stream uh if you’re watching along you can give us a call to 402 48912 40 is the number you can get in give us a tweet as well does this move this late in the offseason change your expectations for the defense and specifically the defensive back room in terms of the fact that hey if things don’t go well early in the season do you say well you know what coach John Butler was put into a tough spot he had to make adjustments on the Fly this defensive back room had to make adjustments on the fly or on the flip side of things does that Matt Ral message of the standard is the standard and we’re going to have guys play up to the standard no matter what the circumstances is we’re going to find a guy who’s going to play up to the standards if our our starters aren’t does that is that the trump card here in this situation where you know what despite all these things are happening off the field you have to have a defense that plays up to the standard and we saw I think a defense that was playing pretty close to the standard last season it it definitely doesn’t raise the expectations no that’s for sure so we’ll see we’ll get Brandon vogel’s thoughts on this coming your way after the break as Brandon joins us we’ll get his thoughts on the road trip to Pittsburgh as well and maybe some quick thoughts on uh his experience on the comant fan podcast talking Mike R that’s coming your way after the break here on Hil Varsity powered by cornhead logger and now and now back to hail Varsity radio we’re going through a Thursday here on hails firsty radio we are powered by cornhead logger Elijah herble and Will Wilson joining you here on a Thursday as plenty of news and notes to get into today John Butler officially announced as Nebraska’s defensive backs coach will get Vogal take on that here in just a second we also have a non-conference schedule released for Husker basketball will and I will get into that a little bit later this hour and don’t forget Brian kristopherson and Danny Burke also coming your way in hour two as well but we welcome Brandon vogle to the show Brandon is back safely from Pittsburgh and Brandon we asked the question everyone’s been wondering how was the road trip it was it was pretty good um the two toddlers did did really well all things considered I mean they’re just going to have to stop a lot but for the most part um what is went as good as I could have hoped so wrote about it a little bit on this this week at counter read.com um didn’t kind of plot it out this way but the way we ended up going uh pass through SEC towns Big 12 Big 10 and ACC so we checked off all four power conferences which uh wouldn’t have been possible even a year ago Vogal did you ever have to threaten to turn the car around or pull over no I didn’t um it never never escalated to to that level it was more of a scramble mode of uh potty breaks so I I’ll leave it at that and one thing we didn’t get into last week that I I want to ask you are you a drive-thru on a road trip kind of guy are you a pack sandwiches in the cooler kind of guy on a road trip um I will pack a cooler but mostly for drinks I’m I’m more of a drive-through guy um I I’m pretty I’m pretty meticulous uh about about the car so I don’t like a whole lot of uh stray french fries rolling around in back seat it’s it’s unavoidable with toddlers I think just a little bit it’s unavoidable with me I’m 25 come on that’s Brandon vogle with us here his usual spot a Thursday edition of hail vars radio and Brandon we haven’t gotten a chance to get your thoughts on the drama of last weekend it started with Evan Cooper’s resignation which we’ve spent plenty of time talking about here both on the Saturday Morning Edition and then to start this week off we also need to get your thoughts on John Butler but just first I want your reaction to the situation as a whole there’s never a dull week in Nebraska as much as you’d like there to be so it always feels like there’s some drama going on behind the scenes and this week was no different so I want to get your thoughts on just what this week was as a whole yeah um I was totally out of Loop and and didn’t see the Evan Cooper News until like late Friday night when we got back to our hotel in in Pittsburgh um if you’d asked me a week ago um which which assistant coach would Nebraska least like to lose I probably would have put Cooper second behind behind Tony white like I think it hurts I don’t know that it hurts right away at 24 um but I think there’s the potential for for a long-term effect effect here and I think the reason was like and we’ll get into this I think when we talk about Butler a little bit uh Cooper well he’s been with Matt rule basically the entire way so it’s obvious like he was he was one of ru’s guys I think he was uniquely good at identifying Talent um I think he was a good recruiter um and those are two kind of intangibles that you know it’s it’s tough to just replace like you you’ll always be able to find the guys that fit in terms of scheme and X’s and O’s and what they know um and guys that can assimilate themselves and and help you not miss a beat in the short-term future it’s more the long-term piece of it like Cooper’s got I mean look at that DB room he’s recruited a lot of guys that are on the roster um and it’s not going to probably make a a big difference for this year but you have to wonder at least about about the future after that because you know these players and rightly so a lot of them are are committing because of the position coach we’re talking to vogle so let’s go to John Butler it’s official he’s hired uh talk about that room first and we know with him coming in it kind of describe the job he has do you think it’s a hard job to what he’s coming into do you think it’s it’s kind of nice right now uh I I think it’s a pretty good situation I mean you’ve got a defense that overall returns a lot of production I think a couple of the biggest questions which they’re not huge in the grand scheme of things but within the context of Nebraska’s defense are probably in that secondary namely cornerback opposite Tommy Hill um got to find a guy there and then figure out how like what your kind of maybe second wave is assuming all your starters are healthy and remain mostly healthy um so you’ve got a young room so that’s that’s a little bit of a challenge that said I think one of the advantages of hiring a guy like Butler who you know has almost 30 Seasons as a as a football coach um is you feel pretty good about his ability to to step into the situation later than anybody you know you don’t want to make a coaching change at this point you do it because you have to um he’ll be able to pick up the schemes and like do what Tony white wants to do in terms of building the relationship with the guys in the room I think that’s the other key piece of this um and I think he’ll be okay there too um let’s not forget that Butler stepped into Penn State at 2012 like you won’t find kind of more a more difficult overall all situation than what Penn State was facing that first bill O’Brian year um and he he did that he left a special teams coordinator job at South Carolina to do that um so it’s it’s one of those things where I think getting a veteran presence helps you most most immediately for for 2024 like you’re not trying to teach somebody the ropes or or start a new coach out well maybe they haven’t had quite the experience that that somebody like Butler has it’s Brandon vogle with us here check out his work counter read counter read.com and vogle as we talk John Cooper or excuse me uh John I did it again well that’s another one in the SAR jar we talk John Butler here uh I want to get your thoughts on before we look specifically at 2024 I kind of want to zoom out because one of the things that was discussed right when the hire was made one of the reasons he gave for leaving the bills is he wanted to give himself a shot at a coordinator position and with that in mind the thought that maybe this is a guy that’s going to be playing that’s going to be running your defense as soon as Tony white were to leave which maybe that’s what Cooper would have been in line to do as well should he have not resigned last Friday do you think that that uh is a net positive for rule I guess to get that lined up now or do you think that’s a little too farsighted understanding that defensive back is probably the the position of the greatest concern on your defense next year not knowing what opposite corner is going to look like needing some guys that are going to need to to get some I guess consistency when you look at a guy in Malcolm hartog and a guy that was coming of injury last year in Maris spford stability and a lack of stability might not be a great thing for them you have to do what you have to do and John Butler is uh very much renowned as a defensive backs coach but it’s a tough place to put him in especially considering it might just be a one-year stop for him in the defensive back room before he makes a move to defensive coordinator assuming that is the plan for Matt Ru yeah I mean I think it’s definitely a benefit that he is somebody who you could look at just look at his career and where he’s been and what he’s done and say oh you know if Tony White leaves at the end of this season which we presume