Scott chats with the Hall of Fame Broadcaster and Voice of the Wildcats to get ready for this football season.
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Boscoe’s Boys
Blitz Month 2024: Hall of Famer, The Voice of the Wildcats Wyatt Thompson
[MUSIC] >> This episode is brought to you by Microsoft Azure. Turn your ideas into reality with an Azure-free account. Get everything you need to develop apps across cloud and hybrid environments, scale workloads, create Cloud-connected mobile experiences, and so much more. Discover what you can create with popular services free for 12 months. Learn more at Azure.com. That's azure.com. And sign up for a free account to start building in the cloud today. >> When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger, where you'll find over 30,000 mouthwatering choices that excite your inner foodie. No matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week. You can also save up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with fuel points. More savings and more inspiring flavors, make shopping Kroger worth it every time. Kroger, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. [MUSIC] >> This episode is brought to you by Honda. When you test drive the all new Pro-Log EV, there's a lot that can impress you about it. There's the class leading passenger space, the clean, thoughtful design, and the intuitive technology. But out of everything, what you'll really love most is that it's a Honda. Visit Honda.com/ev to see offers. [MUSIC] >> Lord of mighty, I feel my temperature rising. >> Mm-hm. >> Football's fever's burning through to my soul. >> Yeah. >> Cats, cats, cats, you're gonna set me on fire. >> Mm-hm. >> My brain is flaming, but I know just where to go. >> Yeah, the seasons kick it off and the bell will be rocking. The bus goes for the talking, prayerful love. [MUSIC] Prayerful love, my school boy. [MUSIC] Oh, just a hunk, a hunk, a prayerful love. Just a hunk, a hunk, a prayerful love. [MUSIC] The heart, oh, it's just a hunk, hunk. [MUSIC] >> Five good boys, and the phone hands are tucking purple love. [MUSIC] >> Boom, the boys are back and Blitz month continues on. And I don't want to undersell all the other guests. I think this year, in the month leading up, I think we're gonna have 20 to 22 different folks on as guests for the shows we get ready for football season. But this one might just be my favorite. He is a Hall of Fame broadcaster. He is the guy who probably knows more about this football team outside of the 12 coaches and analysts inside the veneer family complex. He is the voice of the Wildcats, and I'm slowly chipping away. Hopefully one day I can call my best friend in the world. It's why it Thompson, why I always love talking with you. We were talking for about 10 minutes before I hit record. You're always so gracious with your time, and I just want to thank you for coming on because I know you're a very in demand man at all times of the year. Especially right now as we're ramping up for football season. >> Well, thank you first and foremost for the time and what an incredible opening there. I so appreciate you, buddy. And it's kind of one of those things where if you're a wildcat, you have passion and you're towards the top of the passion list for me. So I'm always thrilled to talk to you too. It goes both ways and I mean that sincerely. >> Well, I so appreciate it and we have so much to talk about the football team. But there are two things before we get specifically about it, about your summer that I wanted to talk about. The first thing we spoke just briefly before. But you talk to so many different folks, whether it's during the cat back or the tours, whether it's different speaking engagements throughout the state. Beyond just football, but even when you look at K-State fans and this athletic program as a whole, I imagine that the excitement in the passion right now is at a level that we've maybe seen before but not very often. I imagine a lot of folks are in the same boat as I am. >> That's a really, really good point. Let me give you a couple of examples of how that works. Sunday night, I was attending a K-State event out of Colbert Hills. The Colbert Fogler Golf Tournament kickoff evening. And during that time, just mingling around and visiting with great Wildcats throughout the entire building. I had people ask about volleyball. I had people ask about the Olympics. I had people ask about Kalen Culpepper. [LAUGH] On top of all of the questions about football and men's basketball. >> And women's basketball, frankly. So your point is a good one, sir. We're all excited for football to start. But I so wanna praise Gene Taylor and the job that he does in directing this department. Yes, I am fully, fully going to admit that I'm prejudiced as I can be on this point. But I love the job he's doing, he hires great people, let's him work. And we should have a really, really good sports season at K-State as we kick off 24-25 and I can't wait. I'm right there with you. The other thing I wanna touch on and as you know, I don't put this on YouTube. This is just audio, but for folks not watching, I'm wearing a Royals hat in a Kansas City baseball collection shirt from Charlie Hessel, which I'm sure I'll bring up later. You had the opportunity to call some Royals games. I believe it was when they were out visiting the Mets, is that correct? >> Yes, yeah. >> How exciting was that? Again, I believe we've talked baseball was probably, I believe you told me your first passion. How exciting was it to call what might end up being a wildcard team, Major League up in the Big Apple? How fun was that for you? >> Thank you for asking first and foremost and I would tell you that as I told Stu and Eric after that third broadcast on Sunday in Queens at City Field, thank you for letting an old guy like me live out in an eight-year-old kid's dream of doing a Major League baseball game, and not only that, but getting to do three. I always had