West of Everest: An Oklahoma Football Podcast

Lee previews what to expect from the show over the next four days. We will release new episodes each day through Wednesday to celebrate the first full week of the college football season (0:00). What will we be looking for in the upcoming depth chart release this week (3:40)? We learned this week that Dasan McCullough is still not practicing (9:00). Andrel Anthony has no limitations right now in practice. We'll have to monitor his role as the season begins (16:20). Who do you want to see returning kicks and punts this season? Brent Venables gave us some names this week and the guys are not all that excited (18:20). If Zach Schmit is OU's kicker this season, perhaps history tells us that having Tyler Keltner as his backup is a good sign (26:35). A rare dive into recruiting for this show to talk about OU getting the commitment from a 5-star OT this week (32:30). A couple of former OU quarterbacks got some positive news this past week (37:40). Ga Tech upset FSU in Ireland and the guys have thoughts about it (40:00). It appears SMU may not be very good, and we field a question from the WoE Facebook page asking if we'd like to see OU play a game in Ireland at some point (52:35). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

After some brief talk about the incredibly hot weather in Oklahoma, the guys talk about the recent anxiety surrounding Jackson Arnold's play at fall camp (6:30). After listening to other OU podcasts, it certainly seems like the team is dealing with a lot of minor injuries that are keeping players out of practice. Is this a problem, or just a way to keep the guys fresh for the season (23:40)? Lee rants about something that is annoying him that always seems to happen this time of year (32:00). Seems as if J.J. Hester will get his shot this season. Is R Mason Thomas finally healthy (42:00)? We check the WoE Facebook page and read comments and questions. What is the one road game you'd go to this season and next (45:15)? Is there a concern that multiple WRs have injury history (50:30)? We do a brief preview of Week Zero. FSU-Georgia Tech might be somewhat competitive. Grant has been practicing pronunciation ahead of the season (53:50). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

Lee previews what is coming up on the show, followed by us thanking listeners for submitting new ratings/reviews for Apple and Spotify. Then the guys jump into the news that Jayden Gibson suffered a knee injury at practice. It does not sound good. What does this mean for the wide receiver room? Is it possible to replace what Gibson brings to OU's offense (6:20)? The Jovantae Barnes hype train continued into the second week of fall practice. We play some sound from Jackson Arnold and Barnes. We lay out the possible scenarios that could play out surrounding Barnes this season (23:40). We slide over to the OU defense. Lee plays some sound he liked from Gentry Williams. P.J. Adebawore looked bigger in some recent photos, but Grant wants him to gain even more weight (38:00). Kip Lewis is up to 225 and he's not sure which LB position he will play mostly this fall (49:30). OU will wear throwback uniforms Sept. 7 against Houston (51:25). We finish up with some random topics that include an OU bowl projection, the release of the Coaches poll, and Lee thinking Ohio State is boring (55:45). Grant talks briefly about the Olympics, much to Lee's chagrin. But then Lee gets excited talking about Caleb Williams playing in his preseason debut with the Bears (1:04:00). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

In the opening take, Lee is excited that it's the time of year to hear about how awesome OU will be in the upcoming season. Then Grant joins as we veer off into a discussion about Colin Cowherd and shows like "First Take" (4:00). Grant has started to talk himself into OU being one of the best teams in college football in 2024. But he's not a fan of other SEC teams being given the benefit of the doubt, while OU is not. We also have a broader conversation about OU entering the SEC and Lee warns that there's a chance we may learn that the Big 12 was actually a big benefit for the Sooners (9:20). Brent Venables provided an injury update on Andrel Anthony this week. Does this change Grant's mind about Anthony in 2024 (22:30)? Jalil Farooq seems to be fine as he recovers from his foot injury. And we learned Dasan McCullough has a minor toe injury (35:55). Jovantae Barnes is apparently looking good. We'll believe it when we see it (40:50). A little offensive line talk leads to talking about Tennessee being given the benefit of the doubt (58:00). Some takeaways from what Damonic Williams, Branson Hickman, and Peyton Bowen said this week (1:06:30). KFORD put out their weekly "watchability rankings" for the 2024 season and this is a pretty cool tool (1:19:15). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

The guys want to learn a lot of things from OU's fall camp, so they go over a lot of questions that they may or may not get answered in the next month. They begin with many thoughts and questions surrounding OU's offensive line (2:00). Will a trio of Sooners be able to practice in Fall camp (36:00)? We have several questions to ask about OU's running backs (40:15). Are we going to find out for sure that Casey Thompson is OU's backup QB (52:20)? Will Deion Burks and Makari Vickers miss any games (54:45)? Who's going to be OU's kicker (1:00:20)? Grant has many questions about the defensive line (1:06:00). Who's going to be the starting corners (1:13:10)? We spend the rest of the show talking about some teams (and people) we like to root against (1:15:00). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

