Arizona Football Broadcast, It can’t any get better than IMG’s Jeffries and Lovett

Once you have tried turning down the TV sound and turning up the radio with the “The Voice of the Wildcats” Brian Jeffries and his Color Commentator Lamont Lovett, you will be wondering why you didn’t do it earlier.

Wildcats fans watching Arizona football games on TV will be listening to sports announcers from either the Pac-12 Network, ESPN or Fox Sports 1. They will say the opposite team is ‘bearing down’ in addition to other not so Wildcat fan-friendly comments.

On top of that, you never know who will be announcing the game and it can be extremely exasperating at times, especially when it is a former Duck and the Cats are playing Oregon for example.

Announcers do the best they can, after all, they have to know all 12 teams if they work for the Pac-12, and even more so if they work for any of the other stations. They do the best they can with the time they have to prepare.

However, it can sometimes seem they are indifferent to the Cats and often spend time talking up the Wildcats opponents. It happened all throughout the College World Series with the Wildcats Baseball team; the announcers kept saying the opposing team needs to ‘bear down.’ Really?

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Fans can quickly tell that the announcers are not intimate with the program when they repeat the same one-liners and stories that fans have already heard many times. For example, ‘Scooby Wright only had two stars when he was being recruited’ Or ‘Rich Rodriguez’s daughter is a cheerleader.’

While interesting and wonderful tidbits, we have heard it all before. Bring on the broadcasters who can cheer for our team, be happy when things are going well and not when things aren’t.

What you get with Brian Jeffries and Lamont Lovett of the Arizona IMG Sports Network on TuneIn radio is much more personal and informational than other broadcasts.

With Jeffries and Lovett, you get two Wildcats experts who are intimate with the program, know the players, coaches, history and want the team to win. Lovett is a former Wildcat, so he has insights into all facets of Arizona Football. Jeffries announces football, baseball, basketball, special events, Wildcat Wednesdays, and more.

For the sports Brian covers, he’s got most, if not all of the Arizona Athletes names memorized and knows how to pronounce them, along with their positions. Basketball is the easiest according to Jeffries, not because of the pace of the game, but because there are only ten players on the court at any one time.

I have had the memorable pleasure of getting to sit between these two, spotting tackles during the last two Arizona Football games in California (UCLA and USC). I cannot wait for the UCLA game in a couple of weeks! The toughest part of the job is staying quiet so Brian and Lamont can concentrate. For those of you who know me or have been interviewed by me, I love to talk.

So, when things go well, or they don’t, you cannot say anything, everything you want to convey is done through body language. The fan in me finds it hard to do, the professional in me wants to be the best spotter they have ever worked with.

I usually end up banging quietly on the table as a ball is sailing in the air towards a receiver or a running back is rushing towards the goal line.

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If I am not doing that, I’m clenching my fist and my teeth until the play is over. Then we all glance over at the replay TV or the delay of game feed just to make sure we get it right. I make sure I get my nails painted red so that I can point out the players who made the sack or tackle and it is easy for Brian to see. It helps me too.

The first time I had the pleasure to work for the IMG Sports Network, I knocked on the door, it opened. Dan Berk (Arizona’s fantastic SID) came out looking at me like ‘who is she?’ Then I heard the words you don’t want to hear on your first go at spotting tackles. “Shereen, we have a problem,” said Brian, “The Bruins are wearing their Hollywood Nights jersey’s the numbers are shiny gold, and it is almost impossible to read the number on the player’s backs. But don’t worry, we will help you.”

As they say in broadcasting, you have to be prepared for whatever is thrown at you, adjust on the fly. Let me tell you, folks, it is not easy what these two do, and they do their jobs with such ease. So it took the entire staff in the booth to help me figure out who made each tackle. The next game was much easier, and I feel like I have finally mini-mastered this part of broadcasting.

I thought I would be great at calling the play by play or giving color commentary during a game. After all, I do have a sports broadcasting certificate. I took a class taught by the Portland Trailblazers announcer Brian Wheeler, and I thought I did pretty well. Nope! There is no way I could do either one of the jobs these two do. So I am sticking to spotting and giving my thoughts at timeouts. Oh, also writing, social media posting, interviewing, and covering events from the sidelines.

I can’t hold a candle to them. Brian has it down to an art; he doesn’t bat an eye. The ads, the little details, the speed at which you have to pull out the tidbits and history is blinding. In my head, I imagine what I would say after a play, and it is nothing compared to what Lovett brings. So much insight.

Here is a taste of what it’s like to be in their booth (broadcast starts at 5:25, the periscope comes from the Arizona Cardinals stadium for the BYU game):

My all time favorite call from these two, is the call from Anu Solomon to Austin Hill for the ‘Hill Mary’ final play to win the game against Cal two years ago. The Wildcats had come back in the last quarter and pulled off a thrilling win.

Another sample of how listening to Jeffries and Lovett adds so much to the experience of watching or listening to the game is the Jared Baker 79-yard touchdown from this season on 10-17-15.

J.J. Taylor had a fantastic game against Hawaii, and it wasn’t lost on these two. When Brian is announcing what’s going on, Lamont giggles with joy when things are going Arizona’s way. Listening to their broadcast is like having your best buddy who knows everything about the game you are watching sitting right beside you. It enhances the game experience immensely.

Here’s the call on Taylor’s 61-yard touchdown:

The only downside to their jobs, the part I don’t envy, is if the Wildcats lose when they could have won, like the last time they played USC. The defense allowed two JuJu Smith-Schuster touchdowns I believe, and that was that.

It’s not the feeling in the booth I am talking about because we all are bummed out, it’s having speak with Coach Rod and ask him a question when he’s in ‘that mode.’ You know what I’m talking about, that ‘cover your mouth so the cameras don’t catch what you are saying, we could have won if we didn’t make a mistake’ mode.

The Digital Guru’s put together the “Sounds of Arizona Football” each week, and the stars of the voiceover are my guys Jeffries and Lovett.

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So there you have it Wildcats fans! No more complaints about announcers, just sync up (there is a bit of a delay) your TV broadcast with Brian and Lamont on the IMG Sports Network Arizona and you are set for every game this season! SUBSCRIBE TO IMG ARIZONA ON TUNEIN HERE   BearDown Arizona!