This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. [MUSIC] Football's fever is burning through to my soul. Yeah, cats, cats, cats, you're gonna set me on fire. Mm, afraid of flaming, but I know just where to go. Yeah, the seasons can't get off and the bill will feel broken. [MUSIC] >> Boom, the boys are back and Blitz month continues on with one of us. Love our all time favorites. He has called more case state sporting events than anyone else in the history of the university. Don't fact check that, I don't really know, he's shaking his head on me. I don't know if that's true, Brian, it's a lot. Yes, it's Brian smaller, I wanna say more good things about him. He is the voice of the baseball team, the volleyball team, the soccer team, women's basketball, he's doing free game shows for football. He's pinch hitting for football and basketball as well. He is one of the truly nicest people I have ever connected with in the time that I have been doing this show. He is either one A or one B, I can't decide between my favorite people employed by K-Saflex, it's him or Wyatt Thompson, who you guys will be hearing later this week. He is the most humble person in the world and I promise you, if you ever get the chance to know this man, you will come away a better human for it. Brian smaller, welcome back to the show. I see you shaking your head, I see you acting like this, you are the best. I appreciate that, man. So it was good to talk with you, that's quite the run up in introduction. As always, you go over the top and it's great, it's a good ego boost. But truthfully, we work with great people here at K-State that make everybody else look good. Wyatt is one of them as one of my first early on cheerleaders of my career and helped me get here to K-State as well. So love him to death like an older brother. And it's great that you have him on along with the other ones you've had on during this blitz month. It's been a lot of fun. >> Yes it has, yes it has. And this is a big week, we had Tim Fitzgerald on Tuesday. We're gonna have you on Wednesday, we're gonna have Brian on, or not Brian, Wyatt on Thursday, sorry. And then the plan is to have Shahan J. Raja from CBS Sports on Friday. So it truly is a collection of some of my all time favorites. Before we get into things, as always, we use this as a time to get prepped for soccer and volleyball. We'll get your football predictions because whether or not you want it or not, you being the first person to call out the greatness that was going to become deuce Vaughn has now become blitz month lore. I do want to go back, the last time we talked was before K-State baseball and the Super Regional. Of course that didn't go the way we wanted it to, but between the Super Regional, between another great outing for K-State baseball and the Major League Baseball draft. The show starts in Manhattan, Kansas as a tweet I think I sent out from Bosco's boys. And then some surprise returns and some good transfers. I imagine the vibes around baseball is pretty high and maybe some folks expecting maybe to take a backseat next year. Again, I'm an amateur, I have to talk to the folks who watch college baseball closer than me. The vibe is that hey, you may not have the established stars, but they definitely could make another run to the postseason next year if everything falls right. I'm going to totally agree with that. It's a totally different vibe over there right now. I totally difference perhaps a bit of a strong description, but I was over there earlier this week. And it is a different vibe in that there's a spring of confidence around the guys that are back. Even the younger guys that were more role players last year, I think they understand that the mantle has been passed to them to take over as leaders of the team with guys like Cole Pepper and Jones and neighbors all moving on. But I think the odd that it's the message from the coaching staff had been, hey, their focus was on Omaha and they talked about it every year. And at times they were lampooned for talking about trying to win a championship, but it's no different than Jerome Tang talking about wanting to bring a national championship to Manhattan for men's basketball. You got to set your sights on something bigger. And now that you've done those things, like you've firmly planted your foot in the ground as a factor on the national scene and a super regional, there's no reason why K-State, especially with the season they had last the year before in 2023 where they got snug. I think they've earned the respect now of the national committee. I think it won't take as hard of a journey for them to get into the postseason. I've taken an early look at the schedule for them next year. They've scheduled tough again. They're going with that Pete Hughes mantra of, hey, we'll point anybody anywhere, anytime. And they're going to be challenged, but they've brought in some great transfers. I think they're really happy with where they're at, not satisfied. And they want to keep building on it. And I see this team being a lot like the 2010 team for K-State that O9 had AJ Morris and they had Nick Martini and all these great players. And they were able to make a regional for the first time. And everybody wondered how they back it up. And in 2010 and 2011, they weren't necessarily a great team, but they found a way to make the postseason and kind of keep that streak going. I think next year, 2025, they'll do the same thing. I think you're right. Well, that's definitely something we will continue to touch base on. Everyone knows we will be having you on throughout the fall to talk volleyball, to get ready for women's basketball. But I'll always touch base about baseball because beyond just that run, I think that there was a infectious fever that ran through K-State fans because it was such a fun team, the personalities there. And I think there's a lot of gravitational pull to Pete Hughes. And I'm excited to see what continues to happen with his program. I'm all the way on board with that. Pete is such a great, great guy and a great ambassador for this university and kind of embodies the K-State chip on your shoulder type of mentality. And I just love him to death. He's got a great rapport with the players and with the team and with fans. And who knows, fans around these parts fell in love with some of those guys from that team. They went to a super regional last year. And it's pretty exciting to watch them have success already. In the mind of the eggs, Brendan Jones has been off to a fast start. And Kaitlyn Culpepper is absolutely raking. Why did you have to go to the twins, Brian? Why? Well, I mean, I will say this. It's a great organization, right? I mean, say what you want about the twins. There's still the number one or number two monolithic system in all of baseball. So they develop players great. Now, the bad news about that is he may get blocked a little bit in his progression forward because they are stacked. But their double A team is in Wichita. So, I mean, he's at high end now. He just got promoted. So if he continues on his toward pace, all of a sudden K-State fans around here, you'll be able to see Kaitlyn Culpepper in person down in Wichita getting an effort. So that would be a bonus of him going at the twins. Yeah, I'm being a