December 7, 2023 • 51 mins
Barstool Sports talent Connor Crehan (AKA Captain Cons) talks his High School Football and Army – Navy
Support for a high school football player's bionic arm Arizona refs ruin a state championship game
A Mississippi player that has Smokey and the Bandit in his blood
Voice of the Braves Ben Ingram submits his own Mississippi High School Football all-name list
____
Bionic Arm GoFundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/issiahs-hero-arm
Sorry Arizona refsl: https://x.com/AZHSFB/status/1730838597463662602?s=20
Smokey and the Bandit Player: https://x.com/beaumdavis50/status/1731819397629530113?s=20
Coffeetown team store: www.gocoffeetown.com/team-store
Submit your own high school football story: www.gocoffeetown.com/got-a-story
Twitter: @GoCoffeetown / YouTube: @GoCoffeetown / Instagram: @GoCoffeetown / Facebook: @GoCoffeetown / TikTok: @GoCoffeetown
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in to go fight win. That's right, it's time
yet again for the show with all the high school
football stories you love. Don't adjust your watch, don't adjust
your dial. Even those state championship games are wrapping up
around the country, it doesn't mean that we don't have
some phenomenal stories in the sport. Like the player trying
to get a bionic arm I'll tell you how you
(00:20):
can help, and more about him. A state championship game
in the state of Arizona between the cac die ruined
by poor officiating in the aftermath that followed, and a
player in Mississippi that's got a little bit of the
bandit in him. Speaking of Mississippi, our buddy Ben Ingram
called a few state championship games over the past weekend,
and he sent me his all name team out of
(00:43):
Mississippi and a guest. Just in time for the Army
Navy game, a former Army player and captain himself, Barstool
Sports's captain cons tells us all about how he dominated
high school football in New Jersey. Hit like and subscribe
if you don't already, and fix your face mask.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Son.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's time to get to work.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
We get the battle to Donny coug and let that
puasure up. Well, I'm grateful to be back. Time for
go Fight Win, Love this show, Love this first fall
that we've all been together and enjoying it. Please tell
(01:32):
other people about it, Hit like and subscribe if you've
just stumbled upon this here broadcast and uh your learn
yourself a thing or two. This is about high school
football and it will continue to be throughout the winter
and spring and summer and fall because we all love
the sport. We all love the game even when it's
not being played. There are stories to tell, stories to share,
(01:55):
and people to speak with about it, and that's what
this show is all about. So leave a comment, leave
a rating or review, hit like, hit subscribe, and join
me and everyone else who's already on this journey. Coffeetown
apparel and merch if you are a fan of the Copperheads,
still up and available at go cooffeetown dot com in
(02:16):
the team store. There is a link to it in
the show's description, And of course, the Coffeetown Copperheads still
got some business to attend to this year as well.
Stay tuned for that as Coffeetown plays in the state
championship game next week. You won't want to miss that call.
We've got some great stories. As I mentioned in the open,
(02:39):
let's talk about this cat right here from Fox twenty
six News in Ohio high school football player hoping for
bionic hand after fireworks accident. This is written by Abigail Forbes,
(03:00):
and this story really impressed me. And there's a way
for you to help. And if you go ahead and
look in the show's description, you can see the link
to this player's go fundme. But here's the background story.
Isaiah Evans loved ball. May of twenty twenty two, he
was out for the season with a knee injury and
(03:23):
trying to heal to get back to the game that
he loves. This time, he wasn't injured from the game.
He was injured from fireworks. Kimberly Nelson, Isaiah Evans's mom,
tells Fox twenty six He's surprised everybody, even me. He
surprises me every day, So I'm just really proud and
(03:43):
appreciative of all the support that he's had. Evans has
been playing ball since kindergarten. People get hurt in the
game every day. When you're playing football, it's a brutal game.
It's a dangerous sport. You sign up for that and
you know it. Life is a dangerous game as well,
and sometimes things happen that she can't foresee. On July fifth,
(04:08):
twenty twenty two, Evans was was getting ready for some
July fourth Independence Day festivities and to hear him tell
it to Fox twenty six News, it's been a struggle
after that injury happens. He lost his hand in it.
He says, I was right handed learning how to do
(04:30):
everything with my left hand, relearning how to do life.
But that doesn't say that Evans quit doing the things
in his life that he loved, like playing football. He
kept going after his hand got hurt. I pushed to
show that anything is possible. In the main motto, it's
not over until it's over. So that's what I live by,
(04:53):
and that's what I'll continue to do until it is over.
