Top 5 Anticipated Combine Workouts

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Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. Show Football Hall of Famer, Marshall Fung. Yahoo Sports Senior NBA Writer, Vincent Goodwill, still to come.

Director, David Anspaugh. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Suzy Shuster. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show underway. Suzy Shuster in with you here on the Roku Sports Channel on Infinity Sports Network. Listen to us on Sirius XM375, X, Instagram, YouTube, you name it, we are here. Rich is in Indiana.

He's at the combine for 750 hours of combine coverage. He will join us very soon. But first, I want to go straight to David Anspaugh, my good friend and the director of Hoosiers. And you are so kind to join us here on the Rich Eisen Show to talk about your memories of Gene Hackman, who passed away.

We found out today he and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog. And clearly in your directorial debut, you brought the world perhaps the most perfect movie in all of movies in Hoosiers. David, thanks again for joining us. And what are your memories of making that movie with Gene Hackman? Well, thank you, Suzy.

That was a wonderful introduction. I have to, there are two questions I have before I answer that. Number one, has anyone heard anything else about them finding them at home with the dog? I mean, they said there was no foul play or anything like that. Nothing yet.

It's just they say that it is an ongoing investigation. And I also heard Kevin Costner say, working with Gene Hackman was working with the best actor alive. And I have to second that. He and I always didn't have a terribly pleasant time together. But his work was absolutely perfect. I feel so honored to have been a part of, you know, the tapestry of that man's craft, without question. What was he like to be with on the set? And yes, it is widely written about that he challenged you on the set all the time that he looked at his co actor and said, I hope you've got a backup plan, because this will be a disaster. What was it like working with him? Well, he said that to Dennis Hopper.

I hope you've invested well, because we'll never work after this film. You know, I think that there's a scene that's missing from from the film that hopefully we'll be able to cut in later, where he says to Barbara Hershey, he said, you know, when I first drove into this town, I said to myself, what the hell am I doing here? I think that's what he thought pretty much after he arrived in Indiana for real. Because I remember one day it was early, it could have been the first day or the second day on the set.

We're in the downtown hickory, and the guys are sitting in front of the barbershop and all that. And, and he looks at me and Angelo, and he goes, you know, I feel like I'm getting ready to start shooting an episode of Andy of Mayberry. You know, and I think if I was, you know, Clint Eastwood or Woody Allen or some of the older directors that really had a track record, he wouldn't have disrespected us like that. But it was my first feature film. And you're talking about one of the great actors of our time.

He probably was a little nervous that what the hell was he thinking getting into this thing? And I hadn't proven myself in the feature world. So, and most of the actors besides himself and Barbara were all local hires or out of Chicago. And known actors and a lot of the basketball players too, who were just basketball players.

That's right. They had never acted a day in their lives, you know. And which I love about the film too.

I mean, it was a real gamble. And, and Angelo Pizzo, who wrote the beautiful script on purpose, tried to write as little as he possibly could for the kids to say so that we could get the best ballplayers that we could find and hopefully in the short time turn them into actors. And which Gene helped me in that respect. We had a few acting classes with the kids and he was very active in that. Was he your first choice for the role? Well, he wasn't because I had a relationship with Jack Nicholson and I sent the script to him to get some feedback because he had already written and directed a movie called Drive, he said, about UCLA basketball. And I wanted to get his feelings, you know, about what he felt this Hoosiers thing might be. And I don't know, three or four weeks went by and finally the phone rang and it was Jack and he said, this is the guy. That's what he says, that's the guy.

I said, what are you talking about? He said, no, the guy in the script, Hoosiers. He said, I want to play that part.

And so people got excited. And, you know, word got out, but the problem was Jack was involved in a lawsuit with MGM. He was going to do a movie with Tim Hutton and Cher. And I can't remember the title of it now, but it was like something like the last round up of the movie.

The last round up or something. It was a great script. I can't believe the movie was ever made. But Sandy Bresler, his manager had called me and said, look, you know, Jack loves this.

If you're not successful this fall, because we know you want to go this fall. He said, why don't you call us back and we'll revisit it. But somebody got the script to Jean. And he was brilliant and he acted perfectly and he brought your character to life. And you brought his character to life with such artful direction.

