0:00

And now, and now

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back to Hale Varsity Radio. The

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tail varsity powered by Cornhead logger,

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Chris Schmitt, Elijah Herbal, Mike Babcock

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coming right up. We are excited

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to talk some NFL draft in

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Husker Spring football with our favorite

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Husker NFL lineman, Jeremiah Searles. It

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is Husker Dan at Searles

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71 underscore HSKR. Papa

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Searles as he's known around the household.

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Searles, what's up man? I'm

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good, it's been a busy two weeks here getting

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ready for the draft. I've probably made over 300 phone calls

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and talked to anywhere between

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four to five people on each NFL team

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just trying to paint a picture for where

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our clients are gonna go, what they look

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at, prospects, the whole bit. So I'm excited

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and stressed and nervous and everything else for

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this weekend, but it's such a fun weekend

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of the year. Tell me

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about some of your prospects,

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your clients, and what you're

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hoping for, what you're thinking

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about here Thursday through Saturday. Yeah,

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so hopefully we have a day two guy, Christian

1:05

Boyd, a D-Tac lot of Northern Iowa who has

1:07

just been through the gauntlet of pre-draft stuff. He

1:09

ended up having to go on 15, 30 visits

1:12

because he didn't get invited to the combine. So he

1:15

might be the highest drafted non-combine guy which would

1:17

be awesome for him. And then I got three

1:20

other ole linemen, a kid from North Dakota State,

1:22

kid from Liberty and a kid from Augustana. Two

1:25

of the guys should be day three picks. And then we have

1:27

another one, PFA. And the hope and as we say in the

1:29

agency is no shattered dreams in May. So

1:31

hopefully everyone has a team come the end of

1:33

Saturday and away we go. Well, Searles,

1:35

tell me really fast here because we're experiencing this

1:37

with some Husker guys this year as well. How

1:40

does it work to be a

1:42

guy who doesn't get a combine invite but still

1:44

get some good looks from teams? Like what is

1:46

the communication like in terms of who

1:48

gets a combine invite? Obviously, no Husker

1:50

is there this year but still a couple of Huskers

1:52

hoping to get drafted. How does that entire process work

1:55

right there? Why does some guys end up getting drafted

1:57

so high even though they aren't at the combine? Yeah,

1:59

you know, so. the national, so there's two

2:01

scouting services that the NFL uses national and

2:03

blessed. Oh, right. And nationals, the one that

2:06

puts on the combine and national football scouting,

2:08

right? The NFS, that's why it's the national

2:10

football combine. And they have

2:12

one or two scouts per team

2:14

that is designated the national scout.

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And it's their job to go through all the

2:19

teams in the spring and the fall and rank

2:21

guys of who should be combined invites and who

2:24

should not be right. And it's

2:26

a tough job. It's a hard thing to do. But

2:28

sometimes guys just miss right. And the way it

2:30

is, it's a voting system. You have to have,

2:32

I believe, 12 votes or

2:34

more. So 12 teams or more

2:37

have to vote and say, yes, I want to

2:39

see that guy at the combine or I want

2:42

to see this guy at the combine. They've

2:44

taken the agents completely out of it. There's

2:46

no way to lobby a guy into the

2:48

combine. There's no way to pull a favor

2:50

like we are ex communicado

2:52

from the combine list.

2:55

But yeah, so every team has a national scout

2:57

that has to go through. And I mean, sometimes

2:59

they just miss on guys, right? It's usually the

3:01

smaller school guys, but there's guys time and time

3:03

again that don't go to the combine. That'll get

3:06

drafted. I mean, shoot, the

3:08

guy from the Rams last year ended up going

3:10

in the third round as a defensive tackle. I

3:12

can't believe I've said his name about 100 times

3:14

and it's escaping me at the moment. Kobe Turner.