passion for it, wanted to do it, and let me preface what I'm about to say by saying this. I've had a fun career, man. I have no regrets, but to be able to do that on top of the other stuff that I've done here at Kansas State and at other stops, think about it as a great big Dairy Queen dessert with a big cherry on top, right? That kind of was it. It was so cool and I have to say this too. I could not believe how great the Royals people were towards me over about a four-day stretch, whether we were at the K on the plane going up there, the three games after the fact. Everybody from JJ Picollo to Coach Q and all of the staff and players, 100% one of the thrills of my life without a doubt, and thanks for asking again. I love talking about it because think about how few people actually get to do that. I feel honored by it, frankly. Well, not only that, Denny Matthews has been doing it for so long, and they've had other people including Mr. Whitey, a case state or so many folks who have done it on the TV side and alongside him, but when I say so, man, it's only a handful. If you want to probably list out, since the Royals became a franchise in Kansas City in 1968 or '69, there's probably less than 20 people who have called play-by-play for the Royals on the radio, and your name's right there with all those grades. Well, and I appreciate you saying it like that, and I don't want to say that, I mean, a tip of the cap to Denny has been there since the first pitch. I know he's seen a lot of bad baseball, but the great baseball in Kansas City is so fun, and I think that was kind of one of the things that I felt like I saw early in the year when they were just getting established. You could tell the pitching was better, you could tell the defense was better. All of those kind of things don't know that I necessarily saw in April that Bobby Whit was going to be hitting 350 in August, but at the end of the day, you could, I guess what I'm saying is you could kind of sense and feel that they were a together group, and maybe something was possible with this bunch, and I'm so thrilled for them that it's played out because they've had so many cool stories, whether it's Seth Lugo, Michael Walker, on and on and on, Salvi's playing great. I mean, they've got three guys at the top of the mountain in terms of hitting with runners in scoring position. You look at the leaders in baseball, the top three guys when I last saw that were Royals. How about that, buddy? That's incredible. It's exciting and it's been fun to get out there here in Kansas City, and I'm hoping that, you know, if it is a wildcard, I hope they win that wildcard and can get home for a series because playoff baseball decay is something else. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger, where you'll find over 30,000 mouthwatering choices that excite your inner foodie. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week. You can also save up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with fuel points. More savings and more inspiring flavors make shopping Kroger worth it every time. Kroger fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. At Blue Nile.com, you can find endless ways to make your moments sparkle. 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Their Bill Snyder family stadium t-shirt with the old Sailor Willy right there. It's one of my favorite case state shirts that they have done. If you haven't, get over there. Check it out next Monday. We will be doing our August giveaway, so be tuned in to Bosco's Boys on Twitter and Charlie Hustle or X, whatever. If we want to stroke Elon's ego and call it X, but I'm always going to call it Twitter. Be sure to check them out. They've been rocking with us since Blitz month of 2022. Charlie Hustle's been a great sponsor of us. Again, they have the best officially licensed case state gear in the game. So it doesn't matter if you're watching at home, at the bill, or at one of the road games this season, check out Charlie Hustle. So you're the best looking fan, Charlie Hustle, vintage made fresh. All right. Why? I can probably talk to you for an hour about the Royals, but let's get into the case state football team and I'll be transparent with you. I usually have a script to have all the questions I want to ask, but I just wanted to go with the flow and I want to touch on something that you and I talked about before we started recording. And it is the excitement for Avery Johnson. I don't know if there's ever been a player who has had this level of excitement. It was there last year before he even took a snap. And this year, only one official start as quarterback. The other, you know, that fun little time he trotted out there, just starting at wide receiver. Him and Colin Kline can go down as a possible ring of honor guys who have both started at quarterback and wide receiver for a game. But have you ever witnessed excitement for a football player like this? I compare it only to Michael Beasley and I think it might be close. I'm with you on that. There are so many things about this story that impress me, but what I would tell you right out of the gate is, is that I don't know in my 22 years at Kansas State going into 23 this season and 49 years as a broadcaster in all of those years, dating back to 89 at Division I that I've ever seen a young man so ready to play such a demanding position this fast. I mean, I've been telling people basically all summer, think about what he did from last fall after the Iowa State game as an example, prep all the way through the bowl season without a position coach and did such a solid job in his first career start in that bowl game. I think that led to a lot of different things, including the excitement level of the fan base, right? I mean, everybody knew when he walked in the door that he was special with his ability. And I think we all felt like he was going to be a case date guy all along. I think that helped too. But then you heard those