And it is truly a perfect movie. What kind of guy was Gene Hackman? Well, he wasn't necessarily Hale fellow, well-met kind of a guy. Again, I think he felt a little uncomfortable about Angelo and myself because it was our first time.

Angelo had never written a feature screenplay before either. And he was surrounded by a lot of dinner theater people. And I think he felt a bit insecure.

You know, if that's really what happened, if he felt that way, I was always curious as to why he said yes to the project. But his work, like I said, was perfect. I mean, there wasn't a scene, there wasn't a moment that he wasn't honest.

And he's like that in everything that he does. You know, seeing him, and I sang for my father, which stuck with me and everything he's done from the conversation, French Connection, Birdcage, I mean, you name it. The Birdcage, I mean, talk about acting out of his skull.

I mean, that last scene in the Birdcage with the dancing down from the club is truly spectacular. Rich reminded me of the scene that you directed so perfectly with Dennis Hopper and Gene Hackman sitting on the bench and making jokes. And I think that were they possibly referring to what you were saying at the time about what the hell are we doing in this movie?

I paraphrase, of course. Well, I just know I'm repeating myself because I told you, that shot in the movie, and I didn't find out until shortly before Dennis died, that Gene had said that the shot shows the two of them sitting on the bench from across the basketball court. And you don't hear any dialogue, it's crowd and all that. And Dennis slaps his knee. I had no idea what he said.

And later, Dennis said to me, he goes, Hopper, I hope you invested great because neither one of us are going to work after this film's released. So, you know, he was very, he was kind to the boys. It wasn't all bad. I mean, you know, we had some friction. And there are a lot of directors that I talked to since then, you know, who found Gene sometimes difficult. I think, again, it's more the young directors that did than I was then. And if I had been, you know, one of the old timers, well, not old timers, but more experienced, he probably wouldn't have been as testy as he was. But when you can say that his work was without fail, that's hard to argue. David Anspach joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show, Susie Schuster in For Rich. Did you have any idea in your directorial debut that you were creating what many have called a perfect movie, and perhaps the most beloved sports movie of all time?

Well, again, those are very kind words. I've never, I don't have, I don't remember hearing people call it a perfect movie, but I'll take it. But no, in fact, I had no idea because our schedule was so short. We shot the whole thing. We used over 25,000 extras in our film.

We shot it in 36 days. And I remember one night watching Daily Star, and I remember one night watching Dailies late at night in a hotel room, in a hotel dining room, which was our screening room. And I got up in the middle of the Dailies and walked to my little office in that motel. And Angelo came in and he goes, why did you leave? What's wrong? And I said, well, I said, we had this dream of making this movie for 18 years. I said, I think I'm screwing it up. I don't, I don't, I, I'm just operating on fumes.

I mean, I'm exhausted and I hope I haven't screwed things up, you know. The only thing that I took out of that was that I had never seen anybody do anything quite like that before. And I thought that might be an advantage to us. And I think in a way it was. What, how are you able to capture Indiana the way you did? My takeaway, I always just think about the sunlight glinting, and I'm just curious about your approach. Like, how are you able to put that kiss on it the way you did?

I think it's pretty simple. Growing up in Indiana, you know, that was where I lived. That was, those were the fields. Those were the woods. Those were the small towns and the people in the small towns.

I knew all of them, you know. If you had given that to another director, would come from another culture, another part of the country, they probably would have had a very different take on it. But I think that everything that Angelo and I put on the screen was, from our standpoint, was as honest as we could be. Why does Hoosiers stand the test of time? I don't know.

I don't know. Well, first of all, Angelo created a beautiful story. And it's the old saying, if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage, you know. And I had to take that script and turn it into something very meaningful and realize what he had written and maybe even elevate it, if possible. And I'll tell you one thing, I never could have directed that film ever, even though it was my first feature film, without having cut my teeth on being part of the group that started Hill Street Blues and Dred Saint Elsewhere and Miami Vice, you know. And I had to take that script and turn it into something very meaningful and realize what he had written and maybe even elevate it, if possible. And I'll tell you one thing, I never could have directed that film ever, even though it was my first feature film, without having cut my teeth on being part and Dred Saint Elsewhere and Miami Vice. Those were the three hardest shows to do on TV, without question. And when you have to learn fast, and that's where I started directing, Steven Pachco, bless his heart, gave me my first opportunity. And, you know, to do those shows, man, you've got to think on your feet like crazy. And that's what I ended up having to do, you know, shooting Hoosiers. If I had not had that background, trust me, it wouldn't be a revered film. It wouldn't.

