The Days of Electrifying Game Changing KJ Jefferson Are Behind Him | Josh Neighbors

[Music] welcome back Josh Neighbors Big 12 watch uh Josh I I missed our weekly segments so very much um it it hurt me at my core not to have you in my life now we talk every week I think do like just socially but yes you know but this is this is a different thing this is beyond friendship when you're on when you're podcasting together I've called you in vehicles traveling I mean I've called you from press boxes uh I've called you from Vehicles I've called you with different PE I've called you in the car with girlfriends I've called you in the car with colleagues you know I've I've done from my own apartment so Paul you've been a a large part of my life you traveled a lot of miles with me yes I think over the time that i' I've talked with you too so um absolutely yeah man I miss it yeah that's uh by the way that's probably my door Dash is that door Dash yes uh thank you just uh give it to this guy right here I'm going to leave this in the interview what' you get I'm going to leave this in uh chicken I got CH Golden Chick Golden Chick so not familiar yeah oh it's a it's a Texas staple Garrett and I are big fans of Golden Chick um I don't think Garrett Minds me saying that he's a big fan of Golden Chick I love Golden Chick especially their wings yeah uh today I got tenders just just going outside the box uh Golden Chick not the sponsor of this segment if they want to though yeah um but nobody's telling you no Golden Chick come on your money is green just like everyone else's uh Josh uh let's start off with last night um Kansas UCF uh they had no problems uh they looked exactly you know how we kind of thought um before we get to Colorado in North Dakota I want to like back that up because the beginning of our show today is a lot of Colorado North Dakota so we'll back that up for a second because I want your opinion on KJ Jefferson who I'm very big on at UCF and fitting in that offense but I'm getting he and dju kind of fit in the similar thing to me where you're watching them you know that they can do something and you're like just be an athlete man just do it and they it's like they're both humming along at like you know 90% of the speed limit when they could when they could certainly hit the pedal to the floor yeah um yeah I that's an interesting interesting thought I I KJ W again I think he's still recovering from the trauma that he went through last year on the the Arkansas Razer backs they put him through a lot physically uh they did not protect him very well and so I think he's still kind of recovering from that he was not particularly accurate last night he was effective at times I mean his seven you know the seven throws went for 164 so like or seven completions he had went for 164 so I mean you know he was he was trying to you know they're pushing the ball a little bit and obviously their Playmakers made some plays too um I think it's going to be a mixed bag this year and I I think this team's got the talent to be really good I think if they had a better quarterback they they we talking about them as a big 12 Championship Contender uh I don't think they are not just because of KJ but I would say the the defense as well I'm not soal new CF defense but also I do think KJ Jefferson like I don't know if he's a big 12 Championship level quarterback on this team in my opinion yeah um and maybe that changes look he's got a really good like the one the one thing I will say for both dju and for KJ Jefferson is they have excellent quarterback coaches coaching them but like coaching only goes so far like I I think that when you see guys in their fifth year uh on another school or two um you're kind of where they're going to be and you just kind of got to maximize what you're going to get of them and then have everybody like usually you you want the quarterback to raise the level of play of everybody else well this has to be inverted you know the other people have to make bail out the quarterback a little bit yeah I mean it's it's weird like I I just don't feel like we're going to see him return to being old KJ I I I I don't know why that guy it feels like he's gone I hate to be like one bad year or whatever but like it even watched him last night like is he's also not a really good passer that's I think the one thing about this like he was never some super accurate precise passer in the way like you know a shador Sanders is um and so I think like their rushing attacks was it's what is what's going to be what's best for them like I feel like you know them West Virginia K State might all be in the same boat now funny thing is you you could make an argument like out of all those teams you know uh RG Harvey might be like the kind of most effective player out of all that entire group uh but also they got good wide receivers like can KJ utilize you know D Townsen and Kobe Hudson the best of his ability uh you know or as much as much as a quarterback could like I don't know I I don't know if he is he is good enough to do all that so I want to see it I want to see it like week by week because last night I mean for as good as a win was like not particularly impressive from KJ I thought yes uh yeah it's not um but let's get it like I'm we'll get into the the the week here in a minute like the actual rest of the week but but um I don't think we need to talk about Kansas too much uh and Utah too much but I do think the Common Thread there is Jaylen Daniels and cam Rising look fine totally fine by the way shout out Caleb loner c a touchdown uh late the game yeah Caleb loner cut a touchdown uh from basketball to football first game out he scores a touchdown I I do have a feeling he's going to play a part in a bigger game because of just the athletic mismatch he will provide in key situations Brandt ke like the the news for Utah is everyone's fine