Rapid Fire: Mike Denbrock Talks Kyle Field, Riley Leonard, Benjamin Morrison, Conner Weigman

Jesse are you ready for Rapid Fire I've been honestly waiting for rapid fire all week I bet you have because this is your first rapid fire of the week I guess isn't it didn't even think about and my only yeah that's true so Mike Den Brock of course coached at Texas A&M's Kyle Field when he was an assistant coach at LSU and here is what Den Brock had to say about playing at Kyle Field Hornet's Nest I mean it is loud chaotic warm I think someone brought up all those things are true and it's a very very difficult hostile place to function uh especially as the visiting team on the offensive side of the ball so we're going to have to and we've already done this you know worked on different cadences and and and you know snap counts and things like that to make sure we're clued in we're we're going to have to be careful about maybe how much motion and shifting and different things that we build within the game plan because you can't hear I mean and it's hard communication is hard and I think the work with we've we've done with a good doctor about focusing and blocking out uh the noise if you will literally the noise uh at Kyle Field is going to be a huge factor in how we perform and uh you know and I think some of that too is you know the confidence and calmness that we can walk into that stadium with as a program and that comes from being successful on the practice field and building that that trust in one another and the confidence in one another now as we said it is noteworthy that with nine games to go there is now rain in the forecast for the 31st when Notre Dame in Texas A&M play at Kyle Field so which is going to be the bigger Factor do you think next week the heat slash maybe rain or the crowd what do you think um I would have to say that I think the bigger Factor um will be the crowd because of a lot of what Den Brock was talking about you know with the loud crowd you might have to start changing up your cadences you run into potential you know false start penalties uh you might not want to get into as much motion you know what I mean because you'll be afraid guys aren't going to hit their kind of landmarks and maybe be delayed or you know too fast or when they're starting and ending their motion so at the end of the day I think that a loud environment has more of an impact on your overall you know success or function of the offense the heat is what it is you know it's just going to be hot uh potentially rainy or wet but again the crowd kind of can dictate you know how you how you operate your offense to more of a degree a lot of the crowd thing is also dictated by how quickly the road team can punch and you can get on top make something happen you know like the I just I keep going back to all that buildup before Virginia Tech and entner Sand Man and all that stuff and all it took was a big early touchdown and even like the second time they went there Notre Dame like the game was closer but like in both cases the crowd wasn't that much of a factor so you know I don't know with A&M is it just like that song in the entrance particular like you know like it does sound like and we talked to Carter I talked to Carter Carl who covers Texas A&M earlier this summer he talked about how like when the fans you like when they start doing their kind of up and down bouncing around and stuff like that the stadium literally starts rocking as well so I I do think especially if you've got rookie offensive linemen who are out there you're you're bound to have a false start or two they are going to go with the clap count it looks like I'll be curious to see how much they're they they stick with that clap count and what that does but the louder it stays I do think the crowd is going to have a much bigger Factor overall than the heat I I do think that that you know Notre Dame will from a from a nutrition Sports Performance standpoint they'll have them all properly hydrated and ready to go it's obviously going to be hot but I do like Notre Dame's depth and I I I I like their ability to deal with that and as I've said before as the game goes on it'll still be humid out there but it'll cool off 10 or 15 degrees and like could end up being maybe a little bit of a blessing in disguise if you know maybe there's some cloud cover and it's not just you know Sun beating down even before the game and stuff like that you know if there's a little bit of off andon rain as long as somebody said as long as there's not lightning like that's the last thing that we need yeah indd noted aim for Life the cowbells as well that's that's a good call that's part of it down there as well you know a lot of lot of craziness so yeah I'm going with the crowd noise as well I agree so Marcus Freeman was asked the other day about Jaden Thomas Notre name wide receiver of course comparing Riley Leonard to both Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen with the speed of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson here's what Freeman said to that man I'm no quarterback Guru um JT opinions is JT but he is a he's a physical goodlooking dude man um I don't know how big Josh Allen is I I don't and so uh I don't think he's Lamar