00:00:00
Speaker 1: Where we go.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: Coach Switzer with us on the radio show and Jackson, what do we always say about this first segment?
00:00:07
Speaker 1: What's our line?
00:00:08
Speaker 2: Well, if you're gonna be a guest in the first segment, you better be a big guess. Yeah, you better be a big damn name, because you got to remember, Coach, I've been sitting here preparing for the last maybe four or five minutes for this radio program with an incredible monologue that everybody comes to expect out of me at three o'clock every day.
00:00:23
Speaker 1: So if you're gonna.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: Jump on with us and interrupt the first segment of this radio show, you better bring it, baby.
00:00:28
Speaker 1: You go right, let's go, Mike Switzer.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Offensive line coach at UDB is with us on the program. And actually the first time that you and I have had a chance to talk. And I think it's actually kind of funny that this is the first chance that you and I have to talk, because the offensive line looks to be in about as good as shape as it's been in three years. And now you finally decide now to come on the year and talk with us. So you've been now here with Coach Fish for a while. Tell me about the transition. Tell me about the transition going back to when Kaylin took off and the job that you guys had to do and everybody leave to the offensive line. You're talking to as a party earlier for a conversation we're going to run today and he's talking about in the Weber State game, playing multiple positions on the same drive in that game. So give us a take man on just where this group has come from twenty twenty four to where they are right now.
00:01:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, leaving Arizona the last spot. It was a lot of action and it was late in the process. So as you get here and you know, start preparing yourself in terms of what the team's going to look like. After the amazing year that they had with coach Debor, which was fantastic for the program, and there was a lot of turnover. There was a lot of guys who had left the roster and very unique to navigate that in the spring ball I want to say there was points in spring ball in twenty twenty four where we had seven offensive linemen of practicing right, so very challenging in terms of, you know, how do you have real practices? How do you get better? In terms of truly playing football team periods all that stuff. Uh, it was. It was quite a deal.
00:02:05
Speaker 1: Uh.
00:02:06
Speaker 3: But the guys that were here were awesome, and we appreciated all the work that they put in. And then you got into who are we taking in the portal? Who are we adding to this roster? And it was uh, it was coming from a lot of different places, uh FCS level guys who hadn't had a lot of experience junior college level.
00:02:25
Speaker 1: Uh, So we were all over with it.
00:02:26
Speaker 3: And uh and I'll say this that, you know, the guys with uh kind of what we had, Uh, you know, they did.
00:02:33
Speaker 1: A solid job.
00:02:35
Speaker 3: You know, it was it was there were some tough points in that season, but uh but those guys worked and you know, played some good football throughout the throughout the year, a couple of big wins, you know, some some cool experiences here in Husky Stadium.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: But uh, but that was quite a time.
00:02:49
Speaker 3: And then obviously as you transitioned from first year to second year, Uh, you've got these guys, uh coming in at midyear, who who who made a big impact on the program. A guy like John Mills, You've got a guy like Carver Willis who comes in at midyear as a transfer and cemented himself as a really goot, really solid player for US UH and great leader as well. And then you have all of season and all that goes, and you know, I liked what the offensive line did last year, especially with the amount of injuries we had. Right, you know, you lose three starters at three different positions at different point points in the season. Really it's four I'm sorry. At one point it was Carver, at one point, it was John at one point. For the rest of the season it was Landing and then Drew missed two games. So you're really moving a lot of guys around, and it's a credit to those guys being able to step up and the depth of the room, the guys being able to step in and still have some success up front. So it's been a it's been a wild ride, but one that I've absolutely loved and UH and and I love working here. I love working for coach Fish, I love coaching UH, the guys in the room.
00:03:55
Speaker 1: You really do. Yeah.
00:03:56
Speaker 2: Well, Michael Switzer with US offensive line coach, with us on the radio show from you dub We got the spring game broadcast with Tony and Campbell start around six and I mean, there's just so much there to unpack, man because of where you guys are at right now. And I want to start with a guy at left tackle, because we've seen freshman play here. We've seen freshmen start here. Nick Harris was a starting center as a freshman against Alabama in twenty sixteen, but that's not left tackle. Roger Rosengarten was out there, is a red shirt freshman at right tackle, but he wasn't.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: A pure freshman.