Why were they so hard to shoot? Well, okay, how about this? There are 15 basketball games in the whole film of different lengths.

We only had 36 days. We had, like I said, 25,000 extras, just the logistics of mapping out just the games and all the other stuff, you know, that's even extra. I mean, it's like, if we had shot it today, if I had more of a track record, you know, we would have had coordinators that were laying out, you know, all the physicality of the piece. And I could spend more time with the actors and, but I had to do it all myself with help, you know, from Angelo and, oh my gosh, oh, very famous cinematographer, why can't I think of his name? Oh, don't worry.

I forget everything every five seconds. So you're just going to fit right in here on the show. You know, the other thing about it is that if Hoosiers were shot today or was shot today, it would have special effects. It would have green screen.

It would have so many things to sweeten it up. And the fact that you directed it with such cleanliness and simplicity, let the words go into your heart. Well, and with real people. I mean, if it was today, that those, those crowds would be CGI for, for the most part. And, you know, I have to tip my hat too, to the people that lived in that area. And again, that's why we had to convince, you know, Orion wanted us to shoot this in Canada. And I said, if you're shooting a film in Canada, make it a hockey movie, but not a basketball film. Those, all of those players and actors in the stands, they all reacted naturally. I didn't have I didn't have to direct them. I mean, the most famous moment was like when Jimmy hits the winning shot in the final game, when the basketball went through the hoop, because he had been missing him in warmups, every single shot he took, he hadn't made one. Happened and tried to get me to move him up closer and I wouldn't do it. And when that ball went through the hoop, everyone behaved like they normally did a high school basketball game in Indiana.

The cheerleaders were hugging each other and crying and some of the players were sitting on the floor, pounding the floor. All that stuff was unrehearsed. You know, you can only do that in Indiana, I think. There is that one scene that Jimmy Chipman is just nailing basket after basket after basket. Jimmy Chipman is nailing basket after basket and Gene's there. And I wonder what that was like for you directing that, because you can't exactly, you can't cue a perfect basket. I mean, what was that like? Take us inside that.

Well, I could take you inside. And I've said this before, I think I told Rich once, we cheated a little bit. In my master, in my director's cut, I used, I didn't cut into it at all. I used it so that you could see that this kid hit 15 shots in a row, never missed one until Gene Hackman walked away from the court. But the studio insisted that we had to cut in to get some close-ups on the kids. And I, listen, I could have made a lot of money. A lot of people said, oh no, that was all done in one cut, one cut. And they're arguing with me, you know, and I directed it.

I said, they said, I'll bet you I'll put a thousand dollars on the table here. There, that thing was shot without cuts. I said, no, I directed it.

We did cut. I got away from your question. Oh, shooting that scene. It was interesting because she and I had kind of a blow-up in the morning and we were, we were not on the best speaking terms that day. Blow-up over what?

Blow-up over what? A jacket that he was supposed to wear. It was the first time we were going to film him in his classroom. And it was one jacket versus another. And the cameraman and I, Fred Murphy and I, we chose this one jacket. And so I took the jackets up to Gene and I said, here are the two jackets that we want to go with. Fred and I really like jacket A as opposed to jacket B. And he took jacket A and he's a very big and strong man. And he literally ripped it in two and he goes, whoops, guess we have to use jacket A. That's how that day started, you know?

Yeah. And I, I give you some of the, some of the worst stories. I mean, he had such a great sense of humor and I learned, I learned so much from him about movie making and about acting. And, you know, he's one of the only actors I've ever worked with where Angelo and I would go through the script with him and instead of saying to us, well, let, let me, let me, let me riff on that a little bit. Let me take that a little further. He was, he was one of the only actors that consistently said, take those words out.

I can act that. David, if you had a chance to talk to Gene one more time, what would you say to him? I would tell him that, that I was privileged to work with him. I was, that I, I learned a great deal and asked why he never apologized to us.

And unfortunately, it's funny. I was, I was recently thinking about writing him a letter, if not driving to Santa Fe. I really wanted that opportunity. I mean, the closest he ever came to kind of apologizing for that was when we were showing it to Congress and we had some looping to do and he was supposed to do it, but he hadn't done it yet. And he put it off and put it off and finally he had to do it. And he said, but I want to see the movie before I come into loop. And so we set up a screening for him before we left for Washington and looped him. And he showed up the next morning, he walked in the room and he took off his glasses and he shook my hand and he says, how the blank did you do that? And then acted like the perfect gentleman here. I can do it this way.

I can do that. I, he worked with me that day, the way I wish he had worked with me on the film, but, um, that was a close, I mean, in his own way, that was his compliment to us. David, you are an absolute gem. Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your memories and being so honest.

And thank you again for, for giving us one of the most spectacular pieces of movies we could have ever imagined. I hope I see you very soon. Maybe a little Toscano pasta back in the, in the future for us. I would love it. And, uh, hopefully I'll get to Indy to say hello to rich, but if not give him my love, please. Oh, he would love it so much. David Anspach, thanks again for your time.

Take care. Let's go to break. And when we come back, uh, I think we'll have rich come back. I think we'll have rich on from the combine.

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Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions. So I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world class business and travel benefits, the American Express Business Platinum Card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business. Plus, you'll have complimentary access to more than 1400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge, so you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply.

Learn more at American Express.com slash Amex Business. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show and as promised, my husband. Because like, you know, that's how I like to introduce you, sweetheart. What's up, hon?

How are you doing? How was David Onspaugh? Oh, it was so beautiful. I mean, he shared so many terrific memories of his time with Gene. And honestly, Rich, it was it was you could see that he was working out some of his own memories and some of his own experiences with us right there on the air. And I'm just so grateful to David that he that he zoomed in at a moment's notice to share this with us, because you love that movie so much.

And it's meant so much to so many people around the world. So, well, you do you remember when it was the Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Eagles in Jacksonville, Florida? It was just year two for NFL Network.

And I was at a party at an event that Super Bowl like Thursday or Friday. And Jack Del Rio, the coach of the Jaguars at the time, walked in the door with his wife and his good friend and his wife, Gene Hackman, and his wife. And in walked, in walked, you know, Coach Dale, in walked, you know, the one of the greatest actors of all time. And he was way bigger than I thought he would be. This is larger than life, a huge human being.

And and he all I want to do is talk ball. He was a big football fan. He knew who I was.

I was totally blown away by it. And if you remember, I stepped outside and I called you. You did. I remember that. You remember that? I called you. He's huge.

And I called you and I'm like, you will never guess who I just talked football with. You know, I'm kind of emotional talking about it, you know, being here in the state of Indiana for a huge sporting event on the day of his passing and the passing of his wife as well. And the dog. I mean, my God, just so heartbreaking, but I'm pretty emotional. It was just some great memories. Yeah.

He gave us one of the most perfect movies that there ever was. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger's got the right product for you.

Call clickrainder.com or just stop by. And Rich Eisen joining us, of course, from the combine. I'm looking for Daniel Jeremiah to do like, you know, rabbit ears over your shoulder.

Like I need some kind of TikTok dance to happen. There he is. There he is. Hey, DJ. That's it.

I know Rich is very high maintenance. When Pete Picataggio is unavailable, it's apparently the DJ time. Hi, DJ. Where are you going? Where are you going? We're loosey goosey here when Rich isn't here. Tomorrow we'll be drinking on the set. It's going to be great. Oh, yeah.

We won't get loose for another 45 minutes. Yeah. Then all that's wrong. Yeah. He's he's just he's just nourishing right now.

He just looked at all of his tapes. The NFL is blaring music in the background for the I would say smattering of fans that are here getting set to watch the on-field drills of the defensive linemen. And unfortunately, what? We were I might be the only guy working out at the combine. We're missing a few. Yeah, we're missing a few.