Brandt Keith's fine cam Rising is fine um you know their Roth IRAs are probably doing great right now you know they they'll get together and talk about how the market did this week after the game because they're older dudes but they look fine totally fine uh and so that's great news for Utah Jaylen Daniels they didn't even have to ask him to do all that much he was didn't he did not record a rush I believe yeah I mean like the numbers that I was looking at why would you right you know like again they are in their rushing game Kansas at a point with Haisha and Neil where Jaylen Daniels rushes don't have to be called all that much where it can just be a all right well you guys are GNA give that to me I'm gonna take it and then that's going to be where it is so I think that that's a great thing for them uh so but but Kansas and Utah your thoughts on pretty much exactly what we we thought we'd see from two of the teams that are going to be at the top of the conference more than likely it's it's kind of like going home when you're in college like going to the bar like maybe seeing that girl from high school that like you're super into you're like ah wow she's still bringing it okay great like really nice to see you that's how I felt with jayen Daniels and that's how it felt with Cam Rising it was just nice to see him it was really nice to see those two guys out there and for KU man I mean to have a team that has got a number 22 I remember a couple years ago when they they snuck by South Dakota I think what was Lance leipold's first game as head coach to see them take a lindawood team and just beat the breakes off them as they should right but you know to see that 27 point second quarter they just you know like Kansas football is in such a different place and to C Jen Daniels really refreshing and the two running backs you know the top two running backs say had a great night they were fantastic on the ground we'll see what that means later on it was just nice to see him and cam Rising I mean he you know he had completions five of them were touchdowns so uh nice night from cam as well yeah I mean all these these teams will have significantly tougher challenges in the coming weeks but it was just nice to see them the to quarterbacks you know I do my best not to overreact to these games at all but so just my only thought was nice to see you guys again we missed you yeah okay now let's I don't think Colorado and North Dakota State anything we say is g to be an overreaction um and it is just one game but if you ask me what the difference between Colorado last year and this year is I will say the patch of the conference on their uniforms I think the offensive line is a little bit better the defensive line uh made some key plays late in the game but early in the game they were absent completely offensive line is better and that's good but they still have no faith to run the ball uh as evidenced by getting the ball back with two minutes left and throwing passes until they got a pass interference call that essentially sealed that sealed the game up for them they were not running the ball in that situation they were throwing the ball and that tells me that not much has changed and they will not get away with that maybe even next week against Nebraska uh that is that is something that they're going to have to be very concerned about and because we don't know about Nebraska yet but I do know that you not going to be able to just throw on that defense and sit back and let shadur be the badass that he is and he's legit badass Travis Hunter is amazing uh yeah he's really good he amazing uh he is something we haven't seen in a very long time um Jimmy horn Jr very good like they have three NFL receivers or whatever Travis Hunter's going to be but they have three NFL players at wide receiver on the field at any given moment Leon Wester Jimmy horn Jr and Travis Hunter and they've got an NFL first round pick throwing the ball to him but you cannot live on that alone yeah like the they can't they can't bring any pressure from the middle because they don't have good enough defensive linemen to open up gaps for their linebackers and they can't bring pressure from the outside because their linebackers aren't fast and athletic enough to get to the quarterback like I did not I'm not sure what the final numbers were last night in terms of uh the defensive situation so let's see they had seven tfls and two sacks yeah like they really they made a conservative effort to bring pressure because I mean when they played like zone of any kind it just got shredded uh they could they were not great in coverage and like Travis Hunter wasn't particularly good either in coverage now like I think I think like anytime I watch him play on either side of the ball especially last night like they needed him as wide receiver that was kind of what was needed so I can really for like I'll forego judgment on the cornerback part of things but their defense is just like honestly Paul too they look small the defense did not look big they don't look like they've got guys that can reach the quarterback and uh what was the kid's name from Texas Tech a few years ago they went to the um defensive lineman end Tyre Wilson yes like Texas Tech ends up having a guy like that you know remember do Dominic Williams left like that guy was a a beast as a freshman you know King Oliver was a really good pass rusher as a freshman these big 12 schools uh um uh uh guy with a weird name outside you know I'm terrible names right now K State the guy who went to the Chiefs 30 uh 32nd whatever it was goly yeah you know I know who it's Friday afternoon all right and I've had very long week um yeah so like like you these teams are are developing talent and getting guys who are you know end up being really good defensive players and like looked the part they've got nobody who looks apart they've got nobody on defense who looks aart Travis Hunter doesn't look like does not actually look the part he's really really slender and small he looks a part for a Tyreek Hill yeah but looked AP part for a Richard Sherman yeah right and I and and so um I mean once again also I do think he actually is probably the best player in college football to be honest I think it's I don't think it's unfair to say so that's a nice Trum card to have but like football skill players are really fun and fantastic but if you don't win at the line scrimmage it doesn't really matter that's that's that's why the championship team last year Michigan pushed a lot of teams around on offense and was very very Stern on defense so yeah Colorado is I'm not saying they're trying to contend for announc Championship but like talking about like trying to be a conference Champion they don't look good enough they don't look big enough which is like weird because everybody's like Dion's recruiting well it's like but recruits recruits who are good normally look a certain way and they don't look like that at all they don't look like at all you know he last year Gary and I talked about this when when he was talking about their roster and he's like y'all don't know who we have coming and we're like well yeah we all do we I mean they're transfers we saw them play but these aren't high school kids that you were like picking out of the thing like this is not art bals finding three star kids who run four fours yes that everybody's overlooked like you are picking guys out of the transfer portal which sometimes is great uh you know uh especially when you brought those kids from Jackson State yourself but um but also like you know it's it could be could be better uh and you have to like he's got to figure out the balance between High School recruiting and the portal but like does he want to I don't think he wants to because I I think he's tried but I think that he doesn't like like not that I don't think Dion thinks he's above talking to High School coaches but from what don't like the hard part of recruiting I can tell you that recuit because he's Dion and it but it's also harder for him because like Dion can't just like sneak into Mumford High School uh without like somebody like this is why you put Ace Recruiters on your staff yeah and he you know what he has here's the mistake that he's made so far he's got Pat shurmer who's an NFL coach Dum he's he's yeah he's got uh he's got you know defensive ators that were not the best recruiters you know uh he had Shawn Lewis then he sent them away and he wasn't going to have Shawn Lewis for very long anyway that was always going to be like a a stopover for Shawn Lewis but like he's got to get Recruiters on that staff he's got a bunch of guys who played in the NFL and that's fine for part of your staff but are those guys out there recruiting he does not have the ace recruiter right now he I think he did have Tim Brewster for a minute but Tim Brewster is a bit of a hit and run guy uh Alabama play paid the what GM CEO whatever it is yeah $800,000 uhuh that was that's like a recruiting position that's like the players like this guy position that that's like kind of what that is all right Dion Sanders he can rely on like his personality to get certain guys but like if you're attracting a certain level of player you have to like be selecting like this is where I see for this guy like this like or you know like it doesn't need to be a bunch of four stars it could be like look this three star has got size that we need we need to bring him like they need to they need to kind of like look at the rosters this was my problem when he said the Louie comment when he's like I'm bringing my Louie with me because you can't tell me there weren't any players at all on Colorado's roster that you could look at and say hey this guy could be good this guy could be a rotation player for this this guy'd be nice to have if a player went down but instead he was like I'm bringing my Lou with me hit the road it's like you haven't even looked at the roster to see if you there's any player worth developing or keeping or who is in a weird situation with the last staff like it it feels like it's almost like Jerry Jones the Cowboys I know he's not really running things anymore but like the big knock on Jerry is that like was Jerry grinding all the film necessary to make decisions for his team that like other GMS were doing and look the Cowboys have been good for a while but like I don't think Jerry was doing that now luckily it seems like stepen Jones actually does that like I will give Stephen credit like it's like he's putting together completely crap teams every year they're decent yeah St killing it right like Jerry's not like will is but I don't know about Stephen we we'll that remains to be seen another time Steph yeah yeah that's kind of how I feel about Dion it's like when I look at that defensive line I'm like did you think about this roster at all yeah like who are these guys like who are these dudes rushing the passer because like they're not going to get home they're just not get the big 12 the league if they're top half the league in sacks I will be shocked or it's because they bring a ton of pressure also they weren't once again they weren't particularly good at covering anybody last night either and like this isn't a super fast North Dakota State team I know they're good FCS wise but like where those teams typically lose is the athletic and speed of disadvantages I heard Bud Elliott say this the other day he was like spread them out Colorado will spread them out and win that way an offense that worked on defense they got spread out like like they they got they got punched them out and they were allowing stuff over the middle too like it was it was pretty equal opportunity I mean the hill Mary got caught at the end of the game just the throw was