That's my main push, says Evans. Ah he's hoped to
do is get a bionic hand. That seems a little crazy.
I don't know much about this. I don't know how
those work. I don't know how you get one on,
but I know that Evan's here. Isaiah is not quitting.
(05:14):
He says, I remember the coach saying, you know, we'd
still love to have Isaiah come out and get the
kids in shape, because Isaiah is really into eating healthy
and working out, and he was just like, get him
out there condition the kids. Isaiah said, no, I'm not
just a coach now. I'm not just going to tell
people how to play the game. I'm going to keep
(05:36):
doing it myself. He keeps working. He was cleared in
time for the last playoff game of last season, and
his family watched him work hard every day, according to
Fox twenty six, So not only has Evans shown his
team how to eat healthy, do the right drills, do
(05:57):
the right thing, He's like, hey, I don't even have
a hand, and he clowns, and I'm out here playing
the game just as hard as you are. So the
plan for Evans now is to try to get this
bionic hand, and what it will do is help him
(06:17):
use his arm in a better way than just one
of these old school prosthetics. So if you want to
help him out with his hand, here is the GoFundMe
right up that I have in the show. This is
written by his grandmother. I'm Isaiah Evans Grandma. Isaiah is
a high achiever. He does well in everything he attempts,
(06:39):
whether it's academic or sports. Last year, Isaiah's life changed.
He was given a obstacle that many people would give
up on life, and illegal firework blew up, leaving Isaiah
with many serious injuries. The worst injury was his right hand,
which had to be amputated. He continues to have surgery
to fix his skin injuries. Isaiah was given a prosthetic
(07:02):
that has straps in a clamp. It is useless to him,
but his insurance will not pay for robotic prosthesis. He's
overcome many of the challenges that's been given to him,
but I see many opportunities for him to overcome. His
robotic hand may be able to help. He will go
to Denver for three days to be fitted and trained
on how to use it. Isaiah and I would tell
(07:24):
you that God has this. He's blessed to have so
many family, friends and community members to encourage along this journey.
Thank you all for your love and support. Let's make
it possible for him. So there's a twenty five thousand
dollars goal. I don't know how many people will contribute.
To this that are listening to the show here, but
(07:46):
if you feel compelled this holiday season, He's got a
twenty five thousand dollars goal. Two thousand of it has
been reached, and I just thought it might be a
good way to help somebody out, actually use this show,
use the people who listen to it to help someone
out that clearly cares a lot about high school football.
(08:07):
If you listen to this show, you do too. I
do as well. And let's see if we can't bring
a little joy to this guy. He says he can't
realize or he didn't realize how big a support system
was just based off of people who already know him. Well,
what about the people who don't really know him? I
bet that we can really really make this kid feel
(08:30):
some love from people that are out there that just
want to see him do his best. So I'm pulling
for Isaiah. I'm pulling for the people here on this
show to help him out. I don't know this kid
at all. It's just a story I found and read
a little bit about. And if you watch the video
about the hand itself, it's really amazing. I mean it
(08:50):
looks like some Star Wars technology, So who knows who.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Knows how he's able to use it. I believe that.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
From what I've learned about him and the reportage here
of this kid. We see a lot of stories that
we don't feel like we can help. These days, we
see a lot of bad news that makes us feel helpless.
I think that we have an opportunity to help. It's
up to you if you want to do it or not.
All right, let's move on to a story that y'all
(09:21):
submitted here on X And I love when people send
me these things on X because it just shows me
how many of y'all are out there listening and aware
of what's going on. This one's from Justin Prestigard. Justin
for Asu out of the state of Arizona. He's a
(09:42):
sun devil for life. So he quote tweets me about
Desert Edge thinking it had won the five A championship,
but a flag is thrown on the two point conversion
and according to Arizonavarsity dot Com, twenty plus players got ejected.
There's no time left on the clock, all zeros and
(10:03):
Desert Edge is playing Higglely. Higgly's up forty two to
forty one. They got a two point play. I do
love the guts here. You're going for two down one
in the state championship, no time left on the clock.
That's how you do it, that's how you coach them up.
