Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast.
Now here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: On today's show. Still a couple of days away from Arkansas, LSU and Baton Rouge. So we're going to take a big picture look at Razorback baseball. Where does Vaheva Aloy fit into the SEC and National Player of the Year talk? And where do the Razorbacks fit into the top eight seating as the season winds down? Christina Long is in studio with me. We'll talk about that. We'll also have Marty Bur. He'll talk about 25 years of the Burlsworth football camps. But first, a word from Kendall King.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: At Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design. We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall king Soapbox and ShopCart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox, we are Shopcart, we are Design.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: A couple of times on our show in the last week, we've had national college baseball analysts on. Joe Healy from D1 baseball last week, Jacob Rudner from Baseball America yesterday, and we talked to them about Vaheva Aloy and his candidacy for Player of the Year awards. Not just SEC player of the year, but also national player of the Year and where he fit into the consideration. And you know, in talking to both of them, the feeling that you get is that Vaheva Aloy is the front runner to be SEC Player of the Year, national player of the Year. It gets a little bit more complicated. You've got the shortstop Lodis at Florida State, Alex Odice at Florida State, who's playing really well. You've got Mason Neville, an outfielder who began his career here at Arkansas, out at Oregon, he's leading the nation in home runs. There's probably a pitcher or two that could be considered for that as well, although the golden Spikes, it seems like it's kind of become like the Heisman Trophy in that offense is going to carry you a long way toward winning that Vijeva, though, when you look at his numbers and you look at you just watch him just watch Vaheva Aloy for a game and watch other players and he stands out. And I think it's really because of the defensive plays that he makes. Yes, he's great with the bat. He's got great offensive numbers. But when you watch him play in the field, you know, you're Watching a big league player, there's not a lot of doubt in any of our minds that Vijevo Aloy is going to have a fast track through the minor leagues. Will he make it to the majors? We'll see. But I don't think it would surprise anybody with the type of growth that he's made in the two years since he's been in Fayetteville. Had a conversation with Nate Thompson Arctos hitting coach, about Viva yesterday. He talked Christina about playing a premium position defensively and being able to hit consistently is not the easiest thing to do because there's really never a time, I guess, other than when you go in the dugout and you're not hitting that you don't have to be really locked in. I mean, when you're the shortstop, the ball's always going to find you. And so for him to play well defensively and offensively is something that has really impressed his coaches this year. And, you know, with Lodeist, it's the same thing at Florida State. Neville, it's a little bit different because he plays in the outfield, but playing that premium position, I think is one of the reasons why he's thought so highly in these player of the year conversations.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's exactly right. And, you know, David Horton talked about it the other day and, you know, really noted how one thing he's been really impressed with with Behiva is that his hitting does not impact his fielding. So if he's having a slower day at the plate, he's not out in the field thinking about his approach the whole time. He's. He's really focused, and that's something that you need out of a shortstop. And I think that's something that you really see with him. And I think to your point about, you know, you mentioned the Golden Spikes kind of being like the Heisman and how it's. There's a premium placed on. On offense. And I think when you and I talked specifically about Neville when we were on the phone yesterday off the air, we talked about, you know, okay, he's doing this Oregon. What would it look like if he was doing this in the sec? What would Vaheva Aloy look like if he was on Oregon? You know, what would his numbers look like offensively? And so I think with that award, and I feel this way about the Heisman, too. I mean, we're both voters. Is not just choosing with football. It's not just choosing the best player on the best team or the quarterback of the national championship team. Or whatever, not necessarily looking at what their team is doing, but I think also not just looking at offensive stats and, and things like that. And so I think when you're looking at two players like these two guys say it's, you know, if you're, if you're trying to compare these two specifically, I know there's other guys in the mix as well. I think the defensive ability is a really good tiebreaker and I think Aloy.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Gets that every time it bothers people when you talk about the Heisman and there are a lot of people who believe that it's become the best player on the best team in the country. Now, it's not always the case. Travis Hunter wasn't that way, which I like. Yeah, you know, Ashton Genty wasn't that way and that's who I voted for a year ago. But there is something to be said about when you are pushing like you are kind of the driving force behind the best team in the country. I think that there is value in that. And that's something that we've talked to Vaheva's teammates and coaches about this year. I don't know if Arkansas is the best team in the country. I'd say they're probably one of the top three or four.