Jackson you know the NFL MVP but he's exactly what we need so there's Marcus Freeman on it I'm no quarterback Guru what do you think about the comparison Jess yeah I would say that he leans more so towards Josh Allen um I I would kind of shy away from the Lamar Jackson comparison because I think there's only really one of Lamar Jackson's and's a unicorn that's right yeah and what he can do but I mean Josh Allen is 6 foot5 235 pounds uh Riley Leonard is 6 foot4 and 215 pounds so basically same height um a little bit little bit skinnier but I would I would go out to say that you know that Ry Leonard is actually probably a little bit more quicker and mobile and agile than Josh Allen but I I do think Josh Allen is a very you know comparable comparison and I do believe I I don't think I I would say Riley Leonard's arm strength and talent probably isn't as you know on par with what Josh Allen can do yet um but I think you know a young Josh Allen I I do like that comparison for someone like Riley land I just don't think you can mix in uh Lamar Jackson he's just too much of a his own kind of species I think maybe Jaden Thomas has been playing too many video games or something you know I don't I don't know if that's where he got that comparison or want but you know Lamar Jackson is just so different now I think you know one I think the Josh Allen comparison to Riley Leonard is good when they were in college for example because I think like even Riley Leonard is a better passer of the football than Josh Allen I like when when Allen like Allen was only completing 50 some percent of his passes when he was at Wyoming before he was drafted you know like the thing that Allen has now is that extra layer of armor he's thicker I think he's got what you what' you say you know around 20 or so pounds about 20 pounds on him but like when you you know we played the the cut last week I think about Riley Leonard and you know his he was talking about do you slide or do you lower the shoulder and his you know his instinct is because he's so competitive is lower the shoulder more times than not and so I think that mentality is definitely you know more in the Josh Allen range and again like so you know like if you look at what Josh Allen is now what is it six or so years into his NFL career I mean obviously Josh Allen's got a big leg up but again I think if you look at him when they were in college I think it's a really good that's a really good comparison Riley Leonard to to Josh Allen Lamar Jackson just throw that out of there because like you said there's there's nobody else his speed isn't that that Speedy no he's fast but he's not that fast absolutely and obviously Lamar Jackson you know just being so thin and everything too I think that's the thing that's really surprised me is you know he's Lamar Jackson for how small he is really has never taken like a massive hit maybe it's just because he's so good and Elusive that he's just doesn't no one can get a direct blow on him yeah and and you know that's that was obviously the biggest worry with him because of the fact that he is so slight you know just from a physical standpoint that you know the worry coming out of Louisville obviously was was he a good enough passer to make it in the NFL I think that he's proven that he's a good enough passer at least for the regular season in the NFL but gotta prove it in the postseason now that's the next thing that he has to answer otherwise I mean you're just Dak Prescott right losing playoff games fill in the blank Notre Aon peacock of course recently announced the much anticipated streaming series here come the Irish it's going to air before and after the regular season Jess we I haven't had a chance to ask you about this yet the number one thing you want to see in that show is blank uh the development of the offensive side of the ball I think there's question marks literally uh at everywhere at the offensive line you have a new quarterback coming in you have a wide receiver room that is you know highly questioned um scrutinized um and you know even more more so like yeah we know the talent of Jeremiah love but he's not been a lead you know running back so it's like to me I want to see the integration of Mike Mike Dick's philosophy with this young with you know with basically a young kind of inexperienced group on the offensive side of the ball like I got a good idea what the defense is like I've seen Al golden I you know I know what he's what he's about I think defensively I'd like to see you know the the the the the development of those linebackers like bow and KVA Sneed um but but really to me it's got to be you know the offensive side of the ball because that's going to be the Difference Maker this season how do you think you're actually gonna see any of that though like because I you know again I realized we didn't get a chance to talk to you about it but they're going to show like next week I think it's the 29th so a week from today they're going to drop the first two episodes so that's all going to be you know there'll be some training camp stuff in there but it's basically two episodes for the entire offseason and then you're not going to get another episode again until after the regular season is over in