3:16

There it is. Kobe Turner went third round last

3:18

year, didn't go to combine, finished second defensive player

3:20

of the year this year, right? So defensive rookie

3:22

of the year. So there's lots of good guys

3:24

that go not to combine up, get

3:26

drafted. Well, is there any politicking? I mean, I understand

3:28

the NFL is a game that has a lot of

3:30

politics. Is there any like some team

3:33

thinks they found a diamond in the rough that they

3:35

don't want anybody else to know about? So they're gonna

3:37

act like they don't like him. I think back to

3:39

Connor Strange, the Patriots taking the first round a couple

3:41

years ago. Yeah, a lot of teams thought they had

3:43

a diamond in the rough. Nobody was talking about him

3:45

and then Patriots go and take him in the first

3:47

round. Yeah, you know, sometimes, but in this today, in

3:49

today's era of I mean, these guys have 20 people

3:52

on staff that are scouts. The idea of like some

3:54

people thought Christian might follow my detector. Oh, he might

3:56

fall through the cracks. Like no, he had 15 30.

4:00

So he was busy right no longer a secret,

4:02

right? It just doesn't work like that anymore But

4:04

I think there's a little politics as far as

4:06

like how many small guys small stool guys Do

4:08

we bring to the combine versus power five guys

4:10

and that piece like there's a little bit of

4:12

that that goes on Cyril's

4:14

gonna get your thoughts on the

4:16

spring game headline Sunday as Cyril's

4:19

gets his crystal ball out Headline

4:22

Sunday Donovan, Reola Wow, right? I think there's

4:24

gonna be a lot of that I mean

4:26

and it's not gonna be because he lights

4:29

the world on fire. It's just everyone's

4:31

excited to see him All right, everyone's excited to

4:33

see him in few have got to go to practice

4:35

But this is gonna be the first time I mean

4:37

we've been talking about Donovan. We've been talking about

4:39

Reola since last

4:43

Anywhere years right like and we've rode the roller

4:45

coaster of he loves us. Oh, no, he

4:47

hates us. He's going to Georgia Oh, he's back.

4:49

Oh, he's here I mean This is the first

4:51

time Husker Nation is gonna get to lay

4:53

eyes on this kid as a Husker and

4:56

it's gonna be great And I don't I hope that

4:58

he doesn't steal the show too much because there's a

5:00

lot of good talent there But I do think that

5:02

the whole show is gonna be around him rightfully So

5:05

he's the highest-ranked quarterback we've ever had Right

5:07

like that type of thing. So I think it's gonna be a lot

5:09

of him and a lot of Emma Johnson Yep,

5:11

hand it off and make a few throws

5:13

and away you go. What line

5:16

are you betting on? Are you betting

5:18

on pot roast skies to win the

5:20

day the defensive line or

5:22

you think Donny Riola's offensive line? And we're

5:24

not gonna see a lot of guys that

5:26

have logged a lot of starts but

5:28

some of those younger pops Yeah, you

5:30

know, it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting because it's not gonna

5:32

be the battles were used to seeing right? It's not gonna be

5:35

Ben Scott versus their tie and

5:37

their Nash up maker, right? It's not

5:39

gonna be Bryce Benhart versus Ty Robinson

5:41

Like those dudes don't need to play a lot of snaps in

5:43

the spring game. We need them in the fall Right,

5:45

you're gonna see guys like Evan

5:48

Jenkins Versus Elijah Judy,

5:50

right like you're gonna see those type

5:52

of battles Which I'm excited for because

5:54

that's one position That the D

5:56

line last year. This time. Question marks

5:58

everywhere, right? The dad who's the

6:00

guys like I don't know anyone besides mass and

6:03

time they I got and popularly I can. Lenhart

6:05

you got allies dude you got all these do

6:07

that have worked in there to the fall. But.

6:10

We don't have that on your side of all right. you got

6:12

fence. got. He a Price Banhart who

6:14

played a lot of football. Than you've got a

6:16

lot of new faces. You got Teddy who needs

6:18

to stay healthy and look so he's made it

6:20

to a spring thank goodness right? And then you've

6:22

got some really young person and Gunner in some

6:24

other young guys that you just wait to see.

