SWC75
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Coach Babers’s show this year show will be Thursday nights at 7PM except when the game is not on a Saturday.
I’ll be summarizing the comments directly related to the team and the next game (late) on the night of the broadcast and anything else interesting the next day, (if there is anything else that seems interesting). I’ll have a “first hour” and a “second hour” question.
They are doing the show on Zoom, not at any local restaurant.
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: Home | Free Internet Radio | 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: https://twitter.com/CuseIMG
#AskDino or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
cuse.com
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) or Comments
“Coach, Tommy DeVito is not available and Rex Culpepper is the next man up. Somebody’s got to replace Rex as the back-up quarterback, somebody who might be the future of the position. Could you discuss David Summers, Dillan Markiewicz, JaCobian Morgan and Luke McPhail in terms of their skill set and how close or far away they are from being able to help us this year?”
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.)
(Today was my birthday and I received a congratulatory call from me brother and sister-in-law at 7:23, just after I’d asked my question and gotten Dino’s response. I was on the phone for 20 minutes with them and thus missed that portion of the show. If anyone who listened to it would like to fill in what was talked out in that time, be my guest.)
Dino said “Liberty is coming in here, undefeated with plenty of wager. They have a quarterback, (Malik Willis, who may be the fastest player on the field and a tailback from Rochester. They have a unique scheme that gave us trouble last time. Things were exploited. Things that I didn’t think were going to happen, happened.“
Matt pointed out that Tommy DeVito was out and Andre Cisco is out and has opted for the NFL. DB: “Guys like me must be crazy to put their whole livelihood on the decisions of 18-20 year-olds. Some years are going to be 10-3 years. Others will be losing years. Most will be in between. At quarterback we’ll start at the beginning. Rex will be #1. Hopefully no one else will have to play. We’ll have a new back-up who doesn’t have the reps.” He said that the freshmen had worked only with the scout team. “What they get there is the game speed and see some big objects coming at them. But they have bene running the other team’s offense, not ours. We had a plan for them when we recruited them and they definitely have some skills.”
He reminisced about when he recruited Andre Cisco at IMG Academy in Florida, a place “where everyone expects to become a professional in their field. Everybody knew his name. He was very Zaire Franklinish, very Kendall Colemanish, on and off the field, totally committed to becoming a professional player. He lived in the training room, even when not injured. He wanted to be 100% all the time. We have film sessions in the middle of the night with me, the position coach and Andre. It bugs me when the NFL gets the really special ones at bargain prices. I just wanted him to get his money’s worth. He’s had the type of college career that he should be paid more than he’s going to get and I told his mother that. When he told me he was leaving I didn’t give him a hug, although I wanted to. He’s going to make it.”
A caller named bill wanted to know why we are dropping so many passes and why the referees are making calls like not penalizing the kick returner for running after he’d signaled a fair catch and the roughing the kicker flop. Dino, as he often does, tackled the second issue first. “Our guy rushing the kick took the wrong lane and never got to the block point. I don’t know whether he actually made contact or not. I saw the fair catch play and asked ‘Isn’t that illegal’? There was a third call that I don’t want to discuss but we didn’t lose because of three calls. The combination of dropped passes and losing the physical battle made it very hard to win. When we first went into the new Dome to practice I noticed how much brighter the lights were. Not every drop was by a player looking into the lights. Some guys were wearing plastic shields and they were picking up glare. I’m not making excuses – these are facts. But we do not believe in dropping the football. You can forgive a defensive player. But if you are an offensive player and you are dropping the football you will not play.”
Matt asked about the war in the trenches. “it’s about tackling and the will to stick your face in there. If you tell your guys to go over the hill, they have to go over the hill. We used to have wedges on kickoffs We used to judge players by whether they attacked like they were proud to be wearing the orange and blue.”
I then called in my question. Dino said that in the five years he’s been here, I have asked the most thoughtful questions of anyone – but he’s not going to answer that one because “our opponents listen to this show. I will say that we spend out time getting our starting quarterback ready and his back-up and the #3, #4, #5 guys don’t get much attention. They are not in the mix. All their skill sets and knowledge of the game are very young.” (This is where that clip from “The Dawn Patrol” comes in.)
(Now comes the 20-minute gap.)