Nebraska’s defense will be good again and he’ll have opportunities again that’s a natural person who who could could be in the running for that position I thought Evan Cooper would have been in the running for for that position um prior prior to his departure and that would have been a big you know that would have been a step a pretty significant step up the ladder for for Cooper uh not as much for for Butler so I think that’s a benefit I think with again it’s at this point you know the news is still relatively fresh we’re all kind of trying to process it and I haven’t gone back and dug into like how Butler was as a recruiter um at his college stops he’s been in the NFL for the past six seasons like college football recruiting is totally different than the last time he did it I think at Penn State or uh if he had you know a stop stop after that I think that’s that’s a legitimate question but you know there’s a lot of football programs in the country where your coordinators are probably not some of your best recruiters so that’s that’s interesting too if we consider him as a candidate for for the defense coordinator job should Nebraska have an opening soon um you know maybe that that’s that’s less of a concern I I I would think it actually probably would be um than if he were to remain the secondary coach and maybe he’s a great recruiter and I just haven’t had the opportunity to look at it yet um it’s just when you’re that far away from the college game for a while is so much changes I think it’s a fair question to ask hey you want to go yeah I just want to get to that the question that we were asked back in in segment one which is does this higher specifically with Butler coming in does it change your expectations for the defense as a whole does it change your expectations for the secondary in 2024 in terms of what a good season looks like for them understanding that this has been a a wrench thrown into the plans of the defense and this has been a an unforeseen change for the guys that are in that room that are looking for stability they’ve encountered a lot of change in the past couple years some of those older guys especially yeah it doesn’t it doesn’t change my expectation for for 2024 now I think if you were to get to the end of the season and you you saw you know a handful of defections from that room that would tell you a little bit like yeah a lot of these guys were here for for Cooper potentially um who knows you know there’s a lot of football all the football um at this point in 2024 to be played before we get to any of those things but for the for the season ahead I think this hire does a good job of keeping Nebraska on track it’s relatively low I don’t want to I don’t want to say low maintenance or low risk but something like that like this is a guy who’s coached a lot of football uh Maru obviously trusts him you expect him to come in and kind of pick up and and oh by the way Nebraska has a veteran secondary so I think in terms of the relationship part of it which is important we talked a little bit about he’s got a bunch of guys there Tommy Hill desan Singleton uh Malcolm harzog eventually gford will be there I believe that they want to be in the NFL um so bringing in a guy who’s coaching the Buffalo Bills last year um probably you know gets things started off at least uh a half step in the the right direction right out of the gates so it’s kind of Beyond this this this year where some of that other stuff that we just don’t know yet um potentially comes into play for me we’re talking to Brandon vogle Brandon I I wanted to ask you about Mike Gundy I’m sure you saw his comments yesterday uh really what I want to ask is you know he said he’s not going to be suspending or really any real punishment to him do you think that could be a trend here in college football as years go on with nil and and all that stuff trying to protect the player from you know what he’s uh earning yeah I’d be surprised if it becomes a trend because Gundy as traditionally as traditional as he is in some regards is is pretty untraditional when it comes to coaches like I think I still think the Baseline would be if that situation unfolds someplace else that player’s probably going to have to sit for a little bit I’ll at least give Gundy credit for this um and I didn’t agree with a lot of the like justifying he tried to do with this um I’ll at least give him credit for this he’s like he’s here because that was part of the accountability piece of it and if you think about it like what’s easier to to get a DUI and then not go to Media days when you should have been or to get there and like deal with the question for a little bit so I’ll at least give him credit for that and I’ll give him credit for like saying well this is what I’m going to do um even if I think uh you know some sort of suspension was probably probably merited in in this instance so uh when it comes to Gundy um he’s I I have a hard time thinking of him as a trend Setter because he’s just so unlike so many other coaches that we see today which is a good thing at times and a bad things at times BR we’re up againsts to hear we keep you for 2 minutes in the deci side to tell uh us about both your work on the common fan podcast and counter read sure all right Mor with Brandon Vogal coming your way after the break here on hail Varsity radio powered by corn head logger and now and now back to hail Varsity radio little bit of overtime here with Brandon vogle countercounter read.com is where you read him and we thank Brandon for hanging on with us for another segment and Brandon before we get to both your work on counter read and on the common fan podcast which we spent a little bit of time about talking about that new episode with Mike Riley a little bit earlier in the week I want to get your thoughts of all the big or all the media day drama if you will we’ve seen this week you had Gundy you had just the Colorado clown show if I can call it that I think I will that we saw yesterday you had big 12 media days with multiple misspellings being a unable to spell both Cincinnati and Fort Worth we also had Pack 12 Med days after dark where they had an open bar and said if anyone has the right to drink it’s the Pack 12 um and then you had the Mountain West where Boise State had a running back who was under the age of 21 the media days were being held at a 21 and over only Casino so he had to do a separate media session by himself at a different location of all the weirdness what do you think has stolen the headlines most in your eyes oh um what caught my attention the most was the weird pack with two teams uh media days I thought it was a genius idea of like yep we’re here and we’re like we’re going to put it on the day because we only need one day uh between the Big 12 and and the Mountain West so you’re going to get a lot of reporters there so from a PR perspective I think it was a success I also appreciated kind of the Dead Pan humor of uh yeah if anybody’s earned a drink it’s it’s it’s us um so yeah we’re we’re moving into we’re moving into talking season it’s it’s kind of fun to get some of these out first you know the SEC continually is kind of like the biggest and brashest and then by the time you get to Big 10 it’s fairly like a buttoned up Affair I’ve been there A lot of times um so I’m expecting not to get a ton of fireworks from the Big 10 but that’s just kind of business as usual over there it’s Brandon vogle with us here and Brandon let us know about the new episode of the common fan podcast you’ve been working on it with the guys over there you had a guy we’re going to have on this show later in the show Brian Christopherson on this week to talk about Mike Riley his era tell us a little bit about that show and what you think we can learn now with the benefit of hindsight looking back at the Mike Riley era yeah so Brian was was good enough to join us um Brian does great work for for 247 for a long time and and for the Lincoln Journal Star before that and you know the Riley discussion uh I I found was one of my favorites that we’ve done so the series for those who may catching it for the first time looks back at each of the coaching High Nebraska has made since since Tom Osborne so starting with soluch and you know the Riley one was like didn’t make a ton of sense at the outset I think everybody was surprised at the end of it like because Frost was doing what he was doing at at UCF I think everybody was kind of like yeah you gota you got to take your swing at Frost but like the frame for this episode was was Riley the biggest Miss um of these coaching hires Nebraska has made since osor and I said on the episode and I’ve been a little bit surprised um maybe I shouldn’t have been but a lot of the feedback we’ve gotten on Twitter people are like no Frost was the biggest mess and I think like if you objectively step back and look at it um yeah like the the coach who just gone 13 and0 with UCF um having the record he did at Nebraska that’s that’s like a massive upset it’s it’s a outcome nobody even really considered at the time he was hired so that episode episode comes next week so uh if you want to make sure to catch that and catch up on the ones that you may have missed if you have uh you can just search for common fan podcast wherever you