6:27

Can a who emerges to become the next big

6:29

guy that we going to need of because very

6:31

rarely do all five starting off and make it

6:33

receives else. Throws: With the offensive

6:35

line, some younger tapped out there, but some guys

6:37

that I think he also expect are going to

6:40

get some playing time in the fall weather. A

6:42

be a because of injury, Whether be because of

6:44

garbage time, whether be because. Of I

6:46

just a guide making strides in the summer through the

6:48

phone work his way into western land are going to

6:50

be guys out there that we see in the phone.

6:52

and with those guys. Matt. Rule

6:55

inside of your talked a lot about the importance

6:57

of the run game but now you have Dylan

6:59

rile up behind yet quarterback. Are you more concerned

7:01

about their ability to run blocker past like what

7:03

you think is going to get got? get these

7:05

younger guys snaps in the fall. I think it's

7:08

run blocking. You know any time you have a

7:10

freshman quarterback regardless of how talented he as you

7:12

can't put everything on his shoulders and she's not

7:14

fair to him is not fair to him. Suffer

7:16

to his teammates like you're asking a kid to

7:18

fail. And. What you want to

7:20

do is surround him with a super solid run

7:22

game. Put him in his past situations that are

7:25

friendly right? Not live in Havre. a clown throw

7:27

the ball three times. Also on were third and

7:29

ten. Know quarterback wants to be in third and

7:31

ten. But. Let's be a good efficient running

7:33

the football team. Put ourselves in second or Mantle put

7:35

ourselves in third and short. open up the plaques and

7:37

game. get the boot game going, get him rolling out

7:40

right. Don't ask him to be a statue back there.

7:42

And so I really do think these young ally merits

7:44

a big strides in the run game to prove the

7:46

ready get on the field because his what's his rule

7:48

knows that they were kept so the football. It's why

7:51

we brought him here. He knows in the Big Ten.

7:53

Games. Are won and lost, especially in November

7:55

with the ground. searle's

7:57

let's spend a minute with the

8:00

gap, right? I'm anxious to see

8:04

with our own eyes the gap in

8:06

that quarterback race. I think we're all

8:08

thinking there's been separation by Dylan. Wonderful.

8:11

What's Harburg truly look like

8:13

with his improvement? Same with

8:16

Danny Kaye. But what's that

8:18

gap on the offensive line to your eyes?

8:20

You've seen some practices, not asking

8:22

you to badmouth, but you've got your starters and

8:25

then you've got the guys that will be called

8:27

upon at some point. Yeah, you know,

8:29

I think the gap's a little larger than

8:31

Coach Rayla would like and it's not really

8:33

his, it's nothing as well as just their young. It's

8:35

just hard to ask a young player to come in

8:38

here and be ready to go. I mean, the days

8:40

of, hey, you're gonna redshirt for a

8:42

year, you're gonna get a developmental year, you're gonna

8:44

put 20 pounds on. Like, we don't have that

8:46

luxury right now in the offensive line room. Unfortunately,

8:48

we have guys that are here that

8:50

are either true freshmen or retro freshmen that we're gonna

8:52

need to be called upon. And that

8:54

puts you in a tough spot as no line coach

8:56

because you don't want to do that to hamper kids

8:59

development. But sometimes out of necessity, you just need to

9:01

do it. And it's not because the kid can't

9:03

do it. He just may not physically be ready yet.

9:05

And that makes it a really hard time to go

9:07

out there when you're trying to survive. You don't quite

9:09

have all the physical tools that you need coming from

9:11

a guy that started as a retro freshman and felt

9:13

that a little bit when I got out there.

9:16

So as we talk about, I guess, the

9:19

offensive line, the rushing attack, there's been some

9:21

rumors out there that Nebraska's reached out to

9:23

Dylan Edwards, the running back from Colorado in

9:25

the transfer portal with that. Is that just

9:27

trying to acquire talent or does that give

9:29

you some some warning bells in terms

9:31

of what the running back room is? Are you gonna

9:34

wait until Saturday or are you gonna also jump on

9:36

the bandwagon of people kind of like me who've become

9:38

a little bit concerned about the running back room through

9:40

the spring? Yeah, no, the only reason I'm concerned about

9:43

the running back room is you look at who's in

9:45

it and you go, okay, like Gabe Urban obviously is

9:47

great, hasn't finished a season. Ramir

9:49

Johnson's coming off an injury, right?