But there's Daniel Jeremiah. Round of applause for DJ. Please don't forget to stretch DJ before you your marathon. I can't. It's funny. Marshall was talking about that in the first hour about the changes to the combine. And dare I say, he sounds like he thinks the combine is almost outdated, that he's talking about apps, that he can get information on different players and what have you. I mean, you're there in person.

What's it feel like? Well, I mean, you know, not to quote DJ, but I will with him standing right next to me, but on the way in. And I know that, but he's he's working on the way into walking to the stadium from from our hotel to do McAfee show earlier on. He was pointing out part of the reason why some of these guys that aren't working out here is part and parcel of Marvin Harrison Jr. not doing anything last year and being drafted fourth overall. But also the extended college football playoffs now take some teams to January 20th, when already a lot of these kids would have been in like week four, week five of repping at some speed camp or some facility in Arizona to get ready for the combine. And instead, they're they're still playing college football. In the case of Tyler Warren, you know, he didn't stop playing until the middle of January.

And he's still nursing stuff. Abdul Carter is another example with him making a decision this morning to not get surgery on a on a foot injury discovered through the process here of the combine, which is another reason why the combine will never go away is that NFL teams are always going to want to have the prospect to take brought to a spot where all 32 teams can have an NFL physician and doctor, you know, run them through the paces and find stuff like what Abdul Carter's medical exam revealed. So that that will always be the case. But in terms of working out, there will always be some players that that want to compete. Certainly when the NFL Network cameras are on and fans are here last year when Xavier Worthy ran his 40 and ran it in in a, you know, fast time, but not a record breaking time for the combine.

I think he ran it a second time because there were 15-20,000 fans here and there was an adrenaline pumping moment. So I mean, clearly I'm biased and I'm not going to sit here and agree with Marshall that the combine is completely outdated. There will always be one. But I understand what he's saying. And certainly if if players are going to start playing deep into January, they're going to be nursing injuries a month later and not working out at the combine. I'm not going to put words in Marshall's mouth because God knows I paraphrase somewhat wildly sometimes. So I'll go back and look at hour one and you two can go back and look at hour one on the YouTube channel and also on Roku Sports Channel, which will re-air this, which is fantastic.

Rich, we were talking about Travis Hunter this morning and he spoke at the podium earlier today. Let's play that for you. You know, I did some meetings, I received some meetings at DB, so it's still up in the air. They say everybody, nobody has ever done it for real the way I do it. But I tell them that I'm just different. I'm a different person. What do you think, Rich? I love him. And, you know, the sound bite of the week was when he was asked if he's going to return punts and kicks.

And his answer was, I already have two jobs. I love that. I just absolutely thought it was fantastic when he said that, especially since, you know, Dion famously always told us, Suze, that he was a five down player, three on defense, one on special teams, and then the first down on offense. And that's what he's been raising Travis Hunter to be, is a guy that can have a hundred snaps in a football in a football game. And, you know, part of the conversation that I'm hearing around here is that Travis Hunter, you've got to figure out which side of the football he's going to be playing the majority of his snaps on.

And I'm hearing more and more offense having been here for the first 24 hours. And the fact that nobody bats an eye saying that when he takes half the field away, when a shut down corner is available in this draft, makes me think, you know, he's first overall pick material. Certainly since, as you get to learn who he is and learn about the kid, to use a phrase, although he plays like a grown-ass man, is that he's all about ball. Like he's not, famously when Lil Wayne was sitting next to Dion in between the two Sanderses in the front row, Chidor and Prime at the Heisman Trophy presentation, that he didn't know who Lil Wayne was.

Like he didn't know his music. He is just all about ball and all about becoming the best professional that he can be. And he is just a fascinating prospect, certainly with Abdul Carter at the top of this draft, the quarterbacks as well. We're going to see the front seven guys here coming out in about a half an hour on NFL network.

I do love Travis Hunter and I can't get enough of talking about him. But, and you know, Marshall mentioned when I asked him what he thought about some of these NFL GMs and coaches talking about him, obviously the Tennessee Titans saying he can do whatever he wants and with Andrew Berry saying maybe he would just be one. Marshall's like, you let him do whatever he wants to do.