00:04:29
Speaker 2: Parker Brilsford was out there at center, but that's not left tackle. I don't ever remember an eighteen year old kid projected to start at left tackle from the jump. And I wonder how much of this is driven by nil and how much of this is driven by Hey, this kid is really the best left tackle we've got on the roster.
00:04:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd say it's that we've still got some competition with guys coming back, like a young man named Colt Dietrich. But Cody, Cody's very unique. He is He's driven in a way that you don't traditionally see in a young man who's eighteen years old. You know, he puts something out on spring break before springball started. He's going to Cleveland to train with the Charles Bentley instead of going on vacation. This guy is wired in a very unique way. I'd say kind of similarly to how John Mills it was kind of wired last year. They're very serious about what they're doing. They're very serious about becoming a great football player. They're very serious about how they put them in themselves in position to be able to do this, because you don't just walk in and you're the starting left tackle. Cody worked really, really hard the first day he was in on campus, meeting with myself and Coach Brewster and learning the offense and having an understanding of how we communicate, how we talk football, what's the defensive identification before we even talk about a play. He took that very seriously in his mindset. Has put him in a position to play left to Obviously he's the athletic aspect of it, the physical aspect of it is quite impressive for a guy who should still be in high school right now.
00:06:11
Speaker 2: He should be in high school graduating this spring. That's right, right, Ye, that's right.
00:06:14
Speaker 3: So what he's been able to do this spring at left tackle, Yeah, it's very impressive, and I think that he's going to continue to build off that all of summer in a great fall camp, and we'll see what that looks like.
00:06:28
Speaker 2: Well, Mike, you mentioned again, Mike Switzer, ub offensive line coach with us on the air. You mentioned the smarts right about the playbook and the lingo and all that, and then you mentioned the physicality. What are his best traits physically at the age of eighteen years old. What kind of jumps off the page to you?
00:06:45
Speaker 3: His natural athleticism and ability to run the offense that we run here a lot of wide zone truly running off the ball. This is not you know, pick it up, put it down like we're trying to run off the ball, run through your face. What he's able to do on the backside, a backside cut up, offer a backside climb to a backside linebacker. I still tell the story. We're doing OTA's player run practices and winter conditioning, and uh, it was his first time even doing it, my first time ever taking him through a backside cutoff. He does it, and some of the older guys are on the field and look around like, did you guys just see that? So he's he's got some of those natural uh, just athletic ability, but his ability to run and uh, you know, his feet are are really really impressive. He's got really elite redirection with his feet, and especially at the left tackle position when you're setting you know, wide nines, whatever it might be. His ability to redirect versus an inside move, ability to anchor, he's got some some really unique tools well across.
00:07:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, coach, you mentioned John Mills and just again another freshman starting at left guard. It's it's amazing how many freshmen now all of a sudden we're seeing start in this game right and there's reasons obviously for that, but this kid again deserved it, earned it was.
00:07:59
Speaker 1: Phenomenal last year.
00:08:00
Speaker 2: I'm almost dreading for other opposing defensive fronts how he's going to be better in twenty twenty six versus the guy that we saw.
00:08:09
Speaker 1: A year ago.
00:08:09
Speaker 2: Because if you came to Ahscy football game and said, hey, that guy starting at left guard, what class you think he's in?
00:08:15
Speaker 1: He's a junior. No, he's a freshman. How is he even better now?
00:08:19
Speaker 3: The jump that he's made is all the details within his game. He was, like we talked about with Cody, the mental aspect of it. He attacked at an amazing level, very smart football player for such a young guy. His best attributes are probably his physicality, his size, his natural strength, his aggressiveness and all those things. So that was nice to be able to put a guy like that inside, have guys around him like Carver Landing and the rest of the guys and just let him.
00:08:48
Speaker 1: Go to work.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: Where he stepped up is the very fine tuning of details within his technique and within his fundamentals. You know, how am I carrying my hands? How are we working on you know, my sets? And uh, not just playing and playing get big and and and stopping guys. There's a real technique, uh to everything that we do. And he's taken the next step with that. Uh and the spring ball is separate himself in that way as well as his leadership. Uh. He was a natural leader last year as a true freshman just by the energy that he brought. Yeah, but I think he's stepped up in an awesome way for this whole team to be a true voice even as a true sophomore. You know it, Class doesn't determine if you can be a leader or not. If you are, you are and John Mills is.