selfish Royals fan because the twins absolutely kill us. But I will just suck it up. And I can't wait to see him continue to tear it up. We'll move on and we'll talk some fall sports before we do. Litz month is sponsored by Manhattan Brewing Company. Brian is dangling a carrot of stories he can't share on the podcast in front of me. So I know I'll be making a trip up to Manhattan Brewing Company. So I can get him down to Point's Avenue so we can share those stories. Folks, the official tailgate beer of Bosco's Boys is Towney Wheat. So it doesn't matter if you're getting ready for a soccer game, for a volleyball game, or again, a week from Saturday, the season kicks off. You got a tailgate with Towney Wheat. Look, I know it's going to be hot. That's going to keep you refreshed. But even if you don't like Towney Wheat, even if you don't like light crisp beers, if you're a hot head, if you like IPAs, guess what? Manhattan Brewing Company has you covered. If you're like me, you love pumpkin beer. Guess what? Pumpkin batch is back. They have some great multi beers to make you think it's already the crisp fall weather. So it doesn't matter your taste, Manhattan Brewing Company has you taking care of, shout out to them. All right, soccer got everything started off. It was so fun to see you back on the big screen. Here you call in that game, the game did not go the way we wanted it to. Also not, I think in the bottom of the conference with the preseason poll, what is the big 12 tournament qualification look like now that we expanded again? I imagine that is the goal. That is the kind of bar to try to reach for success for this team this year, correct? Yeah, yeah, no doubt. It's 12 teams that get into the tournament in the postseason. You know, it was a disappointing start. I think there were some encouraging moments, no doubt, by what they put out on the field. Mike Dubini's team is really relying quite largely on sophomores to try and make a push forward. And sophomore class that last year played a majority of the minutes as freshmen. So how do they go about backing it all up this year is the next phase of that. And there's some talent. There's better talent. I think one of the things that's encouraging about the program to this point is that every year, they have been able to add talent and get better. Now it hasn't gone and leaps and bounds in the rate that I'm sure even Mike Dubini would want. But I remember talking with Nikki Isobron who is at West Virginia and has been there for 20 plus years. And I asked her, this was a couple of years ago, but I asked her, what's harder now maintaining your success as West Virginia is a perennial top 10 team or top 25 program and makes runs at national championships. Is it been harder to maintain it or is it harder to build it and which would be harder to do now? And to her point was, oh, it'd be way harder to start a program now. And she said, even though you have the portal, there's just nothing. There's no success to recruit to unless you have money. And before the portal, before we even got into the portal conversation, she's like, there's so many good teams. And people care more about it now than they did back then. So it's a process. It's a long process. And hopefully they'll take more steps forward. And as you said, makes the big tournament would be a large feather in the cap. It'd be three of the last five years they've qualified for the postseason. That definitely will be the target that everyone should be focusing on. And I will say, you know, having so many sophomores and having that class come up together, we've seen it at times in other sports across college athletics. Could this maybe kind of be the group that maybe by the time they're juniors, maybe by the time they're seniors, it's not just, hey, make it to the big 12 tournament, but maybe win a couple games in the big 12 tournament. Is that maybe where K-State soccer fans should be locking some of their hopin? No doubt. I think the team is, listen, it's not like they're getting blown out. And even look back to last year, Oscar and I talked to that on the broadcast to the last match. It's not, you go back and look at the score some last year. I think there was one match where they just got hammered. The rest of the time, they're right there. And when they go 1v1, like, so when they're like Arkansas and the exhibition match, they played Arkansas starters versus starters for one period. And they won that section one nil. Then they went to the reserves and Arkansas left their starters in and ran up the score a little bit. But the talent is there. They just got to score goals. And they have to find that winning, they got to find the back of the net. I mean, at the end of the day, at the college level, it should not be as hard as it has been for K-State to score goals. And they know that and they've been working on it. And I think it's a bit of a mental block at the moment. So what you're hoping is that you get a couple of these non-conference matches that are coming up this weekend. They're out West, Portland State, Gonzaga, and back home with Green Bay. And maybe you can rack up some goals and some wins and maybe get some confidence underneath you a little bit before you begin. What will be a difficult conference schedule? Because with 16 teams, especially the Pac-12 teams added in, BYU is phenomenal. Then it is a tough grind. Even to make that top 12, it will not be easy. All right, before moving to volleyball, what's a name or two that K-State fans who maybe aren't familiar with the team, but they're going to be making an effort to watch on ESPN+ and get to know this team? Who are two names that they should really focus in on early on this season? Well, I'll give you three, and it's really kind of up the middle for K-State. The first will be the keeper, Murphy Sheif. She played for New Zealand's national team. She was in the Olympics and was a reserve for them. Has obviously tremendous international experience and has just a great sense of humor. I think we've done some miked-up pieces with her as well with the video side. And it's always been hilarious to hear her take on things. Jasmine Brown is right in front of her. One of the centerbacks at an all-conference rookie team pick here a couple of years ago. Little dinged up this fall, so it's been on a minute's restriction. But at 5-11, she's a great athletic lean player in the back. She can play forward if needed, but has been a fantastic player for K-State and recognized by others in the big 12 as a potential all-big 12 centerback. And then, Jayce Woodward is a junior who transferred in from USC. And I think they have high hopes for her to be kind of a Brooklyn-ense light type player in the middle. She plays kind of the attacking mid position and can kind of anchor that offense. And we've saw some of the technical and her strength with the ball at her feet being able to find channels with passes up front. I think she will be a key cog for them in their offensive attack. And if they can unleash some of these sophomores that have got some great speed and great finishers like Rintool Strutman sees, those are the three sophomore forwards, Woodward would be a key part of that. I love it. I'll be looking forward to watching games all season. We will move on into