You basically just give him the keys. Yeah. I mean, why not? I mean, talent is what is the differentiator in this sport. You know, and we also point to coaching in front office management, but the bottom line is, is when you have a horse like him, you ride him. Certainly if he wants to be out there on the field, a hundred snaps a game. And then at some point in his career, I'll have to decide which side of the football to basically spend the majority of his time on when he gets, you know, knock on wood deep into his twenties as a perennial pro bowler. But again, the Titans decision is going to be fascinating based on Abdul Carter's medical, based on Travis Hunter's unicorn nature, based on their current quarterback situation and based on which quarterbacks are available in this year's draft and who they might fall in love with and the free agency period. You know, what will Sam Darnold do, who will be available from the, you know, 35 and upset of quarterbacks in the quarterback class. It's awesome, Suze. It's going to be a lot of fun over the next several weeks. You and Jerry were out and about last night with a couple of cabernets going on.

Reaching to the stars. Okay, sure. Not Jones, not Jerry Jones. Yeah, because it was on people. Well, that would be selectively aggressive. He was with Jerome. You were on the bus.

Yeah, that would be selectively aggressive. I was not on the bus. Here's what I want to know. All right. You've been there 24 hours, right? Yeah.

What is, again, not stepping on anything come Monday because that's our favorite segment of the year. But in 24 hours there, the juiciest rumor that you've heard that doesn't involve a Starbucks. Yeah. And did you buy that, Christopher? Like did anyone approach you at a Starbucks today? Or maybe you were at Dunkin' and got accosted. Did Joe Buck attack you at a Dunkin' Donuts, Rich? Nothing happened.

No one was over caffeinated. Although I will give you a preview. I'm not going to give you a preview of Monday's segment. Clickbait Monday will be completely untouched right now.

It needs to be respected, Chris. Clickbait Monday on The Rich Eisen Show. I'm just wondering, because Ian Rappaport will appear on NFL Network shortly, how am I going to introduce him? And I'll give you the preview. I think I'm going to introduce him as the Jake Paul of NFL Network.

Lots of chatter, no punches thrown. Love it. And then I think I will send him off after he does his report as NFL Network's fine Americano. I think that's what I will say.

He's a fine Americano. Do we need to play this out? I feel like for people listening, we haven't really paid this off, Rich. Well, I mean, there's not a whole lot to pay off at the moment, but do we need to elaborate a bit? What ends up happening in our business is some information individuals get a little bit touchy about a certain subject. And I don't know what happened specifically or why.

It was based on a Brady's Matthew Stafford report. Obviously, I'm firmly in Ian's corner. And by that, I mean, if he needs a cut man, I will be there for him.

I'll be the Lou Duva to his Muhammad Ali any day of the week. But boy, is he getting all sorts of crap. He is getting all sorts of crap. And it's delightful. I think that is how I will introduce him as the Jake Paul of NFL Network.

Lots of chatter, no punches thrown. Yeah, fantastic. Basically, I threw that to you so I wouldn't put my foot in my mouth somehow.

So I'm so glad that you were able to take that over for us. Are you going to top five for us? I've been told Susie Schuster. I do. I've got a top five top five players. I can't wait to see at the scouting combine presented by Hyundai. Hit it by one, two, three, four, five. Rich's top five.

OK, here we go. My top five players I can't wait to see certainly work out here at the scouting combine. Number five is DL 11. We're about to see him on the field shortly right here on NFL Network, as I talk about it on the Rich Eisen Show. Mason Graham of the University of Michigan. He is a top five player.

We don't know. Will it be the Jacksonville Jaguars who snag him at five? There's a lot of teams that are interested in trading up for him, especially since he has shown what he can do at the collegiate level. And soundbite of the week from Mason Graham when he was asked if there's one or two plays that he would want scouts to see from his work this year. I mean, I feel like just rolling out Ohio State film, you know, that's all you need to see. Wow. Nice.

Well done. And then Mason is only going to do here at the combine is left. He's not working out, which means. Him being on this list was a gratuitous mention, only brought about to play that soundbite number four here on my top five, please. Top five players, I can't wait to see the combine. I'm going with Isaiah Bond, wideout number five here. He's WO number five. It's too bad he's not number seven. The Texas wide receiver, by the way, by the way, where's number seven? Because his last name is Bond. And last year when his teammate Xavier Worthy ran the four to one to break the all time record for the 40 yard dash here at the combine, he popped on Instagram.