And he's been a major reason for that. And I wrote about that today and I talked to Nate about that yesterday.
Think about the times that he's gone to the plate where they're an out away from losing a series. Ole Miss, he goes up, it's. Well, it wasn't, I'm sorry with him. They had just tied the game. Davlin went up with what they were about to lose series. But it's a two out home run against Ole Miss that gives him the lead. Go ahead run. So they went in the bottom of the ninth against Georgia. He comes to the plate. It is the last out. He hits a home run about as hard as you can hit it to dead center field over the batter's eye. 441ft, an exit velocity I think in like the 100 teens.
Just an absolute mammoth of a hit in every possible way that you could use that term.
Vanderbilt. It's an, it's a leadoff error in the 10th inning, but it's because he hits it 100 and something miles an hour that makes it tough for the second baseman to field that ball. He steals second, he scores the go ahead run in the 10th inning. And then defensively, I mean the number of defensive plays that he's made and Some of them have been game altering defensive plays. The play on opening day where he makes a Willie Mays style catch over his shoulder, turns around, throws back toward home plate, double Play. Arkansas scores two in the bottom of the 10th to win that game. I even think a couple of weeks ago, A and M, Gabe Gackles in, things aren't going great for him. His first inning on the mound, little dribbler right past the mound. He have a bare hands it throws it to first. Totally changes that game. Arkansas ends up winning. He's just got the potential at all levels, whether it be at the plate sometimes with his base running. Bubba and I talked about this the other day, just how fast and how hard he runs the bases, I think can, can get overlooked sometimes. And his speed from like if he's going second to home, the speed with which he hits the bag at third and gets to the plate is incredible. It's elite speed. And so I don't know, he just has the potential to change the game in a way that I just don't think there's a lot of players that do that in the country.
[00:07:50] Speaker C: And he can change the game in several different ways like you just said. And I do think the baserunning thing and the speed aspect is kind of an underrated part of his game that I feel like people don't talk about as much because of how flashy the offensive numbers are and how flashy the jump throws are and some of those defensive plays that end up on highlight re.
But I think, you know, I'm not watching a lot of Oregon or other Big ten baseball in my free time. So I don't know, you know, when we're talking about Neville specifically, like we said, there's some other guys in the mix there I don't know about, you know, the impact he has on their team. You know, they're as a team, they're not on Arkansas's level. But we've established that we don't necessarily think that that should be the end all, be all of award selection. But I think, you know, I, I don't know what his role is as far as Oregon and if he's got a similar role with them where he's kind of pulling them through games. But I think what's interesting about Alloy with Arkansas, you know, Arkansas is not nothing without Alloy. But also you can point to like you just did so many specific games where he has been the reason or the driving force behind some of these.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Wins and the reason we're talking about this right now is because we're less than two weeks away from the SEC Player of the Year being named. It'll be named once we get down to Hoover in a couple of weeks.
Tomorrow, I believe. Or maybe today. What day is it? Seven? Yeah, it's either day or tomorrow. We'll get our decal or trophy ballot sent to us. This is the other national Player of the year award with the golden spikes. So we'll have those sent to us. We've got to turn those or the first round of ballots. The way the Hauser Trophy works is that you turn in your first round of ballots, then you get a second round of ballots, and then that's your final ballot that you turn in for that award. He would be one of my top two. I've got to. I've. I've been doing a lot of watching, a lot of thinking, a lot of stat searching between he and Lodis. I think that those are the two. Those are the two that stand out in my mind right now.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: What is it about Lodi? I don't know a lot about him. So he plays shortstop.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Well, I mean, he plays shortstop and his numbers are really good. He's a.436 hitter, 16 doubles, 16 home runs, 60 RBI. He made a play last night. They were playing maybe Stetson. I think I may be wrong about that, but they were playing a midweek game last night. Florida State was. And he makes one of those Derek Jeter type throws from deep in the hole at shortstop that we've seen ve a couple of times this year. He is. He's as good as Vijeva, I think. And his numbers, his batting average. His batting average is quite a bit better. Power numbers are about the same now, you know, you look at these teams and strength of schedule. Arkansas strength of schedule right now is 23rd. Florida State's is 20th. Oregon's is 43rd.