And I love the decision. What I don't love is
(10:23):
when officials decide the game, because I am not sympathetic
by and large to people who use officiating as an
excuse to say, oh, my team lost because of this
flag that the ref through. My team could have won,
but the refs didn't review something. But they call a
(10:45):
holding on this play, and I don't see one. Doesn't
mean there isn't one. But generally speaking, it's an unspoken
rule you don't let an official decide the games. What happened,
according to AZ Central, Goodyear Desert Edge was down its
starting tailback, starting left tackle, starting center, that time outs,
(11:11):
drove ninety yards for a touchdown as time expired. I
don't blame him for going for two. I mean, you
got all the momentum there after putting the ball in
the hands of its best athlete, Deshaun Warner. It's punching
the two point conversion. Players ran wildly around the field. Yeah,
that's what you don't see, or you don't see if
you're just listening. The whole sideline erupts and everyone runs
(11:32):
out on the field thinking the game's over. They thought
they had just pulled out the greatest miracle comeback in
AIA five A football championship history. Yeah, that really would
be something. Desert Edge pushed back ten yards, still went
for two.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Okay, that's what.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, you're playing with house money when you actually get
it there from the two yard line. Hezekaiah Millander was
the quarterback, was broken up in the end zone and
Higglely won. And we didn't come here to tie. An
(12:12):
emotional Mark Carter, co coach of the Scorpions with his
brother Marcus. If you think of Desert Edge, you think
of guts, you think of a resiliency that comes with
an edge. Yeah, the Desert Edge. We didn't want to
give up the chance, man.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
That is hard.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
All the momentum was going Desert edges way. After Higglely
rolled up close to six hundred yards through three quarters,
Daxon Hall had one hundred and ninety eight rushing yards
one hundred and thirteen receiving. They looked unstoppable. Down forty
two thirteen. Late in the third quarter, looking like it
was over. They rallied, made big plays, and then the
refs ruined your chances. Speaking of scorpions and desert edge,
(12:58):
I was at the NFL's owners meeting in Atlanta several
years ago, and the Cardinals were about to learn that
they won the NFL draft location in Phoenix, and I
was standing in this hallway at a hotel talking to
an Arizona State trooper, a couple of state patrol guys.
(13:19):
One of them was a Native American, one of them
was a white fellow like myself, And I just watched
the movie Casino, and I said, you know how often
y'all look for missing people in the desert? Is it
a lost cause? Because in Casino you just take people
out to the desert and you never find them again.
(13:41):
And I'll never forget The Native American trooper didn't even
look at me, just kind of had this thousand yards stare,
and he says, yeah, well, by the time the coyotes
and scorpions are done with them, there's really not much
else for us to find. And I can't help but
(14:01):
think about this story here. The scorpions got robbed, and
by the time the officials were done with this game
out in the Desert Sun Devil Stadium and Tempe, there
weren't many players left on either sideline either, and it's
(14:22):
just a shame. The refs in this sport right now
are are facing a crisis.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I know it.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I've dressed it on the show before. There's a labor
issue and there aren't enough of them to go around,
it seems like. But the ones that are out there
in state championship moments like this have no right to
make a call on a play like that. They're feeling
themselves a little too much. And it's not about them.
(14:50):
The sport is about the players that are actually out
there scoring and running and playing and tackling and intercepting passes,
not you get a grip, all right, last story here
before we move on. Another submission on X from Bo Davis,
an actual high school football player right now, Senior Bo
(15:14):
Davis from Bernard. Where does he go to school? Warren
Central High. It is a little confusing because his graphics
says he's a Bernard Blackwell All Star North squad. But
here's what Bo says. Let me pull bow up. Bo
(15:35):
is a special fellow. It's clearly raised the right way.
Bow tagged go Coffeetown and myself on X and says
there's something about me that most people don't know. Dad
convinced Mom to name me Bo b e a U.
Mom didn't know that I was named after Bo the
(15:56):
Bandit Darvil from Smoky in the Bandit. Dad confessed this
to her right about the time I turned one. She
wasn't happy. Hashtag swagger. Now Bo is gonna represent his
team on the All Star North Squad. He's a first
team All District Region two six A player All State
(16:18):
six A second team Thebodavis dot Com, he's got a
website six one and a half two hundred and eighty pounds,
three point six gpa, twenty five act five Ata Kappa
class of twenty four kids, got his head screwed on straight.
Let's go to the bodavis dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I'm Bodavis. I'm a class of twenty four center and
special teams prospect from Warren Central High School in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
I'm the returning starting center for the WCCHS Vikings. I'm
a coachable player who's always looking to improve my skill
sets and will do whatever is needed to help my team.
I value, integrity, leadership, dependability, teamwork, commitment, humility, resiliency, and respect.