I think we have it right here. Four to O next year. So on Saturday, Isaiah Bond will have a chance to put his feet where his thumbs were last year when he popped out for two or next year. So I can't wait to see him work out. Number three is his quarterback. You know, we've been talking about quit viewers for months on our show, watching him perform excellently at the quarterback spot for much of the year. Other times he was a little bit less than, and we learned that the oblique injury that apparently he suffered in week two's domination of the Wolverines in the big house was something he was fighting through all year. And even though he was playing deep into January, he's going to work out here QB for QB 04. So he's going to be in that first group on Saturday on NFL network, 3 PM Eastern time, and he will be throwing to bond. And it'll be a lot of fun to see what when you can do out there, especially since he could have stayed in college and made probably more money than people think he could make in the pros in his first year had he stayed for the NIL money.

Instead he came out. I can't wait to see how he's going to look. But number two on the list is the quarterback that a lot of people are pegging to be the third off the board in the draft. Maybe a guy that a lot of teams will trade up at the end of the first round to get a fifth year of contractual control.

I'm going with Jackson Dart. He's QB three, so he's going to be throwing right before yours. So he will make some throws and then he'll step away and then yours will get up there and we'll see what the guy from Ole Miss looks like. I can't wait to see what he may look like when he's slinging it out here. And I look forward to figuring out if he is going to be the third guy off the board. But number one, the guy I cannot wait to see work out here at the NFL scouting combine is cam scattaboo of Arizona status. I cannot wait to see what he looks like the way that he performed in the college football playoffs. Just had me at hello, doing absolutely everything, running, catching, throwing. I may actually show up early on Saturday just to find him on the field to just shake his hand and see what he looks like just eye to eye. He's RB two eight for those scoring at home. I can't wait to ski to see cam scattaboo. He's number one in terms of my workouts that I'm looking forward to seeing here at the combine. Thank you, George. Sure.

Why not? Actually, he did that twice because I do have two more and they're Maxwell Hairston, the defensive back out of Kentucky and Arian Smith out of Georgia. And the reason why I'm mentioning them is these two guys are the ones that a lot of people think have a real shot to break Xavier worthy's record.

Maxwell Hairston is the cousin of Taiwan Jones, who you may remember had a cup of coffee in the NFL. He ran a four three three at his pro day. Back in the day, he's expected as a track star to run real fast when the defensive backs get out there on Friday. And then Arian Smith out of Georgia, he won his 200 meter dash, the two way title back in the day as a high schooler.

And his 10 second 100 meter is better than Xavier worthy's time in the same event when they both ran it back in the day. And those are my top players. I can't wait to see at the combine presented by Hyundai. Now you can buy a new Hyundai from the comfort of your home at Amazon.

Visit Hyundai usa.com for more details. That's my top five, Suze. Nice. Well done. Was that Puma in the background?

Yeah, Puma's working. Come on in. Come on in. Hey, he was my stage manager first.

Thank you so very much. I got that man engaged. That's very possessive of you, Puma. Right. You were her stage manager before you were mine. I'm just saying. Suze is America's stage manager.

He really is. All right. Well, what else? What else do you got for us, Rich? I think that was enough, but I'm going to go to break. He called David and you got to go to break. I got to go to work.

Yeah. Call David. He wants to say I'll do it.

I'll do it. Bye. See you, Rich.

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Save up to 40% your first year. Visit life lock.com slash podcast terms apply. I got a little bit of the butterflies right now. I'm not going to lie because you Billy Bob Thornton were the inspiration of the rich eyes and show show open at the super bowl in Houston, where I channeled my inner Billy Bob Thornton as your character in Friday night lights. Nice. And I'd like to play you the open right now and get your thoughts. Okay. Okay. Let's check it out. Now, most of you have been doing this for years, so it's real simple.

We've got one week and that's it. Y'all know me for a while. And while you've heard me talk about being perfect, I want you to understand something. To me, being perfect is not about our ratings, not about how often Del Tufo drops out my mic audio. It's about you and your relationships to your family, friends, and coworkers.

