The Craig Way Show
David Gbenda on Anthony Hill, first day of pads, and getting lost in DKR
this will interest you and it will interest a lot of people think certainly interested me. I know it will interest you because you, like me, are big baseball fan and you, like me, are also an NASCAR fan. And in case you didn't hear about this, remember a few years ago when Tennessee and Virginia Tech played a football game and also East Tennessee State played Western Carolina Bristol Motor Speedway. Remember when they did that a few years ago and because Bristol Motor Speedway is a small oval, you know, half mile track and it's done really in stadium style. So 150,000 fans can fit in there and they have two NASCAR Cup races there per season. Well, there's going to be a baseball game there next year. And they pick the two teams that it makes the most sense to play there, at least the first one, the Braves and the Reds. Because Bristol is, well, I started to say it's about halfway between the two. It's a little closer to Atlanta than it is to Cincinnati at that point. But it's not, it's not real far from Cincinnati. So in fact, my broadcast partner on men's basketball, Eddie Orning, grew up as Cincinnati Reds fan because he grew up in Harriman, Tennessee near Knoxville. And he said his grandfather and his dad used to take him to Cincinnati Reds games at Old Crossley Field up there. But the Braves and Reds, according to motor reports, are going to play a game about a year from now August 2nd, 2025 at Bristol Motor Speedray. There is a news conference on Friday with speedway motor sports. And they're going to discuss the 2025 schedule for Bristol, a couple races and that Austin Riley is the brave third baseman. He was born in Memphis. He lives in Mississippi. And he's a he's a big fan of NASCAR as well. And he said, it'll be like SEC football. You know what's crazy? I've never been to a NASCAR race. Never been to Talladega as close as I am. I've been to Talladega. I've been to a race at Talladega. So Dale Earnhardt went in there back a long time ago. But anyway, also Bristol hosted. And then this goes back an NFL exhibition game in 1961 between Philadelphia and Washington. And it was in consecutive weeks in 2016 when they had that Tennessee Virginia Tech game and the East Tennessee Western Carolina game. Now I would say this, I think it's really cool. But it's it'll be interesting the way that they can that they construct this because if you just look at the track, it looks like it might ever really short distance down either the left or the right field foul lines kind of like the Los Angeles Coliseum when the Dodgers played there for four years when they first moved out from Brooklyn and they were building Dodger Stadium. And it was an estimated two hundred and forty seven feet down the left field foul line. Now they installed a 50 foot high screen to block real cheap home runs. But there were a lot of pop fly home runs and whatever they had a guy named Wally Moon who played for the Dodgers played for the Cardinals couple other teams, but he played for the Dodgers at that time and they had what were called moonshots when he could hit almost these high arcing pop fly shots that would land over that 50 foot fence there short left field at the LA Coliseum. Now on the other hand, right field was about 390 feet down the right field line. So you couldn't get a ball out if you're a left handed hitter driving it out to deep right field as well. So I don't know if it'll be quite the situation like that. But they said they're going to play major. Of course, you know, they played exhibition games. They played exhibition games at in the Alamo Dome, including the Rangers. My two sons went to a game there. It might have been Rangers Dodgers they went to go. I didn't I didn't go. They went and that poke down either the left field or the right field line is a close one. It's a tight one there. But that's what happens when you have domed stadiums that are ovals and are not circles that would be better suited for major league baseball games. All right, a long word football team back on the practice field today in the bad news. You've heard it by now that came down earlier that C.J. Baxter is lost for the season, suffered a knee injury in practice yesterday. Various reports had said the extended injury whether it was torn LCL and or PCL. But he is having surgery and he's out for the rest of the year. So Longhorns will go on. Obviously, Jaden Blue becomes kind of the lead back, but there'll be several different guys. Trey Weister would be wanting to sit with the younger guys coming in the freshman like a Jared Gibson. Some of those other guys will get opportunities as well. Meanwhile, it goes on to the defensive side as well. They continue to grind. And on the defensive side, David Bend up is one of those old heads long into tooth guys, sixth year senior, that sort of thing. The first he was talking about the progress of Anthony Hill who had been playing on the outside and Hill now is a sophomore moving inside into that inside linebacker spot in what David Bend a sees from the youngster Hill on the move inside. Honestly, I feel like it doesn't really affect me at all. Both players, they're both dynamic and is very skilled. He's coming along really well and I feel like it's just the trust that we've been building. I trust Anthony 100%. So it doesn't really affect me at all. If anything, it just makes it more fun because just building