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Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase are joined by Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Lindy Ruff for his weekly appearance with The Jeremy and Joe Show. The guys start by discussing the brand new Hometown Remix jersey and Lindy explains why he loves it! Then they dive into hockey and discuss how the Sabres have found their game in California, and Lindy emphasizes a balanced, consistent approach. Lindy also touches on the power play improvement, goaltending, and more!
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00:00Hey, everybody. Good morning. Jeremy and Joe here. It is a little bit of a rainy Tuesday,
00:06but the high is supposed to be around 70 degrees today, 71 today, 75 tomorrow. Some rain here
00:12and there. Sabres back home after a perfect Western Conference swing, road trip, and a
00:18home for Ottawa tomorrow at Key Bank Center. Joining us on the Western Hotline is Lindy
00:22Ruff, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff. Lindy, good morning.
00:25Good morning, gentlemen.
00:26Lindy, look good, play good. I saw your review of the new Hometown Remix, so I'm
00:31expecting a banner night tomorrow because you like the look.
00:37Yeah, no, I think it's a pretty sharp look overall. I saw a few games last night, just
00:43remixed jerseys around the league. I think we got one of the best ones.
00:47Yeah. Do you, I don't know, how traditionalist are you for this? Like the older teams seem
00:53to have a tougher time doing this, sometimes like the Red Wings or the Canadians, you know,
00:57original six. It's almost like they're not allowed to have too much fun because it's
01:01too traditional. Are you, are you one to, you know, loosen the reins on what team should
01:06be able to wear?
01:08Yeah, you know, I like it. I think they're, you know, this isn't 1980 anymore and I think
01:15a lot of things have changed. And I think when it comes to designing stuff, the design part
01:20of it is, I think it's pretty intriguing with a, you know, I watched a little bit of the
01:24Panther game last night. Their uniform, you know, I think would suit the new generation.
01:31Yeah.
01:32Do you, do you still have, would your favorite though still be the one that you wore the,
01:35the, the originals?
01:38For sure.
01:39Which doesn't mean I don't like the other ones. But, you know, I think, you know, getting
01:45drafted here and playing in that jersey. And I, I still think we have one of the, you know,
01:50the nicest original jerseys with, with color and everything. So my favorite, but I'm allowed
01:56to have a second favorite or a third favorite too.
02:00Lindy, a couple of weeks ago, maybe 10 games in, we were talking and you had a press conference.
02:04You also said like that the team is trying to find its game. You're trying to find your
02:08game and off a three game swing with three games on the West coast. Do you feel like your
02:13team has found that game?
02:16I feel we're in a better place that a little bit more balanced to our lines, a little bit
02:22more depth in scoring. We've got more guys that are getting on the board offensively.
02:28I still think, you know, and I've dealt with this last year with the group is just our puck
02:35management like to see improved, but I think our game resembles what we need or pretty close
02:42to what we need to, to win on a consistent basis.
02:46Do you feel like Lindy also like more specifically on this road trip, you got a bunch of power
02:52play goals. I think it was four in the last two games. And I think one of those, it was
02:56a bounce, but you guys were still like low on the play. Do you feel like that unit took
03:00a step in the last three games or were you just getting the results and feel like you were
03:04trending towards that?
03:06You know, I felt like we were trending closer to it. With that unit staying together, I think
03:12what hurt the unit for a little bit of time was when Dolls went out again for the couple
03:17of games he was out. But I thought we got right back on track. You know, I think when you
03:23get
03:23more pucks going to the net, you're going to get a few more bounces. You know, so if you
03:28look at the Oslin goal, you look at the Quinn power play goal, you know, you're getting
03:33pucks going to the net. They've gone off of people and all of a sudden it's on your tape
03:38and you're putting the puck in the back of the net or it's going off somebody and going
03:42in the net. I thought early in the year, maybe a little bit too much on the perimeter
03:48where we were looking for that perfect play. I think we've found a better place to be where
03:55we're trying to outnumber them around the net and get more pucks there.