early December so you know like to me I just want to see you know be you know because again you know they've been calling it the quote unquote Hard Knocks type show like I want to see the candid conversations you know whether it's coaches with players or players in players whatever it happens to be mic them up during games we've talked about some you know like the video that they did uh during the Duke game in that comeback last year you know whether it's that or just you know like in the meeting rooms wherever it happens to be you know like real candid conversations like give us a side of things that we haven't got to see before that's what I want to see somebody said Marcus Freeman's workouts he's already put out a video on that he's got like a men's fitness video or something have you noticed how much more Buffy looks this year than even last year oh yeah oh yeah check he is uh he is definitely fit but you know when these shows come around I I see what you're saying you like to see kind of like the storylines and like you said kind of maybe the behind the scenes you know kind of you know breaking down of you know kind of the Strategic side of things why they're deciding to do this or that kind of game plan decisions that sort of stuff but to me in those shows I'm more of an X as an O's kind of guy I want to see you know how how these guys are kind of developing into these positions and and how the pieces fall into you know the puzzle of Mike Den Brock's offense sty says the wide receiver room just in case there's juicy gossip from last year I've got a feeling they're gonna leave that kind of stuff yeah they're not gonna let that air yeah yeah I will be curious to see like what these first two episodes look like though you know like how much is training camp how much is spring practice how much you know like I mean there's definitely going to be an episode like a day in the life of a Notre Dame athlete like going to class going to practice going to the you know going to the be worked in there a meal table going to get treatment just like that's everyone's favorite storyline you know like what it takes to be a Notre Dame football player essentially I don't disagree with this rabid now Chihuahua he said that's what I mean I I want the game stuff yes at this point tired of storylines give us the games that's right and that's you know again like these first two episodes we're not going to get any actual game stuff it's all going to be practice and you know whatever they work in there so okay so Dane bugler from the athletic released his preseason rankings for next year's NFL draft this week which is more surprising that Benjamin Morrison comes in at number 11 on his draft prospect list or that he doesn't have Riley Leonard anywhere in his top 50 um I think that the more surprising thing would be Benjamin Morrison at number 11 you know I I've seen a lot of preseason I've been following some of the pre-season ranking stuff they had you know Riley Leonard at right around 80 on ESPN's list uh like a couple weeks ago um and and to just to be honest with you I think that there are just more hyped up more overall right now talented quarterbacks than Riley Leonard and I'm not saying Riley Leonard can't get there but the injury last season didn't help him at all I think he's kind of become an afterthought in a lot of people's minds but I think he has the potential to climb the most or make up the most ground let me throw this at you because I'm more surprised by the Riley Leonard because of this so not only is Leonard not in the top 50 Connor Wegman Texas A&M quarterback number 24 on this list that's very surprising and and again referencing the list I just told you about they had Riley Leonard and wigman backto back and so I just last year's list no this year's ESPN list oh the ESPN list okay yeah the one that I was kind of seeing a couple weeks ago so that is the more surprising thing to me because Riley Leonard has a track record and he was on a lot of a lot of people's big boards before you know draft mock boards before he got hurt I've never heard of Conor wigman before the guy does even have a full season as a starting quarterback right right he's played in nine games in we're going off Talent alone and projection and I think that Riley Leonard has still proven more as long as he can be reliable and stay healthy and again I think that's the thing that's on everyone's mind is is the is the you know the injury can he stay healthy and I think that's ultimately what's holding him back if he has a healthy season and goes on and you know does what he what we think he's going to this season I do believe he's going to be one of the highest climbers by the end of the season but it also surprises me though though because wigman broke his foot last year you know so like he's dealing with an injury as well like he's Riley lonard is no more injury-prone than Conor wigman and that so that it it surprises me that they've got him this high on the list you know and I know that that wasn't the question but like the fact that they've got Wegman this high and Leonard isn't on the list because you go back to a year ago at this time and Dane Brugler had Riley Leonard on his list going into last season you know