When I came back, Dino was talking about his days at Baylor. They had a choice between Robert Griffin III and a transfer from the University of Miami. After fall practice, it was 50-50 between them and the coaches voted on who start in the opening game. I voted for the Miami guy because he’d played before. He won the vote and came out and threw 2-3 picks. RGIII came in and almost led us back to victory. He started for the rest of his career there. The only game he didn’t start was because of a coach’s vote. It makes me think that if it’s dead even between a guy who has played and guy who has never played, maybe you should go with the younger guy.” (Because if he’s already even at an earlier stage, he’s going to be the better guy in the long run. I guess that means that rex is not 50-50 with any of the four freshman.)
Mike in Connecticut is tied of ‘believe without evidence’. In Dino’s first year, we had the Virginia Tech win. In his second we had the Clemson win. Then we went 10-3 but it’s been all downhill from there. “Without coachspeak, can you identify the single biggest mistake you’ve made in that time?” He suggested it might be a lack of recruiting quarterbacks or offensive linemen. Dino: “We recruit quarterbacks every year. I tell my players ‘My job is to go out and recruit someone better than you. It’s your job to become the best you can be. Learn the offense. Get bigger and stronger. Don’t make mistakes. The thing that hurts us the most in the line are injuries. It’s hard to say we need more linemen. You can’t have 30 of them. From 2016-2018 we had basically the same line except for my son-in-law. After 2018 we were no ready to re-load. A lot of our injuries haven’t taken place on the field. Players are students and stuff happens.”
Matt said that in football, as in baseball, you have to be strong up the middle – and we’ve lost our running backs, our quarterback, have a middle linebacker with injuries and have lost our all-American safety and his partner hasn’t played. Dino added that “the guys in the middle tend to be the ones to tell the guys on the edges what to do.” (They call the signals.) matt asked him about Geoff Cantin-Arku. DB: “I would like to think that Geoff is OK. He does have an Owie.”
They had been saying from the beginning of the show that they would end the show with a conversation with linebacker coach Chris Acuff. This proved to be even more of a train wreck than usual as Acuff never even got on the air. Instead Dino said that our linebackers “Have missed too many tackles. They have played well at times and gotten some turnovers, including Geoff’s fumble return TD. But we have to tackle batter – wrap your arms around him like he was something dear to you.” (But maintain social distancing!)
I’ll be summarizing the comments directly related to the team and the next game (late) on the night of the broadcast and anything else interesting the next day, (if there is anything else that seems interesting). I’ll have a “first hour” and a “second hour” question.
They are doing the show on Zoom, not at any local restaurant.
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: Home | Free Internet Radio | 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: https://twitter.com/CuseIMG
#AskDino or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics
Submit your question for Syracuse Learfield Sports Network programs.
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) or Comments
“Coach, Tommy DeVito is not available and Rex Culpepper is the next man up. Somebody’s got to replace Rex as the back-up quarterback, somebody who might be the future of the position. Could you discuss David Summers, Dillan Markiewicz, JaCobian Morgan and Luke McPhail in terms of their skill set and how close or far away they are from being able to help us this year?”
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.)
(Today was my birthday and I received a congratulatory call from me brother and sister-in-law at 7:23, just after I’d asked my question and gotten Dino’s response. I was on the phone for 20 minutes with them and thus missed that portion of the show. If anyone who listened to it would like to fill in what was talked out in that time, be my guest.)
Dino said “Liberty is coming in here, undefeated with plenty of wager. They have a quarterback, (Malik Willis, who may be the fastest player on the field and a tailback from Rochester. They have a unique scheme that gave us trouble last time. Things were exploited. Things that I didn’t think were going to happen, happened.“
Matt pointed out that Tommy DeVito was out and Andre Cisco is out and has opted for the NFL. DB: “Guys like me must be crazy to put their whole livelihood on the decisions of 18-20 year-olds. Some years are going to be 10-3 years. Others will be losing years. Most will be in between. At quarterback we’ll start at the beginning. Rex will be #1. Hopefully no one else will have to play. We’ll have a new back-up who doesn’t have the reps.” He said that the freshmen had worked only with the scout team. “What they get there is the game speed and see some big objects coming at them. But they have bene running the other team’s offense, not ours. We had a plan for them when we recruited them and they definitely have some skills.”