(17:01):
I hope to continue my football career on a team
with similar values. Whatever Bo ends up doing, I don't
think he's gonna be making beer runs from texaar Cana
to Atlanta, but if he wants to, he'll do it.
If he wants to outrun the police, I don't think
(17:24):
he's gonna try to, but I think he's got a
good shot to do whatever he wants to do. I'd
let him coach my boy when he gets a little
bit older. I'm talking about my boy, not Bo. I
think Bo could coach my boy right now if he
wants to. I think he could coach your kids. I
think he might end up doing it one day. Go
get him. Bo named after the bandit, and I think
(17:49):
he got some bright, bright things ahead, Son. Thanks for
reaching out, and another Mississippi man, Ben Ingram, reached out
to me with an all names a mission list in
the Mississippi State Championship Games. We'll get to that in
a minute, so we've got quite a list of names here.
(18:14):
Thanks to Ben Ingram, voice of the Atlanta Braves, who
if you listen to his episode a few weeks back.
You'll remember that he said he gets to go back
home and call some state championship games in Mississippi. And
he just texted me this out of the blue the
other day and said, this is my list of best
names of players I'll be covering in the twenty three
(18:38):
state championships. And there are a lot of names that
he texted me, but I'm gonna pare down this list
of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty,
twenty one, twenty two.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Is in all okay, I'm not gonna cut it down.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Ben gave me some hard work here, and I'm just
gonna read them all off because he's got a twenty
two man roster here, eleven on defense, eleven on offense. Maybe,
but I'll read you what Ben submitted, and you be
the judge about who the top names are, and maybe
by the end of this I'll give you my best.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Two or three.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
We got Alricas Graves from Heidelberg. We got Cornel Bacon
from Velma Jackson, Joori Archie from Velma Jackson. You know,
Archie's a popular name. That's the last name there in
the state of Mississippi. Christian Smith, Velma Jackson, niz Bick
(19:40):
Johnson from Velma Jackson. So Velma Jackson's got quite a few,
but they don't even have the most. Xialis Blackman Zialis
Blackman from Biggersville, Troy Lando Eden from Whina, Lounse Nicholson
from win No to Quadrian Welch from Knaksubi Naejavius Jones
(20:09):
from knak Subi. That one just flows off the tongue
like Tupelo honey, the Kyleierian Dancy knak Subi, e. Cameron
Smith from knak Subi, Dierique Gray from knak Subi, Jemitri
(20:31):
Johnson from Kna Subi, and thus concludes the Knasubi a
name team. Good luck competing with them. Cashwan Drayne from Charleston,
Xarion Haynes from Louisville, Korzavier or maybe it's Corkxavior Coleman
(20:55):
from Louisville die Jalen Miller from Louisville. This is gonna
be a fan favorite here because other people even tagged
me in this kid's name, not even knowing that Ben
Ingram and sent me this list. Toody Lindsey from West Jones,
t O O T I E two D go get
(21:16):
him two D, Dan Diego Collins from Grenada, Harveyon Willis
from Grenada, and le Joshua Brown from Starkville. So let
me just go through and I'll pick a few of
my favorites here. These are all stellar, stout names. I
do appreciate Ben Ingram for keeping me in mind and
(21:36):
keeping all of you in mind, because he knew you'd
like this. My top five in no particular order. Cornell Bacon,
You just can't top Bacon anytime it's in the name. Zialis,
blackman from Biggersville. Xialis never has a problem getting up
(22:00):
before the game. We got Lee Kyleerian Dancy. I mean
you got like four names in there. That's pretty stout
Cashwan Draine Cashwan and that's k A s h w
(22:23):
Ua n cash him outside how about that? And then
of course, how can I leave out Toody Lindsay, the
team captain. What did Tudy do in his game? Funny
I should ask? Two D the quarterback led his team
(22:48):
to a six to a state title.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Way to go twody. We're all pulling for you.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Here, go fight, win, and you're welcome in Coffee Town anytime,
as is anyone who made that list. All right. Coming up,
our guest this week an Army captain. Don't have those
every single week.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Our guest is a former varsity quarterback for Army fitting
time for that Army Navy coming up this week. Graduated
in six eventually earned the rank of captain, and served
in Iraq as a platoon leader for a year. You
can hear him now on Barstool's zero Blog thirty podcast.
More importantly, he was a three time All Areas selection
(23:38):
in Edison, New Jersey. His name is Connor Krea, and
you know him as captain CON's what's up man?
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Not much?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
How you doing doing?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
All right?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
So before we get into your high school glory days,
walk people through the Army Navy week for someone that
was in this game, because I think a lot of people,
you know, the conference championship wraps up.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
If you're a diehard college football fan, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
About Army Navy, but being in it, if you've never
attended it, it's unlike anything else.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah, it really is special and part of the reason
it's so special is because it's I know other rivalries
are like this, but you really do carry it with
you in your first job out of college, which is
the military. So whether that's the Army of the Navy,
you really do carry it with you and you carry
that moniker of former player, and that's how you get
(24:32):
introduced to your soldiers or sailors or whatever. And you know,
when you think about who attends the game, obviously the
president is known to show up from time to time.
I don't know how many games he consistently shows up
in other rivalries. So it's special from that regard that
it has the attention to the entire country, especially as
a standalone game, and it's just something that doesn't ever
(24:57):
leave you and something I mean I think about to
this day and it's kind of almost part of my
everyday life. And I don't know if that's ridiculous or
endearing or what, but it's just how it is.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, I mean, so much of your career that I
mentioned there has nothing to do with football, but that
game stands on its own and it is so timeless.
They rotate it, you know, it's played different venues and
all that, but it really doesn't matter where they play it.
If you've watched it, the camera pointed on the stands
could literally be anywhere. Now, I was looking at your
(25:32):
Army Football bio, which is still up by the way,
go Armywestpoint dot com, and it lists you as a
gritty competitor who remains in the mix at the quarterback position,
strong arm signal caller throws a nice ball. How does
that stack up to your scouting of yourself in college.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
I think that's pretty accurate.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
You know, it's interesting when you make the jump from
high school to college and things changed.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
The speed of the game changes, and.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I don't know that I've ever really talked about it,
but I mean, for me, I just didn't get up
to speed as fast as I would have liked from
the mental aspect of it, from that side of the game.
So I think that's what prevented me from seeing more
time at the quarterback position. But you know, found my
way onto special teams to get myself on the bus
(26:23):
and very much what should have been included there was
locker room guy throw and through. I think that is
really where I earned my bones. And you know it
was a great teammate and ensured that everybody else was
working hard and getting better and helping my teammates in
that regard.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
But in terms of my you know.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Physical abilities and capabilities at the quarterback position, I think
that's all accurate.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It does say you're a consummate team player, so it
is in there.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, it's in there.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
So before that, you had quite the career in high school.
Where did you attend high school? What was your mascot
team colors? What was the vibe like for you before
you played college ball.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yes, it was the Bishop r Announ Saint Thomas, Aquinas Trojans,
red and white, some great colors in Edison, New Jersey.
There they just had a really nice season. I think
they finished like nine and one this year. And competing
New Jersey high school football is I think for those
who don't know, it really is really quality football. And
(27:27):
you know, people think New Jersey, they're like, ah, no,
like best football is in like Texas, California, Florida, And
that's all true. But I mean, if you look at
college rosterers across the country, we put some really good
players at some big, big time schools. And I enjoy,
you know, being from Jersey and then having that be
(27:48):
part of my bio, and you know, I cherished my
time there in high school, although it's quite a long
time ago now.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I mean, look, I live in Georgia and the dogs
are recruiting everybody, and if you're good enough, they'll find you.
It doesn't really matter how quote unquote good the high
school football is in your state. I mean, there are
dudes everywhere, right, and there are some big guys, some
big boys up there that Georgia and a lot of
teams down here in the South are really priding themselves
(28:19):
on getting on their offensive lines. So that's been pretty
fun to watch. When you talk about your high school career,
who's a coach, teacher, somebody that molded you, whether it
was for the better or for the funnier, somebody that
you and your buddy still kind of talk about to
this day as a leader that impacted you back in
(28:40):
those days.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Well, certainly, my head coach, Ron Hilliard was a great
guy to me and mentor and kind of really treated
me in such a way that made me feel more
mature maybe than some of the other guys on the team.
He kind of spoke to me, not like as an adult,
because I wasn't an adult, really gave me a lot
of responsibility and had a close relationship with regards to him.
(29:07):
And then another guy was Mike Lang who's actually a coach,
a head coach now at Redband Catholic. They just want
to stay title. He's doing a great job, and certainly
his approach to the game had always stuck out to
me as a very serious approach.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
I think sometimes high school it's it's fifty to fifty.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Sometimes you get guys who are just kind of doing
it part time, and then other times you have guys
who are really invested in will give you legitimate football advice,
if that makes sense, as opposed to just somebody who's
there holding a clipboard or maybe calling plays as a
way to make a little extra cash on the side
and isn't necessarily very invested. And that's been my experience,
(29:43):
whereas I think maybe you know, other parts of the
country it's more of a full time job, but especially
you know Catholic high schools in New Jersey where the
funding might be a little more sparse at some schools
as opposed to others. That's just what it produces for
the coaching.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Staff, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
You know down here the Catholic schools here in the South,
not a huge thing, but you kind of get the
foil of that is the Christian schools, the private schools
as opposed to like the seven a massive county money
that's you know, basically an SEC big ten factory. It's
(30:24):
crazy to watch. What was your main rival? Who was
the hated school of Bishop bar probably JFK.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
We would play them every year on Thanksgiving or the
night before Thanksgiving. I always had good games against them,
as three to zero against them, so maybe that's why
I have fond memories of them. But they were always
you know, running their mouths, but never seemed to beat us.
So I enjoyed that. But you're talking about like Catholic schools,
I think that's really I mean, certainly we have some
large public schools in New Jersey, but Catholic schools are
(30:54):
really if you look across the country about you know,
top teams in the country, it's our Catholic school that
are always going to be mentioned in those conversations, you know,
top twenty five and things of that nature. You know,
I pay close attention also my dad's high school, Don
Bosco Prep, which some of your listeners might know that's
certainly a little more well known. They have that national presence,
(31:14):
have won a couple of national championships, certainly.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
A good brand of football here in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
So y'all would play on Thanksgiving night, night.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Before, night before, So that was always kind of cool
because everyone you know would come back, all the older
guys that maybe had just graduated a year or two
before would always come back and back in town and
before they might head out to the bars that night,
they take the game in and you see some former
teammates and that was always cool.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Which sports did you play?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Now?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
You played football, obviously, but what all were you doing?
And which numbers did you wear?
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Three, number three was for everything football, basketball, baseball, And
then my senior year I stopped doing baseball just as
a way to get ready for football. I switched over
to track. And then, you know something else I'm very
proud of and I think you might have seen. I
don't know if that's in my college bally or not,
but I also was in the drum department. It did
three musicals, quite the renaissance. Man.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
I don't know if that is mentioned in your army
bio or not. It should be no, you were, Yeah,
performed in three school musicals.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
There you go. It's the next to last thing they said.
Weezed it in there.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
It's important. It's important to have other interests.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I think the only thing that you and I have
in common other than playing football, I certainly didn't have
your career. You were a peer leader, and that that
certainly goes a long way for a lot of people.
I don't know what it looked like for y'all. I
just taught a couple of fifth graders how to do
math every every.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Other day and got to leave school early.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
So that was a yeah, well no, that was like
it was like one of the periods where we would
like go and teach freshman something. I don't really remember
the specifics, but what position did you play?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I played tied end and defensive end, and we didn't
really throw the ball much to the to the tight ends.
And I think the pinnacle of my career I had
two sacks and a fumble recovery in our spring game.
And of course, as the years have gone by, I've
embellished that. You know that that became like a quarterfinal
(33:18):
game in the state playoffs, And I mean.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
If that's not the way it's supposed to go.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Though, the lore of the high school days, you know,
get greater and greater as you get further removed.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
And what was great?
Speaker 2 (33:29):
You know, I think now every kid's got a huddle tape, right,
everyone's got got there, their highlights there.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
But now it's it's it's a lot harder or a
lot easier now.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
But when I was in high school graduating no two
like that just wasn't as prevalent.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
We were still sending out VHS tapes.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
So the ability to find highlight tapes of me online,
I think it's pretty much non existent except for whatever
I've put out there on social media.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
You had to depend on what your coaches did, right, yes.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
That you know another reason I talked about my head
coach like he did that out of the you know, goodness,
basically goodness of his own heart got me recruited, like
put together the highlight tapes and bhs's and I don't
even know how the hell they get it, you know,
from an nexus and ohs standpoint, like two tapes in VCR,
So I don't know, I honestly don't know, but he
took the time to do that for me, and you
(34:17):
know it was the reason, or you know, largely part
of the reason I was able to go play at
the next level.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah, I had to stop playing my senior year because
I got too many concussions. And this was before anybody
really knew what CTE was, dude, So I'm.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Grateful that I stopped.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
At the time, it was kind of like, so what
you know, you got, you got a little bit of
a head an you can't see, just go back out there.