volleyball. I think I've told you this multiple times since you've come on. I've said this on the show before. Volleyball really is that quote unquote Olympic sport or quote unquote non-revenue sport that I've always gravitated towards. I remember screaming my head off in the purple pit in an inner-hern fieldhouse when I was a student, almost passing out on multiple occasions when I was a student. The emotion and energy in volleyball truly isn't matched by any sport in college athletics. So I'm pumped about this season. What is it like in Manhattan around the volleyball program going into year two of the Morgan family arena? I got a feel that the chip is on the shoulder. I think a lot of us saw the social media post when the NCAA tournament field was released last year. I imagine beyond just that athletic ability on this team, the chip on the shoulder in a little bit of the, okay, you snubbed us. Now we'll show you energy has to just be through the roof right now. No doubt, there is a definite vibe buzz right now around the program and being over there. You know, Jason Mansfield does a great job of keeping them focused on the here and now. You know, coaches are different. And we talked about Pete Hughes before in Jerome Tane. They kind of, yes, they work on the day-to-day getting better, but they also are upfront with their team. They talk to them about the big picture and chasing those goals and all that. There are other coaches that are, hey, we're just going to keep it blinders on and work on the minutia and get a little bit better each day. And there are coaches that are quite successful doing that as well. Rich Kleinman, another perfect example of that, Bill Snyder and coaches across the country. I think Jason Mansfield does a good job of both, but I think he would be one that lends more towards, hey, we're going to do work on just getting a little bit better each day. That's not to say they haven't talked about making amends for what happened and leaving no doubt. I think that's the phrase that comes to mind right now is leave no doubt. I think they felt like, yes, they were snubbed, they did enough to be in. But now let's take it out of the committee's hands. Baseball had a similar theme going into last year. I think their focus was simply on, we're going to leave no doubt. And even though it was a grind that ate them up with the schedule, this volleyball team will have a difficult schedule. I mean, they open with number eight per do in a tournament to begin the year. They're going to have, you know, top 25 and USC and Creighton on the non-con on the road. So it'll be a tough road, no doubt. But they've got the players to do it. I'm very excited about your two adjacent man's field. I cannot wait to get back in Morgan family arena. I'm kind of disappointed that I have to wait till mid September for our first home match because I'm just so pumped to get back in there and call matches with Liz and our entire crew. Because I think this team's got a chance to be really special in very talented big 12. That's even better now with the addition of the four corners. Well, you already mentioned it. So I'm going to go a little bit out of order of the outline that I put together for myself because I either completely go by vibes and go wherever my mind takes me or I try to stick to a script. So I'm going to, you know, throw myself a curve ball. You mentioned that, hey, we still have about a month before we're back in, you know, the Morgan family arena. And they have that tough start to the season. Will this team be able to, if they do have a roadblock early and as they're on this road grind, are they going to be able to rally around each other if things don't start hot? I imagine when you have some of that, you know, six year leadership from, you know, a handful of those players that they'll be able to, that has to be about as tough of a start to the season that any team in all of athletics faces. It's pretty difficult. It's not terribly unusual in volleyball, especially for teams that are not Nebraska or Creighton that are historically ones that host big tournaments to begin the year and kind of have that reputation. Hawaii is another one, even though they've dropped off talent-wise the last couple of years. But having them back to back to open up the season is a little bit unusual. And without a home match in there to break it up, you know, against anybody, right? A group of five school that you just want to get healthy with. And like as you say, kind of get the confidence back and the good vibes back. This team though does have veteran leadership. It's not just harder on the outside. You have Liz Gregorski and you have Izzy Shulseski. I think those two, you know, now that they're, last year they were just learning the ropes. They were first year players. They became leaders by the end of the season. But now Gregorski is someone that could maybe play libero. She could bounce around and play outside hitter, back row player. I think she's going to be on the court all the time. And then you have Izzy who has kind of taken over the center spot and is a great captain as well. And she provides that emotional grounding that this team needed, both from a challenge you and give us back focus type of leadership, but also, you know, not to the point of being someone that's always down. And so to answer your question, I don't see this team having the emotional sort of rollercoaster or fragility of, hey, we lost some games and therefore we're not good. I think this team will be the opposite. I think they will know that they're good, be motivated by the end goal, not let one loss here or there or a disappointing performance here or there, ruin their chance or their thought because it's such a long season. And even if you drop a match here to Purdue or USC or Creighton or whoever, you have opportunities throughout the Big 12, Arizona State's a preseason ranked team, Baylor's going to be great, TCU's going to be good. Kansas is going to have at least the beginning of the year, a top 15 program. You're going to have opportunities. So you just go about your business, rely on the, you know, what you know to play and play great volleyball. Jason Mansfield's an outstanding coach, his staff is a fantastic staff. And when they get in Morgan, that place is rocking. They can beat anybody as they show last year taking down the national chaps in Texas. You mentioned Liz and Izzy, they're back in their household names amongst K-State volleyball fans. How important is it for them to take that next step? Not just on the court, but in that leadership role since they are upperclassmen. They are in year two and they're some of those front facing women in this program. No doubt. And I think Carter is part of that as well. Leah Carter only because she, as a super senior, she's the best player on the floor. Now Izzy and Liz are the maybe the most important players on the floor, being the center or if Grigorski ends up being a libero and only have some others in that mix. But if that's the case, those are two of the most important people that are touching the volleyball to get it to Leah Carter. Listen, the team can only be as good. Volleyball is serving past and it's like the special teams of football. If you can serve well and get people out of rhythm