Yeah, yeah, 43rd for Oregon. And what I wish there was a metric and there's really not, I don't think, or at least that I have access to is strength of pitching. Strength of pitching. You know, I think Florida State's playing good teams. Playing in the accident. I wonder, because I don't know, I suspect it is not. But I wonder, is ACC pitching on the whole as good as what you're seeing as an SEC team weekly?
[00:11:03] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a good question. Because I feel like, you know, especially when it comes to baseball, it's kind of the same way in football. You just sort of assume, okay, SEC is going to be the strongest or the best at all these different things.
So. Yeah. I wonder if is that a metric that you can find in any kind of advanced.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: I have no idea. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there is.
[00:11:18] Speaker C: I wonder if there's a stat that can kind of flatten it into just that.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: There's a. There's a stat for everything. It's just. How many hundreds of dollars do you want to pay for different, you know, subscription services?
[00:11:30] Speaker C: Yeah, the coaches maybe have it.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: They might. They got about every subscription on demand over there. I've actually wondered how. And it's not just with baseball but like with all of these different sports, all of these different analytics services that they subscribe to. Do any of those get cut as.
[00:11:45] Speaker C: Part of the subscription budget?
[00:11:47] Speaker B: Yeah, that everybody's going to have to undergo.
[00:11:49] Speaker C: Like we have to drop some of our streaming services. They have to drop some of our. Some their analytics websites.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Well, you know, like there was. Speaking of. I think it was. No, it's Kahilo. He had a home run earlier this year against Louisiana Monroe and Trackman didn't work. Trackman did not like the. It was the only home run this year that Arkansas's hit where Trackman did not pick up the distance, the exit velocity, anything like that.
So I didn't think we'd ever figure it out. And it was a, it was a big time home run. I mean it landed up by the grills in the hog pen and you know, you sit out there long enough and you look at the, the trackman data long enough and you know, it's like if it lands out there by the grills, you're looking in the 440 range. And turns out that's what it was. They actually had a, like a backup. Not Trackman, but it was another service that they pay for that they were able to go through and pick up the analytics for that hit. So there's a lot that they, that they subscribe to as far as SEC Player of the year. These are some of the players that I think the heave is up against. You know, Alabama's got the shortstop, Justin LeBron. His numbers in SEC play have not been as good, but he got off to a great start to the season.
Some of that might have to do with the fact that Alabama didn't play very tough competition. But LeBron, there's people who think that he could be the first overall pick next year or at least maybe the first college position player who's drafted in the 26 Major League Baseball draft. We're going to see one this weekend, LSU first baseman Jarrod Jones. He is really good, big time hitter, nicknamed Bear for a reason. We saw Colby Shelton a couple of weeks ago at Florida. He's been dealing with an injury, but he's awfully good this year. We saw that Georgia tandem of Rylan Zaborski and Robbie Burnett, they're two of the top power hitters in the sec.
Tennessee, you might be able to make a case for Andrew Fisher, one of their infielders. He's had a good year. So. And keep in mind that with the SEC they do have an SEC Player of the Year and an SEC Pitcher of the Year. It probably ought to be called SEC position Player of the Year, but they have a player of the year and they have a pitcher of the year. So all these pitchers, whether it be Witherspoon at Oklahoma or Kate Anderson, who you're going to see this weekend, Dylan Volantis, you know, there's others, they've got their own separate award that they're vying for the heaven. These are probably the top players that he's going against for the sec.