get that on uh your favorite podcast purveyor and uh get caught up because the frost episode’s quite good as well I think you could make the argument with Riley just to to bring it back there for a little bit one of the quotes from the podcast that I liked was that Mike Riley made a career out of turning chuck roast into ribey and you could make an argument that knowing that that that’s what his career bread and butter was it wasn’t what Nebraska needed at the time following the bo Pini tenure and stylistically from a personality point of view he was the antithesis to Bow and it kind of made sense in that way but from what Nebraska needed in a coaching standpoint to to take what Bo had and elevate it a little bit more I can see where you think that would work but it really doesn’t make sense now with the benefit of hindsight seeing how it turned out yeah I mean everyone hoped that that sort of uh ribey multiplier would would be in play that the difference was is like at Nebraska You know despite its fortunes over the past 20 years like you start with riby so it’s not like you know are you trying to make it a prime riy um you know and obviously didn’t didn’t work out that way three years was was pretty short um it’s it’s interesting to consider like if the frost like train isn’t steaming down the tracks in 2017 does one four and eight season um mean the end for Riley um we’ll never know I guess but uh would have been would have been interesting but you know by the point we got to November of that year like everyone knew that Frost was going to go somewhere um and if you were a Nebraska fan it really better be in Nebraska and to build is credit you got that done Brandon vogle with us here Brandon as we get you out let us know what’s coming up from you what’s coming up from counter read and counter.com yeah so we’ll have some uh well we’re still a little bit ways from from media days before we we jump into that but um I’m interested to look at a little bit more with with Butler now that the hires official plan to do that next week my colleague who runs counter read with me Aon senson is in Italy right now so we’ll see if she rounds up any Husker stories from from Italy um but um we got that we got a a kind of an Olympic look ahead too featuring some some Husker athletes so plenty good stuff to come even though we’re in the you know kind of coldest even though it’s the hottest outside kind of the coldest time in the college football calendar and BR how do people get signed up yep just head to counter.com um you’ll be able to check out a couple of our free pieces there you become a free subscriber that gets you seven days get you access to all of our um subscriber exclusive newsletters and then if you want to become a subscriber after that that means you get two two exclusive newsletters a week um and access to to all the other stuff that we do each week too it’s Brandon vogle with us here Brandon appreciate your time here on a Thursday and we’ll chat with you on Saturday morning all right thanks guys have a good one there he is Brandon vogle with us here a Thursday edition of hail Varsity radio and as we wrap up the hour let’s quickly let you know about the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame class we’ll also get thoughts on Nebraska basketball’s non-conference schedule here after the break we’ll also get back into that in hour or two because I want to get Will’s take on that Will’s been a big Husker basketball guy for pretty much your entire life and I your thoughts on what is a bit of another cupcake non-conference schedule we’ll get to that in just a second but first uh the six former Huskers invited or inducted set to be I should say into the 2024 Nebraska Football Hall of Fame you have Kevin Lightner safety Tyrone bird linebacker trell Farley defensive end Chris Kelce defensive tackle Jared cck who actually got a mention on this show just a couple of days ago as well as one of everybody’s favorites running back Rex Burkhead Sexy Rexy set to be inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame that will occur on September 13th the Friday night uh ahead of Nebraska’s home game against Northern iOS we’re looking forward to that might try to get an appearance from a couple of those guys we’ve had Chris Kelce on this show before we’ve also had Rex Burkhead on this show before and I think following the draft way back when we have Jared Crick somewhere in our archives we’re going to try to reach out to a couple of these guys and see if we can get them on the show ahead of their induction into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame one more to note Monty Johnson was inducted from the Legends category and then the state college representative in in the class is Mike Miller All-American running back at the University of Nebraska Carney back in the early 19 EXC me early 2000 so there’s your Nebraska Football Hall of Fame class for 2024 super excited for those guys some of my favorites to watch with Jared cck it’s been some time with the Broncos you always love that and then Rex Burkhead uh fantastic Nebraska career fantastic NFL career uh just awesome to see him get inducted it’s weird to start seeing people from my era of growing up watching Husker football start to get inducted in the Nebraska football Hall of Fame that’ll do it for us here one more segment in hour one of halil Varsity powered by cornhead logger and now and now back to hail Varsity radio one final time here in Hour 1 it’s hail Varsity radio powered by cornhead logger Elijah herbal joined here in Studio by Will Wilson who’s in for Chris Schmidt this week as we’ve gotten into plenty this hour and extended sitdown with Brandon vogle counter read counter.com he’ll be back with us on a Saturday Morning Edition of hail Varsity radio as well plenty coming your way here in hour or two as well as we’ll get Brian Kristofferson on the horn to discuss his thoughts John Butler officially being named Nebraska defensive backs coach replacing Evan Cooper also get some burk’s Best Bets with Danny Burke one of our favorite segments of the week a slow Sports weekend that doesn’t stop the sports gambling so never does we’ll get that into that with him we’ll also get into the idea of using a sports wager as a potential business moneymaking opportunity as we saw with the local company and their nil deal with Ty Robinson I shouldn’t say as we saw as my theory would indicate and I want to know if that’s legal Andor acceptable in the eyes of Danny bark it’s a hedge bet but I’m not sure if a business hedge bet like that is legal in the eyes of the government or the IRS I don’t know regardless let’s quickly turn our attention here to Husker basketball as they’ve announced the 2024 2025 non-conference schedule including the likes of Grand Valley State Texas Rio Grande Valley bethon cookman Fairley Dickinson St Mary’s kraton South Dakota North Florida Southern and then a decent schedule at the Diamond Head classic out in Honolulu where Nebraska if we’re being honest is probably uh the most fearsome team on this schedule so I don’t think it’s a stretch for me to call it a cupcake schedule right will for the non-conference yeah I mean even if you do I I think it’s pretty accurate I will say though you you know that Hawaii class you think were the what did you what word did you use probably the most fearsome yeah I guess um don’t put don’t put Hawaii past you they’re a bunch of Homer and jerks up there we all remember what happened last time that was awful the refs love them but in terms of Hawaii the field this year Charlotte the College of Charleston loyal of Chicago Murray State Oakland and then Oregon State yeah with Nebraska I I don’t know much about those teams right now saying college basketball is a little different than college football and that some teams can surprise you in any given year but I don’t know I like Nebraska’s chances against a lot of those teams I do too and yeah the noncon is it’s uh not very impressive but I think we just need to get used to it and I see this two ways the the first being with what you’re going to have in the conference slate you don’t need to go schedule a crazy non-conference is go take care of business and Conference play and let the rest take care of itself and if you can take care of business in the Big 10 you’d assume you can take care of business against these team you have scheduled not to mention the fact that you have a roster that has a lot of new pieces a lot of new faces it’s going to need to do some jelling in the beginning of the year and it’s always better for a team to be jelling when you’re winning on the flip side of things like what are your aspirations for your season and for your program yeah in order to go beat the best you have to test yourself against the best you have to go learn from the best and you’re going to get a chance to do that in the Big 10 but don’t you want a chance to do that maybe a little bit earlier in the season so you’re not getting into Big 10 play and realizing oh other teams have been more battle tested than us and now we have a lot of catching up to do I mean listen hyberg has done this every year this is his thing again I think this is something we have to get used to um you just hope quad one and two things doesn’t come back to B it it didn’t last year you know I guess he had K State and I think was that may in kraton obviously we got blown out Oregon State up in sou Falls but they they were awful you know uh that’s true if the Big 10 holds up there into the bargain the noncon really shouldn’t matter that’s true that’s true so get used to it this is what hoyberg does it’s Will Wilson with us here he’s joining us all week long in place of Chris Schmidt on hail Varsity radio we’ll get Brian christopherson’s thoughts on a busy week for Husker football the addition of Coach Butler to the Husker football coaching staff that’s after the break right here on hail Varsity powered by cornhead logger the voice of husker nation is on the air this is hail Varsity radio Insight opinion expertise along Ong with the biggest names talking Nebraska sports join in with the show at 42489 1240 or 1 1800 825 5865 now here are your hosts Chris Schmidt and Elijah herble back in here to hour two of hail vary radio we’re powered by corn head loger Elijah herble joined here in the studio by Will WIS and you hear him every single morning for local listeners on KF home station the morning hookup 10 to 11: a.m. Monday through Friday with his co-host Bill hooks you can also find him on Twitter at Willy ontheradio I really can’t thank will enough for his time stepping in here and filling in for Chris Schmidt as Schmid’s getting some much needed time off so we open up hour two here we welcome Brian kristopherson to the show Husker 247’s where you follow his work and Brian it’s good to get caught up with you here on a Thursday it’s hasn’t quite been the slow week that everyone was was expecting and a lot of people expect through mid July how are you doing you you you you appreciating the time of maybe having a little bit more work yeah I don’t mind it it’s it always works that way you when you think uh you can just lay low and uh you know go golfing there’s something happening so um last week I was up in Minnesota at our family cabin uh picking up the finer points of pickle ball uh about the time Evan Cooper’s resignation went public so that that how it usually works is like about when you’re on the pickle ball court trying to protect the kitchen some news like that happens so what’s what’s the first response whenever do you crack a beard you just get right back to the pickle ball what’s the first reaction when news such as that breaks we had guys on it uh fortunately the the fellas back home were tracking it uh we’re well way more aware of it than I was honestly that week um so uh they said we got it all is well so yeah I went back to playing pickle ball and going to a Mexican restaurant down the country road so that’s how that’s how I handled it where at in Minnesota Brian uh pretty close to Detroit Lakes which is um Adam Thelen country um he’s probably the Pride of Detroit Lakes uh also the home of wefest which is a big country music festival that happens in July August never been but they were touting Eric Church as being one of the headliners so I guess they do all right um so yeah it’s around that area it’s kind of out in the middle of nowhere which is a is where I like to be when uh when I’m not tracking Husker football recruits or something very good reaction there what was that about Ryan walked in but no I was in beiji a couple weeks ago uh Brian beautiful weather up there oh yeah yeah it it was like in the 70s last week up there it was I I was enjoying it I was wearing long sleeves on the golf course one of the days so uh uh it makes me realize how much I prefer the fall to every other season uh Beyond football we were discussing earlier this week on the show and I I think now you have a positive review of Minnesota we were discussing whether or not Minnesota needs to be a part of the 50 states because they’re kind of weird up there uh they called duck duck goose as we learned this week on the show duck duck gray duck instead of duck duck goose which seems wrong to me uh they hold an NFL team which despite being up there in winning percentage has zero Super Bowls they’re the home of currently PJ Flex just a lot of factors that make you go do they really need to be a part of this great country but then you lay some of this stuff out the beautiful weather Lakes the Country Fest and may maybe you’re right that that’s why they’re a little strange up there it’s because um there are places in Minnesota outside of like Minneapolis St Paul where you can really kind of stretch out and you’re kind of away from the rest of society and so you you form your own Oddball opinions when you’re out there trying to catch a bass um so I think that’s a lot of what happens um I won’t tolerate that Viking slander much more but it’s it’s it’s a it is accurate uh what you said so I guess I’ll I’ll leave it there I actually watched like a seven-part documentary last year on the entire history of the Minnesota Vikings I’ll give CR secret base on YouTube did a great Series where they broke down every single decade of the Vikings and while I was watching the documentary actually felt a little bit bad for Vikings fans not completely bad because as a Broncos fan I’ve had to see the turmoil of the past decade since the Super Bowl so I’ve experienced about load of pain but like it was a hard watch yeah it can be hard I I do always kind of counter that by telling people to be a Vikings fan can be fulfilling in a way because generally as you laid out in your statistic they’re they’re a solid franchise like they’re always kind of in the playoff hunt or they’re in the playoffs and so like if you if you like I was getting in an argument with a Bears fan about this a few months ago I was like go check how many playoff appearances the Vikings have compared to the Bears and get back to me like we’ve I’ve had more Falls of fulfill moment where we’re like at least in the conversation than than some other teams but it does end up in heartbreak and you just kind of get used to that it’s Brian Christopherson with us here Husker 247 is where you find his work find him on Twitter at uh Husker wait wait I got to get this right here Husker 247 BC that’s where you find him on Twitter uh so we really appreciate uh BC hopping on the show with us today and Brian as we shift to the news of the week and really the news of the day Nebraska makes the hire of coach John Butler official somewhat of a formality at this point we spent plenty of the week talking about Coach Butler and I want to get your thoughts on the higher first in terms of the type of experience he brings to the role and B what some of his challenges are going to be as he steps into this role late with that defensive back room as it currently stands well when you’re in a pinch as you sort of are when you’re hiring a you know position coach and late June early July as Matt rule was uh you’d be hard pressed to do better as far as the initial resume glance right I mean like when you whenever an assistant coach is hired around here we always get on a Google box and we see okay what’s this guy have in his background um in this case John Butler has a lot more than some of the uh some of the coaches that have been hired over the years so it’s easy to be like okay that guy was in line to maybe be the bills defensive coordinator this past season he’s uh been to DC at Penn State before he’s been a special teams coordinator linebackers coach coached with the Texans all that stuff you add it up and you’re like okay I’ll take a guy like that with a short Runway over a lot of uh possible options so it looks like a good higher on the surface in the same sentence I would say I’m not underplaying the loss of Evan Cooper at all I think he was a great evaluator that was really trusted on this staff as far as the recruiting process goes and so that is a hole you’re going to have to fill and I’m I’m sure Matt he’s usually confident they can find ways to do that uh but I’m not going to pretend as though it wasn’t a pretty significant headline when Cooper uh when that announcement was made we’re talking to Brian kristoferson Brian you know as we get through a few more months looking at that defensive backs room who’s a guy or maybe a couple guys where you could see uh Butler saying wow I I’m very lucky I have this guy in my room who do you think is a guy that could surprise him in in terms of talent coming up yeah it w first off it won’t surprise him but the the guys that he’s going to be like okay this is nice for what I’m walking into is gford uh Maris Buford is like that I mean Buford suffered an injury like his first play of spring balls a true freshman with the past staff and still work his way onto the field uh by the Fall after a serious injury and then he impressed this Staff last year and so he’s just one of those like High football IQ guys I feel like desan Singleton’s the one a lot of people are forgetting about um and I thought he was one of Nebraska’s best defenders in the first month of the season it’s just a matter of can he catch his stride right away after what was kind of a significant injury and then obviously Tommy Hill we know has a high ceiling it’s just about consistency with them so those are the guys where you say okay this is nice I’m I’m new here but I’ve got like four or five guys heart sogs in that mix where it’s like they’ve played some football they’re going to be leading voices in the the room and and help me through this process a bit um you know as much as a 51-year-old coach who’s been around the block needs that and then you know after that okay you’re asking for like a surprise uh like Jeremiah Charles I think is one of those guys that you know he’s going to get on the field and be like this guy’s a freak athlete now can he put it all together enough to potentially win a job or or be on the two de he has to prove that but he’s got a few guys like that and it’s a credit to Evan Cooper and how he’s kind of stacked that room Mario buford’s another name I think Caleb Benning um you know from a football family and obviously with the high IQ uh for the game is a guy you can’t count out so what’s always interesting to me guys about the secondary is it is a spot on the field where sometimes a true freshman can pop in and you know make a little noise and so um you have to leave at least leave open that possibility that one of the newer guys could at least be on the two deep and factoring in somehow uh Brian Christopherson with us here on halil Varsity radio and Brian I want to specifically focus in on the corner spots here for just a second it’s turned into a bit of a deep dive on the secondary with Tommy Hill Tommy Hill is a guy that through his college career has bounced around from Arizona State to Nebraska from defense to offense and back to defense it just seemed like so many coaches saw the athletic potential but couldn’t quite unlock it Evan Cooper was the guy that unlocked it so on one side that’s a guy that I think a lot of Husker fans have put in in pin as being an impact performer on defense but I think the loss of Evan Cooper concerns me a little bit I want to get your thoughts there but I also want to get your thoughts on that opposite corner spot cuz across the entire defense that spot opposite Tommy Hill might be the biggest question mark on the defense with Bly Hill the injury concern he performed well and impressed but you don’t know what his Health’s going to be it’s a boatload of younger guys uh beneath him on the depth chart at least how it stands right now you also have the addition of CER Wright a lot of question marks that opposite corner spot how do you feel about the cornerbacks now that they have a new position coach coming in yeah first off with Tommy he’s probably got if you were to say okay who are like the top three or four guys you know ceiling wise like who’s the highest off the floor Tommy’s one of those guys I I don’t know what they I think it’s starting to get leaked like what the rankings are in the EA Sports Game not that we have to go off a video game for our analysis but you know people are having fun with it I think Hill will be up there as one of the higher rated Huskers and he and he probably should be he’s got NFL type talent but the key with him is can he take November what his November was and just make that a constant games one through 12 uh because there have been ups and downs along the way he did have some games like even the year before where he got thrown out there and he got beat a few times and I think uh had to sort of deal with the the mental part of playing that position and coming back from when you get toasted and so we’ll see how he relates obviously with the new coach I do think he’s got a personality where he can adapt pretty well like he’s really bought in the Matt Rule and just what he’s about so if Matt Rule’s like this is our coach this is who your guy is you’re going to listen to him I I think Tommy Hill’s the type of guy who who probably is gonna jump for that and be fine the other corner is really interesting and Jeremiah Charles could be a guy Sayer right um You Can’t um leave him out of this conversation at all having I think started 12 games at USC anybody who’s played for a program like that um you have to hope can come in and make a difference right away I go back to a couple weeks ago I asked rules Point Blank how he feels about his Corners two months from the season and he said we’re going to be good like I know we’ve got the guys we we you know yeah there’s some unproven guys but he pointed out like last year people wondered if Omar Brown was up to it and there’s always guys like that every season where people are sort of skeptical about and he just feels like they’ve got some answers there so uh they do have to prove it though if you say what’s one possible hole on this defense I think most people first off would say it’s that one Corner Spot who’s there how much can he lock it down and oh yeah whatever we have to say about Colorado they are going to put some dudes out there and a quarterback who can sling it in week two so you’ve got to have somebody with sort of uh sort of that tough that tough Inner Strength you know to play in a game like that who’s gonna have to step up right away that that dog is what you’re saying that dog yeah he’s got to have that dog in him I think that’s what I’m not allowed to really say that um at my age but you kind of led me into it so I feel like it’s acceptable it was the perfect word for the moment yes uh got that dog in them Brian speaking of college football 25 this might be a tough question just to throw at you but you you were mentioning player ratings who should be the highest rated player on this Nebraska football team oo um Nash Nash Hut maker probably or gford uh gford just does so much and he’s like the I know a video game probably doesn’t want to like rate the like extra effects a guy has on your roster or your defense Beyond just like his speed and all that capabilities but Isaac gford has all that other stuff sort of that um kind of mentality where like when he’s in the interview room it’s like a little nervous to ask him a question he’s kind of quick with his answers and you’re like man this guy’s got some bite to him you know he’s kind of got that so I I would put gford up there just for what he means to the whole unit uh but Nash I think last year proved um more so than anybody that he can be like an every down guy who’s just a problem for everybody in this league and so I I would probably put Nash up there as he talks about Isaac and his personality I want to quickly get your thoughts and we’ll get you out on this we got about 90 seconds left here Isaac gford is a guy that’s going to Big 10 Med days along with Ty Robinson and Ben Scott all three guys that just strike you in the way they speak as tough hard-nosed football players they don’t maybe talk big but they’re going to let their their actions speak louder than their words what do you make of those three selections for Big 10 media days and how they represent Nebraska it’s a it’s in a group of guys who it’s like bring these three and don’t overthink it basically you’re talking about the three guys who all probably in their own way could have considered walking away from the college game uh but had some unfinished business here um so I I think they’re kind of the perfect representation of like how this program and a lot of the guys on the roster are feeling like we see the potential but we got to go get it now and I came back for one more year to go get it and so to have those guys on the platform talking about it you know those guys aren’t are the type who aren’t going to say anything stupid you know they’re they’re going to they they’ll keep it in bounds the way you want it uh but they’ve also earned the right to go Ben Scott I mean he’s as valuable as anybody on this roster we’re doing our most indispensable Huskers list and I don’t think it’ll shock anybody that our top three guys are those guys so uh it makes all the sense in the world to me I guess Tai maybe Tai wasn’t he was fourth or fifth but you know those guys are so critical to this whole operation and uh yeah when I saw the names I was like yeah why not I I I couldn’t think of anybody that’s better than those three it’s Brian Christopherson with us here find his work Husker 247 and find him on Twitter at husker247 BC Brian appreciate the time and have yourself a lovely rest of your Thursday all right yeah thanks a lot guys thanks for having me Hal Varsity radio is live now back to Schmitty Schmid’s a great guy but he don’t have a brain and Elijah you want me to speak going up point on hail Varsity radio rolling through a Wednesday Thursday here on hail Varsity radio we’re powered by corn head logger I’m going to edit that out we’re going to act like I never said Wednesday so for those of you in the podcast version we’ll see if I’m able to do that or not uh it’s Elijah herbal and Will Wilson taking you through this Thursday Edition we just had a fantastic sit down with Brian Christopherson Husker 247 a lot of great Insight on that defensive back room his thoughts also on the state of Minnesota uh so if miss anything from Brian kristoferson it’s awesome you can check it out in podcast form it should be posted up shortly following the conclusion of the show today again it’s Will Wilson sitting in with us all week long here on hail Varsity radio we really appreciate having you will I’ll give you the plug one more time check out his work with the morning hookup his co-host Bill hooks every single morning uh here on our home station in Lincoln so for our local listeners you can check it out on KF 10 to 11: a.m. Monday through Friday across the state you can check them out the morning morning hookup look them up on YouTube and you can hop in their live stream that way so we’ll really appreciate you and I do encourage everyone to go check out your work with Bill hooks it’s uh it’s great work and thank you it’s kind of the perfect transition for the the listeners out there you her at sports radio in the morning that ends right as Bill and will get on the air so you can take it from her at sports radio online straight into Will Wilson and Bill hooks with the morning hookup from 10: to 11:00 uh and then obviously check out VAR radio in the afternoons from 4:00 to 6 so we kind of have your day bookended in that way we got morning drive start your day at work end your day drive back home we got everything you need so there’s my my little two-minute plug thank you so much for everything I appreciate it yeah thank you yeah so let’s get back into sports here as I don’t want to toot our own horn too much but I do think we do pretty uh good work here uh with our work uh both with herat and with KF I do want to dive back into media days just briefly here as we had some bold comments from shadur Sanders which we’ll get to but I want to uh start where we ended with Brian Christopherson and quickly discuss the candidates or I shouldn’t say the candidates the selections for Nebraska to take off to Media days this year it’s Ben Scott the center Ty Robinson longtime defensive lineman as well as Isaac gford the fifth year out of Lincoln Southeast I think it’s it’s really three guys that in my eyes represent what Matt rule wants this program to be guys that let their actions speak louder than their words they’re tough hard knows football players they don’t have to tell you how tough they are they play tough and three guys that I think really dedicate themselves to the Grind dedicate themselves to the development side of things and have become much better football players in the 18 months since Matt Ru has stepped on campus I think it’s it’s three selections that just make sense and in terms of what type of Team Matt R wants to have he wants to have 22 guys that play like these three that’s why I think they’re your three selections this year and BC laid out as being they’re indispensable I agree with that from a center spot on offense I’m going to take you through all three players Ben Scott is the guy that sets the protections for the offensive line is that man in the middle the guy that kind of ask to know what everyone is doing on any given play with the offensive line you’re the guy that’s that’s the presumptive leader and you can have leaders in other spots in the offensive line but the center the man in the middle is the guy that’s calling uh protections calling signals both ways he’s laying out the protections he knows the job of everybody he’s usually that leader for you so I think that’s a fantastic selection because not only is he the leader of your offensive line which is a position group that mat R wants to lead this football team he’s also a guy that does it in the right way actions louder than words he’s not going to tell you how hard he’s working he’s just going to put his nose down and work and he’s quietly one of the toughest guys on the field defensively you look at Ty Robinson we all know his impact both stopping the Run uh getting after the quarterback and and you would also hope eating up some double teams to allow some other guys and he’s not going to complain about that double team work that he’s going to be getting this upcoming season it’s part of the job that comes of being a highle defensive lineman not going to complain about it going to keep on putting his nose down going to keep on working that’s who he is he’s been doing it for years now I think that’s a very very fitting selection for Big 10 met days then Isaac gford I mean you saw some of his behind the scenes stuff with the documentaries Nebraska has been releasing with their work last fall the chasing three the leadership qualities that he’s developed to stand out and be a leader on that defense um he’s a little bit more raah raw than these other guys but he still leads with his actions more than his words he’s a guy that that from what you see from the outside and what you hear from the coaches is a guy that is the hardest worker in that room the guy that shows the other guys what it means to be a Husker through how he plays he’s a guy that knows what it means to be a Husker with his family lineage Luke being before him being a Lincoln kid growing up a Husker fan seeing some of those bow teams that I think uh had a black shirt mentality about them he’s seen what it means to be a Husker what it means to be a black shirt he knows it probably better than anyone on that team and I think it’s another fitting selection just three guys I think make a whole lot of sense of being the three guys you’re sending to Media days because I think they truly embody what Matt Ru wants all 22 of his starters to be is that an indie again it’s going to be an Indianapolis is it always in Indie I think they have permanently made the flip to Indianapolis year okay very good so I mean that’s just my two cents on what those selections are what they mean I’m excited to hear from him we’re going to try to sit down with all three of them Schmid is going to be on the road I guess on the plane out to Indianapolis here in a week and a half so that’s uh really sneaking up on us so he’s going to be heading out on Tuesday uh he’s going to be out there on Tuesday and Wednesday and then back on Thursday so that’s going to be his plan for me today he’s going to get the Husker side of things we had Matt rule last year hoping for him again this year all three Huskers and also some other National media members as well as other teams within the Big 10 I think we want to have a focus on some of those West Coast teams coming in let us know what you want though if you’re you The Listener at home want to give Schmitty some thoughts some interviews some guys you want to hear from at Big 10 media days let us know send him an email uh send us a tweet send uh me a tweet whatever you want to do uh we live to serve you and those big 10 m days can be a lot of fun they’re stressful they’re long days but you get to talk to so many people throughout the conference and so many different voices I think you get some really cool Insight so uh we’re looking forward to that and we’re looking forward to hearing from those three Huskers where I turn our attention to now is I called it earlier it’s a little bit harsh um but I call it the clown show that is the Colorado Buffalo am I necessarily wrong there no no and and my problem with calling them the clown show that is the Colorado buffalos is that I do think and this might be a hot take around here people may disagree with me on this I do think they are a team that when it in between the white lines whenever they’re on the field you see videos out of practice from them I do think they put in work I don’t think they put in work like Matt Rule and Nebraska I think it’s two different styles but I think they are guys that with Dion at the helm they’re not all about flash off the field they’re about Flash they’re about hype they’re about Lamborghinis and Ferraris and Louis Vuitton and rap concerts and rap concerts that your teammates won’t go to yeah I’m not sure what the culture is like over there but I will say when you get them on the field they have high level position coaches they have high level coordinators they have Coach Prime at the top who love him or hate him I think is a good football mind I think whenever they’re on the practice field whenever they’re on the field I think they’re a team that does put in work and people are going to disagree with me on that I’ll let you disagree with me on that one I think I think Dion is still kind of 1980s in his style in that though off the field he knows that what’s going to get Colorado attention is that flash I think he does understand that he needs some flash on the field in order to make his team what he wants it to be but whenever they are on the field I think he’s going to coach those guys hard I truly believe that and people may disagree with me but the clown show comes from off the field all the drama we’ve had this offseason with guys entering the transfer portal and saying they didn’t even know my name uh shador hopping on Twitter man I didn’t know who you were good riddens like craz and then the yeah the drama with all the team s too support should during his rap career like there is so much stuff off the field that that feels like Colorado is going to fail and you get comments like this from shadur Sanders at Big 10 medday kind of asked about the pressure that comes along with being the face of this Colorado football team under Dion and kind of some of the own making of of of the the show that is Colorado and he was asked if it puts any more pressure onto him do you have an obligation to perform at a different level it been that since day one I remember first uh media day when I was in HBCU I said we won’t lose a game try I’m undefeated in a swag so I I I I already know what the expectation