so he thought very highly of him so like his have has his opinion changed that much just because of Riley Leonard's injury like was there something actually in his play that he saw before that that that's changed his mind I would like to know that because again like wigman's only played in in nine games and he dealt with an injury of his own last year and like Andrew was was saying about Benjamin Morrison his only issue is tackling and I mean I think that you can probably say that about a ton of cornerbacks like the the main thing with a cornerback is can you defend the pass or not you know like tackling is is kind of the you know the last the last trait really right you know like the last thing that that you're thinking about you're you're more concerned can he cover him to you know prevent a situation where he even has to make a tackle because you know like like Dion that was the thing that everybody knocked with him back in the day Antoine saying Notre Dame Cowboys in or out Maris lefou starts week one versus Jeremiah auu coroa and the Browns um I will I I did start that earlier sorry I was kind of doing some some research on the back end there um I this is 100% n Maris is going to be Notre Dame starter or sorry the cowboy starter at that linebacker position J actually just got a nice four-year extension on his deal um he is to me one of their best defensive players because of what he did at Notre Dame his ability to be effective in the Run um and I think he's one of the best coverage linebackers in the game and I think that's what you're going to see out of Maris too like we all know that you know you can gripe about his runs um he had a a horrible run fit to start preseason game but like I told thing about that the thing about that he was playing against the Raiders starters right in that game it was Cowboys reserves against the Raiders starters and you know they it was just a real quick but he he quickly redeemed himself and had a really good really good fit and made you know a tackle in the back field so like I told you I'll give him a break on that one because it was literally his first NFL run fit of his career like you know the nerves got to be playing a part at at some point but again I think marris and JK are really kind of similar linebackers I think JK is is better in the Run game right now but Maris is going to be really effective in coverage for the Cowboys so Nathan Milton posted this one on the new Champions lounge and I thought it would be fun to throw this one in here what song describes how you feel about the upcoming Notre Dame football season so what's your song Jess oh man I I I'm so glad that we got to this question because I was trying to remember the name of it and I was just I find finally was able to kind of remember it um to me it's DMX Rough Riders okay the do you know what song that is no I don't well I'll let you go I'll Google I'll Google it afterwards you like give me you know like I'm sure a lot of people probably don't know there's probably some who do some who don't I just went with with a foo fighter song Break Out like because I think I think Notre Dame is is gonna a a lot of guys break out this year and they're going to break out back to the playoffs so that's what I went with breakout DMX Rough Riders Anthem all right once you hear it you'll know that you you'll be like oh I know I've heard this song do you think I've heard it before I you definitely heard it you just don't know the name of it right Ryan says I used to be a Rough Rider yeah like me and Teddy Roosevelt back in the day we were we were down there in San Juan storm in the hill Ryan roll says Living on a Prayer oh man so he's he's going a little doubt early on Joe Allen Joe Joe went another Foo Fighters he went and learned to fly by the Foo Fighters okay Josh what is that zenal xennials what is that I think he's talking about Millennials no okay all right okay so Florida States a 10 and a half Point fav favorite in their opener Saturday in Dublin against Georgia Tech who do you like with that spread you know a lot of people have you know Florida the the ACC coming down to Florida State um or or Miami I don't know if I'm G to be bought in on Florida State being you know this Powerhouse this season I actually believe you know Georgia Tech is actually going to be you know better and kind of maybe you know not a dark horse but definitely a team that that I think is going to be better than a lot of people are giving them credit for um and I know a lot of people actually think that that that Georgia Tech game down in Atlanta is going to be you know kind of a potential Trap game for for Notre Dame even so you know I I think Georgia Tech is going to be a solid team this year uh I think they'll they'll put up a fight in a lot of games um with that being said I I don't you know with everything that's going on I don't like Florida State in 11 and a half so I'll have to go with Georgia Tech to cover that spread I agree they were horrible defensively last year they ranked 13 first in in defense but talked about a Haynes King he led the ACC with 27 touchdown passes last year he ran for seven he's a he's you know like few too many interceptions he's going to have to figure that out but I mean