00:09:34
Speaker 2: That Yeah, Well, Michael Sweitzer again, you doub offensive line coach with us on the air, and the Hatchet Brothers are not going to be participating tonight, still nursing a little injuries that they'll be good to go right by by fall camp.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: But tell me about that.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: Tell me about the the idea of coaching two guys, two brothers, one guys in year seven already in college football, the guys in year four and in Lando.
00:09:55
Speaker 1: Uh, what's it been like for you to to coach the Hatchet Men?
00:09:58
Speaker 3: It's been Awesomebviously knowing Landon first he was here, Garant had left to go to Oklahoma and he had his experience there. After the season, you know, there was talk of hey, you know, my brother might be interested in coming back, and and we were looking for quality, quality players, and we we talked and welcomed with open arms and the experience that he's had in college football. Uh, we're for sure, I would say needed in that room at the time. So he was a great ad uh to the room. Uh, with just leadership and also his experiences as a player. He played the most snaps on the offensive line last year for US right guard. With all those injuries that we talked about, so he came in and proved his worth. There's no doubt about it. Tough deal for him, obviously, injury early on in spring ball. But you want to talk about a guy with a mindset and mentality that is absolutely incredible.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: Uh.
00:10:55
Speaker 3: He comes in every day. Uh, he's coached G. He'll have his shirt tucked in tonight. He's coach G. The guys in the room. I like to give him, give him crud, but he takes it very seriously. He's out there coaching the guys. He's out there, he's in the meetings giving coaching points. He'll stand back with me during teen periods and we'll talk about things. So while he might not be practicing, he's getting all that he needs in terms of the mental reps and all that. But you want to talk about another great leader, We've got a lot in our room. Garn has been fantastic throughout this whole process. So it's pretty cool to see how he's still attacked this spring while getting it cut short due to injury.
00:11:35
Speaker 2: Well, I know that you and other coaches kind of bristle at the idea this time of the year that anything is set right. I mean, there's still competition I get it. I mean, I don't know, man, Sometimes it kind of feels like a cliche on our perspective about this always compete stuff. And I can guarantee you there were times with like the Seahawks back in twenty thirteen, twenty twelve, where we kind of knew who the secondary was going to be sure from here to here, right when you have guys like that, and I kind of coach and Michael Switzer with us you do offensive line coach. I just feel like it's great that we feel like we have five guys and then there's depth obviously, but with Cody and John and Landon and Gearon and Drew, that's your five guys and that is the that is the DNA of what should be the best offensive line since that Joe Moore Award winning one in twenty three.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: If I said that to you, what would your response be? To me?
00:12:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd probably agree. And I think that there's guys in that room that are also going to provide, like you said, more depth. The five guys you mentioned on top of Champ and what he's done all spring and what he did towards the end of.
00:12:38
Speaker 1: Last season, tell fans about him by the way Champ.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: I mean, he's he played in four games last year and that was before five for five and all these things coming out. You know, do you waste a red shirt? Some guys have been through it where they they can't play end of the year because they burn their red shirt on field goal unit or something like that. So ridiculous. Yeah, I didn't want to do that to Champ. But he played towards the end of the season and did some really good things. And I've always thought very highly of Champ and his development was just a tad slower in terms of being able to play last year for US, and that's totally okay. What he's done since the season was over is really attack his weight his weight room, all those things, and then on the football field, he's been very consistent. He's been one of the most consistent guys throughout spring for US up front. So he really excites me in the ability that he brings, the power that he brings. He's a big dude now, but he's had a really, really, really good spring and he's used this opportunity with Garon out to get all those reps and like you talk about competition Israel in this program, it is, and it'll start back up in fall camp and Garan and Champ and we talk about Cody, we talk about Cold, we talk about Swane. But uh, it was good to see a solid group work pretty consistently with the ones and get some guys mixed in here and there.
00:14:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was good.
00:14:01
Speaker 2: Well, like you said, when you first showed up or you had seven guys that's right. How many guys do you have now?
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Seventeen? Yeah, so we plused up ten.
00:14:10
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just you'll never go through that as long as your coach. I'm order a ridiculous situation. I think you said it was unique. It's absurd, is what it was.
00:14:19
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:14:19
Speaker 3: I don't know that that's ever been a number for any offensive line coach that I've ever come into contact with. Yeah, you have never heard that love of number.
00:14:27
Speaker 2: Yes, But then as well, before you go, you and I were talking off the year Michael Switzer again, you offensive line coach with us in the first segment of the program. I might add before tonight's spring game, starting around six o'clock, we'll killy the game for you with Camp Tony. At least obviously here on KJR, you mentioned off the year that you grew up in Indiana, right, so you know Big ten Midwest football, and there was a transition that this program had to go through to get the right guys to survive run the ball in that league. What kind of player are you looking for in this conference versus the kind of player that you were looking for maybe at Arizon.
00:15:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the it's the size difference. And Coach Fish really hit home with that. Like last year in our recruiting class, the kind of guys that we brought in, whether it be John Mills Champ or Jack Schaeffer Cody this year, Dom Harris, you're looking for size, you're looking for physicality. Uh, but you still got to have guys who can run. I talked about it earlier in the segment in terms of what we do up front. We run off the ball. It's wide zone and we got to be able to be some big athletes as well. But the physicality aspect is very real in this conference, growing up, watching it now coaching in it, it's it's clear, uh and and across all football. I believe this. You went up front, you know Coach Fish talks about that as well.
00:15:42
Speaker 1: Totally.
00:15:42
Speaker 3: What are you able to do up front. The team goes as we go and we talk about that a lot in the old line room, which is awesome. That's a lot of pressure. But you want that pressure, you should embrace that. Hell yeah, and I believe that our guys are but but yeah, we're looking for big, big, big guys, strong guys. H We'll still have guys that are able to come in and run the system. Maybe a little bit shorter, but these guys can really run, get to the second level, play with great hip, mobility, all these things.
00:16:08
Speaker 1: But yeah, looking for good football players.
00:16:10
Speaker 2: Well, I love that. The pressure thing. I'll tell you right now, We'll just throw it out there. If you guys win, we're gonna give you credit. If you lose, it will be your fault.
00:16:17
Speaker 1: That's right. How's that That's what to do for the on line coach. I mean, dude, it's like it's not sexy.
00:16:22
Speaker 2: But twenty twenty three best offensive line in college football. Seahawks won their first championship in twenty thirteen. They had the league's highest paid offensive line. I mean, it's just this isn't a coincidence. Teams win when they dominate the line of scrimmage. But hey, Mike before you go, just real quick, Carver Willis went to the Niners and they're talking about him playing inside.
00:16:42
Speaker 1: Yeah down there. Yeah, that surprised me a little bit.
00:16:45
Speaker 3: I'm not as surprised. He's unique in terms of his ability. He played early in his career inside a little bit. He's been able to snap the ball. He's been training snapping the ball at the NFL level Traditionally, those tackles truly do have more length. Yeah, overall and with arm length, he could do it. There's no doubt in my mind. But I think that he's going to find a real nice fit inside a garter even center, and he's really been working hard at that. And there's so much carryover of you know, what coach Firster in San Francisco do up front the offensive line. You know, I've really I've learned a lot from Coach Firster over the years through his relationship with Coach Fish. So pretty cool to see one of my guys get drafted by one of Coach Fish's great friends.
00:17:27
Speaker 2: And that's a pretty cool experience. Well, we're not really Niner fans, I've heard though, that's right, that's right. So yeah, hopefully when he comes into play. We'll be up by thirty five points in the fourth quarter and the game will be over. But whatever, Hey, this was fun. Let's do it again, right, sir, Appreciate it Man. Michael Switzer U DUB offensive line coach joining us on the radio show. We are live at U DUB for the annual spring game coming up tonight. We'll get a break a lot more to come from you Dub. Randy Johnson getting fifty one retired on Saturday. We're gonna hear about seven or eight minutes with Randy in the four o'clock hour. Humellon joins and recaps the whole draft class. At five, the Hatchet Brothers Garret Landon will join us, Drew has a Party will join us, Cody Green will join us. Therek Coleman Brusa, who Ryan Walter is referred to as a monster, will join us. On the radio show. We're talking dogs Man. A big part of our show today will be all about tonight's game with U DUB in the spring game coming up at six right here on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 1: Where we go.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: Coach Switzer with us on the radio show and Jackson, what do we always say about this first segment?