and they can't get the ball and rhythm to their hitters, well then you're pretty much going to win. You're going to find a way to get them off their game. Some great players, some outside hitters can just hit it no matter what. Carter is one of those, but you want your best players to also be the hardest workers and the ones that always are maintaining that confidence and never get down. And I think Leah, part of the reason she came back for her final season was she recognized how well she matched with what Jason Mansfield teaches in that mental battle and in that leadership role. And so as you mentioned, Liz, and Izzy, yes, it's critical for them to take that next step and become more vocal and take ownership of the program. But this make no mistake, this is a Leah's team. And she is the one that will drive them and allow them to be great. And if Liz and Izzy, and they're getting great passes and they're throwing it out to Leah Carter, I expect Leah to have an all-American type of season. You know, it's funny, we did an ESPN call the other day with all of our ESPN announcers for Volleyball and was for the entire country. And one of the things that they're going to do this year on ESPN is they're going to promote the top 10 players in the sport and they're going to have this kind of talking point all throughout the season, each Monday of the here are the top 10 players in the sport of Volleyball and kind of make those household names, kind of taking the women's basketball approach, right? That you become more aware of a Caitlin Clark or a Juju that's out in USC, right, for women's hoops. Same idea in Volleyball. And I, as they're talking about it, they didn't have many, if any, from the big 12 on that list, I was thinking, I'll bet you Leah Carter's in the conversation for this top 10 list by the end of the year, because I see that type of feature for her pairing with Jason Mansfield and the work she's put in. So that was the next thing I was going to ask about. She was, I believe, an honorable mention all-American, at least by one publication last year. She did some stuff with Team USA. She is the most recognizable player on this team. I was going to ask, hey, why did she come back? You already answered that. So I'll ask you this. When this season's done, if they can have the type of season that they hope they can, will a Leah Carter go down as one of the greatest to play Volleyball at K-State? Without a doubt, she has a very outside chance of being the all-time kills leader at K-State. She would have to have a spectacular season to pull it off. It's harder to do in the current scoring of Volleyball, as opposed to the old rally point. The old rally point you had games that just lasted for so long that players were taking a hundred swings a match. You don't see that very often anymore. In K-State, it has a good diversified offense enough under Jason Mansfield. With some of the transfers they've run in, they're not going to ask Leah Carter to go out and get 90 swings on a night or 100 swings. However, if she just has another season like she had last year or maybe a little bit better, she'll finish number two on that all-time kills list for K-State and be littered in the top three of many career charts for the Wildcats. And she'll certainly go down as one of the greatest outside hitters that's ever played. And maybe with Don Katie be one of the two greatest, if not the greatest, outside hitters under six-foot that's ever played at K-State because she's only 5'10" and can dunk a ball. So she's an amazing athlete. Susie Fritz deserves all the credit in the world. Her staff were defining Alia Carter and giving her a shot when no one else did and getting her here. And then all the credit in the world goes to Jason Mansfield and Alia for working together. And you couldn't have paired a better coach for her. A guy that's been an outside hitter guru for years. And as excited as K-State is about her, I think they're also excited about Anaya Clinton who had a breakout season last year and is kind of the other outside hitter for K-State. Clinton came from Texas and 62 more of your prototypical size in the outside, but she had a breakout season last year. And I think the combo of those two on the left will make K-State the reason why if they finish in the top three, like they hope they will be in the conference, it'll be because of those two. It's like you're reading off my paper because I was going to ask about Anaya Clinton because I was surprised. I think you tried to put me on to it when we talked last year. It's like, all right, red shirt, freshman, whatever. There were times where she was, you know, the driving force on the outside. And there were some games that she absolutely took over. How much of the ceiling is there still to grab for her? How high is high for her? And what can K-State fans expect when the season does tip off here in a couple of weeks or not in a couple of weeks next week? Yeah, a ton, there's a ton still to go for her. I think this guy's a limit. I think they are super excited about her. One of the great things about Anaya last season was K-State brought in Liz Bergorsky, who was an outside, won a national championship at Wisconsin. They brought in, they had Katie Fernholz moving from the middle out to the outside. And they had Shailie Myers, who had played and played well as a freshman at K-State of the outside hitter. And it was almost as if the new coaches were saying, "Listen, we know you've red-shirted, but you need to prove it if you want to get on the court." And some kids will take that challenge and collapse inside, right, eternally. They don't like it. And that's where you see the portal. And I'm quit. I'm out of here. Anaya Clinton did not do that. And I'm out here to say that she didn't have down moments. I'm sure she did. But she clearly took this as a challenge and decided, "I'm going to go get it and win this spot." And it was about midway through August last year and going over and visiting with Coach Mansfield, he was like, "She's at another level right now." I just decided it was time to go. Time to just click for whatever reason. And she took off. And I think the one adjustment she did not make national, I shouldn't say, didn't make, but had to work on was being able to hit off platform. So when the passes aren't great, being able to find a way to finish still on the outside, I think you'll see more of that this year. That she'll be more adept at that. I think she has developed her back row a little bit better as well. So she's not such a liability if someone tries to serve right at her. But she's definitely the torch taker from Aliyah, right, when Carter moves on after this year, Clinton is going to be the OH-1 and be on the outside. So I expect a big year from her as teams have to mess. And the beauty of an OH-2 is that sometimes you have to worry about who else is on the court at the same time. And sometimes, as an OH-2 in a rotation, you're the only one. And you've got to finish even though a double blocks in front of you. And I think Anaya is the young lady that has figured out shot selection, being able to mix things up and be able to finish even when the defense knows what's coming. So I'm excited this year. Yep. So those are the four women who have been on my radar as