that bond and getting to know him and also understanding how his mind works and just continuing to grind throughout the summer. Then now we're in fall camp and he's making plays. I'm making plays. I feel like it's just, it's been fun honestly. Yeah. So that's why he said it doesn't affect in terms of what he has to do. Whether Hill was playing inside or outside, it's whatever he has to do on that. Now, in terms of his own preparation for the coming season, he continues to work hard. And as a six year senior, he's going to be very giving of advice to a young guy like Anthony Hill. Like I just said earlier, the growth has been coming along swimming with. He's a fast learner and he picks up, he picks up things very well and he knows ball. His football queue is up there. But with me, I just try to basically, whenever I watch film or just little nuggets I pick up, I try to just give it to the younger guys. Whether it be just a different formation, what Coach Sargis trying to do here or in this defense, what's the weakness or what I've learned throughout my mistakes, just to give it to them to make their process come along easier. Like just little things here with line games, alignments, little stuff like that. So it can make it the development process 10 times easier for him. Yeah, that sounds like when a leader would do, Benda was asked, how much pride does he take in being a leader and really viewed in that prism by his coaches and teammates? Being a part of that team last year was amazing and to be a part of it was cool. So coming back for me was just to try to duplicate that and just, you know what I'm saying, I'm just duplicated, go further when the national championship. So it means a lot to me to work so hard and finally just sort of be at the forefront of it and just try to change the university and do what I came here to do. First day in pads was yesterday. How did Benda feel he and his teammates did on day number one in pads? It was very exciting today. And then offensive defense, we competed our butts off and we just got after it. What it means for the team is it just sort of lets us know where we're at, but also like Coach Sock says throughout the throughout this period, it's going to be hard. We practiced at 3 p.m. Obviously we were in Texas is hot, but that didn't really sway us. We got after we competed and I felt like the team is at a different place, but it's in a good place. Yeah, that's good to hear. And one more from David Benda, there's a lot said about the defensive tackles now and how they respond to this newer group since Tevandre Sweatt and Byron Murphy have moved on. You've got Vernon Broughton and Alfred Collins kind of in the middle, but there's other guys as well. And how have they looked in all of this man? The new defensive tackles we got from Bill Jermaine, Tia, they're great implementations to the team. Man, I feel like they've been coming along well, just getting to know Bill Jermaine, even just getting lost in the stadium with them yesterday in DKR, I mean, yeah. What do you mean lost in the stadium? No, I'm being so serious, so we had to move our way from the tank, but the usual way we went to was closed because it was after hours, but just getting to know them and seeing how they play and what they add to the team, it's very much, it's very good addition and I'm glad they're here and they've been very much willing to learn and just help us. You know. Have you gotten lost in DKR before, Craig? Probably a long time ago, maybe, if it ever happened. Try and think about it a long time ago. There's been, put it this way. There have been times when I thought if I win a certain way, once the stadium, because most people seem to be listening, how could you get lost? It's just an oval, you just walk around and remember there's different ramps and up and down in corridors, if you will, especially toward the north end, where they really did all that. I say, especially now with the south end, it may be well the same. And I'd be parked, like saying, mainer garage and I was going around to the press box or up to the line floor for the news conference and you get inside and you walk around in some of that upper area and then go down and then around, you can go down a different kind of whole way. And know that you're inside the stadium, but you're not exactly sure. You know where you are, but the question is, if I continue to go down this way, can I get through the door I need to get to, to get to an elevator or the floor or the exit that I needed? Because some, some of course it's just dead end at a spot. So you got to turn around and go back. So I understand what David Bennett means when he talks about getting lost in the stadium. And then you got new guys, he mentioned Kobe Black, he was talking about him, then new guys on the defensive front, like Trey Moore mentioning, you know, what, what, what he brings. And so there's a lot of fun just kind of, you know, dealing with that guys getting used to Bill Norton, he mentioned, Bill Bill, Bill Norton is, there's a lot of jokes about yes, just, you know, Bill has just that regular, regular name, regular dude, Bill Norton coming in from Arizona. And you know, what's he all about? But he's, he's impressing people early on in the workouts without hardy, he's been working. All right. We'll have more coming up on this long run, football team, couple other items as well. We'll continue on sports radio. I am 13 under the zone in the IR radio app.