00:00:07
Speaker 1: What's our line?
00:00:08
Speaker 2: Well, if you're gonna be a guest in the first segment, you better be a big guess. Yeah, you better be a big damn name, because you got to remember, Coach, I've been sitting here preparing for the last maybe four or five minutes for this radio program with an incredible monologue that everybody comes to expect out of me at three o'clock every day.
00:00:23
Speaker 1: So if you're gonna.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: Jump on with us and interrupt the first segment of this radio show, you better bring it, baby.
00:00:28
Speaker 1: You go right, let's go, Mike Switzer.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Offensive line coach at UDB is with us on the program. And actually the first time that you and I have had a chance to talk. And I think it's actually kind of funny that this is the first chance that you and I have to talk, because the offensive line looks to be in about as good as shape as it's been in three years. And now you finally decide now to come on the year and talk with us. So you've been now here with Coach Fish for a while. Tell me about the transition. Tell me about the transition going back to when Kaylin took off and the job that you guys had to do and everybody leave to the offensive line. You're talking to as a party earlier for a conversation we're going to run today and he's talking about in the Weber State game, playing multiple positions on the same drive in that game. So give us a take man on just where this group has come from twenty twenty four to where they are right now.
00:01:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, leaving Arizona the last spot. It was a lot of action and it was late in the process. So as you get here and you know, start preparing yourself in terms of what the team's going to look like. After the amazing year that they had with coach Debor, which was fantastic for the program, and there was a lot of turnover. There was a lot of guys who had left the roster and very unique to navigate that in the spring ball I want to say there was points in spring ball in twenty twenty four where we had seven offensive linemen of practicing right, so very challenging in terms of, you know, how do you have real practices? How do you get better? In terms of truly playing football team periods all that stuff. Uh, it was. It was quite a deal.
00:02:05
Speaker 1: Uh.
00:02:06
Speaker 3: But the guys that were here were awesome, and we appreciated all the work that they put in. And then you got into who are we taking in the portal? Who are we adding to this roster? And it was uh, it was coming from a lot of different places, uh FCS level guys who hadn't had a lot of experience junior college level.
00:02:25
Speaker 1: Uh, So we were all over with it.
00:02:26
Speaker 3: And uh and I'll say this that, you know, the guys with uh kind of what we had, Uh, you know, they did.
00:02:33
Speaker 1: A solid job.
00:02:35
Speaker 3: You know, it was it was there were some tough points in that season, but uh but those guys worked and you know, played some good football throughout the throughout the year, a couple of big wins, you know, some some cool experiences here in Husky Stadium.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: But uh, but that was quite a time.
00:02:49
Speaker 3: And then obviously as you transitioned from first year to second year, Uh, you've got these guys, uh coming in at midyear, who who who made a big impact on the program. A guy like John Mills, You've got a guy like Carver Willis who comes in at midyear as a transfer and cemented himself as a really goot, really solid player for US UH and great leader as well. And then you have all of season and all that goes, and you know, I liked what the offensive line did last year, especially with the amount of injuries we had. Right, you know, you lose three starters at three different positions at different point points in the season. Really it's four I'm sorry. At one point it was Carver, at one point, it was John at one point. For the rest of the season it was Landing and then Drew missed two games. So you're really moving a lot of guys around, and it's a credit to those guys being able to step up and the depth of the room, the guys being able to step in and still have some success up front. So it's been a it's been a wild ride, but one that I've absolutely loved and UH and and I love working here. I love working for coach Fish, I love coaching UH, the guys in the room.
00:03:55
Speaker 1: You really do. Yeah.
00:03:56
Speaker 2: Well, Michael Switzer with US offensive line coach, with us on the radio show from you dub We got the spring game broadcast with Tony and Campbell start around six and I mean, there's just so much there to unpack, man because of where you guys are at right now. And I want to start with a guy at left tackle, because we've seen freshman play here. We've seen freshmen start here. Nick Harris was a starting center as a freshman against Alabama in twenty sixteen, but that's not left tackle. Roger Rosengarten was out there, is a red shirt freshman at right tackle, but he wasn't.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: A pure freshman.