coaches talk about just how he takes everything so seriously. Even all the way down to the nutrition, he was 170-ish pounds when he got here. He's going to start this season knocking on the door of 200 pounds in a relatively short period of time. So everything that he does, I mean, everybody sees the ability to run. It amazes me that everybody is not everybody. There are people that are still questioning his ability to throw. Take my word for it, the man can throw the football. He's going to have a lot of weapons. I think he's got a lot of good people around him, including coaches. I'm so excited for Connor Eileen for Matt Wells. The way Avery has handled all of this stuff, he looks like a red shirt junior, not a true softball. Maybe that's the best way to say it. He's ready to go. I think he, the only way to say it is, is let's turn the horse out of the gate, watch Secretariat run, right? Because I think that's kind of what we got here. That's a great one. And you mentioned him being a true softball. You know, over the last handful of years, we've seen 18, 19-year-old kids play quarterback and Skyler Thompson will Howard, but both of those guys were kind of pressed into duty maybe before it was supposed to be their time. The thing that strikes me about Avery is, you know, you could have made an argument and this is not to be, I hope folks don't take this as a slight to Will Howard, but you could have made the argument last year as a true freshman, maybe he was already ready to take the reins and then undisputed ready to take on the show as a true sophomore. His maturity and every time you hear him talk with the media or you see him doing an appearance, I'm blown away by that. I'm 32 and he's way more mature than I am. Why? I'm still, you know, trying to goof around. He is all business. How shocking is it to see such a young man be able to take on the mantle of that responsibility so quickly? Well, it is pretty stunning when you put all of it together and I think that's what you're saying there. I mean, I talked about nutrition, but it's weightlifting, it's meetings. Matt Wells tells the story or told me the story that when he first got here in January after the bold victory, that he was in and out of town trying to get things done, trying to get a place in and out of town recruiting and all of those kinds of things. And he basically said to me, Avery won't leave me alone. Every time I've got an hour or two of time, he wants it to be able to set down and talk about football or break down film or whatever it might be. And I think that's part of why he is so good at such a young age. Everybody sees the skill set, but all those behind the scenes thing and the fact that he's a true sophomore and he's a captain of this, one of the captains of this football team and four of those six of Kansas kids, by the way, which I think every sunflower state, fans in K-State or should be proud of that, that's really cool, man. When I brought that up to Taylor Bratt, you should have seen, you could see every single one of his teeth, man. I tell you what. Oh, yeah. Well, and he puts a lot into it. And I think he is representative of what K-State football is all about right now. You got, I mean, that office is right behind me here, man. And there are a lot of people in that building that care a lot, whether it's Al Surby, whether it's Taylor Bratt, you know, Matt Wells, Connor Riley, you keep naming, we could do it all in power. But at the end of the day, there's a lot of really quality people over there, and they've put together a pretty good football team. And I think, I think it's safe to say that Avery is kind of the face of it right now. And you can certainly understand why and how he's handled himself and put himself in a position to be ready to go. And I'll say this, he's going to make some mistakes, right? I've said this from the cat back or two we're on. He's going to make some mistakes because of his youth, but he's also going to make some plays where you go, you know, I just, I just believe people do that. No, I'm right there with you. And you mentioned Matt Wells and I had a lot of conversations about Matt Wells and it stems back to weirdly enough that all American play that Felix and you DK who Zama got to force a safety that turned that game at Texas Tech on, on its head. And I feel like Matt Wells was unfairly fired sitting at five and two, then five and three in a chain of events that leads him to here at K-State with this team, with this quarterback. And I think, you know, Serendipity brought him here and I think it was an amazing hire by Coach Kliman. What have you seen during, you know, spring ball and then now fall camp of what Matt Wells has brought to this offense and how he's been interacting, not just with Avery, but the other quarterbacks and the offenses a whole couple of things right out of the gate on that. One, I've been so impressed with him from the standpoint of it appears like there's no ego there, okay. But he's been a head coach a couple of different times he's, he's coached quarterback position with guys like Jordan Love just signed a big deal with the Packers, those types of things. But one of the first things that he talked about with me going back to spring ball along with the Avery Johnson stuff we were talking about is just how impressed he was with K-State from a facility standpoint, from a leadership standpoint, just the coordination of how football practice here is run, all of those things for a guy who's been a head coach to be that impressed with that. He tells you all you need to know about the leader of the band and that's Chris Klimann, you know, I mean that's just, yeah, I'm probably on the company line there a little bit, but you've seen this program, Scott, you follow as closely as I do, since COVID, every recruiting class here has been a little bit better and a little bit better and a little bit better. And now all of a sudden here we go into a new season and what