Being perfect is about being able to look to the guy next to you in the eye and know you didn't let them down because you're spitting the truth. And that truth is you did everything you could to make this show great. Look each other in the ass, put each other in your scripts forever, because forever is about to happen this week in Houston. Boys, my heart is full. My host chair is full. Now let's go out there and broadcast.

You know what? That was thoroughly entertaining. Thoroughly entertaining. Yeah. And I'm really shocked at how much we look alike.

Well, let's take a look. I mean, obviously I needed a little bit of help, but it's not bad. I think you did a really good job. I mean, honestly, the only thing if you want to pursue this as a career is you still had a little bit of the sportscaster voice.

In other words, it wasn't as human. It was more the... Have you ever heard Hank Azaria or Harry Schur do the baseball guy? I mean, he did this thing for me one time and I can't do it very well, but the first time I ever heard Hank do this, and it was a long time ago, and he said, you know, Tom Needinger is allergic to shellfish.

And he's talking about how baseball announcers, it's like an aside, the game and things about the story. He said, so a few of the guys took him out to dinner the other night and they buried some shrimp up under his pasta and that's in there for strike two. And you know what I mean?

It's like I needed a toupee to look just like Billy Bob Thornton. That's bowl two outside. Exactly. So, but I've got something. I think you got something going.

Yeah. I mean, just a slight cringe factor trying that out in front of Billy Bob Thornton, by the way, just a slight, I'd be so nervous. And he's referring, of course, to the great Jim Brockmire that Hank Azaria would do. And he would do that all the time. He would workshop that at dinner or hanging out or a poker, what have you. And he would just talk like this out of the blue. And it was so true. And so apropos the fact that he'd make it into a TV show is next level. But there is something very addictive about talking like this. There's something about putting in that sportscaster from the seventies. It's great to like read a menu in those themes. Yeah.

I mean, that's one of Rich's favorite things to do is to read a to read a dessert menu in the Jim Brockmire voice. It's just very addictive. Don't let the urge to sing along to that catchy tune distract you from that truck drifting down your lane or that lane splitting biker creeping up beside you. Fortunately, every Hyundai offers advanced safety features that can alert you to potential dangers around you. And Hyundai has over one hundred and twenty IHS top safety awards since 2006, because Hyundai is always working to ensure that the road doesn't get you. Hyundai vehicles have worn over one. I have won over one hundred and twenty IHS top safety awards from 2006 to 2024. And as a mom of a sixteen and a half year old who seems to not ever get his license, I will tell you right now, I like all those safety features that Hyundai has out there for you. Ken in Kokomo, Indiana, thank you so much for sticking around.

What do you have? Hey, Susie, it's nice to talk to you. It's a pleasure for taking the call.

Of course, thanks for holding on. If I'm known as anything I've called before, it's my interest is in NFL officiating. And you at the top of the show, you guys were talking about the onsite kickball.

I've got a proposal that is a little probably a little different from anything you've heard before. We've been talking about the fourth and 15 and so on and so forth. I have a suggestion to do a an untimed down from the 15 yard line. And the reason I say that it is only for possession. If the offense can get it into the end zone, they get the ball at the 50 yard line and the clock starts at the snap.

If they don't get it in, then the defense gets the ball at the 50 yard line because that's where an onsite kick would probably be anyway for either side. I don't mind this. I think we can bring this to the competition committee. Thank you so much for your time, Ken.

And thank you again for holding on. That's very different. What do you think of that? Outside the box. Look, I'm down for any idea because this has to get fixed.

There has to be some type of play instead of the onsite kick that has less than a five percent chance of being being recovered. It's such a bummer now. Yeah, it's lame.

And the no surprise. You got to announce it. You can only do it in the fourth quarter. Just not fun. Not a fan. Let's work something out, TJ. You know what I mean? Agreed. I think take off the chains.

I think let it go. I mean, it's just not fun. It's not a football play, right? The onsite kick now? Yeah.

Don't love it. We got through this entire show without saying to push. I'm just saying we had five seconds. We got tomorrow. We got tomorrow, everybody. See you then. Stone music now follow and listen on your favorite platform.