03:58Do you, you won regulation loss on the road in eight games so far this year. I feel like it
04:02goes back to
04:03last season and last year in the playoffs. Do you feel your team is just comfortable on the
04:08road? Not, not even to compare it to home here, just that it's been a while now where it seems
04:12your team has been able to win when they're on the road. Yeah. You know, you really can't pinpoint
04:19it, but I think, uh, the depth of our team, the, you know, when you look at the matchups and
04:25the
04:25home, the home team gets, always gets that last change. I think the fact that we're, we're strong
04:31with, with all four lines has been an advantage in our direction the last couple of years that
04:37doesn't matter what line I put out there. Um, we can defend against anybody. We can score
04:43a lot of times against most lines. And I think that a lot of times when, you know, your, your
04:49lines
04:50are all playing the same, that, you know, tough to play against the other team has to play through
04:54you. That gives you a lot better chance of winning a hockey game.
05:00Sabres head coach, Lindy Ruff joining us on the Western hotline, Lindy injury report,
05:04injury updates on a couple of guys. Um, for Zach Benson, you'd said you'd hoped it was a
05:08maintenance day. How does that look? Um, it looks like this morning he'll skate on his own here at
05:149 a.m. Uh, and see where he's at. Um, if that goes well, that there's a possibility he may
05:20join us
05:21for practice or we may just hold him out and see how he feels tomorrow. Uh, so really won't know
05:28for
05:28sure. Probably until he gets through the skate this morning. And then Alex Lyon, Connor Timmons,
05:34Consta Hellenius all back on the ice also? No, Hellenius is, uh, he's in a week to week category.
05:40Okay. Uh, Lyon is, Lyon is doing well. Um, you know, he's progressing, uh, just get,
05:46he'll get more reps this week. And, uh, uh, depending on how that goes, his availability is,
05:51is, you know, within days. Um, you mentioned one other one. Who's the other one now?
05:58Timmons. Timmons, who you're thinking of is back. Yeah. Yeah. Timmons had, uh, he was doing well. Um,
06:04he got tangled up a little bit yesterday and, uh, uh, uh, waiting to see what that looks like,
06:09uh, today that he might've had, uh, like a small setback. Okay. For Lyon, just a quick follow up on
06:15him. Do you feel like he's been out long enough that what would that be like a conditioning stint or
06:19would you be comfortable just putting him right back in? Um, you know, I think that's something
06:24we always talk about whether, you know, you, you go get him a game, get a, you know, get him
06:29back
06:29going, uh, or if you can get enough practice. I think when you look at our schedule, we've got a
06:34pretty heavy schedule coming up. So practice time is going to be limited. Uh, you know, well,
06:39I think with that decision, we'll, as soon as we feel that he's ready to go full bore, um,
06:45um, that is always an option. And with the goaltending in mind from this road trip,
06:51Lindy, how did you feel like you did in goal? I mean, Ellis had the shutout. There's the middle
06:55game there. And then Lukan and seemed pretty settled in on Saturday. So it was a bit of a
07:00rotation there, but how did you feel like the overall was, especially with that six game six
07:05goal performance there in the middle? Yeah. I thought even with the six goal, there was
07:10some crazy ones that went in, um, some backdoor opportunities. There was nothing our
07:15goaltender can do, but I thought we got a real solid, um, performance out of our goaltenders.
07:20Uh, gave us a chance. I thought, uh, we got a great game in LA from, from UPL and the
07:26two games
07:27that Ellis won, uh, I thought the San Jose game, he was terrific. And, uh, he was in a great
07:34place
07:34in that Anaheim game. And, you know, I think the defending, we let a couple of plays get away
07:39from us, uh, but still ended up winning the game. And I thought, uh, those guys were a big
07:44part of it. When it comes to that, Lindy, like you've got the two rotating and which
07:49worked so well last year, if you get back to a rotation and then Lyon gets reintroduced,
07:55is it a, see what happens kind of thing? I mean, how have you communicated to the goaltenders?
08:01If, if you even have, what will happen with the three of them?
08:04Well, the good part is that I haven't had to do that yet because we're not quite there.
08:10So I think, you know, it, it's always an uncomfortable feeling having the three and
08:15when the three are, are all healthy. Uh, but it's been a big strength of ours over this
08:22past year and a half to have the three. Um, I think with the way the schedule looks, a rotation
08:28will be in our favor to keep both guys fresh. I think we used, uh, we went two and two
08:33on the
08:33road, uh, with both goaltenders. As soon as Lyon is ready, we'll just, uh, address the
08:39set, uh, when it comes our way.
08:42Lindy rough with us on the Western hotline. Lindy, you guys found the back of the net a
08:47bunch also on the road. And a lot of that was Tate Thompson heating up. He was NHL's
08:51number one star of the week. How much different has he looked to you in like the last week or
08:56so? And, and how much does it help when Benson is on a line with him? Like, what do you
09:02see
09:02when those two are together? I mean, Benson really just seems like any line he's on finds a
09:07way to score. And now it seems to be happening with Thompson there.
09:11Yeah. Well, I think with, uh, the way Benson is playing and the possession, he, he garners
09:18down low, the, the ability like from the dots down to, to make small plays or even from,
09:25from the blue line to the top of the circle to, to find the right play. He's done such a
09:30great
09:30job. Uh, uh, that line of, of him and Quinn and, and Oslin was, was such a good line and
09:37he was a big part of that. And now I think that Oslin and Quinn can, can carry a line
09:42for us. And now Benson and Thompson with Krebs, uh, gives us another good line. And I said
09:47this yesterday, we were, you know, we're sitting at, at 500 with the way the lines are set up
09:52and you, the one line was going really good, but we just weren't winning enough games.
09:56And the decision to break him up was try to create a little bit more depth and get a little
10:00bit more scoring. And, uh, I think that Benson with Thompson has been, uh, has been a big
10:07plus for us. Do you feel like in the new lines, by the way, you mentioned like Doan is the
10:12one who's gone down with Oslin and Quinn, not that you mentioned go down there, like the
10:16top two lines, but do you feel like Doan is still searching for his game? Like I know the
10:20points aren't there yet, but where do you think he is in his journey trying to find what
10:24he had last year? I think he's really close to having a little bit of a breakout. Um,
10:30you know, a big strength of his was, uh, he's such a puck hound at the same time, his takeaways
10:36and getting on people and creating turnovers, uh, creating turnovers that turn into scoring
10:41chances for himself or creating turnovers that turn into chances for, for the line. Um,
10:48I think he's right there. Um, the fact that we've kind of juggled things, uh, you know,
10:54earlier here in the season, I think he's found himself a pretty good spot, but I think he's
10:59right there for a break breakthrough. Um, you know, I think we can look at, uh, Thompson
11:03as the example that all of a sudden he broke through. Um, I really feel he could be the next
11:08guy. Lindy, finally looking at the division, looking at the playoff picture. I mean, it's
11:13only, you know, 14, 16 games in, depending on which team we're looking at here. So about
11:19a sixth of the way through the season, that neighborhood, it, it, the division looks like
11:24a bear. I mean, we, when we talked to Yarmul maybe a week or two ago, he talked about how
11:28the division looks really, really tough. You've got Toronto off to a pretty good start. Detroit's
11:31right here with you. Nevermind Tampa, Florida. Um, so it's pretty much everybody. Yeah. Like
11:38in it. And you know, I wonder if how you handle three wins in a row is great, but it's
11:44almost
11:44like those three wins kept you in what is such a tough division and it has to continue
11:48from here. For sure. Um, you know, I think your analogy is bang on. So is Yarmul. We've
11:54talked about a lot, uh, that the strength in our division is, uh, incredible. Um, there's
12:00really nobody that is faltering at Toronto. Like you said, got off to a great start. Um, the
12:07three games in a row put us in a position where we're right there with everybody. Um,
12:12I think we, I think we lost one, one in regulation on the road. I think we've got to establish,
12:18uh, our home building is a real tough place to play and, and, and win our share of home
12:23games here, uh, before we leave. I think we've got 11 game road trip coming up after that.
12:28So, um, this little home stand will be, you know, something that can, you know, probably
12:35keep us right in the thick of it, or maybe we can bump up a little bit. Uh, but with
12:40the way everybody's going, uh, I can see a mix where everybody's within four or five
12:45points here for, you know, an extended period of time. Yeah. Saber said coach Lindy
12:50Ruff on the Western Hotline for our weekly chat. Lindy, thanks very much. And, uh, best of
12:54luck tomorrow against Ottawa. Yeah. Thank you, gentlemen. Thanks, Lindy.
12:57730 against the Senators. Tomorrow night, Sabers have four home games in a row.