He reminisced about when he recruited Andre Cisco at IMG Academy in Florida, a place “where everyone expects to become a professional in their field. Everybody knew his name. He was very Zaire Franklinish, very Kendall Colemanish, on and off the field, totally committed to becoming a professional player. He lived in the training room, even when not injured. He wanted to be 100% all the time. We have film sessions in the middle of the night with me, the position coach and Andre. It bugs me when the NFL gets the really special ones at bargain prices. I just wanted him to get his money’s worth. He’s had the type of college career that he should be paid more than he’s going to get and I told his mother that. When he told me he was leaving I didn’t give him a hug, although I wanted to. He’s going to make it.”
A caller named bill wanted to know why we are dropping so many passes and why the referees are making calls like not penalizing the kick returner for running after he’d signaled a fair catch and the roughing the kicker flop. Dino, as he often does, tackled the second issue first. “Our guy rushing the kick took the wrong lane and never got to the block point. I don’t know whether he actually made contact or not. I saw the fair catch play and asked ‘Isn’t that illegal’? There was a third call that I don’t want to discuss but we didn’t lose because of three calls. The combination of dropped passes and losing the physical battle made it very hard to win. When we first went into the new Dome to practice I noticed how much brighter the lights were. Not every drop was by a player looking into the lights. Some guys were wearing plastic shields and they were picking up glare. I’m not making excuses – these are facts. But we do not believe in dropping the football. You can forgive a defensive player. But if you are an offensive player and you are dropping the football you will not play.”
Matt asked about the war in the trenches. “it’s about tackling and the will to stick your face in there. If you tell your guys to go over the hill, they have to go over the hill. We used to have wedges on kickoffs We used to judge players by whether they attacked like they were proud to be wearing the orange and blue.”
I then called in my question. Dino said that in the five years he’s been here, I have asked the most thoughtful questions of anyone – but he’s not going to answer that one because “our opponents listen to this show. I will say that we spend out time getting our starting quarterback ready and his back-up and the #3, #4, #5 guys don’t get much attention. They are not in the mix. All their skill sets and knowledge of the game are very young.” (This is where that clip from “The Dawn Patrol” comes in.)
(Now comes the 20-minute gap.)
When I came back, Dino was talking about his days at Baylor. They had a choice between Robert Griffin III and a transfer from the University of Miami. After fall practice, it was 50-50 between them and the coaches voted on who start in the opening game. I voted for the Miami guy because he’d played before. He won the vote and came out and threw 2-3 picks. RGIII came in and almost led us back to victory. He started for the rest of his career there. The only game he didn’t start was because of a coach’s vote. It makes me think that if it’s dead even between a guy who has played and guy who has never played, maybe you should go with the younger guy.” (Because if he’s already even at an earlier stage, he’s going to be the better guy in the long run. I guess that means that rex is not 50-50 with any of the four freshman.)
Mike in Connecticut is tied of ‘believe without evidence’. In Dino’s first year, we had the Virginia Tech win. In his second we had the Clemson win. Then we went 10-3 but it’s been all downhill from there. “Without coachspeak, can you identify the single biggest mistake you’ve made in that time?” He suggested it might be a lack of recruiting quarterbacks or offensive linemen. Dino: “We recruit quarterbacks every year. I tell my players ‘My job is to go out and recruit someone better than you. It’s your job to become the best you can be. Learn the offense. Get bigger and stronger. Don’t make mistakes. The thing that hurts us the most in the line are injuries. It’s hard to say we need more linemen. You can’t have 30 of them. From 2016-2018 we had basically the same line except for my son-in-law. After 2018 we were no ready to re-load. A lot of our injuries haven’t taken place on the field. Players are students and stuff happens.”
Matt said that in football, as in baseball, you have to be strong up the middle – and we’ve lost our running backs, our quarterback, have a middle linebacker with injuries and have lost our all-American safety and his partner hasn’t played. Dino added that “the guys in the middle tend to be the ones to tell the guys on the edges what to do.” (They call the signals.) matt asked him about Geoff Cantin-Arku. DB: “I would like to think that Geoff is OK. He does have an Owie.”
They had been saying from the beginning of the show that they would end the show with a conversation with linebacker coach Chris Acuff. This proved to be even more of a train wreck than usual as Acuff never even got on the air. Instead Dino said that our linebackers “Have missed too many tackles. They have played well at times and gotten some turnovers, including Geoff’s fumble return TD. But we have to tackle batter – wrap your arms around him like he was something dear to you.” (But maintain social distancing!)
