Welcome back, everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! With the beginning of the 2025 season less than a month away, it’s time to begin our roster breakdowns. To kick things off, we’re going over our offensive rankings, and to help us out with that, we have our very own Zach Ballard joining the show! No matter what team you’re rooting for, you’ll hear a full projected starting lineup and analysis for your guys. Let’s dive into this, we have 12 offenses to get through so let’s get going!

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak Podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! This is part two of our media days recap from Las Vegas! Last week, we talked to all 24 players attending the event, and for this week, you’ll hear from all 12 Mountain West head coaches! From the longtime conference icons like Air Force’s Troy Calhoun and Colorado State’s Jay Norvell, to all four new showrunners! Another awesome episode for you guys, lets dive in.

Just so you guys know the format for this week, I’ll start by introducing the coach and school, with a bit of background on who they are and what they did last year. Then, you’ll hear my live interview from the event, and then we’ll discuss what I learned for a bit. Also, these aren’t the full interviews, an answer or two was removed for time, but the full interview will be up on the website and my YouTube page next week. Alright, let’s get into this.

Head Coaches Interviewed:

1. Troy Calhoun, Air Force
2. Spencer Danielson, Boise State
3. Jay Norvell, Colorado State
4. Matt Entz, Fresno State
5. Timmy Chang, Hawaii
6. Jeff Choate, Nevada
7. Jason Eck, New Mexico
8. Sean Lewis, San Diego State
9. Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State
10. Dan Mullen, UNLV
11. Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State
12. Jay Sawvel, Wyoming

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back, everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! I am back from Mountain West Media Days, which happened on July 16th and 17th in Las Vegas, and I was able to interview every single attendee from the event! This week, you’ll hear my exclusive interviews with all 24 players that came to town, along with my impressions of their team heading into the 2025 season. And don’t worry, I talked to every head coach as well, you just have to wait for next week’s episode to hear those. We’re going to go from Air Force down to Wyoming, talking with everyone from Kage Casey to Trey White about this upcoming year. Hang on to your hiking gear, because we have a lot of stops to make! Let’s dive in.

Before we begin, a little more housekeeping. What you’ll hear in this episode is not the full interviews with these players, I had to shorten them to three questions each for time’s sake. But, if you want to hear those full interviews, don’t worry, all of my interviews from media days will be out in the next week or so on our website, MWCConnection.com, as well as on my YouTube channel, which is JackTalksCFB, all one word. Stay tuned for those videos, and the same applies to the coaches episode as well. The podcast episode will have 75% of the interview, and the website and YouTube will have the full versions available to you. Sounds good? Alright, let’s actually dive in.

Players interviewed:

1. Air Force: TE Bruin Fleischmann, Punter Luke Freer
2. Boise State: LT Kage Casey, DE Jayden Virgin-Morgan
3. Colorado State: QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, DE Mukendi Wa-Kalonji
4. Fresno State: Center Jacob Spomer, CB Al'Zillion "AZ" Hamilton
5. Hawaii: WR Pofele Ashlock, LB Jamih Otis
6. Nevada: QB Chubba Purdy, DT Thomas Witte
7. New Mexico: LG Richard Pearce, DE Gabriel Lopez
8. San Diego State: Center Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli, DE Trey White
9. San Jose State: QB Walker Eget, LB Taniela Latu
10. UNLV: WR/RET DeAngelo Irvin Jr, Safety Jake Pope
11. Utah State: QB Bryson Barnes, DT Gabriel Iniguez Jr
12. Wyoming: Center/Podcast Host Jack Walsh, TE John Michael Gyllenborg

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! We have finally reached the fabled Kickoff Week, where the 2025 Mountain West football season kicks into full gear! We’ve brought up the expert for this rundown, joining us this week is our site’s runner Mike Wittmann, and we have a jam-packed show for you all leading into Media Days! Mike and I go over our votes for our All-Mountain Teams, Award Race and Order of Finish predictions, as well as best position groups, All-Coach team, and the top ten overall players in the conference! By the time you’re reading this, I am on my way to Las Vegas for this year’s media days event, but before we can get there, we have some ballots to go over! Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Topics of discussion:

1. All-Mountain West Team
2. Awards (OPOY, DPOY, Transfers, Breakouts, & Freshman)
3. Predicted Order of Finish
4. Best Position Groups
5. All-Coach Team
6. Top 10 Players

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! With media days just a week away, I’m incredibly excited to dive headfirst into the 2025 mountain West football season. To get in the spirit, we’re handing out a bunch of preseason superlatives! From games of the year, to breakout stars that are waiting in the wings, and some off-the-wall awards, this episode is the perfect place to start if you haven’t paid much attention to the offseason's moving and shaking. No time to waste, we’ve got nine plaques to hand out so let’s dive right in, shall we?