But I ended up helping the team out through the
video stuff and I would tape practice set this. You know,
we had this for like drones or anything like that.
We had this giant mechanism that you'd pump up like
(34:54):
a bicycle tire and it would like shoot up like
thirty feet in the air and just this camera down
we'd use like a remote control. Somebody rigged it up
and we'd film practice. And so, you know, if I
knew what I was doing, or I think now, like
if that had happened to me now, you know, I
would probably be leaned on by a lot of my
(35:16):
teammates to like cut their huddle tapes up. You know,
I could have had a nice side business there.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Absolutely, and definitely could have maybe even parlaid that into
doing that at the collegiate level for your you know,
your Georgia team there. Certainly, I mean that the film
guys are so valuable. I mean the film guys for
us at Army. I like, I'm still friends with to
this day. You're great guys and so valuable obviously to.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
The success of every team. It's funny you mentioned CT dude.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
I can think back specifically to games where I definitely
got concussion and just nobody said a word about it.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
It was just okay, go back in the game.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So my final one was like friendly fire and uh,
my own like I was combining to make a table
and my own guy hot me and uh.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
It was actually in a practice. Was the last one.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
And you know, like I said, tight end this couple
of minutes later, like running a uh you know eight
or nine, which was either a run to the right
or run to the left, an odd or even number.
I know, I'm either on the right or the left,
and I just looked at my quarterback and said, I
don't know where to go, and he's like, you.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Need to you need to get the hell off the
fenny because yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Yeah, maybe get out of here right now.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Probably not the best.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yeah, all right, So when when I talk about your
your career as a whole, are there games memories, whether
it's something you did really well, something that didn't go well,
that really still stick with you to this day, even
with your collegiate accomplishments.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Yeah, probably, you know, starting as a sophomore, you're I
was young. So I was geez fourteen when.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
I started, you know, playing against seventeen eighteen years and
then turned fifteen the middle of the season, and I
can remember the first game I won. It was a
fourth quarter comeback, and that kind of always stuck with me, like, Okay,
maybe I can do this. Even though these guys are
older than me and bigger than me. You know, I'll
catch up to them eventually, but I can do this now.
(37:18):
I'm capable of handling this level. And that really gave
me the confidence to go forth and you know, continue
on the rest of my career there and and really
do well for my school. But certainly that that first
win against North Brunswick my sophomore year, on the fourth
quarter when we were trailing four points, so I couldn't
(37:41):
even settle for a field goal, needed that touchdown and
got it done. But that that really just because I
mean you talk to anybody who plays a quarter acquisition,
anybody who plays it well. There is a vast difference
between someone who has confidence and someone who doesn't. Like
if you put me up against the guy who started
(38:01):
in my college, like, physically I was better, but he
had more confidence early because he was more prepared. And
when you just feel like you're spinning it and you
can't be stopped, you can't teach that. You either have
it or you don't, and you need the proof on
the field. Yeah, I mean you can get it from practice,
(38:24):
but I think the real proof comes from doing it
in competition in a game. And I think that's the
difference between good, great and exceptional quarterbacks or any any
position for that matter.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah, it's totally different.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
It's why you know, you get so much credit when
you do it great and while you get none of
it when you lose or when you break your leg
if you play for Florida State.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
Yeah, that's so unfortunate.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Looking at your bio still here says you were selected
to the Snapple Bowl.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
What is that?
Speaker 4 (38:58):
That was just one of that I got two of them,
that's Napole and then North South. There are just two
All Star games. But you know with Army, when you.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Have to show up to start your beast barracks as
we call it, there your first summer. They were both
in July, and I had to show up July first,
so I couldn't play any of those All Star games
that I got selected for, which was kind of a
bummer because two of them, actually both of them, I
would have been playing against friends of mine, which would
have just been fun as a memory to have. So
(39:27):
I missed out on that. But certainly, you know, the
opportunity to go play at Army was a little bit
of a bigger calling than playing in those All Star games.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Who did you model your game after? You talk about
having the confidence to spin it? Who did you kind
of envision yourself as when you were spinning it?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I had such an affinity for Peyton Manning growing up,
you know, through high school. You know that, you know
that I was in high school from ninety eight to two,
so you think about what he was doing, you know,
early part of his career there and really having a
lot of success. Certain that was somebody, but then also
two other guys you know from growing up, Troyman and
and and Steve Young and probably a little bit more
(40:07):
Steve Young with his ability to scramble around. I enjoyed
running with the ball as much as I enjoyed throwing it.