are we talking about? Avery Johnson, sure, Dylan Edwards, absolutely. He's like DJ Giddens, Jacob Parrish, Austin Moore, I could name, you know, several other guys, but you're also talking about the depth and the potential of this group and that's exciting for me and everybody. Oh, I'm right there with you. I had the pleasure a couple of weeks ago right before camp opened up to talk with Connor Riley and it was, oh, it was amazing. You can tell that guy loves the game of football and he is ready for this task taking over as the offensive coordinator and I think a lot of fans look at how we were on offense the last few years, I believe, you know, depending on which advanced analytics you want to look at, top 15, top 20 type offenses and that even goes back to the final year under Courtney Messingham. I have a lot of confidence in Connor Riley. What have you seen from him running the entire show and do you have, is there any concern inside that building about him having to have a foot in with the offensive line and as the play caller does drew little coming back, a leave a little bit of that pressure? Well, you answered where I was going to start with Drew. I am so bad at that why I, no, no, it's all good. Let me say it this way. I think it's going to be somewhat seamless in part because of Drew and that's the thing that I was trying to say too with Matt Wells in terms of how he fits here. We haven't talked about Nate Katz or yet either, but we could, a guy from Scott City, Kansas who coached special teams in the NFL for 16 years. And now he's at K state. I can't tell you how I'm excited about that. But the thing you hit it on with Connor, I don't, I've watched a lot of football coaches in my day. That's a kind way of saying I'm getting old, but I don't know how many I would, and I mean necessarily how many that I've seen that enjoy what they're doing as much as he does. And when you see things on Twitter, and I'll call it Twitter too, a couple of days ago, you might have seen Hayden wall who was here for a while and helped with the offensive line. You saw this stuff over the weekend with Cooper V.B. coming off the block and pancaking another guy and he said, if you didn't think Cooper V.B. was going to do that, you're not paying enough attention, right? Well, and he had any credit in Connor, right? And and should have Cooper's awesome, and he's doing a really, really good job. But hey, you got to have a leader, and that guy is the leader of that bunch and the reality of it is he's turned out a lot of good football players in a short period of time at K state. And I just love his passion. He treats his players with respect, but is tough on them. And I think all of them would probably tell you, and I mean to every guy on the on the group that he makes you better and at the end of the day, that's coaching makes you better. Yes, yes. You mentioned DJ, you mentioned Dylan Edwards, both Kansas kids, you have Avery back there. I don't want you to give anything away in case the UT Martin spies are listening to this episode or anything, but how creative are they going to be able to get in that backfield? And I imagine Brian Anderson is just walking on cloud nine getting to, you know, coach those two guys, along with some of those young running backs as well, who are quite dynamic. Well, you said a lot there. I think after we finished on Sunday, I had a chance to visit with coach Wells briefly after the practice in the indoor. And the subject of Dylan Edwards came up and he says, I'm still working on trying to get him involved as much as humanly possible, whether it's in the backfield. In the slot, wide in motion, whatever it might be. This is a very, very dynamic player on top of what we've talked about with Avery. We haven't really said a lot about DJ Giddens and I would profess to you that I believe he's one of the real underrated players in the conference and probably in the country. Just a very, very talented guy who just he's so unassuming, right? He just goes about his businesses and it's very productive. So I'm really excited about that stuff that they potentially can do. Many have asked in the last couple of days about how fast will they play? Well, I think there are times where they will play fast, right? But I also don't think you get away from who you really are and what you really are more times than not in theory and in hope is a very physical football team up front that's going to run the ball. Now you throw all of those other pieces in. I think they can play at multiple paces. I think they can play with multiple formations. I love the tight end room. I think the receiving room is better than people perceive and I get that the question mark of the offense is going to be the O line. But I would profess to you there that I think they're better than people perceive them to be. Yes, they're going to miss Cooper BB. Who wouldn't? They're going to miss those three six year starting guys 100% but there's also a lot of good football players on this group and some of them have more experience than the perception and others are ready to go. They need game experience and that's true with several of these other young kids said before. Remember, I said a lot of people don't know who they are now, but they're going to be household names in November, probably true to a degree in the offensive line to whether it's, you know, name the guy. Does everybody know anything about East and Kilti as they should or Sam Het Oh yeah, those dudes are good football players, man. So they're going to their time's coming and I'm glad you mentioned having more experience than people realize that that's something I've had the pleasure of laying out for some folks who don't follow K state in the big 12 podcasting world because you look at Willis. He started seven games seven out of the 13 games last year and he played in all 13 Taylor Portié back your Andrew line game. He's been, you know, playing games despite not having a lot of