13:02Sens, Blue Jackets, Vegas, Tampa. Vegas, a Sunday afternoon game. 330. Bills are off,
13:11so. Vegas's hometown remix are roulette tables. Yes. Not bad. We, you know, once upon a time,
13:18oh, we don't want any gambling, uh, you know, any gambling adjacent things. Right. Now it's
13:23just the, right. It's the uniform. Yeah. Literally. Which is fine. I mean, it's
13:27Vegas. Come on. We're going to try to hide from it. And what was Vegas supposed to do
13:32that was different? Otherwise, whenever they're thrown into these, like they can't really do
13:37anything throwback, right? Like they don't have old logos, so they got to do something.
13:42I thought theirs were one of the better ones. Sure. Sure. I mean, if we're talking about
13:45the best and the worst, we don't have the visuals here. If you're listening on the radio
13:48or on the feed, but Columbus is catching the most heat. Unbelievable. Nobody read a book
13:53there. So explain to everyone what happened. Okay. They're the blue jackets. Yes. The union
13:59soldiers in the civil war wore blue jackets. Yes. The Confederates wore gray and their jerseys
14:06look like their enemy almost literally. They look like the enemy. Yeah. Well, no one thought
14:13of that. I mean, gray's a bad enough idea. I feel like in general for a sports alternate,
14:18but come on somebody that I think makes those the worst. I mean, the look wise, they're not
14:25great. Are they the worst look wise? Who are the worst look wise? Boston. Boston's got
14:30brown uniforms and yellow helmets. Brown and yellow. Yeah. Tough. Florida. I don't even know
14:38what color it is. I think it's pink. But I saw it referred to as coral. Yes. All right.
14:43Yes. It's coral. I saw coral. Yeah. You know what? The Florida ones to me don't look great
14:48individually, but then I saw them on the ice and I thought those are fine. I thought
14:52they're sometimes you run into that. Yeah. Yeah. I like those ones. The mighty ducks are
14:58getting a lot of credit because they're wearing the ones from the movie. Yeah. The Islanders
15:01are getting credit because they're just wearing the Islander man, the Gordon's fisherman
15:04man. Yeah. The fishermen. Right. It's nothing. Nothing is remixed about it unless there's
15:09some sort of invisible camouflage thing I can't see. Like the Sabres have the invisible
15:14camouflage thing in the arm. I like the sharks. They have the shark tooth teeth like the mouth
15:18like is the arm. With gums. With gums. For sports uniforms with gums maybe. I think it
15:25might be. Right? It's pink and then the teeth. There's got to be another logo that's got gums,
15:31right? We're like some fierce logo where like it's showing its teeth and you see just a little
15:39bit. This is one of those fun trivia questions. You'd see like man on street interviews. Does
15:43the Florida Panthers original logo have gums? Right. Owen, what are you shaking your head
15:50at? No, I don't think so. You know what you're shaking your head at? You're like, yo, in the
15:54NAL, like five of these teams have gums. I was thinking about ridiculous jerseys and just
15:59the amount of times the word gums has just been said on the air. It's a lot of gums. I
16:03just
16:03kept laughing every time I said it. A lot of gums. Meanwhile, I'm in here wearing my
16:07Sue St. Marie Greyhounds hat. I noticed the second you walked in. How about that street
16:11cred? I said to Callie and Colin in there, I said, respect. Represent. Well, you and your
16:16dad gave me this hat. This is a gift from you two. Did you play for Dubuque? I played against
16:22Dubuque. Gums? Does Dubuque have gums? No, but I have that hat that your dad brought in
16:27for me at one point, but it is the dirtiest hat I own. Oh. Because I ended up using it
16:32for
16:32like, I don't know, work stuff. Wow. Is that respect or is that disrespect? No, that's
16:36true. I never played for them. They were the enemy. I don't know why. I also didn't wear
16:41it as like a sign. It just ended up being my hat that I wear when I'm doing things.