[00:14:20] Speaker C: I like that it's separate because I do think, like we said, I think sometimes offense can maybe be over. I don't know, I don't want to say like overrated, but I do think like there's more of a premium placed on it sometimes. So I do like that it's separate awards because I think it makes sense. I think sometimes when you're looking at especially a national player of the year, it's kind of hard to compare those two things.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: The last Arkansas player to win SEC position Player of the Year was Andrew Ben Intendi 10 years ago. Now, of course, they've had Kevin Cops and Hagen Smith who've won Pitcher of the Year since then, but that kind of gives you some perspective on what Vijivo Aloy is doing. I certainly think that his numbers are strong. You can read more about this at our website. Right now, the headline, Arkansas baseball shortstop Vaheva Aloy making case for Player of the Year at Whole Hog Sports.
Switching gears, talking about top eight seeds because this is also, you know, I mean this is what people are paying attention to right now.
I think Arkansas is in really, really good position after beating Texas. In fact, I think that if the season were to end today, the selection committee their, their first. I don't know how they make, I don't put this way, I don't know what order they determine things like they make decisions. But one of their big decisions would be do you put Arkansas or do you put Texas as the number one seed? Because I think those are the two teams that are most deserving of the top overall seed right now. And of course I'm going to look at this through the lens of Arkansas just spanked Texas for three days in a row out of bomb by 19 runs.
Obviously, as we've seen in the polls this week, they're going to take more of a holistic big picture look at this. But either way they're in a good situation and I think they would have to absolutely tank over the last two weeks against LSU and Baton Rouge and against the Tennessee team that I think is awfully beatable here in Fayetteville and or at the SEC tournament for them not to be one of the top eight seeds. I think they are sitting in a really good position right now.
[00:16:23] Speaker C: So tanking to you looks like what looks like losing the both series or what do you think?
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Maybe like one in five and I lost the first day in Hoover like a one in six finish. I think that you'd be sweating a top eight seed at that point. I think they've done enough to be a regional host. I don't think that that's in any danger. But. But I do think that they need probably two to three more SEC wins combined between the regular season and the games in Hoover.
[00:16:50] Speaker C: And maybe it's recency bias after sweeping Texas, but I, it's difficult for me to see a world in which they don't achieve at least that you never know.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: I mean it's. LSU is good. Yeah, LSU is a good team and.
[00:17:01] Speaker C: You know, that's a hard place to play.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: Arkansas has not played. And I'm not saying that I don't think they're beatable because I do think they're beatable. We just saw A and M beat them and Tennessee could have taken that series from them a couple of weeks ago. But Anderson and Iverson, that's probably the best one, two punch Arkansas will see this year in terms of opposing starting pitching. And so Root was really good last week. Wood has been really good for the last two weeks based on the way Anderson and Iverson have pitched. They need those guys to match, you know, that type of performance in a place where it can be very difficult for a pitcher to take the mound.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's one one of the bigger things to watch is the starting pitching just because they're coming off such a good weekend. But I don't think one weekend can tell you, okay, all, you know, problem solved. I Think obviously it makes you feel a lot better, but I do, you know, a little concerning with Vital. She's. I mean, he. He did okay, but, you know, the home run susceptibility is. Is troubling. But I do think if you can get through those first two games, I think if Wood can, you know, put together another good outing, you know, continue to work his way back, I think, you know, root for Root to come back as, as significantly as he did. I loved the quote that he had about Matt Hobbs saying, people don't pay, fans don't buy tickets to see you go four innings. I thought that was amazing. I loved that he shared that with, with everybody. Um, but I think that for him to. Obviously he has, you know, the career best outing, but I think it's difficult to expect him to top that or to do that all the time.
But I think if he can, you know, come close, I think that would set them up really well.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Talk about love and quotes. I love something David Horn said a couple of weeks ago. He said, you know, you get the. You can have the potential to totally psych yourself out. Talking about how good the other teams are. And I think what's happened and what we've seen this year is that there's been a lot of handling of, oh, gosh, we got to play Florida, we got to play Texas A and M, we got to play Georgia, we got to play Vanderbilt, we got to play Texas. They've held their own in these series. They may have not won the series, but they didn't get blown out. And they had a chance to win every one of them on day three. And, you know, against two good teams, Texas and Vanderbilt, they swept them. I mean, they're. I, I very, I would be very surprised, I think, if Arkansas went to Baton Rouge. I wouldn't say I'd be surprised if they got swept because you never know what can happen to baseball. But I'd be very surprised if they went there and did not have really competitive games for two or three of those days.
[00:19:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so, too. I think this is, I think Van Horn's approach to the way this has gone. I really believe him. You know, coaches talk all the time about, well, it's just another series, just another game. We don't look too much at the opponent. But I actually really believe him when he says that. And I think, you know, going into the Texas series, I think it was the end of his pre series availability. I kind of asked, okay. Texas's offense in SEC play has been kind of Mid, like, what do you make of them? And he talked a little bit about it, but then he kind of said, you know, we have our scouting reports and everything, but really we're focused on what we need to do better. We're not so much focused on how to get them, we're more focused on how to get us. Right. And they talked a lot after the series, you know, and ending those games about different things, scouting report wise. That kind of helped them out with how much they were able to limit Texas and how much they were able to do against their pitching. But I really do think that their approach as far as, okay, we need to be concerned about what we need to fix, what we need to improve has, has served them well.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: They've been a good road team.
[00:20:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: I mean, you think about how they've.
[00:20:29] Speaker C: Been one of the SEC's best, right?
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Well, they beat Ole Miss on the road, took a series from them. They swept Vanderbilt. They very easily could have won the series at Georgia. I mean, people probably forget they had the lead with two outs in the 11th inning, two outs in the 11th inning. They got a lead. They just can't hold it. Yeah, Florida, you know, that was probably their worst weekend they've had on the road.
So LSU is good at home. They're 28 and 4 at home. Second best home record in the country behind Arkansas at bomb. You know, I, I don't, I don't think Arkansas is going down there and sweep them or anything, but I think they'll be competitive in this series. Looking at some of the other, you know, top eight. Well, first off on Arkansas here, here are the numbers that I think matter for Arkansas. Quad 1 record, 11 and 5 overall record, obviously 40 and 9. I don't think that you gloss over 17 and 7 in the SEC RPI right now. Fourth, Vanderbilt fell a spot after losing a game to Louisville last night. Arkansas strength is scheduled 23rd. They're top 11 in scoring, ERA and fielding and they've got the number one run differential in the country. If I were on the committee, these are the numbers that I think I would like. If you give me a one sheet, this is what I want to see along with give me who are the notable series that they've won? Where were those series? Who are the, the kind of the top flight teams that they've lost to in series and are there any bad losses? That's what I would like to see on a one sheet. If I'm, if I'm holding Arkansas in my left hand and I'm Holding Florida State, my right. And I'm trying to compare them, figuring out, hey, is this going to be my number three or is this going to be my number four? My number two, my number three, whatever. Like those are the, those are the figures that I want to see in front of me. Like everything else is just kind of eye candy, if you will.
[00:22:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I think this is a really helpful. On wholeogsports.com Matt wrote analyzing Arkansas baseball's case for a top eight seed and kind of outlined all these stats for a lot of the, the teams in contention. And this is really helpful. I mean you mentioned having a one sheet. This is kind of basically it. I know these numbers are from a day or two ago now, but I don't know if this is something you're planning on updating, but I can. I was gonna say I think you should kind of do a check in after, after the next couple weekends.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: What was hard was figuring out like 15 teams that we analyze their numbers because I think there probably are a couple of teams out there that could still, depending on how they do over the next two or three weeks, maybe sneak into the top eight consideration. What I did was I just took the top 15 teams in the coaches poll.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: Gotcha.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: And said here, here are their numbers. But like, you know, ou, what happens with OU because they've been winning some series to beat Vanderbilt. They beat Ole Miss the other day. They've got Texas coming to Norman for the regular season finale. Maybe they go to Hoover and have a good week.
They're right outside of the top 15 in the coaches poll. But I could see them moving up toward top eight. UCLA is another team. Their rpi. Their numbers are really strong. Maybe they finish the season strong. Maybe they get into was interesting. UC Irvine has been a team that people have talked about all year. Could potentially be a regional host. And now they had a really bad loss over the weekend in their conference in the Big west. And you know, not playing in one of the premier conferences I think is going to hurt them anyway with this loss. You heard Jacob Redner say yesterday may have not only knocked them from top eight seed conversation, but it may have knocked them out of the regional conversation. To hosting a regional really just because.
[00:23:54] Speaker C: What, what was the loss? I don't actually know.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Well, you've put me on the spot here. I'll have to look it up. I know it's to one of the other California schools.
[00:24:01] Speaker C: Yeah. But I could name you the Big West Conference teams. So you don't think so? I don't think. I don't think I could give you one. I don't think I could have told you UC Irvine was in the Big West.
[00:24:11] Speaker B: They lost to UC San Diego, a team with a 24 and 21 record.
[00:24:17] Speaker C: So, okay, yeah, that's tough.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: A team with a 147rpi. So, yeah, I don't know that when.
[00:24:24] Speaker C: You'Re, when you're in a conference like that, it's you. You have to be really close to perfect.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: You know, one more thought on this is that the west coast does not typically get very many regional host sites. Now, I don't think that.
I don't think the NCAA selection committee should say, okay, well, we need to cap it at 2 for the west coast because there's not many teams out here. I think that if you're one of the top 16 teams, you got to get the regional host, regardless of if there's other good teams in your geographic area or not. But if Irvine is right there at 17, 8 in the 16, 17, 18 talk. And there's a. I think it could be because, you know, who foots the bill? Ncaa. They foot the bill. That's why they, in a lot of instances, they try to keep teams close so they can bust to these regional sites. Not always possible.
You don't have a lot of regional sites for teams up in New Jersey and Massachusetts, and I think that's why some of those have gotten sent down here, you know, in the past. And you've got some different rules and regulations that you've got to follow where, you know, you can't put two teams from the same conference in the same regional. But I say all of this to say Oregon and Oregon State are both in the regional host conversation pretty firmly. And so would the west coast get a third regional host? I mentioned UCLA a second ago during that. I don't. That might be something worth watching in all this.
[00:25:47] Speaker C: Yeah, that would be interesting. It's one of those things where it's like committees and I don't know quite so much about the baseball committee. I know more about the football committee. But, you know, those are things that they're not supposed to consider. But you wonder if that kind of works its way into people's brains or into the conversation at all.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: You can't take being a human out of the.
[00:26:04] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Out of a human equation. You know what I mean? I mean, there are things that we think about that are certainly going to cause us to be biased in one way or the other. Arkansas, though, pretty good shape to be a top eight national seed.
And again, I think they'd have to really fall off here in the last couple of weeks, and I just don't see that happen. I think they're playing too good a baseball to fall off. Maybe there's an injury or something. You know, God forbid, there's like 15 of them that they're dealing with right now anyway. But, you know, maybe if there's a major injury or something, maybe that changes my mind on this. But right now I think they're sitting in a real good spot. Christina, appreciate your time.
[00:26:41] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for having me.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: When we come back, Marty Burlsworth, who is the director of the Burlsworth foundation, the brother of the late Brandon Burlsworth, will join us to talk about 25 years of the Burlsworth football camp. So you don't want to miss this. First, a word from Kendall King.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: At Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design. We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall King, Soapbox and Shopcart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. I want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional, versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. You can come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com want to tell you too. You can get the latest breaking news on all Razorback sports@whole hogsports.com Most in depth source for all Razorback sports analysis, latest in recruiting, unique stories on all your favorite teams. Subscribe today@whole hogsports.com quick programming note. We're not going to have a podcast on Friday. We're going to be out of office. So we will have a podcast tomorrow. Bubba Carpenter will be in as we look ahead to the Arkansas LSU baseball series. But no podcast on Friday of this week. We're joined now by Marty Burlsworth. He is the chairman, CEO and founder of the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation. Marty, the older brother of the late Brandon Burlsworth. And Marty, you've got these Burlsworth football camps coming up. I've been to some of these before I've come over to Harrison to cover what you do. They're really neat and you've got them coming up at the end of the month. Tell people about the 25 years of Burlsworth football camps and what you try to accomplish with these.