I'm getting excited for this season, but they've brought in some big-time transfers. And they aren't the only returners who can make some noise this year. Who are a handful others that myself and other K-State volleyball fans need to make sure they're acquainted with before the season starts? I think Brinish Mint took a step forward at the middle spot. K-State has a big hole to fill there with Sydney Bolding moving on. And that's one of the chance for, as you mentioned, Jordan Williams from Kentucky. He's got all the ability in the world, I think, to step in and be someone that can help them out in the middle. It will be fun to watch and see how she progresses. Meg Brown really will be the one that has solidified the attack because now you've got, she's an all-conference player from Pepperdine. Fantastic volleyball program, multi-time all-conference player coming from Pepperdine. She's going to take over on the right side opposite Alia Carter. So now, if you're a defense and you're trying to defend the net, and I've got to worry about Scholzewski who can drop and swing. And as an outside hitter when she was playing at Oregon State, I got to worry about Brinish Mint at 6-6 or Jordan Williams. And then I got to worry about Alia Carter. And now I've got Meg Brown at 6-3 on the right side. That's a nightmare to try and figure out how to stop and who I'm going to send a double block to. So, that's what gets you excited about volleyball. There's nothing better than being, as you said, in Morgan family arena and being up close and seeing the absolute speed of which these young ladies run and slam the ball. I mean, the balls, if you guys watched the Olympics at all, I think they put speed up to show you how fast those balls are coming. I mean, they're being hit at like 60 miles an hour and in a very short window of just a few feet. And if you don't think that's fast, I dare you to go stand there and try and take one off your arm or off the face. It is not fun. So, Meg Brown would be a big one. I would say Brinish Mint has taken a step forward. I'm interested to see the battle of the Barrow and who will win that out. Gregorski, obviously, will be a candidate there. You got Simone Sims, who's back from last year, got a lot of late minutes. And a couple of transfers, Elle Larkin, who's a Kansas native transfer from LSU will be in the mix there as well. And they have a young freshman that they really like, Molly Ramsey all in the competition for the Barrow. But I'm excited. I really am excited. I can't wait to get back into Morgan. It's such a great place to watch a match. Yep. And I'm going to get in there. I did not get to a match last year, but I already am circling a couple that I think I'm going to make it up for it is. And it's going to be a wild year in the big 12. You called it out. I believe there were seven teams that received a first place vote in the coaches poll. There's four ranked three receiving votes in the national poll that was just released earlier today. K state being one of those teams, they got one first place vote for the conference. They're receiving votes in the top 25. You had two players in the preseason, all conference team with Carter and with Izzy. Kim, this team compete for the conference style. Texas is gone. The big bad is gone. But again, you have seven teams who are saying to themselves, hey, not only are we NCAA tournament teams, but we think we can go win this thing as well. I imagine it's going to be the most dynamic conference race. Maybe we've ever seen well, I think it's similar to football. I, you know, people are going to listen, people are going to get frustrated. It's a whole new lesson for us as fans with the big 12 being 16 teams because, you know, you get picked seventh in the preseason, whatever sport it is, and there are going to be some people that are just, you know, frustrated. Dare I say, pissed about being seventh, right? And you got to remember that's still, that's still pretty good in a field of 16 teams. That's seven years. And you look at the votes, as you just mentioned and rattle them off there, the first place votes, but just the points of those top seven teams in the volleyball poll, it's a toss up. I think Kansas on paper has the best team along with BYU as I look at it. But they're not unbeatable and they're not Texas where they're rolling out three Olympians. So I think that your opportunities, as I said before, throughout the season to go get wins are there. I think TCU, Baylor, Arizona State are all very good. I think Iowa State's going to have a bounce back year based on their personnel. And I think there's a lot of respect for what Jason's done with K State. So I have no doubt that the Wildcats will be in the mix for a top third finish, third of the league. So what's that top top five, I guess, top six. I think they'll be in that mix. I would not be surprised. I'd be more surprised if they finished in the middle of the big 12, just because the talent they had something would have had to go grievously wrong. But if things break right, I think they could contend to answer your question. Yes, they could contend for the conference title. I think if they walk out and they beat two of the three teams that we mentioned here are already in what they call the pre-season, which is the non-conference schedule. If they can be two of the three of the Purdue USC crayons of the world, that would wake everybody up real quick to K State's candidacy of being the top dog in this league. But they certainly have a lot of the pieces as much as anybody to go out there and get it done. It'll be fun. And then the final thing about volleyball before we get some of your football predictions, they are going away from that kind of double header. It's not a double header, but back-to-back nights, one location playing the same team back-to-back nights. I know you enjoyed that dynamic and it really was a chess game. If you won or lost that first game, how do you adjust for that second? How much is going to kind of a midweek and then a weekend set, or sometimes having a full week off in between games, change the way you manage the season throughout, or coach the season, is that going to be something that substantially shakes up how the conference plays out in volleyball? Or is it just going to be a different way for us watching it, having to go more than 24 hours before we see another game? Without knowing everybody's schedule, I would say that I don't know that it'll be a huge impact. Now, it could be if you're playing, again, we're going coast to coast now, right? So if you're playing on a Thursday at home and then you're traveling to a road match on a Sunday at West Virginia or at UCF or to Arizona State, I could see that being an impact. Based on case state schedule, I don't think the league did that. I think the league was very careful and understanding of that competitive disadvantage for teams. So even if you look at case state schedule, if they're going out east to play teams, they're staying out. So they're going to play Thursday against the Cincinnati, they'll stay out there and then play West Virginia Sunday, then come home. So you're kind of making a swing where you're not necessarily traveling back and forth, trying to get back to class and all that sort of stuff. Now, that