9:52

Emmett Johnson is young, looks like a promising

9:54

young back and then you got some other

9:56

unproven guys transfers in from Oregon. They're like,

9:58

you want to get a young guy, which

10:00

Edwards is a freshman last year, right? You

10:03

want to get a young guy in here that you're going to say, Hey,

10:06

we're going to develop you for the next three years. You're

10:08

going to be our guy, right? Like we don't have that

10:10

guy besides Emmett in the room and you

10:12

want two of those guys. You always want to have two

10:14

or three backs because if there's a position that gets hurt

10:16

more than any other position, it's the running back. And

10:18

we saw it last year. I mean, once those guys

10:20

started going down, the run game just went into the

10:22

toilet. And so you want to

10:25

make sure you have a stable of running

10:27

backs. It's never a bad thing to have

10:29

too many running backs. Searls, talk to your

10:31

Viking faithful about JJ McCarthy. Stop.

10:33

I don't, I'm not a JJ McCarthy lover.

10:35

I haven't been since the day he left

10:37

Michigan. I think he's going to get a

10:39

guy fired. Like I don't, I don't, I'm

10:42

not a believer. I'm sorry. I'm not. And

10:44

I planted this flag a long time ago

10:46

and people tried to boot me off my

10:48

spot. But if I'm looking at

10:50

the top tier quarterbacks, it goes Caleb,

10:52

Drake, May, Jayden Daniels, PENEX, McCarthy. Like

10:55

that's how I, that's how I have

10:57

them listed. It probably doesn't go that

10:59

way. But I think the Vikings, if

11:01

Drake made not there at three, I think they sit

11:03

at 11 and see who's still there. Last

11:06

thought here, Jeremiah Searls with this NFL

11:08

draft thoughts that of course

11:10

spring football thoughts with Nebraska on Saturday.

11:13

Searls, I want to get your

11:15

thought on, on that move, that bump up

11:18

from college to the NFL. What's that

11:20

experience like for a college guy

11:22

to then make the jump into

11:24

the NFL locker rooms, locker rooms, or is

11:27

it a different animal in the NFL? Totally

11:29

different beasts, right? I mean, totally different beasts.

11:31

You come into college with a group of

11:33

guys that you know you're going to spend

11:35

the next four years with, right? Hey, we're

11:37

all freshmen. We're enjoying this. This is fun.

11:40

Like you walk into an NFL locker room

11:42

and there's a 33 year old dude there that's

11:44

married, has two kids. And he looks at you

11:46

like, you think you're taking my job? Good luck.

11:48

Right. And sometimes it's not a very friendly place

11:51

to be. And then you come in with a

11:53

bunch of rookies And you're like, Oh, this is

11:55

fun. Right. And Then you just start slowly seeing them

11:57

all get chopped away. Right. Oh, there goes another

11:59

one. Another one in the reality of.

12:01

While. The dream can be over at any minute really

12:04

starts to set it. right? And as

12:06

she swallows things where it's it's completely different. It's

12:08

not your job. It's very thick and sears the

12:10

there's a there's no scholarship like as a performance

12:12

based deal. I. Stress High reward by

12:14

one or more school things you'll ever do.

12:17

Who on who who made you? Second guess

12:19

walking in that locker room. Ah King Dunlap

12:21

Six Ten, three hundred fifty pounds a him.

12:23

One of the first person I met when

12:26

I walked into the church. his locker room

12:28

smells like moon, I don't know vomit be

12:30

able to do this. And in the second

12:32

person was Dj Fluker came up and shook

12:35

my forearm with his hands and I was

12:37

like what is happening and what planet that

12:39

I go to Like there's no. Way

12:42

I can figure this out. but I did.

12:44

We made aware but those to humans showed

12:46

me the like the Nfl, the different beast

12:48

Searle's Enjoy! Draft weekend Best you and your

12:50

clients. Thanks for a few minutes. Absolute bridge

12:53

to guys. Go Big Red!