they return basically all of the offense from last year so I like Florida State to win this game but Georgia Tech getting those 10 and a half points I will take that and run with it yes so DraftKings has a college football playoff boost special right now you can pick a four team parlay of four teams that you think will make it to the playoff this year Jesse told me about this one so who are your four teams that you're going with yeah so I just pulled up the list I think this is really fun because again for for $10 because that's a lot of DraftKings have they limit how much you can D you know bet on these boost type things so this is a $10 Max I think it's pretty fun you put together four teams that you thinking to make the playoffs I went with two easy ones Ohio State and Georgia I think those teams are definitely uh in my opinion some of the locks um I put Notre Dame in there because I do believe they'll find a way into the playoffs whether you know that's a five seed or maybe even down all the way down to a 10 seed um but to spice things up a little bit it came down to me of LSU or Clemson a lot of like the the kind of the third teams I guess quote unquote third teams you could say you know a lot like Old Miss um and Alabama are ahead of LSU um and then in the ACC you know Florida state is ahead of them um and maybe even I don't see Miami I don't think I scrolled down far enough but to to wrap it up my four teams Ohio State Georgia Notre Dame and I'm gonna go Clemson I think Clemson's gonna kind of redeem themselves this year I think a lot of people are gonna Overlook them in the ACC uh I think Davos Sweeny uh had a bad taste left in his mouth last season season I think a lot of people kind of criticize him question him I think he's going to come back with a really solid bounceback season and kind of remind everyone of you know I am dbos Sweeny and I am you know I know what I'm doing here so those are my four teams I can't decide between Florida State and Clemson in the ACC so I I left them out of mine I've got three teams that are the same as yours though I've got Georgia Ohio State and Notre Dame and my fourth team is one of the newest teams to the big 12 I went with the Utah Utes I feel like they're getting uh pretty pretty overlooked in that move don't they have like a seventh year quarterback as well yeah they do um cam Rising cam Rising yes thank you his name was like slipping my brain there I forgot about them too because they are a team that a lot of people I've seen a lot of people you know playoff predictions and they do have Utah and and the Big 12 that's a good you know that's a it's a power four conference they're going to get someone in there so I I do think that you know if you think that Utah's the the best of the Big 12 I think that's a really good decision yep so the Mike Tyson Jake Paul fight is back on did you see this news this I did not but I was honestly thinking the other day I was like isn't this fight supposed to happen by now because I saw something I saw a video of Mike Tyson right so it was supposed to take place last month in July at Jerry World in Arlington Texas but Tyson it had to be postponed because he got nauseous and dizzy while he was on a flight back in May so it got postponed I think they might have looked for you know like a different opponent but they couldn't find one but it's back on now it's going to take place in the middle of November still going to be there in Arlington scale of 1 to 10 what's your excitement level for this you know I I might be in the minority on this I'm not going to say it's a 10 out of 10 but it's definitely in the range of a eight or nine I never got to see Mike Tyson really fight in the Heyday right so it to me it'd be really fun to see him I know it's not the same but you I just i' I've watched podcast with him I've watched interviews with him the dude is still crazy in the head like he still has a Fighters mentality he's going to go out there and try to kill someone so I want to see that like again I know it's not going to be prime Mike Tyson but to at least see him you know live fighting someone is great and then you throw in the combination that he could potentially knock out someone like Jake Paul you know complete you know for I you could use a lot of words uh in this situation I just not a fan of him um and so you know again you throw in the potential of him knocking out someone that is so cocky and arrogant like Jake Paul I'm 100% in on this I'm uh 100% with you as well so it is nine I don't know what day of the week let me see if I can find it here real quick I think it's November 15th so that is going to be like Tyson a Friday night I like that it's a Friday Friday night he's not going to take this lightly you know what I mean like he is going to the the the preparation that he is going to put into this and like I said like I know his mental just like he was just talking about he studies the The Art of War and different War tactics and like he still thinks about this stuff it's not something that he's just going out there to do for fun he is going to go out there and try to rip off Jake Paul's head yes and I just you know I miss I you know like when when I was gosh I even younger than you basically like