00:04:29
Speaker 2: Parker Brilsford was out there at center, but that's not left tackle. I don't ever remember an eighteen year old kid projected to start at left tackle from the jump. And I wonder how much of this is driven by nil and how much of this is driven by Hey, this kid is really the best left tackle we've got on the roster.
00:04:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd say it's that we've still got some competition with guys coming back, like a young man named Colt Dietrich. But Cody, Cody's very unique. He is He's driven in a way that you don't traditionally see in a young man who's eighteen years old. You know, he puts something out on spring break before springball started. He's going to Cleveland to train with the Charles Bentley instead of going on vacation. This guy is wired in a very unique way. I'd say kind of similarly to how John Mills it was kind of wired last year. They're very serious about what they're doing. They're very serious about becoming a great football player. They're very serious about how they put them in themselves in position to be able to do this, because you don't just walk in and you're the starting left tackle. Cody worked really, really hard the first day he was in on campus, meeting with myself and Coach Brewster and learning the offense and having an understanding of how we communicate, how we talk football, what's the defensive identification before we even talk about a play. He took that very seriously in his mindset. Has put him in a position to play left to Obviously he's the athletic aspect of it, the physical aspect of it is quite impressive for a guy who should still be in high school right now.
00:06:11
Speaker 2: He should be in high school graduating this spring. That's right, right, Ye, that's right.
00:06:14
Speaker 3: So what he's been able to do this spring at left tackle, Yeah, it's very impressive, and I think that he's going to continue to build off that all of summer in a great fall camp, and we'll see what that looks like.
00:06:28
Speaker 2: Well, Mike, you mentioned again, Mike Switzer, ub offensive line coach with us on the air. You mentioned the smarts right about the playbook and the lingo and all that, and then you mentioned the physicality. What are his best traits physically at the age of eighteen years old. What kind of jumps off the page to you?
00:06:45
Speaker 3: His natural athleticism and ability to run the offense that we run here a lot of wide zone truly running off the ball. This is not you know, pick it up, put it down like we're trying to run off the ball, run through your face. What he's able to do on the backside, a backside cut up, offer a backside climb to a backside linebacker. I still tell the story. We're doing OTA's player run practices and winter conditioning, and uh, it was his first time even doing it, my first time ever taking him through a backside cutoff. He does it, and some of the older guys are on the field and look around like, did you guys just see that? So he's he's got some of those natural uh, just athletic ability, but his ability to run and uh, you know, his feet are are really really impressive. He's got really elite redirection with his feet, and especially at the left tackle position when you're setting you know, wide nines, whatever it might be. His ability to redirect versus an inside move, ability to anchor, he's got some some really unique tools well across.
00:07:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, coach, you mentioned John Mills and just again another freshman starting at left guard. It's it's amazing how many freshmen now all of a sudden we're seeing start in this game right and there's reasons obviously for that, but this kid again deserved it, earned it was.
00:07:59
Speaker 1: Phenomenal last year.
00:08:00
Speaker 2: I'm almost dreading for other opposing defensive fronts how he's going to be better in twenty twenty six versus the guy that we saw.
00:08:09
Speaker 1: A year ago.
00:08:09
Speaker 2: Because if you came to Ahscy football game and said, hey, that guy starting at left guard, what class you think he's in?
00:08:15
Speaker 1: He's a junior. No, he's a freshman. How is he even better now?
00:08:19
Speaker 3: The jump that he's made is all the details within his game. He was, like we talked about with Cody, the mental aspect of it. He attacked at an amazing level, very smart football player for such a young guy. His best attributes are probably his physicality, his size, his natural strength, his aggressiveness and all those things. So that was nice to be able to put a guy like that inside, have guys around him like Carver Landing and the rest of the guys and just let him.
00:08:48
Speaker 1: Go to work.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: Where he stepped up is the very fine tuning of details within his technique and within his fundamentals. You know, how am I carrying my hands? How are we working on you know, my sets? And uh, not just playing and playing get big and and and stopping guys. There's a real technique, uh to everything that we do. And he's taken the next step with that. Uh and the spring ball is separate himself in that way as well as his leadership. Uh. He was a natural leader last year as a true freshman just by the energy that he brought. Yeah, but I think he's stepped up in an awesome way for this whole team to be a true voice even as a true sophomore. You know it, Class doesn't determine if you can be a leader or not. If you are, you are and John Mills is.
