Between The Eers: Once A Mountaineer Always a Mountaineer?
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:09 Good Tuesday morning everybody, Skylar Cowden here on Between the Years.
00:13 Thank you guys for checking out another episode.
00:16 As promised, we're gonna get back into football just a little bit today.
00:19 It's not gonna be a real long episode.
00:22 But I just wanted to address my thoughts on this whole Jared Bartlett thing,
00:26 going to Cincinnati, the whole spiel from a portion of this fan base that has
00:32 an issue with it and says, the once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer
00:37 doesn't apply and you've got some folks on Twitter that are just,
00:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:45 They are a little too much with this whole situation.
00:50 So look, here's the deal.
00:54 I understand if you wanna get mad, I understand if you're upset or
00:58 you're frustrated that Jared left in the first place, I get it.
01:04 I also understand if you're upset because he transferred to a school within
01:09 the Big 12.
01:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]
01:12 But this kid played five years in Morgantown,
01:17 five years and played in the bowl game,
01:21 which he didn't have to do.
01:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]
01:27 That's something that he could have said, you know what,
01:31 that's an injury risk for me.
01:32 And I'm gonna sit this one out, I'm gonna go and hit the portal,
01:37 I'm gonna get recruited, find my new home.
01:40 And he didn't care, he played in the bowl game, he finished the season out strong,
01:45 he got his degree.
01:46 I don't understand what the issue is with these people.
01:50 Though he's not a Mountaineer, doesn't, or
01:54 the once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer doesn't apply here.
01:58 How is it not?
01:59 The kid literally has a degree.
02:02 [LAUGH] I mean, he spent the last half decade in Morgantown.
02:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:11 What more could you ask for?
02:13 He played the full amount, or he spent the full amount of what most kids do here,
02:19 and then some.
02:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:22 And, [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:27 The other thing too is, well, people forget Jared was a part of that 2019 class.
02:33 I mean, that is just first of all, 2019 sounds like it was ten years ago.
02:40 Partially because we're halfway to that, but that 2019 class,
02:46 as you remember, was Dana's last recruiting class.
02:49 However, they didn't play for Dana.
02:52 That whole class had to be re-recruited by Neil Brown on a whim.
02:57 And obviously, the majority of that class stuck together,
03:01 at least to get to Morgantown for the freshman season.
03:04 Some of them reopened their recruitment and didn't come, but
03:09 most of them stayed put.
03:11 But then after a year or two, they left and transferred out, or
03:15 when the portal became a thing, they hit the portal.
03:18 Jared didn't.
03:19 Jared stuck it through, saw it through, got his degree.
03:24 And again, that's more than what you could ask out of these kids.
03:31 When they come out of high school, especially in today's era, right?
03:34 I mean, and I'm not saying that just because he came in a different era in 19,
03:41 where the portal yet wasn't a thing,
03:44 doesn't mean that he wasn't susceptible to leaving.
03:49 He still played during that time frame when the portal became a thing and
03:56 is a thing, so he could have left before then, but he didn't.
04:03 So I don't understand the frustration.
04:06 I mean, there's so many more things to be upset about, so
04:10 many more things on the list of Mountaineer fans that should be
04:16 more troublesome or worrisome, more agitating, irritating.
04:21 I mean, there's so many things.
04:22 Jared Bartlett leaving after five years should not be one of them.
04:27 I'm sorry.
04:32 I mean, yeah, I understand the frustration again,
04:35 that he's going to play at another Big 12 school.
04:39 Why?
04:40 I don't know, maybe that's just what he thought was the best fit.
04:42 That's not for anyone to figure out at this point.
04:47 I'm sure at some point down the road,
04:48 we'll have the opportunity to talk to him about.
04:50 But you wanna get mad about a guy coming here for
04:57 a year, hitting the portal, going elsewhere, because he feels like that's
05:03 a better chance for him to get to the NFL,
05:05 like someone we talked about earlier in the month.
05:08 You're mad at that guy.
05:11 I mean, I'm not telling you to go and get mad at that guy, but
05:13 I'm just saying you have the right to be upset about those situations.
05:17 Stuff like this, it's a waste of time.
05:21 So just relax.
05:25 Once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer, if they're here for four,
05:30 five, or six years, makes total sense.
05:35 Or if they spend three years here and go to the NFL, it's the same thing.
05:39 Same thing applies.
05:40 If it's a guy that comes and he's taken it as a leaping pad to another school and
05:48 was only here for a year or two, we can have that debate.
05:54 Not with Jared Bartlett.
05:56 That kid's a Mountaineer through and through.
05:58 So anyways, we'll be back on to some more important things tomorrow.
06:04 I just had to get that one off my chest.
06:06 I've seen so much crap on Twitter, X, whatever the hell we wanna call it,
06:10 here in the last 48 hours or so in regards to that.
06:13 So I had to get that out, but we'll get back on to some more things tomorrow.
06:18 We got some cool things lined up, potentially have an interview coming,
06:23 and then we'll also get into our season wrap up.
06:25 I know it's a few weeks past, but what the hell, we'll still get into it.
06:30 So be sure to tune back in tomorrow here on Between the Ears.
06:33 Make sure you hit the subscribe button at Mountaineers Now.
06:36 Give us a like also, and you can follow us on X at Mountaineers Now.
06:40 So thank you guys for tuning in, and we'll be back tomorrow with another episode.
06:44 [MUSIC]