comes with I know we’re everybody Super Bowl so I’m really just uh I always stay levelheaded stay grounded because um I just I would never want to be that guy look back and not being able to take advantage of the moment that we have right now lot to dissect there is there not lot to dissect there um one of the things that really stands out to me is that he said always levelheaded always grounded really yeah no really not accurate um okay I don’t think I need to elaborate more on just how crazy a thing that is to say levelheaded he’s got the biggest head in college football not physically you know emotionally yeah that’s crazy him saying we know where everybody’s Super Bowl yeah let’s touch on that yeah cuz that’s been the the the quote that’s really made I did want to make light of the fact that shador Sanders with all his ego said I’m always level-headed I’m always grounded okay let’s I’ll let that lie I’ll let that lie I disagree with you man whatever you want to say with that okay we’re everybody’s Super Bowl like I think in order to say that you have to be good you know people always say in the NFL when the when teams play the Chiefs you know that’s their Super Bowl or like when the Raiders play uh the Chiefs that’s the Raiders Super Bowl right I I think in order to say that you have to be good you have to be worth a crap I mean I think there’s two different sides of this there’s the fan base side and there’s the player side whenever you lose eight games in a season I don’t think you can be anybody’s Super Bowl yeah exactly you’re telling me that teams are looking at Colorado in their schedule and saying man if there’s any game we’re going to win this year it’s that one yeah I think fans can say that and I think it’d be fair to say that that Nebraska Colorado game probably has more importance as it stands right now to Husker fans than any other game on the schedule that’s fair yeah and also when you say a game is somebody’s Super Bowl the outcome has got to be awesome like it’s got to feel amazing it’s got to feel important in important you’re not feeling important when you’re beating a 4 and eight team it would like Nebraska losing to Colorado would feel disastrous Nebraska beating Colorado this season would feel like taking care of business and kind of proof of concept of what rues doing around yes it would not be Super Bowl cuz you look at the the games on the schedule like I think you could argue that that Ohio State game if Nebraska goes in six-1 or 7-0 like a lot of folks around here expect them to be that could be a Super Bowl type game for this Husker football team MH later in the season whenever you’re maybe fighting for Bowl eligibility late and you have that three- game stretch of USC Wisconsin Iowa that could be a three- game stretch where you could say any one of those could feel like a Super Bowl if it’s fighting to get back to bowl eligibility or fighting to get back to eight wins those are games games that on the field will have an importance to the players some pressure to the players you think there’s going to be pressure for Nebraska and Colorado I think there might be a little added incentive for the team based on how last season went that you go and loseing Bowl you want to get back but is it going to be the Super Bowl for this team no no no wow so you can say you’re everybody’s Super Bowl I think it’s fair to say a lot of fan bases are going to treat whenever you’re playing Colorado as a big deal because everyone wants to beat Prime yeah right love him or hate him everyone wants to beat him I just I I don’t want to hear what anything else that guy has to say well it’s and it is that that added little bit that shadur and Prime and the that effect has on that game that for the fan base I can see where he’s maybe coming from that maybe there’s an added importance that way mm man from from a team perspective I don’t think so I want to beat them so bad if you’re everybody’s Super Bowl you’re not going to Midfield and flashing the watch at everybody and that’s no no anyway I don’t want to spend too much time on that I just thought it was funny I had to get some of my thoughts out well check in with Danny Burke another edition of Burke’s Best Bets look at the weekend betting slate that’s coming your way after the break here on hail Varsity radio and as always we are powered by corn head logger and now and now back to hail Varsity radio rocking through a Thursday here on hail vary radio we’re powered by corn head logger Elijah herbal and Will Wilson excited to welcome the pride of Chicago Danny Burke to the show for another edition of burk’s Best Bets and Danny how are you doing it’s been a a wet week in the windy city by all accounts with hurricane Burl I think coming up through I saw there was some rain earlier in the week are you staying dry in the windy city yeah you know it had been raining a few days today we got a little bit of a drizzle but now we got uh all clear skies bunch of uh Sunshine so hey no complaints here how did you guys make out we did pretty well there was some uh flooding last week within Lincoln centralized flash floting type stuff nothing too significant in terms of damage we had that one Storm come through but is a pretty mild week we got a a warm weekend coming up though so we’re hunkering down getting hydrated for that good good glad to hear it yeah I know uh you know we’re getting to these dry parts of Summer uh doesn’t stop the rain but maybe the sports conversation a little bit so uh can’t wait for NCAA football to come out so we can get uh you know a little bit of excitement I know you guys are going to be waiting for that as well should be a fun time yeah no you’re 100% right there I think you already have it pre-ordered will or no uh not yet not yet I think the pre-ordering coming this weekend I need to get that early access and I will just lose so many hours in that game one thing I did want to ask you about Danny uh Sunday afternoon I was sitting on my TV or sitting on my couch watching TV NASCAR Chicago I didn’t get a chance to go out I wanted to I wanted to see The Black Keys perform I wanted to see NASCAR luckily I avoided the rain but did you get a chance to get out to uh to Grant Park that area and go see the the NASCAR I I was going to say drive around in a circle but they drove around in a circle you get a chance to get out there that’s a pretty cool event no I didn’t make it this year and last year I missed out too I was actually out in Las Vegas and it was funny when I was in Las Vegas uh it was for my brother-in-law’s bachelor party at the time and it was that same week and I remember we ran into this group of guys and we found out we had this common you know uh pathway of both being from Chicago and we explained why they were or why we were there and then said why are you guys here and they’re like oh we’re avoiding the Nascar race happening in downtown Chicago and I’m like that’s a great idea because it was just an absolute nightmare with the traffic that had caused all the construction and then last year of course speaking of the rain they dealt with it it was delayed and everybody seemed to have complaints but this year seemed to have gone a lot better I didn’t partake in watching it at all I was getting in from being out of town but uh no by all accounts it seemed like it went a little bit more smoothly this year but would certainly be a fun event to go to I wouldn’t go out of my way just because I’m not a big NASCAR guy haven’t been to an event but if someone happened to have an extra ticket it would be a hard thing to pass up I’m sure it’s Danny Burke with us here Burke’s Best Bets and Danny’s we transition to the weekend’s uh sports betting action we’ll get to the MLB Home Run Derby in the allar game here in just a a minute maybe some futures for the second half of the Season as well but I want to lock in on the games you got picked tonight I’m seeing the Rockies at the Reds and betting on anything with the Rockies is always a bit of a risk and then you also have the A’s and the Reds what do you like tonight yeah so that Rockies Reds game already happened we did cash in with the Run line with the Reds so we came through with that at about plus 110 the other bet that I do have Elijah I’m riding with the Red Sox that one first pitches in about 20 minutes maybe 25 minutes and I’m back in Boston on the Run line against the Oakland A Tanner Hawk’s taking the bum he’s been one of my favorite pitchers this year and his numbers have been outstanding he’s really carried himself to being one of the top St young candidates Willie win it no realistically not he struggled a little bit as of late but this is a great bounce back opportunity for him against an Oakland offense that is very much under performed like a lot of people expected against righties they got an 86 weighted runs created plus and a 654 Ops Haw got a nice erra and fifth of 268 and his ground ball percentage is very high at 55% so obviously that’s really what you want to see out of your pictures as opposed to having Highline Drive rates highfly ball rates Hawk has done a great job at forcing these hitters into hitting the ball into play and it resulting to being ground balls so against a weaker offense he should BR and then conversely on the other