16:45Why did my dad buy you a Dubuque hat? I just came back with Dubuque stuff. Driving through
16:49probably. I know the one game that he saw me, well, sit on the bench and watch was in Dubuque,
16:56but I don't, I'm curious why. Gergensons? Gergensons. That's the answer. Gergensons
17:01played for Dubuque. Oh. I'm on the. That's why he got it. I think the Jaguars logo might
17:05have gums. Okay. The Predators doesn't. The Predators, one of them has tongue. The Jaguars
17:11have a teal tongue, in fact. Okay. But the Jags have gums. There's no gums. No, there's
17:16no gums. There's no gums on the Jags logo. No, you're right. It's all teeth. Maybe they're
17:21the only ones. Congratulations to the sharks. The sharks. One small step for gums. Did
17:29you guys see the Montreal ones? Yes. Yes. I like the logos down the sleeve. You hate
17:35them? I don't like them. Man. You like the little symbols down the sleeves, you
17:38mean? Like, I don't know what they are, but. It all comes down to what color pants they're
17:41going to wear. That's. If they're going to wear red or blue pants. They are wearing red
17:45pants and red helmets, I believe. Okay. I don't like the red helmets. It'd be a white helmet
17:50with red pants. I am officially on team. Colored helmet on white jersey looks like a college
17:55team. That's what I think. I don't like colored helmet on white. Red helmets, red pants, white
18:00socks. Okay. You don't like colored helmet on white jersey? I don't. So what the Bills
18:04are going to wear on Christmas? Hockey. Oh, hockey. Hockey. Okay. Okay. Like when the Hurricanes
18:08roll out their red helmets and white jerseys, I think you look like BU. I agree. I saw
18:12who said this. One of the insiders said recently. Friedman. Friedman. That the NHL has been
18:19basically telling teams, we want you to start wearing colored helmets with your white jerseys.
18:24It's like a league directive to start doing it. Okay. Sweet. Look at this. I hate something
18:31before I even know it's the league's idea. Right. I want to see them try out, like, how far
18:38can we push? How many games a year can we get color on color? Because the color on color
18:42looks way better. So good. Yep. I would love more of that. You get Montreal against New
18:47York or, like, you know, there's a million matchups that look really good like that. The
18:53helmets, I'm not a huge fan of. I think some of them look good. Some of them look
18:57clowny. I don't like the Carolina look, but, like, I think San Jose has worn the blue
19:02helmets with the white jerseys, and I thought that looked good. There have been a couple that
19:07I've seen. I'm like, ooh, that's, I like that. I believe the, there was only one team
19:12that introduced a new logo with this. Although, was it even new? The pig logo for the Hurricanes?
19:19Yes. Yes. Was that new? Stormy. Stormy the pig. Stormy. It's pretty good. Pig's name
19:23is Stormy. Because you said yesterday one thing you want the Sabres, they could have done was
19:27just do a new logo. A new logo. I also like the one that's the buffalo that says Sabres inside
19:33of it, the yellow. It's kind of like a charging, standing buffalo. Sure. Whatever. That was
19:36on the shoulders of some classic jerseys, right? I think it was on the shoulders of one of the
19:40winter classics. Yes. Yes. Maybe. That sounds right. But I've always liked that, that buffalo.
19:44Whatever. I think the jerseys are good. I like them. I like them a lot. Eager to see them
19:47on the ice. We disagreed on Washington. I love Washington's. I think it's fine. I think
19:52Washington's fine. The capital, it's the throwback to the, the Yager uniforms, but it's actually
19:56got color in it. Yeah. Some teams just did, those are the caps that I grew up with. Some teams
20:01just did black. Andra. Black. They did. Well, Vancouver. Who else did that? Yeah. Vancouver.
20:06Vancouver. It was a disaster. Well, hold on. Didn't, didn't, didn't have a creative thought
20:10in their brains at all when they designed it. It's just blue and black. Tampa got a new
20:14logo. Oh yeah. Tampa Bay Lightning have a skull and crossbones with swords now. Yeah. And
20:20in, I mentioned the, the Tampa logo has Sabres on it and the, the Sabres logo has lightning
20:26bolts on it in a way. Right. In some far off universe, the one that the lightning put
20:31out is a Sabres logo. Yes. Two swords with a skull instead. Something like it would have
20:36to be a saber tooth skull though. No, it wouldn't. You just leave. Yeah. The team's not named
20:40after a, a, a giant cat. It's named after a sword, but the mascot's a cat. I'm fine.
