Mark Veneri, broadcaster for Hawaii football, offers McElroy & Cubelic a preview of their upcoming Week Zero matchup against Delaware State
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McElroy and Kublik in the morning starts now. All right. Welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning. Tuesday, August 20th, 935 a.m. Right here on jocks. Ninety four five. Appreciate you guys tuning in. Talking about some news around SEC camps. A couple of the things I'm hearing.

Tuesday, August 20th. Mississippi State GMAC wide receiver group looking good. Mario Craver, true freshman from Alabama, looking pretty good. First run of the defense, solid, fine. Big drop-off between ones and twos. Oh, yeah. Sort of expected, but maybe a little bit worse than we thought. Running back depth, great. All four have a chance to play. So Blake Chapin, good. Running back's good. O-line a little bit better. I mean, could be...

The offense could be maybe what we thought it had a chance to be for the Bulldogs this upcoming season. I think they're going to be really good on offense. That really hasn't wavered. I felt good about their offense really all offseason. It's the defense that's been keeping me up at night.

To hear that that's the reports out of camp is really not that surprising. Some good news from South Carolina. Lenore Sellers, a guy we know is going to have to take a massive portion of the load this year. But 6'5", 240, 22 miles an hour on the GPS, has improved as a passer. Rocket Sanders, healthy, wants reps, wants to be somebody who's in the mix, giving it a go.

trying to get a little bit better. But here, the main thing about South Carolina, I think you need to know, there will be a lot of true freshmen contributing this year. And we know that can get you in trouble, but also could surprise some folks. You have two starting offensive linemen from last year that right now are being beat out by a true freshman or redshirt freshman. So Josiah Thompson is going to probably get the go over there.

at left tackle so watch out for that one and uh a guy that is is in there as a freshman uh and has essentially moved tree back to second team but that group has has really kind of come on uh taking things personal from last year uh dylan stewart defensive end true freshman might get some run there mazio bennett freshman wide receiver could get some run for south carolina

But I know they like their defense, and I know they like the way that Lenore Sellers has come on this year. And the offensive line could be better if that's the case. I don't really know what the ceiling is for this football team, Greg, but some parts of it that maybe could make them very dangerous based on who they're going to be going up against this fall. Yeah, and I think they're probably going to be in a pretty good spot. You really think about...

just how dangerous that team might be. All things considered, how dangerous they might be. And I think when you look at it, man, they're in a pretty good spot. I mean, I think South Carolina, if they can just defend and they get good quality play quarterback, they can grind you out some with rocket Sanders and Lenore sellers. They know that they're not going to necessarily be a team that airs you out.

But if they can just grind you out and shrink the game, which is going to be the recipe for a bunch of teams this year, then they're going to have a chance. They're going to be very similar to Arkansas, except I think they have better personnel defensively. So very encouraging spot to be in, I think, if you are South Carolina. Okay. So we'll see if the Gamecocks can find a way to maybe be one of those dangerous teams in the SEC this upcoming season. We know the interior of that defensive line is going to be solid. Edge, I think, is something that...

has really got to come on. But you throw in a mobile quarterback, you got a lot of guys that stuck around. You got a lot of veterans, even though some of the younger guys are going to have to play. A lot of vets that have been there for a long time that kind of understand what it's supposed to look like, what it's supposed to be. And we'll see how that thing takes place. One thing that's going to take place after a lot of you go to bed coming up Saturday night, 1059 local kick.

Delaware State at Hawaii and Mark Vannieri has joined us before to discuss Hawaii he joins us now to discuss this Hawaii football team and Mark let's just start with with this kick time is it very different for you guys as it is for us like is this a normal kick time normal start time for you guys

Well, it's like, I guess you could say getting up early in the morning where it's 4:38 in the morning right now here in Hawaii. But I think, I think

I think football, I've been so used to it over the past couple of years. I think the kick time probably doesn't affect too much people. I think it more affects the people who are traveling out to Hawaii with the adjustment. If you think about it, it usually takes opponents or what they say, most opponents,

For every day of travel, for every time zone you travel, actually, you need about a day or two to recover in terms of getting up to speed. So, you know, the advantage of this, you say, of coming to Hawaii is it's an advantage home team. Well, Mark, I don't know if you knew this, but my dad played Hawaii and my mom was a cheerleader there. So we've been watching Hawaii games deep into the night for many, many years.

But it's really been a lot of fun to kind of see Timmy Chang now back in charge. Look, with Todd Graham, the way things kind of finished up, it just was really demoralizing. But now year three for Timmy Chang feels like he finally has a group that's capable from a depth standpoint to keep up. So how competitive do we anticipate the Bow Warriors being this year?

Well, we had a great meeting with some of the coaches yesterday. We did – my brother and I kind of did our final cleanup. You know, it's funny you say that with your dad playing. You know, my brother played, you know, back in the 1992 Holiday Bowl team. So it's – you know, obviously it's – you know, it runs in the family. I've been around it, you know, my whole life. And just, you know, being a part of the program has been fantastic. And growing up, Timmy Chang is – I've known him since I was, you know, obviously –

in high school. So sitting down with them, I think this is one of the things that, you know, I'm sure coach Timmy would tell you, you know, his, his thinking in his head. And this is one of the things as we asked, you know, what, what would be, you know, the goal and the goal in his mind is 10 wins. And then, and now that I, my first reaction was like, okay, you know, that's,

That's great. You want to have ambitious goals. I was like, what about eight? Eight and four are right around there. He was like, no, ten wins, Mark. I thought about it and I looked on the schedule with the capabilities and the depth that this team has this season.