We talk about everything we learned from OU this week at SEC Media Days beginning with Jackson Arnold's appearance (5:15). Danny Stutsman impressed with his appearance (17:25). Billy Bowman came back to OU to win a championship. Should we start calling him "Bill" Bowman (24:30)? Brent Venables is confident about the depth at offensive and defensive line. Venables also warned that there's no guarantees that OU will have an elite defense this season (30:00). Venables gave us some injury updates on Andrel Anthony, Jalil Farooq, and others. Good news on the Troy Everett front, and can we count on Gentry Williams to play multiple full games in 2024 (54:30)? We take a look at the SEC preseason media poll and the preseason All-SEC teams (1:08:00). Grant gives his review of EA Sports College Football 25. He is not impressed (1:16:00). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

The guys open the show briefly talking about Grant's recent trip Yellowstone National Park before jumping into their Preseason SEC Polls. Lee decided to rank his teams based on predicted order of finish, while Grant chose to treat this as a Power Poll of SEC teams. We both begin with Georgia as number 1 and predicted SEC Champion (2:40). Lee goes over his tier 2 teams that he thinks the floor is 9-3. There's also a discussion about Michigan's prospects for 2024 (11:50). Grant runs down his tier 2 teams in his preseason SEC Power Poll (28:00). Lee lists finishes up the top 10 teams in his preseason poll (45:30). Grant lists five more teams that he believes is in Tier 3 of the SEC. Grant's convinced Missouri is very overrated heading into 2024 (53:35). The guys finish up their preseason polls and recap (1:02:45). EA College Football 25 talk. Arch Manning is in the game and is rated higher than Jackson Arnold. Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman are in the top 100. Isn't Shedeur Sanders slow? Will Jayden Gibson be criminally underrated in this game? And other musings (1:06:00). Brief updated roster talk. We're kind of worried about PJ Adebawore. Dillon Gabriel is now the favorite to win the Heisman on ESPN Bet (1:19:50). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

After a quick preview of what's coming up on the show today, the guys jump into OU officially being a member of the SEC. Will this show get a bunch of new listeners from fans from SEC teams (2:10)? We have to make some corrections from previous shows because we get things wrong sometimes. A listener gets an assist for showing us the way about a Dallas Cowboys topic. Does Lee have a blind spot for defensive players in the NFL? We also find a way to bash USC (4:55). Another mistake we made revolves around Alabama's new head coach Kalen DeBoer and his OC. Good thing we are here to set the record straight (10:40). Let's talk about OU's "Welcome to the SEC" event that did not produce really anything interesting, with maybe the exception of Joe Castiglione taking a mini shot at Lincoln Riley. Where would OU be right now if Riley had not left for USC (13:40)? Barrett Sallee talked about the future of OU and Texas in the SEC on a recent podcast. We play what Sallee said and then react to it all (30:50). Thanks to the "Cover 3 Podcast" for an idea for a bit. Grant wants to pretend we are 5-star recruits and are picking our top 5 schools outside of OU. Both guys take different routes to picking their top 5 (1:09:45). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

The guys open the show talking about OU's official entry into the SEC, which is set for Monday. Lee apologizes for bringing up a topic that we always beat to death during the offseason (2:00). We provide our thoughts on Bud Elliott's latest "Blue Chip Ratio" rankings. OU's improved their standing in this since 2017 (6:45). Grant has some season win totals that have caught his eye. We begin with a theme on this show, which is ripping on Miami (26:15). Let's talk about Kansas State's win total (35:15). Grant thinks Alabama's win total is a little inflated (41:30). We hit on Tennessee and Missouri (51:00). Grant thinks Florida State is going to go under their win total (57:50). Flipping over to teams who Grant likes to hit their over. Virginia Tech, NC State, UCF, Iowa, Nebraska, and West Virginia (1:01:30). Grant gives his thoughts on Penn State and Ole Miss (1:10:15). EA Sports College Football 25 released some rankings that everybody is talking about. Lee's seen games at Kyle Field and Tiger Stadium. Is OU too high on the "toughest places to play" list (1:17:00)? EA has several teams ranked way too high on offense, particularly Colorado. Hopefully Jackson Arnold is good (1:24:10). OU's ranked 12th on defense and 17th in the overall rankings (1:29:35). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

Lee questions why people put any stock into what national college football writers/pundits say. Grant explains why there's a big interest in what those people say and talks about why he's annoyed with the national narrative surrounding OU (2:45). Brent Venables got a new contract this week. Should this even be a story? Lee lays out the potential worst case scenario if it turns out that Venables is not the right guy for OU (25:00). USC lost a pair of 5-star DL commitments this week. Grant explains more why he thinks USC will be bad in 2024. Lee is worried that one of his theories about college football may end up being wrong, and Grant explains why that could be the case (42:00). Lee identifies teams that you may want to bet the over or the under on their season win total. We find out there's a lot of agreement here from Grant. Teams we hit on: USC, SMU, OSU, Iowa, Oregon, Texas A&M, Colorado, and Michigan. Grant briefly previews a topic for the next show (1:02:40). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets