Coach Babers’s first show this year show will be Wednesday night at 7PM because the first game is Friday, (the show will normally be two days before the next game). The show will originate from PressRoom Pub, located at 220 Herald Place in Syracuse's historic Herald Square, each week this season.
This article contains the schedule:
AmeriCU Dino Babers Show Moves to PressRoom Pub - Syracuse University Athletics
You can also listen to the show live each week on the Syracuse IMG Sports Network and Cuse.com. Wednesday's show will be on 99.1 FM and 97.7 FM, as well. The show will regularly air on 99.5FM (Syracuse) 99.1 FM (Utica) and 1200 AM.”
You can also get it on:
Listen to The Jim Bohannon Show on WGVA on TuneIn
There hasn’t been any change in the phone numbers, which last year were 315-424-8599 (local) or 1-888-746-2873. You can call to ask questions or submit them via Twitter at:
Syracuse IMG Sports (@CuseIMG) | Twitter
Or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Syracuse University
You can (or could last year, anyway), listen to a podcast of the show, probably the next day, at:
Search results for babers | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn
I’ve been asked to continue doing the summaries, even by people who listen to the podcasts. I may focus on the major points, rather than trying to record everything.
My Question(s)
“Coach, you’ve recruited a lot of good young players and have a bunch of experienced players in your starting line-up. Against Western Michigan, some of your veteran players didn’t have good games. One of them, a defensive back, was replaced by a highly recruited freshman and the game seemed to turn our way after that change. How flexible are you regarding replacing an under-performing experienced player with a less experienced player who may have more physical capabilities?”
The Show
(I sometimes re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
(Once again it took 15 minutes to get my phone call through. They are “working on it”)
Dino said the first game was “A fantastic contest, a little better opponent than you’d like in an opener. I’m proud of how the guys played the first half. I was surprised at how much we dominated. The special teams were solid. I liked the fact that Dontae Strickland could have gone the distance with that on-sides kick but went out of bounds so we could have an opportunity to take time off the clock. If you watched the Appalachian State game they scored too quickly. If the other team doesn’t have a dynamic offense you can try to score quickly but if they do, you need to take time off the clock. I’m into math and time management….we don’t want to get away from the running game with the offensive line we have.” (I think if you are 20 points ahead, scoring might be the greater priority.)
They talked about the opening of the pro football season, Eagles vs. Falcons. One of the eagles is a guy he recruited. “I keep up with my old players”. Matt noted that Zaire franklin made it with the Colts. Dino noted that his old EIU quarterback, Jimmy Garoppalo, was doing well, signing a $159 million contract. Matt suggested that as his college coach, he should get 1% of that. Dino said all he ever got from a former player was a signed jersey. He’s coached 41 guys that played in the NFL.
I finally got through and asked my question. “Freshmen are freshman and sometimes sophomores are sophomores. Our problem on the deep balls was that our freshman free safety was playing too shallow. It’s not high school any more. A freshman thinks he’s OK and then he finds out the speed of the game. The same thing will happen in the NFL, although ironically, the NFL is a young man’s league. The players get worse as they get older...You always play the best guy. If someone is not playing well we need to play someone else. If it’s close we go with the experience but if it’s not close, we need to make a change. We need to respect the family.” Matt said that ten true freshmen had made the trip and that Andre Cisco is the first true freshman to start an opening game at free safety since Markus Paul in 1985.
John in Baltimore was noted to talk about inside runs vs. outside runs. He prefers the latter. DB: “we wanted a balanced attack. If they clog the inside, we want to go outside. If they clog the outside, we have to go inside. We have to do things based on what the defense gives us. Teams want to put us in a box and not let us get to the perimeter. It takes a special back to run inside the tackles.” (Do we have one?)
John also wondered if things would have worked out better if Chris Fredrick had been assigned to “follow Eskridge around”. Dino said “Later in the game, we did have Fredrick follow him around”. (I thought it was Williams covering him.)
Corey on twitter wanted Coach to rank the Star Wars films. He like Empire Strikes Back the most, then Return of the Jedi “and whatever you want for #3”. Matt asked him if he liked any of the more recent, computer-generated ones. “I’m old school.”
Coach compared Wagner to various Big Ten teams: “Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin. The use two tight ends and they come right at you. They shifted their tailback, (Denzel Knight) to wide receiver and he’s got blazing speed, kinda like the Western Michigan kid. The best players at the FCS level could play at the FBS level. With Jimmy Garoppalo I kept saying to myself “This kid has no business being at this level.” He went from zero stars to $159 million. “
Why do good players wind up at the FCS level? They mentioned grades or legal troubles. “But sometimes it’s being unselfish. They play a lot of positons in high school because their team needs them to and don’t get evaluated properly.”
Mark in NYC said he was the guy who hit a half-court shot at Knicks game while Dino was looking right at him and he still has the signed picture of Dino in his office. Dino said he knew it was going in as soon as he let go of it. Mark said he understood Dino was a fan of the new redshirt rule. Dino said his use of it will vary with the individual. “I’ll do what’s best for Ohana. You don’t want to use a top prospect if you might need him later in the season. The better you are, the best chance you have of playing early.” (Unless the player won’t be red-shirted at all.)
They discussed the new fan-friendly activities on the Quad. Dino said it will be a great place to meet old friends and classmates.
Mike on twitter asked what the biggest surprise was in the first game. It was Andre Szmyt, making every kick, although he had done the same in practice. “We thought about trying another long one but I didn’t want to spoil his debut.”
Someone asked if Dino was “the strongest head coach in the Power 5”. He didn’t think so, especially after shoulder surgery. “But I know where the gym it- it’s next to my office.”
Mike Lynch, the offensive coordinator, was the guest for the last few minutes of the show. His co-OC from last year, was the coach of the Kent State team that almost beat Illinois. Mike is pleased with the play of the offensive line ”Playing downhill and getting really physical”. (Did they?) Dakota Davis, Sam Heckel and Koda Martin were praised, as were Chris Elmore and Kyle Kleinburg, who won the “hitter of the week” award. Heckle will replace Evan Adams in the first half against Wagner.
He addressed the issue of using younger players or, at least, back-ups: “if it’s close and you don’t play somebody, my mid-season, a gap develops. You want to continue play guys.” (Meaning get both of them playing time.)
Jamal Custis’ catch and run was “awesome. He’s got those long arms. He used to be a basketball player. People are down on Devin Butler but he made a big block on that play. He’s had a great week of practice. He’s really stepped up.”
Wagner has a 3-4 look. Their D-line is the best part but they have an outside linebacker, Cam Gill, who is really good. They also have a kid from Nottingham, Sterling Lowery.” He’s a D-back. They also have Wil Clayton, a linebacker from Liverpool.