short I mean they didn't do anything you know pretty that well on defense last night yeah yeah absolutely all right uh last thing we'll talk like the rest of the Big 12 I I mean not that many intriguing I'm curious about Arizona State Wyoming could be you know that's I think that's a good opening test for them um Houston and UNLV is really interesting that's going to be really tight game but I do want to use most of the time we have left to talk about West Virginia and Penn State I'm picking West Virginia to win the game uh I know that Penn State wins most of the time when they're favored by a touchdown or more and they are they're eight and a half but I think uh this one means a lot to the to the the many in Morgantown there so I think the Mountaineers are uh are are prime to to uh send a message yes so I'm I'm going the other way on this I just think that these two teams are going to well I mean if Andy cot Nikki runs what he's run at Kansas both of these teams are gonna try and accomplish pretty similar things and I just think that when it comes to that kind of matchup Penn State just got the better Personnel on the off I know West Virginia's Line's very good but they and you could say Garrett green wasn't the guy he is now but they they didn't look excellent last year when they played Penn State and and so I think the problem I have is like man West Virginia's offense is at their best when they're just really hitting that run game really well and look maybe that threed monster of Jem white CJ Donaldson and Garrick green is cash tomorrow may you know maybe it just it it's all cylinders I wouldn't be completely shocked but like if it's a pH if the game is decided in the trenches gonna go with Penn State and that's that's kind of the thing like West Virginia is not not a they spread you out some but like it's because they're trying to open things up for the running game it's not because like they've got great wide receivers like this is not you know the Gary Jennings you know David Sills type situation here this is more of a this is I mean the three best players are all in the back field as rushers and so I that's what concerns me because like Penn State's front is like they're not Michigan good they're not Ohio State good but they're pretty good you know they're still pretty good I mean that's those two their two losses last year so I just think Penn State's going to win up front especially this part of the Season where everybody's fresh I think that's where they get them also 11 am I wish this game was a night game oh I'm sure that the morgant town folks yeah this game should have been a night game yeah that's uh I think that's some big 10 sauce cooking right there getting that big noon kickoff and you know whatever I mean you know it's it's great that West Virginia's involv and big new kickoff absolutely and here's here's the thing like like Paul if they WI tomorrow we need to have a serious conversation about how good that team can be because the way that they would win unless they all of a sudden start chucking the ball around the yard and you know they've got like two NFL wide receivers and Penn State couldn't cover anybody like they're gonna win because of their Dynamic ability to to confuse teams with how they run the football and how good their guys who run the football are and also how much like their defense improved D and met the challenge and like that's a that would be a really if they do win the conversation around Neil Brown for me completely changes it goes from I'm proud of you last year for staving off getting fired and like you had a really good year and I'm glad you took play calling into your own hands to you just went you just did all that and developed it all the way into we prepped we drilled game one top 10 team comes in we beat you yeah and like that would be that would be a significant significant moment I think in in West Virginia football history because you know like they had an Innovative offensive mind in in Rich Rod he's one of you know the he's one honestly he's kind of the college football father of the spread option Neil Brown like kind of reopt the spread option yeah and and getting it done would be just a massive Resurgence for them yeah absolutely Josh Neighbors Big 12 watch find him on YouTube uh he's a he's a star in the making people he's a star in the making kind yes uh Josh where's your high school game tonight uh actually it's in Little Rock So Arkansas played at War Memorial Stadium tonight yeah last night excuse me against uapb Benton and Bryant they call it the salt bow it's the 50th playing uh it might have 25,000 people there tonight uh at War Memorial Stadium so that's where I'll be oh sweating it out thugging it out on the sidelines it's going to be hot as hell and I'll be there for it well um you know as someone like I've done Sidelines like maybe 20 times in my whole career and I I like I was lucky enough to when I had to do it for college games it was always later in the season so it wasn't that bad uh but I've had to do it for some I had to do it for a high school game in the summer like an All-Star Game and thought I was going to die like literally when they dumped the Gatorade bath on the coach I like dropped the wireless and ran like put me yeah on the ground in the Gatorade bath me too too absolutely Josh Neighbors Big 12 watch uh we'll have him every week uh we're going to rotate the time of the segment uh so that uh you know you're not always kind of you know you've got to you've got to play it you gotta play it loose so you don't just yeah well Josh is gonna be on at 5:30 Well that's today next week it might be 3:30 we don't know I'm all over the place we don't yeah I know he floats like a butterfly and stings like a like a well he doesn't sting at all uh he just floats like a butterfly Josh we'll talk to you next week yes sir see y this is 365 Sports