side uh Luis Medina there he’s taking the bump and look his numbers have not been Stellar by any stretch of the imagination 437 ER 547 on his exit he’s walking over four and a half batters per n Innings pitch as a 1.54 wiip and is expected weighted on base averages at 322 ideally you want to keep that under 300 so he’s fairly comfortably over that Mark Boston’s been one of the hotter offenses the last month against righties their weighted one run created plus up to 123 iso’s at 192 and Ops is over 800 winds blowing out as well this is a rubber match I expect the Red Sox to win and cover got that at about minus 105 I know it’s gotten a little bit more expensive but I really like the Red Sox and I think they put a beating down on Oakland we’re talking to Danny Burke Danny it’s going to talk to you again hope you had a good birthday happy late birthday uh let’s go to Home Run Derby man it’s exciting please don’t say Pete Alonzo and please say My Boy Bobby Wht I’m sorry guys if if Will stalking I could barely hear him coming through I heard something about the Home Run Derby but you may have to repeat that to me sorry no I was just can you hear me you got me okay Danny oh there we go now I got you buddy well I I just said happy late birthday and I I don’t want you to say Pete Alonzo I want you to say Bobby Whit D okay first of all thank you I appreciate the happy birthday and secondly funny you say that because that is the guy I was going to pick is Bobby wit I’m seeing him at about six to one maybe even a little bit better at several different Outlets I correct me if I’m wrong I think he participated in a home run derby either in high school or college and I was watching some of the tape and aside from that not that that’s going to matter that much but it’s nice to see that a player has that experience to some degree in dealing with that fatigue and and really trying to rush and get as many homers as you can and yeah obviously like I mean pet Lonzo is the favorite and you may just want to put a little bit of a security type of bet on him because he really takes pride in this contest but if you’re looking for your bang for your buck I’m certainly going to be leaning toward Bobby Whit Jr if not him I see the appeal with gunar Henderson I don’t really like Ozuna I think his swings a little bit too long too big of a guy he’s going to Tire down Garcia’s got the power for sure but I don’t think he’s going to have the endurance either so I think it’s Bobby Wht and Henderson are more of your legit picks and then again if you really want to cover your trades the safe bet obviously is always going to be Pete Alonzo but otherwise outside of him I like those two batters Danny before I get you out of here you touching the euros and the Copa America finals on Sunday I know you’re not a big soccer guy but these are some big games odly enough i’ it’s been on the TV a little bit more so but you’re gonna so what is it is it um is Argentina just be Canada right for uh for Copa America who are they facing off again they’re going to face Colombia who beat uguay uguay though did get some shots in after the game as some fans went up into the crowd and started fighting some Colombian fans yeah I know like they’re replicating the mouse at the palace you almost got to respect that intensity a little bit uh hard to go against Argentina so I’ll put my faith with them and then the euroes what he got we got England and then who else is going get them Spain o man that’s tough I I kind of want to lean England am I wrong for going in that direction is that seem a little recency biased I mean it’s both recency bias during the championship but I was looking at the highlights for England and they’re looking pretty good but clearly as people can tell I’m not a big soccer guy so I’m just you know shooting in the dark here well here’s the question England’s been a little bit cursed in international tournaments they haven’t won one in a long time I think dating back to like the late 60s but they’ve had some magic this year as much as people don’t like their manager they’ve had late magic late goals and they’ve gotten it done Spain though also a very good team in their own right yeah so while you’re probably getting a little bit of plus money than on England I would presume if that’s the case yeah why don’t we go ahead and uh roll with the underdog you Mark me down for England why not I love it it’s Danny Burke with us here another edition of Burke’s Best Bets letting you know all the weekend betting action Danny we let you get out of here appreciate all the Insight today and have yourself a lovely and fruitful betting weekend hey you guys too appreciate you having me on take care fellas there he is Danny Burke with us here Burke’s Best Bets the pride of Chicago you can check that out in podcast form if you missed anything we’ll get the Show wrapped up and we’ll get you to a Thursday evening after the break right here on halil Varity radio and now and now back to hail Varsity radio one final time here on a Thursday it’s hail Varsity radio powered by cornhead logger Elijah herbal Will Wilson taking you through this week as Schmid’s got the week off and some news and notes to bring you here before we get you out uh first off Bryce McGowan uh released by the Hornets he’s found himself a new landing spot though in Portland as the Portland Trailblazers have signed Nebraska product to a two-way contract essentially meaning he’ll both be playing in the G league and in the NBA as needed moving forward assuming he impresses the NBA coaches out in Portland so a quick news and note there from Bryce mcgowens yeah I mean he’s still got a lot left I mean a lot of room to improve he he wasn’t terrible for Charlotte cool enough he’s now teaming up with Delano Banton oh that’s true in Portland that’s true Delano made the move over there was that last year or two years ago I think last year last year maybe yeah yeah yeah definitely so that’s cool so former is teaming up out there they never got a chance to play together I yeah because Bryce came right after him right yeah so so uh that’s one news and note to bring you some sad news to bring you as the kein family announcing today Nebraska native and father of Lane kein Monty kein passed away at age 84 peacefully in Oxford Mississippi today uh the pride of Lexington Nebraska played on a team in Lexington that way back in the day this would have been the late 1950s was actually considered one of the top high school football teams in America it’s a great history lesson I’d love to dive into that I don’t actually know enough about to bring you but I do know that that was a team that was well regarded some stupid straight number of wins that they had back in the day with Monty kein on the offensive line and defensive line for them had a career at Nebraska a brief stin in the NFL before he returned to Nebraska uh to coach under both Bob Deany and Tom Osborne coaching in the early 1970s 1960 6 until 1976 he was at Nebraska there’s some great stories of Monty kein at Nebraska during his time around here obviously uh was in Lincoln whenever his son Lane kein was born so a native of Lincoln Lane kein Monty kein though a great Nebraskan a great football coach having stops just about every single notable school and notable NFL team you could think of a prolific career passing away this afternoon at the age of 84 down in Oxford Mississippi so that is some sad news news to bring you one of the best to ever do at Monty kein no longer with us but a long long life passing away today at age 84 Tampa too Tampa 2 that is true Monty kin’s brainchild MH that’s right and uh just a couple weeks ago Monty kein was honored here in Nebraska uh into the state I believe the State Football Hall of Fame not the Nebraska Hall of Fame but the State Football Hall of Fame does that sound right to you I just saw that he was uh honored a couple of weeks ago so good for him to get that honor before passing away kein though uh cheers to you mhm a great long life a great football career and a great Nebraskan and uh he will be remembered fondly here within the state so that is some sad news to bring you on a Friday uh as we today’s Thursday I apologize it’s okay yeah as we wrap up a Thursday and get you prepared for a Friday we have plenty of good stuff coming your way on a Friday edition of hail Varsity radio we’ll get caught up with the one and only pride of Faberry Bill dolman he’ll be joining us on a Friday edition of halil of vars radio I think we’ll also have a brief appearance from Jacob Padilla as well to talk about that Nebraska non-conference schedule and some of the things that the Husker basketball team is going to have to get jelled early in the season and we’re hoping for an appearance from the legendary Claus bur oo awesome so all that coming your way on a Friday edition of hail Varsity radio schmidy’s final day of vacation and will your final day in here with us this week so we really appreciate you one more day with us you’re stuck around here so that’s coming your way on a Friday edition of hail radio you can check that out wherever you hear us on the radio or streaming online from 4: to 6: tomorrow check us out in podcast form check us out on YouTube The Hil vary YouTube page we’ll talk with you tomorrow