Superlative list:

1. Watched and Learned Award
2. Game of the Year Award (non-conference)
3. Roughest Road Trip Award
4. Game of the Year Award (MW play)
5. Transfer Portal Gem Award
6. Hottest Seat Award
7. PFF's Darling Award
8. Comeback Crew Award
9. Dark Horse Darling Award

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! The NBA Draft is in the books, and we now know what team the careers of Nique Clifford, Kobe Sanders, and one other player are starting! We’ll break down the landing spots and their chances of seeing the floor as a rookie, and then we’ll slide over to football. For the second year, I’ve gotten the opportunity to vote on the official preseason Mountain West awards, so I’ll take you through my ballot, complete with player of the year awards! Awesome episode for you all this week, let’s dive in!

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back, everyone, to the Hike’s Peak Podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! With the NBA Draft going down Wednesday evening, I’ve brought in some help! Joining us this week is our hoops expert Matt Hanifan, who’s here to tell you everything you need to know about Colorado State star Nique Clifford’s potential landing spots, Nevada guard Kobe Sanders’ chances of getting picked, and the top prospects to watch from the Mountain West for next season! After we get the rundown from Matt, we’ll switch gears to the football field, but still staying on theme. I’ll let you know each school’s top NFL prospect, including what they’ve already accomplished and what they’ll have to do this season to make it to the next level. Awesome episode for you guys this week, let’s dive in!

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! We have an epic journey for this week, as we’re diving into seven transfer portal stories! We’ll start with the success stories, the players who transferred out of the Mountain West and changed their lives because of it, and then we’ll flip to the dark side, the horror stories of the transfer portal. Because make no mistake, there are no guarantees when you transfer up to the power four. Fascinating episode this week, lets dive in!

Players highlighted (alphabetical):

• Aaron Dumas, RB, New Mexico (2021) to Washington (2022) to UTEP (2023)
• Bayron Matos, PF, New Mexico (2021) to South Florida ('22-'23)
• Bryun Parham, MLB, San Jose State ('21-'23) to Washington (2024) to Arizona (2025)
• Darrion Williams, SF, Nevada (2023) to Texas Tech ('24-'25) to NC State (2026)
• Jaylen Warren, RB, Utah State ('19-'20) to Oklahoma State (2021)
• Ralph Agee, PF, San Jose State ('20-'21) to Rutgers (2022)
• Taylen Green, QB, Boise State ('21-'23) to Arkansas ('24-'25)

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! For this week, we’re going to try and hit some bullseyes, with breakout player predictions! I’ve picked one player from each position for football, and one player from each team for basketball, that I think can become a superstar next season. And of course, stick around until the end of our hike for this week’s sneak peek at the transfer portal team of the week. No time to waste, let’s dive in!

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! We’re putting on our lab coats this week, because I’ve cooked up two insane studies for us to analyze together. First, on the basketball court, we’re going to find out the transfer portal strategy for the four longest tenured head coaches in the Mountain West. By grading each transfer signed by Boise State’s Leon Rice, Nevada’s Steve Alford, San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher, and San Jose State’s Tim Miles, I can tell you exactly what their goals are when they dive into each portal cycle. And for football, we’re getting to the bottom of the age-old question, if you’re an All-Mountain West selection, should you transfer to a bigger school? I went through every 1st teamer, 2nd teamer, and honorable mention that went to greener pastures, and I now have the exact numbers of how likely a high profile Mountain West transfer is to start, benchwarm, or fall off the depth chart entirely. And last but not least, stay until the end of the show for a sneak peak at this week’s Transfer Portal Team of the Week. No time to waste, grab your safety goggles and let’s get to work!

Part one: CBB HC Portal Strategy Study

1. Brian Dutcher, San Diego State
2. Leon Rice, Boise State
3. Steve Alford, Nevada
4. Tim Miles, San Jose State

Part two: CFB Outgoing MW Stars Success Rates

1. 1st/2nd team All-MW Picks: By the Numbers
2. 1st/2nd team All-MW: Best case scenario (Daiyan Henley) vs. Worst case scenario (Isaiah Neyor)
3. All-MW HM: By the Numbers
4. Conclusions

Part three: Transfer Portal TOTW Sneak Peak!

1. (CBB) All-Blue Chip Team

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on iTunes, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! The 2025 CBK transfer tracker is NOW live, you can find the always-updating list here. Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here each week of the 2025 offseason!