00:09:34
Speaker 2: That Yeah, Well, Michael Sweitzer again, you doub offensive line coach with us on the air, and the Hatchet Brothers are not going to be participating tonight, still nursing a little injuries that they'll be good to go right by by fall camp.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: But tell me about that.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: Tell me about the the idea of coaching two guys, two brothers, one guys in year seven already in college football, the guys in year four and in Lando.
00:09:55
Speaker 1: Uh, what's it been like for you to to coach the Hatchet Men?
00:09:58
Speaker 3: It's been Awesomebviously knowing Landon first he was here, Garant had left to go to Oklahoma and he had his experience there. After the season, you know, there was talk of hey, you know, my brother might be interested in coming back, and and we were looking for quality, quality players, and we we talked and welcomed with open arms and the experience that he's had in college football. Uh, we're for sure, I would say needed in that room at the time. So he was a great ad uh to the room. Uh, with just leadership and also his experiences as a player. He played the most snaps on the offensive line last year for US right guard. With all those injuries that we talked about, so he came in and proved his worth. There's no doubt about it. Tough deal for him, obviously, injury early on in spring ball. But you want to talk about a guy with a mindset and mentality that is absolutely incredible.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: Uh.
00:10:55
Speaker 3: He comes in every day. Uh, he's coached G. He'll have his shirt tucked in tonight. He's coach G. The guys in the room. I like to give him, give him crud, but he takes it very seriously. He's out there coaching the guys. He's out there, he's in the meetings giving coaching points. He'll stand back with me during teen periods and we'll talk about things. So while he might not be practicing, he's getting all that he needs in terms of the mental reps and all that. But you want to talk about another great leader, We've got a lot in our room. Garn has been fantastic throughout this whole process. So it's pretty cool to see how he's still attacked this spring while getting it cut short due to injury.
00:11:35
Speaker 2: Well, I know that you and other coaches kind of bristle at the idea this time of the year that anything is set right. I mean, there's still competition I get it. I mean, I don't know, man, Sometimes it kind of feels like a cliche on our perspective about this always compete stuff. And I can guarantee you there were times with like the Seahawks back in twenty thirteen, twenty twelve, where we kind of knew who the secondary was going to be sure from here to here, right when you have guys like that, and I kind of coach and Michael Switzer with us you do offensive line coach. I just feel like it's great that we feel like we have five guys and then there's depth obviously, but with Cody and John and Landon and Gearon and Drew, that's your five guys and that is the that is the DNA of what should be the best offensive line since that Joe Moore Award winning one in twenty three.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: If I said that to you, what would your response be? To me?
00:12:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd probably agree. And I think that there's guys in that room that are also going to provide, like you said, more depth. The five guys you mentioned on top of Champ and what he's done all spring and what he did towards the end of.
00:12:38
Speaker 1: Last season, tell fans about him by the way Champ.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: I mean, he's he played in four games last year and that was before five for five and all these things coming out. You know, do you waste a red shirt? Some guys have been through it where they they can't play end of the year because they burn their red shirt on field goal unit or something like that. So ridiculous. Yeah, I didn't want to do that to Champ. But he played towards the end of the season and did some really good things. And I've always thought very highly of Champ and his development was just a tad slower in terms of being able to play last year for US, and that's totally okay. What he's done since the season was over is really attack his weight his weight room, all those things, and then on the football field, he's been very consistent. He's been one of the most consistent guys throughout spring for US up front. So he really excites me in the ability that he brings, the power that he brings. He's a big dude now, but he's had a really, really, really good spring and he's used this opportunity with Garon out to get all those reps and like you talk about competition Israel in this program, it is, and it'll start back up in fall camp and Garan and Champ and we talk about Cody, we talk about Cold, we talk about Swane. But uh, it was good to see a solid group work pretty consistently with the ones and get some guys mixed in here and there.
00:14:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was good.
00:14:01
Speaker 2: Well, like you said, when you first showed up or you had seven guys that's right. How many guys do you have now?
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Seventeen? Yeah, so we plused up ten.
00:14:10
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just you'll never go through that as long as your coach. I'm order a ridiculous situation. I think you said it was unique. It's absurd, is what it was.