it was really when pay-per-views were kind of getting started we would get the Tyson pay-per-views you know we'd watch him you know fight uh you know Spinx and you know all these all these different guys and you know they the fights would typically last 90 seconds it seemed like they didn't last very long because he was just pulverized guys out there but you know there's really the the the the the fight game is is all but gone so like this is the last little bit of nostalgia we can kind of go back to and I would I'm so I'm very excited to see this I don't know how long it's actually Gonna Last but I'm I'm I'm excited to see Mike Tyson go out there and and fight a YouTuber and see if he can just beat him into Oblivion in the middle of the ring so fill in the blank it's blank that Tennessee Titans quarterback will Levis has launched the world's first man inspired fragrance in conjunction with Helman it's called will Levis number eight it's repulsive is what it is I barely eat you know Mayo as is and it's I I will not eat Miracle Whip Mayo I will not eat you know it's got to be real authentic Mayo for me to eat it and even then it's a stretch I get very far and few what I'll actually put mayo on but I just when when you're talking about a fragrance or sorry a fragrance or a cologne like I just thinking about Mayo is repulsive but I looked up what do you think is like the main they're calling it the main Accord of the scent like what do you think is like the the main thing that you're going to smell in this cologne I have no idea like I'm thinking that you know like dogs might like this you know like what is mayonnaise inspired fragrance gonna smell like so it says main Accords it's mainly vanilla aromatic powdery fresh and sweet so like are they just are they just using the Mayo color you know like that white kind of color and and and relating that to a more vanilla scent because like anything that smells like Mayo like I said repulsive like you couldn't convince and it's like if you're a man are you really going to put on some mayo cologne to go out and try to like woo some ladies it might be the worst part of May mayonnaise is the smell of mayonnaise right you know it's like and you're going to spray that on yourself and that's supposed to attract people I don't know man I don't know they said it's sold out though it's sold out within let me see here uh called will Levis number eight perfume de menes it sold out within 90 minutes of it being released insane they're actually like we have we have a pretty good sample size this is a Charles Barkley take right here those San Antonio women let's keep it nice let's keep it [Laughter] nice but I just I just like yeah like what are you GNA spray it on your turkey sandwich or what like I don't get it but I guess somebody's getting it I don't know okay it's out okay I guess I'll have to like I wonder where they're selling it even you know like like can you go to Macy's are they going to have parfume to to L number eight Mayo coffee creamer oh my gosh that was his thing though at the draft remember he like mixed in he puts mayonnaise he put mayonnaise and I can't remember what it was is that where it came from like the whole like he was doing mayonnaise something yes it came from the draft night and I can't or like maybe like right before leading up to the draft there was just something that came out where he is just like overly obsessed with mayonnaise and that he said at the combine that he merely added the condiment to his coffee um as a joke but I think it kind of went viral at that point you couldn't literally I'll tell you this right now Mayo is good in like two things aoli um and like maybe a BLT sandwich I've been actually Naomi puts Mayo on on her burger like Mayo Mayo on one side of the bun and ketchup on the other I tried it it's actually pretty good but like again you can't you can't convince like a like a a mayo and or like maybe on like a a deli sub sandwich you know what I mean that's where you could convince me but I think anything out of a sandwich I'm not doing a lot of things with mayo well you know in Amsterdam they put their french fries in the mayonnaise so they drown it in that stuff I don't know I just I can't like I can eat it with a tuna fish sandwich like little bit of mayo in there like if I'm doing a you know like a tuna fish sandwich you're probably not big on the tuna you know but I don't mind tuna tuna fish Al cheese sandwich you know something like that I just that's as far as I can go with the Mayo and it's mostly Miracle Whip over Mayo as well like like it it grosses me out when they do that Dukes the Dukes Mayo bowl and they dump the the coach's head that just makes me sick watching that all right well that's going to do it for tonight appreciate you being here as always a lot of great questions for uh we in we out that we had earlier tonight don't forget you can always go to the Champions Lounge sub subscribe to the Champions lounge if you're not already a subscriber with the season getting ready to start trust me you're going to want to have that you're going to want to be there hit that like button before you leave have a good one and we will talk to you next week game week is coming IB Nation Sports Talk