You look at it and it's like, well, you know, maybe he's not wrong. And, you know, I figure about, but if you're asking me, I figure about, about eight wins is, you know, the, the way I'm looking at it for this program this season. Yeah. Schedule kind of tough is a Braden Schrager going to be the guy quarterback over 3000 passing yards last year. He's got some veteran wide receivers back as well. And,

It feels like, you tell me, Mark, this offense could be one of the prototypical Hawaii offenses we're used to seeing put up big numbers.

Well, this is, you know, talking with Dan Morris yesterday as well, Brandon Shaker has the potential to be, you know, have a breakout year. You know, you're talking about the Brian Moniz year of, you know, throwing 56, you know, 57 touchdown passes, and you look at the receiving core, there's about 10 to 12 with the receiving core guys who can play and be in a rotation, you know,

And also still start. And, you know, Jared Ursula was telling us about this yesterday that, you know, there's guys on this team that he feels like in a rotation that can start at any given time. He feels so comfortable with the depth of the receiving core with guys like Alex Perry, Tylan Hines, McPherson.

making that move to wide out. You've got Pofeli Ashlaw coming back. Tamatoa Mokiao, Ati Malala, Kwan Ishii Gaya. I think a guy to look out for is Dakel Croudis, the transfer from Kentucky. Man, can he fly. I mean, 4'3", I would say 4'3", 4'4", speed, great route running, and really can bring something where he can take the top of speed.

the defense. So you look at that Spencer Curtis, the transfer from Nevada, he's going to be a guy who's going to be the immediate impact for this team as well. It's strange looking at the schedule. I'm when I'm looking at Hawaii, I'm always looking at, all right, how many weeks in a row are they away?

How many weeks in a row are they at home? And you look at their schedule and their games, week one and two, both at home. Excuse me, week zero, week one, both at home against Delaware State and UCLA, respectively. And then it rotates on a weekly basis. Road, home, road, home, road, home, road, home, road, home.

So looking at just how things kind of set up there, is that going to be detrimental? Because oftentimes I know if they have a game on the mainland, multiple games in a row, they'll just stay there and kind of manage accordingly. But with them kind of swapping home and away every other week, does that make life more difficult for Hawaii?

You know, I, I, I've seen this in about a couple of years ago where, you know, it really did kind of affect them in terms of, I would say, you know, how this, how the travel plays out. It can be, it can be very, you know, I, I would say it can be very hard for them in the way they travel. But if you look at it from a different perspective is the fact that, you

they do have that early part of the schedule where, you know, if you look at Delaware State, UCLA, Sam Houston, Northern Iowa, that UCLA to Sam Houston travel, they have a break. And then also for the Northern Iowa to San Diego State, they have that little break and then they go consistent there on after all the way up until Utah State to New Mexico. But what I'm looking at is, you know, if they can go and, you know, winning, I'd say cures a lot of this, you know,

having the ability to win football games, if they can start the way they're looking at things, they feel out the gates that by October 5th, they could be looking at 5-0.

And if you really look at it, I know you're looking at a tough UCLA team. Sam Houston's not bad on the road, but the way this football team feels and the way the coaching staff feels and how the progression has been going for the football program, they feel 5-0 is definitely attainable.

Well, Mark, we appreciate the time today. We know Hawaii gets it going Saturday night. It's going to be late for us, but I know you'll be on the call and be excited to get it going against Delaware State. 10.59 p.m. our time from the T.C. Ching Athletic Complex there in Honolulu. Thanks for joining us and previewing the Hawaii Warriors. We look forward to catching up with you again soon.

Well, real quick, too, guys, I'm hoping I'm crossing my fingers to pray out here for Hawaii. It was a tropical storm development that I know meteorologists here are taking a very strong look at it in the development of a possible storm this weekend. So fingers crossed that football in week zero gets played here in Hawaii.

Yeah, hope that thing takes a turn, dies down. We don't want that to hit you guys at all. So thank you very much, Mark. And, hey, listen, we know you got up at 430 to do this, so we appreciate that very much. Thank you. I'm blessed. I'm blessed. I appreciate you guys always. And my apologies. You know, thank you once again for having me on. Always willing and welcome to be on. All good. We love it. There you go. Mark Benary calls Hawaii football games and will be on the call this weekend for Delaware State at Hawaii, 1059 local. I said,

I still don't have an actual television option for that. I was told pay-per-view, but I'm not 100% sure. We'll be able to find it. I'll tell you this.

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A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. When you have sports mixed with your pop culture, along with humor and celebrity interviews, your earbuds are enjoying the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Bruce Feldman. The Big 12 landscape. I just know how Dion is, where he's coming from. His wins are measured differently.

The question is, as you said, it's got to go from four to eight. I think they can do that. It would be hard not to get better considering how bad they were on the offensive line last year. Now, their schedule actually feels harder this year than it was last year. Search for The Rich Eisen Show on YouTube or wherever you listen.