00:14:19
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:14:19
Speaker 3: I don't know that that's ever been a number for any offensive line coach that I've ever come into contact with. Yeah, you have never heard that love of number.
00:14:27
Speaker 2: Yes, But then as well, before you go, you and I were talking off the year Michael Switzer again, you offensive line coach with us in the first segment of the program. I might add before tonight's spring game, starting around six o'clock, we'll killy the game for you with Camp Tony. At least obviously here on KJR, you mentioned off the year that you grew up in Indiana, right, so you know Big ten Midwest football, and there was a transition that this program had to go through to get the right guys to survive run the ball in that league. What kind of player are you looking for in this conference versus the kind of player that you were looking for maybe at Arizon.
00:15:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the it's the size difference. And Coach Fish really hit home with that. Like last year in our recruiting class, the kind of guys that we brought in, whether it be John Mills Champ or Jack Schaeffer Cody this year, Dom Harris, you're looking for size, you're looking for physicality. Uh, but you still got to have guys who can run. I talked about it earlier in the segment in terms of what we do up front. We run off the ball. It's wide zone and we got to be able to be some big athletes as well. But the physicality aspect is very real in this conference, growing up, watching it now coaching in it, it's it's clear, uh and and across all football. I believe this. You went up front, you know Coach Fish talks about that as well.
00:15:42
Speaker 1: Totally.
00:15:42
Speaker 3: What are you able to do up front. The team goes as we go and we talk about that a lot in the old line room, which is awesome. That's a lot of pressure. But you want that pressure, you should embrace that. Hell yeah, and I believe that our guys are but but yeah, we're looking for big, big, big guys, strong guys. H We'll still have guys that are able to come in and run the system. Maybe a little bit shorter, but these guys can really run, get to the second level, play with great hip, mobility, all these things.
00:16:08
Speaker 1: But yeah, looking for good football players.
00:16:10
Speaker 2: Well, I love that. The pressure thing. I'll tell you right now, We'll just throw it out there. If you guys win, we're gonna give you credit. If you lose, it will be your fault.
00:16:17
Speaker 1: That's right. How's that That's what to do for the on line coach. I mean, dude, it's like it's not sexy.
00:16:22
Speaker 2: But twenty twenty three best offensive line in college football. Seahawks won their first championship in twenty thirteen. They had the league's highest paid offensive line. I mean, it's just this isn't a coincidence. Teams win when they dominate the line of scrimmage. But hey, Mike before you go, just real quick, Carver Willis went to the Niners and they're talking about him playing inside.
00:16:42
Speaker 1: Yeah down there. Yeah, that surprised me a little bit.
00:16:45
Speaker 3: I'm not as surprised. He's unique in terms of his ability. He played early in his career inside a little bit. He's been able to snap the ball. He's been training snapping the ball at the NFL level Traditionally, those tackles truly do have more length. Yeah, overall and with arm length, he could do it. There's no doubt in my mind. But I think that he's going to find a real nice fit inside a garter even center, and he's really been working hard at that. And there's so much carryover of you know, what coach Firster in San Francisco do up front the offensive line. You know, I've really I've learned a lot from Coach Firster over the years through his relationship with Coach Fish. So pretty cool to see one of my guys get drafted by one of Coach Fish's great friends.
00:17:27
Speaker 2: And that's a pretty cool experience. Well, we're not really Niner fans, I've heard though, that's right, that's right. So yeah, hopefully when he comes into play. We'll be up by thirty five points in the fourth quarter and the game will be over. But whatever, Hey, this was fun. Let's do it again, right, sir, Appreciate it Man. Michael Switzer U DUB offensive line coach joining us on the radio show. We are live at U DUB for the annual spring game coming up tonight. We'll get a break a lot more to come from you Dub. Randy Johnson getting fifty one retired on Saturday. We're gonna hear about seven or eight minutes with Randy in the four o'clock hour. Humellon joins and recaps the whole draft class. At five, the Hatchet Brothers Garret Landon will join us, Drew has a Party will join us, Cody Green will join us. Therek Coleman Brusa, who Ryan Walter is referred to as a monster, will join us. On the radio show. We're talking dogs Man. A big part of our show today will be all about tonight's game with U DUB in the spring game coming up at six right here on ninety three three KJRFM.