said, there's still a little bit of a difference between, as you mentioned, going on a Thursday and a Friday, playing back to back against the same team to Thursday, we're going to play one team. Now Friday, we're on a hotel and then we're on a plane Saturday to go to a different place. And I've got to learn a scout and maybe not have a practice, maybe just a run through to get ready to play a very good team on a Sunday. So there will be an adjustment there. It's not altogether different than when you're in the postseason, but it is a change. It's a change for the players and they'll have to adjust to that. We'll see how they handle it. I think there's the only one, there's the Arizona trip for pace state in November where they go to Arizona, then on Sunday, play Arizona State is a top 20 team to be in the year. That's kind of a, that'll be a very tough trip only from that standpoint. You have a short turnaround to get ready for a very good Arizona state team, but I think because they're a veteran team, they're not having to rely a lot on youth. I think they'll be ready for it. And again, as you said, as we started this whole thing, while they're focused on the day to day and getting better a little bit, they can still talk about the big picture, which is we're chasing something bigger this year to make case date back into the postseason. It's hard to believe that case day will enter this year having reached the NCAA tournament just once in the last seven years. That's mind boggling to me for this program, which has been such a fixture of postings and success and big 12 success for many, many years. So they're anxious to get it back to where it needs to be. Yeah, I think they made postseason three out of the four years I was in school. So again, that's that when you were talking as like, where's he going? Then he said one out of seven, sort of running it through my mind. I'm like, I, that can't be right. But sure enough, you know, there's a couple of years that they're close, maybe could have gotten there, but you know, I'm thinking they're going to get back and I think they're going to make some noise. So I'm looking forward to it. All right, Blitz month is sponsored also by Charlie Hustle. Their count down to kickoff has begun this week with their Bill Snyder family stadium t-shirt with the good old sailor Willie logo on it. It is one of my favorite Charlie Hustle shirts they've dropped since the partnership started back in Blitz month 2022. If you haven't gotten geared up for this football season for this volleyball season for this soccer season, make sure to get over to Charlie hustle.com today. Next Monday, we'll be kicking off our August t-shirt giveaway. So make sure you're following us and Charlie Hustle on social media so you can get entered. Charlie Hustle, vintage made fresh. All right, Brian, again, you're the jack of all trades. You'll be doing the football pregame show, I believe this year again. So, you know, I am going to take all your predictions with, you know, a lot, a lot of weight. So I hope you're up for the pressure. I know you are. We'll start start off with the softball, a lob one in there. If you had to, if you had to tack on someone to be the offensive MVP this season, what are you hearing around Manhattan? Who's that going to be? Well, I think you'd have to pick Avery. I mean, I don't know that anybody, the thing about Avery to this point, from everything you hear from the team and from the coaches and the staff is that he, you know, sometimes we live in an air and an area that is with Patrick Mahomes, right? So every quarterback that plays football in this area wants to be Patrick Mahomes or thought of in those terms. And every fan that has a good quarterback on their team immediately thinks, and without, I mean, you can try your best, but you already are trying to compare them to Patrick Mahomes in some respects. So that can be create a lot of pressure. What I've seen from, and what I've heard from everybody is that Avery Johnson has handled the limelight and the star stardom very well and much better than you would expect for someone as young as he is that gets to drive a lavender Corvette around and has all, it has all the reasons to be not a good person and not a good leader or not work hard. And he's none of those things. And that's a credit to his parents. It's a credit to him. It's a credit to the coaches as well. And that part gets you really excited. When you have a young man that's is so bought in on culture and wanting to make everything great and make everybody else great and win as many games as possible. And so that's when you start talking about offensive MVPs, I think it's Avery, but it's because of all the other stuff. It's not only his supreme talent on the field, which I think we'll see, there will be moments where he has a breakdown or throws a pick. It's going to happen. It happens to the best. But I think his ability to go through and see what Will Howard went through last year and learn from Will and be around guys like Matt Wells who are quarterback whispers, he'll be able to handle those play in moments very well and be able to get through it. And I'm excited about what he's doing around the the culture of this team. They are they are the coach. They're not listen, years past Chris Klimann is not one that you would describe as Giddy about his football players. It's not quite Bill Snyder ask, right? We're really downplay everything. But Chris would be pretty measured in what he says. But I think he genuinely genuinely loves this team. I think he likes the team. He likes the depth they have. He likes the people that he has on the team. Loves the coaches. I think they are really excited about this squad, you know, and looking forward to getting out there. So I'm going with Avery Johnson up to cop out. But beyond if there's a if there's a are you going to ask me about a sleeper on the offensive before I say that? So I the follow up is always going to be like, look, I I want people to pick Avery next year. If everything goes the way we playing, you don't get the option of Avery. I'm going to make people to pick someone other than Avery. But I always will have a follow up. So who outside of Avery? Who do you want to show a little bit of love to as well? I'm going to go with Jayce Brown. I think Jayce Brown's going to have a big year this year for K state. I think this young man showed what I love too much about him was his route running from last season and his ability to track the ball in the air. One of the things that you may have heard is you've heard a chief fan. You've been heard about Xavier Worthy with the Chiefs. One of the great reasons they and Brett Vich loved Xavier Worthy was not only because of his speed, but because of his ability to track the ball in the air, there are two different skills and there are two different skill sets that can separate a good receiver from a bad receiver. Tyler Lockett was the same. A guy that was exceptionally good, not only a route running, but being able to gauge how to get separation from a guy at the last second and while tracking the ball. I think Jayce Brown has some similar capabilities. He just is very adept at being able to track the ball in the air and I think he can measure his gate, his speed and keep the defender at bay. Those are all some natural skill things that I think are not necessarily taught but learned and picked up over time and I think he's going to have a big year. I really do. I think I'm going to go out on a limb and say by the end of the year we're talking about whether he's going to go pro or not. Jayce Brown. I think he's going to have a big sophomore year. I think his connection with Avery is really good and some of the other pieces that K-State has around him, Dylan Edwards notably and Keegan Johnson and Dante Sifas I think will have a good year. Those pieces will open up things for Brown who would then in turn will get it open for DJ and the rest of the offense but so that would be my guy. He's not necessarily a household name but I don't know that many people are picking him to have a big year but that's my gut. Well luckily I think he's only a true sophomore so he's stuck in Manhattan collecting an NIL paycheck before he goes to the NFL so I believe that's the case. I don't think he's red-shirted yet so you're correct. I'm going to move on before you try to send more underclassmen to the NFL before they keep making their market K-State. Who's going to be the defensive MVP? Who's getting all the whispers? Who's getting all the hype and I will say this is one that I could maybe make a case for nine different guys and so far we've had five or six different picks for defensive MVP so good luck picking out who's going to be the top guy on a team that I think has a lot of stars on defense. I agree with you having the defense is highly underrated for K-State this year. I think a lot of people are sleeping on the defense and I get it you know there's a lot of guys especially up front that left and so there's some question marks there but you got some guys that have been around the block a little bit especially with the linebacker spot that I think will will lead the way for K-State. In the secondary they got I think they have three very good safeties the corners are phenomenal you know but if you're going to nail down one guy I say that with a key to this year for K-State I think it's going to be Austin Romaine at the middle blocker at the middle backer spot. This guy they absolutely loved him last year as a true freshman. You don't see too many guys as a true freshman doing what he did and playing as much as he did and being as in charge of things as much as he was last year so I think he is the key to it all in the center. I think he's criminally underrated on a defense that already is underrated but I think Austin Romaine is the guy that I would take as the MVP back there I think he is that he and Austin Moore obviously are the two big linebackers in Purnell at Topeka my hometown is a great player as well but I'm going to go with Romaine as the guy that is going to be that takes the mantle from Daniel Green and runs everything there in the middle. Yep I know you're at Topeka Cat as well I love Desmond Purnell and every time it's brought up love that he's from Topeka don't love that he was from Hayden but we'll keep you were semen right you're up north. I was Johnny Heights. Johnny Heights even yeah okay we're just going to keep moving. All right I'm just giving you trouble who's going to be the newcomer of the year we've yet to have anyone pick a true freshman if you want to be bold but there's there's a few really good transfers that have been eating up this question. Newcomer of the year you know I don't know about a freshman necessarily in the back I know there's been a lot of hype about McIntosh here in the secondary breaking through I think Jack Faberas is a guy that just probably doesn't get as much recognition as he should. He would have played a lot more last year listed I think if if they weren't as deep as they were in the secondary last year Faberas would have played a lot more but I think they really wanted to preserve his red shirt so he'll be a guy that is a player back there. Asa Newsom was a guy that you know before the injury was getting a lot of time. He's not a young guy but I don't know I don't know if anybody's even talked about him before but Damon Elalilo is having a unbelievable fall camp and you know I think everybody assumed that Uso would take over at dt at nose guard and be the guy but and and that Ela Damon Elalilo was a guy from Manhattan high and therefore just kind of a token add on to the team he is not that's guy's a player and he has played phenomenal in this camp I think he's gonna have a great year and so if you're looking for we all know you and Scott you and I are the same belief I'm sure why it was the same. Stan will tell you the same football is one of the trenches he went up front offense and defense and if you can make even a great secondary even better if you can get pressure on the quarterback and if you have a nose guard that can eat up some space and take on some people or or just in some way shape or form like Chris Jones or Aaron Donald create pressure. I'm not saying that Ela Lido is those two guys but he is someone that has the ability and has shown it in camp to get to the quarterback and get through the middle of line and if he has that type of year watch out because they've already talked about playing seven defensive ends because they got to get all these guys on the field so if they have that type of talent out there on the outside and you have Ela Lido stepping up in the middle it could be a big year so I'll go with him he's not necessarily a young guy he's a junior so I'm kind of copying out there but he hadn't played a lot he played only as a reserve last year. Yep and no pressure on Damian but your most famous breakout player of the year you're the first one to put your stamp on deuce Vaughn at least from my year so no pressure on Damian but hopefully we're going to see him making some big plays and hopefully we're going to be seeing a certain broadcaster at Fox stumble over his name constantly turning into you know internet sensation. I'm not going to say who it is because he does Twitter searches name maybe he's listening to podcast trying to find hate coming his way and for the record that is me Scott McFarland saying that not respected broadcaster Brian Smaller who had never said anything bad about someone else that is me saying that not Brian will quickly move on past that so no one gets in trouble what do you think the pendulum game is going to be what's going to swing it one way or another and there's a handful of options this year and I'm interested where you'll go with this one. I'll be honest I'm a little bit not worried but interested to see how k-state handles the BYU game because Tulane would have been more scary if Willie Fritz was still there right I think I think we all in our agreement if Willie Fritz was still at Tulane even with the graduating losses they had you'd be quite worried about Tulane but I think that's week two you know both teams will have put some stuff out on film you know even though Tulane is still good and a good program and I don't think they're going to drop off too much it'll be a difficult place to play just based on overall talent I think the Wildcats can survive that game you come back home I think people will be amped for the Arizona game regardless of the result I think k-state wins that