[00:28:51] Speaker D: Right. Well, that's a. I like the way you put that, Matt, because we, we try to accomplish more than teaching football one thing. I mean, they're coming to learn some football, but we want to make sure that they, they get a lot more than that, which is some really great life lessons. And, you know, we'll have breaks during the camps where some of our former Razorbacks or others will be talking to the kids about, you know, their own personal journey or Brandon's, you know, journey that, you know, is well known about how he overcame, you know, the doubters and the obstacles and all that was involved with, you know, coming to Division 1 college football as a, as a welcome. But, you know, we'll have a lot of former Razorback players, some current Razorback players with us and they're going to learn a lot of football, have a lot of fun. 25 years of the football camps and this year we've got some really special giveaways that long to be for this 25th year.
The camp fees are just 45. They're going to get much more than that and just free things that we've got for them that are really going to be special this year. Just in celebration.
25 years of these football camps and we've got kids and, you know, families that have been back year after year after year.
You know, have it on their calendar every year because it's always that same weekend after Memorial Day. So we're looking forward to it. A lot of work goes into it, A lot of people work on it.
But we're looking to have a really very special camp this year.
[00:30:38] Speaker B: These camps are open to children from age 7 to 15, 8:30am to 12:30pm a one day camp. Each location this year going to be in Farmington on May 29, in Harrison on May 30, and at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on May 31. Marty, you've been doing these in Harrison and Little Rock since the beginning. But, but Farmington, that's a new one for you this year. And that's because of Tommy Tice, Brandon's high school football coach. He's now the head coach at Farmington. What went into deciding to get a Northwest Arkansas camp?
[00:31:11] Speaker D: Well, that's, I like the way you put that as well. Well you know we had been asked for years to do one of northwest Arkansas. Actually initially we some of the planning when we first started this 25 years ago we were looking at doing one in northwest Arkansas and it just, things just didn't come together right. So we, we for you know 24 years we did Harrison Little Rock, Harrison Little Rock and we'll you know we got that have campers that would come from Rogers and Fayetteville and you know all the towns over Farmington. And so after you know talking to a lot of folks over this past year we were basically talked into said let's do one in, in in northwest Arkansas. And it just so happens that you know, now that Coach Tyce is at Farmington, it was a natural fit. And Coach Ty has been a part of these camps from the very beginning. Could not do them without him and very well organized and, and we just get just tremendous reviews every, every year. And you know that's why campers and their families come back year after year. And if you're local, what I mean in the state of Arkansas I would register just as early as you can today because they are filling up very fast and once they fill up we can't take any more campers. So we limit our campers to 250 at each location and we have families travel from many states away to be a part of these camps that run from just 8:30 to 12:34 hour camp. We put a lot into four hours but people travel from great distances to be a part of these. So if you are here close by in the state of Arkansas and you're interested in attending these camps, this is certainly a good year to, to be a part of them. But I would suggest that you enroll as early as possible.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: Registration $45 on brandon burlsworth.org Marty, when you think back to when Brandon passed and all of the things that you have done in his name in the years since, I just wonder how do you feel about all of that?
[00:33:36] Speaker D: Oh, I mean it makes you feel great. I mean certainly it's not just me. My goodness, my wife is so much a part of this. Coach Dice is so much part of everything we've done, especially these camps and so many other people that have contributed over the years. But these camps, before Brandon passing he and I had talked about the doing camps. The Burroughs kids, we had talked about they weren't known, the Burros kids, we know what they'd be but we talked about him sponsoring children to attend games at the NFL level because we had seen other players, obviously, that had done that. We'd see the banners up in stadium. So he and I. Those two things, which were the first two things we did were things he and I had discussed together. So these, you know, always give him credit for the camps and for the, for the Burroughs kids. He didn't know that we were going to do at the college level. I didn't know we'd do it at the college level, but it worked out where we were able to do that at the college level, which has been tremendous. And we still have those Burroughs kids in Indianapolis. But, yeah, just makes you feel great, you know, for the. I know when ESPN did the documentary a year or so ago, SEC story piece called True Character, that was part of the attraction to them was that foundation has continued for this length of time, and we just never think anything about it. They said that's just rare. And really, I didn't know that. You know what? That's just, you know, you never think about, you know, you. You would. To begin with, you'd never think, oh, 25 years. Oh, that seems like a long time. You just. Time flies by and here we are and, you know, we're going to keep going. So, yeah, it does matter. It certainly makes us feel. Feel good that we're able to continue his legacy of, you know, you know, we say faith, family and football and, you know, that's. Brandon always had his priorities in order, in that order. And that's one thing that we stress and you know, at the, at these camps, that the kids understand the complete person.