starts almost his entire time. East and Kilti played what 40 games at North Dakota before he came to K state. There's so much experience that in great coaching that I'm excited for that group. Again, you may not have an all American, but man, that seven eight deep that you get that you have on that line. I think they're going to have an all American. Let's be honest. It's hard to have an all American and that's what made Cooper BB so much a fan favorite and I get that. But you think about guys that have been through this program and just the last handful of years, whether it's a Cody White here or a BJ Finney or I always hate to start naming guys because I always offend some for leaving a few out. But think about how many really quality offensive line guys Connor is coached here in his time. That's what you have to look at. And then I see into the future with, I'll just look at my list here and go down. I'm excited about you'll know these names Kyle Rockers, Jackson Fulmer, Gus Hawkins, Caden Massey, just as a handful of guys, all those guys are going to be really good football players in time. That's exciting. Yes, for sure. Let's flip to the defensive side. I was gushing about them before I hit record and the statement I've made a couple of times now is I think even if you took away the starting 11, if you just went with the guys who are going to be on the two and three line, I think at worst, they would be middle of the pack defense and in the big 12. And I think this could be a good, if not great defense as a whole. Have you ever seen a defense that is so deep and you could feel so comfortable with all those guys, not only starting but on the two line and on the three line because I've spent a lot of time trying to go back to old rosters and try to, you know, think where my headspace was before the season started. I couldn't come up with a year where I felt this good about a depth of the defense. Yeah. Well, let's take defensive end as an example. I would be perfectly honest with you and say, I don't think we have a Felix and you D.K. Zama. Don't think we have a Jordan Willis necessarily right now doesn't mean we can't in time. But here's what K-State does have. They have two basically veteran guys in Cody stuff will be in in Brendan Mod who played a lot of football. Probably leadership and toughness is as important with them coming back as anything. Then behind those guys, think about how often in the last year, year and a half, you've heard the coaches really talk up guys like Chidiobi Isol and Toby Osensami. Now you're hearing them talk about Ryan Davis and you're hearing them talk about Jordan Allen. Just to give you a couple of ideas there. That's pretty decent depth. I mean, what we name six defensive ends there, right? Yeah. And then Travis Bates transfer down here, one of the top guys in the portal. Yes. And he is rock solid as an individual and as a player. That's the other thing that I have to say kind of runs under the radar with Kansas State football with Chris Klimann. I have said this over and over and over. We have far benefited here from the portal as opposed to been hurt by it. But think about all of those guys that are plug and play dudes that just whether I mean Reggie Stubblefield and Julius Brents and those types of guys. And we've got another one now in Jordan Riley in that secondary. It's hard to do that, but they continue to do it. And I don't know that Bates would ever be a starter here, but you would never, never be excited enough to put him in the game and expect him to do a good job. That's kind of what we're talking about with the depth and it's kind of spotty here and there on how it works. But when you start looking at the roster, it's pretty impressive where they're at with the numbers. Well, you mentioned, you know, Jordan Riley, who's back there, you have Vijay Payne returning and then all throughout media day out down in Dallas, not Dallas, Las Vegas. Excuse me. I heard Chris Klimann on multiple occasions. I think he was on with radio and Fargo. I think he might have said to one of the local guys as well. He was saying, Marquis Eagle might be the best defensive back he's had here at K State. And again, you mentioned Julius Brents. You mentioned Reggie Stubblefield, both guys who transferred. We've had multiple draft picks out of that safe or safety and secondary room since Chris Klimann came. Yes. That's lofty praise, but I don't know if he's wrong. He grabs a handful of those interceptions he dropped last year. He might have been an all American and it sure sounds like he's been working the jugs machine this year and he's looking, he's looking to take a couple back for six. I will say this. I've been here a long time. I've seen a lot of good football players here. He would be in the upper, I'll say 10% of effort guys in wanting to get better. Very unassuming, pretty quiet dude, good person, but you can understand if you're around it like I am every day, why the coaches love the kid because he just shows up every day. One guy, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, month by month. That's just who he is. You mentioned Vijay. I have to say this. He's kind of flown under the radar. I really think that he is a better football player today than at any point last year and he was a darn good football player last season. That guy's good. So there you go. I got Marquis Segal, that guy and Jordan Riley is your three safeties and some really good-looking young kids behind them, whether it's Jack Fabris, whether it's who would be the next guy, probably West Fair, Colby McCallister, there's another guy. You talk about flying to the radar guys. When he's healthy, he can play, you know. Just again, just trying to augment and get out there to your fan base, excuse me, a lot of good football players in this program, Colby is one of them. Obviously, I want to touch on as many spots on the field as I can. The cornerback room again, I've been very high on the room. I've