game but the Arizona team is extremely talented much better than people think even with the loss of their coach that is a talented team but if you win that game you're 3-0 and all of a sudden people are starting to put a lot of stuff on you it is not easy to go to BYU and I know they're down they're not they're not a team yet that is ready to compete day in and day out in the big 12 but playing in Provo is a whole different ballgame at the altitude you got a lot of distractions they are very passionate BYU plays with their hair on fire at home that to me is a big game because if you win that you come back home for Oklahoma State you get a couple of chances maybe to get healthy there you know surrounding the KU game it could break this it could really send you into great spot but if you lose that game now suddenly you're going to play to the next three on the road after that and you may have some question marks about your road viability so the BYU game is kind of a sneaky pendulum game for me I love it and again they have a sneaky great record at night games in Provo and being in the mountain time zone you know it's not going to be an 11 a.m. game so it's really kind of 50/50 if it's going to be a night game so that that's a good one I think that might be the first BYU shout so shout out to you for that one all right we we got two more for you because I'm not going going to make you fire somebody from their job so I won't make you do the who's going to be the surprise job firing in college football since you do work in you know 4k state and for you know the athletic department not going to make you fire anyone but the next one is k-state record if you don't want to give me a record you can kind of give me a ceiling in floor if you want or if you want to throw a record out there I will give you that option so what could this season look like through the 12 regular season games for k-state well I think most people have pointed this out before the schedule is easier than it has been at times so there really are only a couple of games on there that you are concerned about and give you pause I think a 10 and 2 record as ludicrous that it sounds to say that that's the base I don't think that that's asking a lot of this team to get to 9 or 10 wins I really don't so 10 and 2 to me would be a good year that's a I mean obviously it's a great year right you win 10 games you're great I mean Iowa State hasn't won 10 games than ever so 10 wins is it I mean that would be amazing now my thought is that I think Kansas schedule is extremely light so I think they will also be there and my guess is that Iowa State will be better than people think and k-state will be going to Ames the last week of the season to play for Arlington so I think I'm guessing that's what it's going to come down to which is not necessarily great because it will be freezing cold and it will be a rivalry game but my guess is that is how it's going to be 10 10 wins for k-state and they'll be playing for a shot to go to Arlington near the end of the season right so you mentioned k-u they'll have a lot of wins with their schedule you say Iowa State will be playing for Arlington as well any other contenders you want to throw out there into the world before we sign up. Utah for sure you know again schedule kind of breaks their way Oklahoma State you'd have to give them a nod there still curious to see what happens on defense I think they've lost some pieces and we'll see if they can bounce back from a little bit from last year but this is a weird part of the big 12 now because in years past you would just go off of well I know my gun they I know Oklahoma State and they're going to find a way to get it done now you have to look at the balance schedules the unbalanced schedules I should say this was the first kind of indoctrination to this was baseball season because we were talking at length about certain teams at the end of the year being talked about from the big 12 in post-season picture and you're like they haven't played you guys got to look at who they played they didn't play anybody in the conference schedule and they kind of got by with playing a light schedule and that's going to happen this year in the big 12 there's going to be some teams at the end of the year that have rolled up a pretty good record and everyone's going to be talking about them but they haven't really played you know they kind of missed some of the bigger teams in the top half of the league does that mean that they don't get in the Arlington? No but it does mean that they may not have a very good shot at the CFP just because of an at-large bid because they're ranking maybe low but Utah will be up there KU will be up there K State obviously and I think Iowa State will be the sleeper team in the league. Well I don't love that but I do love you Brian so thank you so much for coming on what do you want to tell the boneheads what do you want to tell any K State fans who decide to listen to this because they're massive fans of you and they wish I would talk less address you know the masses. All right I don't know that there's anybody that would say that they want to hear me continue to drone on but I will say we're looking forward to a fun year it's going to be it's going to be great. I will say two things. First don't forget that we've got K State game day on as you said pre-game shows for football always one hour before kickoff of home games and we've got a great lineup again of guys that are coming back to do the show and Ian Campbell Deshawn Fogle, David Allen, Denzel Goolsby, Harry Trotter all coming back to rotate in to do those shows we have a lot of fun it's great we're going to do a lot more with Deshawn Fogle this year and have him more involved and it's been great getting him back involved with the program that's one the second thing is in this day and age of NIL and the payout that's going to be coming for college sports and athletics and paying of athletes it's going to be okay that's what I would say to the fans we're going to be okay all right college sports always survives every time there's a cataclysmic sort of ruling everyone wonders is he's going to make it through are they going to be competitive is my program even can you get left behind no we're going to be all right we got a great athletic director you got a great team of coaches great fan base this is a special place can't wait to see everybody here for the family reunion coming up on august 31st go cats absolutely love it for brian smaller hall of fame first ballot member of my life hall of fame for chauncee the best dog in the world my name is scott mcfarlane we love you guys and brian said it best go cats it's time to get set for the cat attack you can feel the excitement you can feel it coming on for Kansas state the feelings growing strong you can join in the action this is where you want to be with Kansas state come on set your spirit free Kansas state our pride is with the cats Kansas state come on join the cat attack Kansas state excitement in the air Kansas state for fun to be there having a good time there purple and white we share show what it colors everywhere Kansas state our pride is with the cats Kansas state come on join the cat attack this podcast is part of the sports social podcast network [Music]