20:47Did you see the ducks ones? Yeah. They're probably the best. Yeah. Just the, from the
20:51mighty ducks. They're, they're a little bit, I think, flashier than those are. The, the,
20:55those are the, the ducks ones are really, really, really good. Drew in Columbus. Hey
20:59Drew, good morning. Good morning, sir. How you doing? Good. Good. Um, I, I, I just wanted
21:06to say, um, I hope being isn't listening. If you, I heard you say earlier that he probably
21:12doesn't listen, but I hope he is listening. We're at the, we're, Josh is at the prime
21:17of his career. Go get Jesse Bates. Go get that man. That's the difference in the defense.
21:24We got some young prospects on this defense that are going to be good throughout the years
21:30to come. So we ain't worried about no draft picks later on down the line. We already got
21:33some good ones right now on the team. That's going Deion Walker. You see what he did, even
21:38though he's, um, able to, he didn't have any sacks or anything like that. He creates plays
21:44for other players now because the defense is seeing how he's able to affect the game now.
21:49So they have to adjust to his play now. Um, I think the key to, to us winning is Josh
21:56using
21:57his legs and key critical moments, check downs when needed. You see the prime example against
22:05the Rams. We didn't even have DJ more of that game. Also the tush push. Okay. We always
22:12go to the left. You see Campbell and them, big, big Calais Campbell and them. They know
22:17he goes to the, to the, to the left, to the left of the line. So they all stack up,
22:21put
22:22beef over on the right side. And then what do you do? He goes right over there and gets
22:26stuff. Uh, Joe Brady ever thought about a play action tush push or something to that
22:33and they did it twice right after. Uh, I don't know. They did like a fake, they, they snapped
22:38it and then when they lined up, like they were going to tush push and then they did something
22:41different, but they went for an option. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Drew a little bit, how they,
22:46um, uh, you know, do, they do a lot of, of tricky stuff. You know, it's one thing, how much
22:54trickiness has there been from the bills? You see the play that the chiefs did where they
22:58faked a handoff and then underhand shovel pass to Kenneth Walker. Like that was their second
23:02or third last play. Andy Reed loves shovel passes. They're always mixing in shovel passes.
23:07The Ben Johnson play from last night where they have Swift takes it in wildcat, tosses
23:11it to Williams, who's coming on like a, on like a sweep. And then he has the biggest pocket
23:16you've ever seen in your life. And he rips one down the middle. It's really impressive.
23:19The bills trick play arsenal is hook and ladders, which by the way, I forgot they ran one on Sunday
23:27against the Baltimore Ravens on third and nine. They tried it. They tried to, it didn't work.
23:33It ended up being just short, but it was the bathroom for that. It was an attempted hook
23:37and ladder. The lateral never happened. Oh, because, and for me, the hook and ladder has
23:43a place and it is fourth and 14 with 10 seconds left. Third. I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't
23:49say that because they've used it regularly and actually it is a play, but to me, third and
23:53nine hook and ladder is a little bit of a red flag. Yeah, you're right.
23:56A little bit of a, you're getting other ideas. It's just, it's only nine. Oh, the other
24:01thing on this play is DJ Moore was one open. Um, like it's not third and 26. It's, it's
24:06third and nine. Well, I mean, it doesn't work every time. I guess not every time because
24:09now we have one failure. This is the first time it didn't work. It does work for them.
24:12So I guess I want, I want to peel that back. I don't feel all the way, but it just
24:15makes
24:15me feel red flaggy. Awesome. Yeah. Like they were even this, they were close on it. Like
24:21Shakir, if Shakir is two steps further to Coleman, it's going to be a pitch. And then
24:27Shakir is going to have open field in front of him. So even this play that they end up
24:31gaining six yards on, on third and nine, they end up going for this on fourth down. Probably
24:36right. They are really close to it being a massive play. So yeah, they've run it a lot.
24:43It works. Usually Bill's got Bill's guard, Austin Corbett. When we get back, we'll talk to
24:46him. He got some action in the backfield lined up and declared as eligible. So we'll talk
24:52to him about the, uh, the Bill's win over Baltimore and, uh, moving things forward about a Brian
24:56Flores game. Talked to, uh, Connor Governe yesterday about Flores week, what it's like
25:01for offensive linemen. So Bill's guard, Austin Corbett coming up next.