been very high on the starters, but I was taken aback even as Chris Kliman in his press conference right after camp started, said that both those guys could be all conference type guys. He said, hey, both these guys could be NFL draft guys. That just might be my voice in the back of the head. I might be projecting if I'm not getting his exact comments, right? But the stories for both of those guys, Jacob Parrish, under recruited, Speedster, K state, I believe the story was was going to try to sneak him in either as a walk on or gray shirt before the gray shirt rule kind of went out the out the window, but then he had such a great senior track season, they're like, no, we need to get him on scholarship. And of course, the Keenan Garber story, one of the first recruits doesn't work out as wide receiver. You see some dude wearing 35 running around there at the big 12 championship game. Sure enough, it's Keenan Garber out there. And now those two could be the best starting duo of corners in the conference. How fun is it to see those Kansas local guys with the stories that they have possibly living up to that height? So exciting, honestly, but what I have to say about that would be this. What impresses me most is both of those guys have worked really, really hard to even be better players in 2024 than they were a year ago. I think most people in this league think that Jacob Parrish is as good a cover corner as there is out there. You will find very few corners in this league that run like Keenan. Both of those guys are knocking 200 pounds or are right at it. That also talks about work ethic and doing everything. I've said this before, I'll say it again. One of the great strengths of this program right now is Tremaine Carroll, the strength and conditioning guy. He and his staff just do special work. And even with those veteran guys, it isn't just with getting Jordan Allen bigger and stronger and what have you, those types of guys too. And I think that's why K-State is as consistent as they are because they're not willing to just set back and just say, "Okay, here we are, show up again." They work to get better. And I think those two kids are the perfect example of that, frankly. All right. Final player I'll ask specifically about before I'll ask some questions that we've been asking all of our blitz month guests. It's Desmond Purnell out at Topeka, Kansas. I was at Topeka, Kansas guy. Granted, I went to Washburn Rule. He went to Hayden. We're going to ignore that. But I think he is such a special player and I know it's different eras, but the way he's able to go sideline to sideline, it's reminiscent almost of Arthur Brown. You see him with the old school peanut punch, forcing all these force fumbles. And the way he plays out there really is reminiscent almost of an era gone by. I am so excited to see him take that next step. What have you seen from him this fall camp and is my excitement in the right place? Without question. And I will fully admit to you, sir, Topeka or not is one of my favorite guys on the team. For multiple reasons, I think one, what he has accomplished in moving from a secondary position to linebacker and then being so accomplished at it. We heard Chris Kleinman say a lot last November as an example that those two K-State outside linebackers and everybody knows about Austin Moore and has one of the great nicknames of all time in the machine and all of that kind of stuff. But he didn't shy away from talking about Des either. And I just think he's gotten better and better, bigger, stronger, more knowledge, all of those things that, again, we've talked about experience, experience counts and he has it. He's confident. He plays fast and those two cats, Austin Moore and Desmond Purnell, very much a big part of this defense. And I really like our defense going into this, into this new season. I truly do. All right. Before we get to the blitz month questions, I'll give a shout to our second sponsor, Manhattan Brewing Company folks, it's almost tailgating season. If you want a little practice on Saturday before week zero, you guys have heard me say all summer long, towney weed is the official tailgating beer of the podcast for the third straight season. So it doesn't matter if you love towney, wait, it doesn't matter if you love IPA, so they got a ton of them. Or if you want to pretend that it is already fall with their pumpkin beer and some other malt Ford stuff, they have the beer for you. They're distributed all throughout the state of Kansas. Be sure to talk to your local liquor store. They don't have four packs. I talked to Missy's right here in Shawnee, no free ads, but I talked with them and right there on the top shelf, they have tasty IPA, towney weeds and Wabashale in collaboration with Wildcat NIL. So talk to them. They'll stock it. Manhattan Brewing Company, truly the best there is. Can't wait. I'm going to talk to them. I need a Wyatt Thompson beer in there as well. So we'll have to get that collaboration next. Something I've been asking everyone and we've talked about so many different players. So I'll just cut it down to this one. Who do you think is going to be that breakout player? We've talked about some of the newcomers, but who is that guy who is going to take that next big step from being maybe either a supporting guy or guy that we mentioned? You may not know his name yet, but everyone's going to know their name in the fall. So who do you think might be that biggest breakout player? Well, everybody will know this name, but they may be a little surprised that I say this guy because I'm going to say him because he was the first guy that popped to mind and that's Sterling Lockett. Sterling is going to be a return guy for K-State. I think Dylan Edwards is probably the number one guy and rightfully so, but if Sterling Lockett is your number two guy, that's a good thing. Says a lot about the depth, but it isn't just about the returns. I think he's going to play some slot. He is playing fast. He's playing confident. He's still a slightly built guy, but he's so much stronger and more confident and playing faster than he did. Not obviously last year, but even from the spring, he's jumped out really, really quite a bit. So I would say he would be one of those guys that I would say to watch on the offensive side. If I had to pick a defensive guy, it might be a little tougher because I think there are so many dudes there, but in pass rush situations, I'm going to say Ryan Davis. I really like Ryan, I think he's going to be an explosive pass rusher for K-State, but I'd also maybe do a 1B here and say, "I love cheating too, don't misunderstand." But I think Toby, as an Osensami as a pass rusher, could be really a pretty special dude too. So there are lots of candidates, but I'll name those three guys for you. Yeah, I think you could spin the wheel amongst the defensive ends and you can get it there. One guy that we haven't mentioned when we're talking about the corner depth before, here's what I'm saying about K-State with their depth. If your second corners are Justice James and the Rice Transfer who I really like, I'll even point him out. Number 34, Jordan Dunbar. Watch him a little bit. He was showing up on draft. He was showing up on draft just this time last year, again, stuff happens, I am right there with you. Again, so much depth on defense, but I want to go to Sterling real quick, because I'm an emotional, reaction fan and I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I kind of was, I see him warming up all last year and I probably said it on this podcast and I have Q&A's, people will be like, "Oh, what do you think from Sterling Lockett?" I said, "I don't know if he'll ever be a contributor." I always, I'm a reactionary person, but over the last couple of weeks, not just you, but you're hearing it come from the coaches and his rise, I cannot wait to be wrong about him. Of course, with that family, I should never have doubted, but I can't wait to see the first big play he makes. I'm hoping it's happening, I guess what, a week from Saturday, I can't believe it's almost here. Well, I will say this, you know, when Tyler first showed up here, I remember saying to Mount Walters when he asked me if there were going to be any true freshmen that would contribute when I said Tyler Lockett, he went, "What?" I think we found out that why, right? Now, they're different, but I so appreciate Sterling and just his work ethic and Aaron Lockett, his uncle wasn't the world's biggest dude either, but he was a very productive football player for a lot of his career here, and I think you're going to see Sterling do some things. Again, will he be a superstar? I don't know that I'd say that, but the dude has some skill. He can run, and like I say, he's playing faster and more confident now. When he's in the slot, he makes plays and practice, and you just hope you can translate that from the practice field to the game field, but that's true of all of them. You know, there are a lot of good young guys on this club. I won't make you pick offensive or defensive MVPs who talked about how great those players can be, but is there anyone we haven't talked about on either side of the ball that you're like, "Come on, Scott. Don't be an idiot. Make sure you ask me about this guy, too." Well, one, well, can I name two defensively? You can name as many as you want, Wyatt. There are no rules for you. It is a position that is of ultimate importance, and I think both guys are going to be productive players. I don't know that they'll necessarily be superstars, and I'm going to say Uso Seamalo and Damian Elaleo from Manhattan High. Both of those, there is uniquely different as you could possibly get, and yet both are productive guys. I think there are others, but they come to mind right away just because it's such an important thing. You've talked a lot about the defensive ends, but if those guys do their job, those defensive ends are going to be even more productive, especially in the opponent's past game. 100%. I would throw it with those two guys just because I respect how much they have improved their games, too. Damian is so strong, and Uso, I'm going to admit that I love him as a person and his personality, and he too loves the game. But they're also really good football players, and very important to what K-State's doing. Obviously, the team is taking everything one week at a time. We heard Avery Johnson when asked at Big 12 Media Day, "What game do you kind of have circle?" He goes, "UT Martin." But we're not playing. So if you had to circle a game that might be like, "This is going to be the pendulum game. This could swing the season." Is there one that pops to your mind? I would probably say Arizona, and because I think there's somewhat of a wild card, you got a game on the road in week two in hot New Orleans where the humidity will be awful. Hopefully the depth pays off there, but then you come right back and have a home game against a team that I don't know if everybody knows that they beat Oklahoma in their bowl game last year, and they have noifafita their quarterback back, and he's a dual threat electric athlete. They also have what many believe is one of the best receivers in the country in Teteroah McMillan. So I don't know necessarily about the coaching change and all of their personnel yet, but I do think they could be dangerous. I think after that, you go down a little bit. The Kansas game here and those later games on the road at West Virginia and at Iowa State stand out to me. That's just reality. So many folks are predicting K-State to get to Arlington. I'm not going to make you make a specific prediction, but amongst the other teams in the Big 12, if K-State does make it to Arlington for the second time in three years, who are some teams that you think might be meeting the cats down in Jerry's world? Second time I've been asked that today, and I'll give the same answer. I think Utah is where you start, just because they have Kam rising back, and he's a difference making quarterback, he's been around a long, long time real quality player. But I think Utah of the four corner schools probably mirrors the K-State, Oklahoma State kind of teams in the Big 12, physicality, toughness, good defense, special teams. Kyle Whittingham does a really, really, really good job. This may surprise you a little bit, but I'm going to throw Kansas in there, but only because I think they have almost entirely back that offense that was so dangerous. Now, again, they played a lot of last year without Jalen Daniels and still persevered. Everybody wants to talk about him, and I get it, he's a very dynamic guy. And if he plays, I think they are exceptionally dangerous. But I think they're going to win a lot of games, period. One thing that hasn't been talked about by a lot of people is Utah and KU's conference schedules. I'm not saying they're easy. Nobody has an easy schedule, but there are some that are a little bit better than others. And I think those are two teams that fit that bill personally. That's just my personal opinion. I tell you what, I missed the 10 team conference. You can pick and choose who you could come up with the 10 team, but knowing that everyone had the same schedule, only flips home and away and then basketball, which I'm excited for basketball. Don't you worry, we'll be talking basketball here in a few months as well, but I miss double round robin so much, but for football, with the tiebreakers, with the unbalanced scheduling, it's going to be so tough to really come away. We'll know who's playing in Arlington, but it's going to be tough at the end of the year to definitively say who the best two teams are in the conference. Yeah, and to take that a little bit a step further, when everybody, if you look at the preseason prognostications, most people are, you're going to see Utah and K-State right there at the top. But I think with Oklahoma State and what they have back, you have to throw them in the mix. Just being honest about this, I think Iowa State has a bunch of guys back and they really ended last year with some momentum. A lot of people like West Virginia and I do too, but that's the other end of the spectrum on Utah KU. West Virginia schedule is hard, really hard. I mean, they play Penn State to start the year. And I know that's a non-conference game, but go look at their conference schedule. It's difficult. So all of that stuff matters, staying healthy matters, coaching matters, it's just what it is, but I would throw out those teams first for sure. Or if there's a wild card for me, you ready for this one? UCF. Nobody's talking about them and they are very gifted. We are right there on the same page. I'm a UCF believer. I think KJ Jefferson is the quarterback made for their system. So I would love it. I would love it if it's K-State UCF in Arlington. Well, let's be real. No matter what the matchup, if K-State's back there, I'm going to be over the moon. I know you have a 10-30. That's all I had on my list. I always like to allow you the floor, tell the K-State fans listening, tell the boneheads who are listening, anything you'd want as we are now another day closer to the best season, football season, being back. Well, I'll just say this. I so appreciate the K-State fan base for who they are and what they are. You look at ticket sales right now, they're great and they should be. Their excitement level is great and it should be. So they are doing what they always do. And when we put a representative team out on the floor, out on the field, they are there. Student tickets for basketball are already sold out as an example. So I just want to thank K-State Nation for being so passionate. It's blown me away in the 22 years I've been here and it continues to do that. So a salute to all cats everywhere, man, we're so fortunate to have that kind of fan base. Well, Wyatt, I thank you again for coming on. I know I can't wait to be listening to you. I go to so many home games and I go to a handful of road games. And I think I told you last year, if I'm watching the game at home, I'm trying my best to sync it up so I can listen to you and stand and it truly takes everything to the next level. So I think I speak for all K-State fans that I'm looking forward to hearing you before after and during all the games and thank you for everything you do for K-State. Well, you're so kind, Scott, as I've said from the beginning. I love your passion, appreciate your podcasts and your work and thanks for the opportunity to visit about the cats here for about an hour. I loved it and we'll do it again soon. I know basketball is less than 90 days away or whatever it is. That's crazy, isn't it? It's crazy. Next time I have you on, I'm going to see if you agree with me. I would love to push basketball back to January and have it end in May, personally. But maybe we'll talk about that next time, but I'll let you go. Thank you so much for being so generous with your time and to the boneheads. It's been a big week. I don't know if this is coming before or after my conversation with Brian Smoller. I like to get you guys in the same week because you two are my two favorites that work over there. Don't tell Gene Taylor. I said that. Don't tell Taylor, Brad. I said that. Don't tell Marco Borne. I said that. But you two are my favorite and I like to have you in the same week. Blitz Month is coming to a close. Next week, it's right into game preview mode. So for the Hall of Fame voice of the Wildcats, Wyatt Thompson, for my dog, Chauncey, who took a nap through this entire episode, my name is Scott McFarland. We love you guys and 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. You can feel it 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. But fun is to be fair, having a good time fair, purple and white we share, showing the 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. [BLANK_AUDIO]