[00:35:50] Speaker B: You know, the greater movie seems to have had some effect on people, too. I'll give you a story, Marty.
Late at night, we've got these analytics that track what people are looking at on our website. And late at night, there is a story that Clay Henry wrote probably close to 10 years ago, and it's the real story of Brandon Bolesworth. And all of a sudden, late at night, 10, 15, 20, 30 people will be reading this story at any given time because. And what you know, is happening is they found this on Netflix or, you know, one of the other streaming services that it's on. And they are, they're googling, looking, looking up the story of Brandon Burlsworth. And it's amazing. That story for several years has been one of our top 10, 15 stories each year, even though it's not a current news story.
And you know that that's the, it's the effect of that movie and, and people watching it.
[00:36:46] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. And. And I Think Matt, that's also what's bringing these campers from like Alabama and Texas and Louisiana and Mississippi, Kansas, West Virginia. You know, I'm just going off states I know that we had in last year, Illinois, Indiana, you know, those were the states that were here in our camps last year. And so and I've already seen many from out of state come in and I think that's the driver for that as well. You know, they want to come be. Even though they're traveling a long way for a four hour camp, they want to come be a part of that. And I think that that is part the movie is what is driving that.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: I think this is 15 years since the Bourlsworth Trophy has been.
[00:37:38] Speaker D: Fifteen years, yes. We just finished 15th year.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: I wonder, you know, with this house settlement, there's a lot of still uncertainty about what everything's going to look like. You know, is everybody on scholarship? Is there even such a thing as walk on moving forward? I wonder how closely have you all been monitoring that?
[00:37:57] Speaker D: Yeah, well, we have been and then, then I won't, you know, deliberately will not watch it quite as close. But as it was getting down to the time we, you know, I did several interviews, some with CBS reporters and some other national media when this was all coming out about, you know, what, what our thoughts were on this. But I do like as the date the.
I was really concerned that they're just going to sign off on it and that'll be the, the end of it. And then it was the circle back around maybe years later. So that was a mistake. But the judge seems to have the, you know, is very looking at this critically and not just like yeah, didn't seem to think that was a great idea just to say roster limits, you know, good luck to you.
That phasing at least phasing that in and, and so yeah, I mean and then it'll be what it is. But also I, I think it would be just a terrible mistake to not give Walcott an opportunity, you know, like Brandon, like, you know, Baker Mayfield, like Stetson, Bennett, Hunter Renfo, all these guys over the years that had become, you know, that were stars. But if they didn't have that opportunity, you never known their name. So you know, hopefully, you know, that'll be looked at in that way that, you know, you, you deserve the opportunity to opportunity to at least try and make the most of your opportunities. Like you, you know, in most everything in life you have that opportunity not limited in college football. And I'm hoping that that's the way it'll turn out.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: Marty, you've been generous with your time. Appreciate it. And anything else people need to know.
[00:39:52] Speaker D: About the Bosworth camps, just get your registrations in early. Matlab talked about get your registrations in because they are filling up fast. Little Rock, I think, is just about to close down as far as being sold out, possibly even today. And these other Camp Harrison and Farmington are not far behind. So if you want to come, be sure to be with us this year. And it's going to be a great camp. Matt, I do appreciate you having me on, and thanks for your time.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you, Marty. We'll see you over in Farmington here in a few weeks.
[00:40:24] Speaker D: Sounds great. Looking forward to it.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: All right, Marty Burlsworth from the Burlsworth Foundation. We appreciate his time and we appreciate you being here on our podcast today. Hope that we see at our website, whole hog sports.com. we'll be back with another podcast tomorrow with Bubba Carpenter. Hope to see you then. Have a great day, everybody.