So I think those those three really stood out for me.
But certainly, you know, my my formative years there, growing
up first starting to play in middle school.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
Uh Aikman and Young really.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Just I mean, you talk about the QBS of the nineties,
those those two are two of the best to ever
do it. But certainly in the nineties, great great players
who were Who are some you know that that that
stuck out for you growing up?
Speaker 3 (40:40):
I mean Peyton.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Peyton was who we watched all the time. I think
I'm like four, four or five years younger than you,
so similar overlap. And Peyton was the guy growing up
you know, watching Vic. He was totally different. You know,
there's a there's a local radio guy here, Brian Finneran
who played a villain and was an outstanding player in
(41:03):
his own right there, but he played with VIC on
the Falcons receiver and years later he was like, dude,
we would get the game tape that we were supposed
to be studying that week, and one day I was
walking past them in the parking lot and I just
saw him open the trunk of whatever brand new sports
car he had. He just tossed it in the trunk,
and I saw stacks and stacks and stacks of the
(41:25):
previous week's game tapes and he just didn't have to watch. Now,
obviously that is going to catch up with you. He
had his own, you know, getting arrested and all that.
But when he overcame it and came back to the
league and was able to actually kind of beat Father
Time a little bit there because he actually did start
(41:45):
to prepare. It was just disgusting to see how he
didn't need to prepare like everybody else because of the
talents that he had, Yes, and that that was just stupid.
Speaker 4 (41:56):
That's God given too write.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
You can't teach what he was able to do impressive
eventually like, but then you look at someone like Peyton
Manning who doesn't have those physical attributes, and the reason
he was able to be arguably the greatest one of
certainly one of the greatest, was because everything he had
going on upstairs and his ability to prepare and no
(42:18):
defense is inside and out. I mean people used to
say ed Reid would say playing against him was like
playing against the computer.
Speaker 4 (42:24):
It was just unbelievable how smart.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
And how prepared he was each week to overcome his
his physical limitations. But I had an opportunity of I
met Vic at a golf outing one time, get to talk,
and you know, and I mentioned, you know that I
played an Army and he was aware that Army runs
a triple option. He just said, man, the things I
would have been able to do with the triple option. Now,
(42:50):
I mean just imagine him, you know, understand, and running
a triple option would have been special to watch, just because.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
It wouldn't be legal. That shouldn't be legal.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
No, no, no, But I mean yeah, I mean taking
everything he off the field aside, certainly, I don't condone,
you know, Hart and dogs. He was a special, special guy.
And I can still just think remember his freshman year
when he was playing in that national championship, and I
remember it was playing that game he was flat footed
and threw it forty yards on a rope and I
(43:19):
was like, WHOA, that is legitimate, legitimate arm strength. So
but imagine if you took like Manning's work ethic in
his brain and put it in VIC like, who knows
what he could have been because he did everything he
did based on what you're telling me seemingly from you know,
just physical being physically better than everybody and not necessarily
(43:41):
doing all the prep work.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Yeah, well, I mean to take it back to New
Jersey not getting the credit of being a great high.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
School football state.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
You had VIC out of Virginia, and you also had
Alan Iverson. Yeah, amazing high school football in Virginia and
just kind of had to choose right. And I think
both guys made the right career choices for them. But
those are you know, those are guys I think of
when I think about your example of New Jersey and
in the state of Virginia. Every state has the guys,
(44:14):
and you get found the cream does always rise to
the top. Got a couple more and I'll let you run.
Uh ask every person that comes on this question. Take
me back to your pregame playlist. What are some songs
that you were listening to for for motivation before you
take the field.
Speaker 4 (44:30):
Oh my god, so listen.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
This is gonna sound bad, but like I'm so old
that you know, I didn't have my own like you know,
headphones and CD players like they were around, but like
it wasn't as prevalent like everybody has own you know,
air pods and cell phones now.
Speaker 4 (44:49):
But I can remember.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Popa Roach in high school last Resort I was just
playing on repeat seemingly and in the locker room before
every game. So that was probably the one song that
I definitely remember. And then a lot of Lincoln Park.
So Lincoln Park, their first album, was unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
Yeah, it really felt like one long song, if that
makes sense. Not that they all sounded exactly the same,
but you had like the same feeling going through all
of it. And my brother and I my brother's four
and a half years younger than me, and we would
just like share the headset on our CD player, just
praying that it wouldn't skip when we were in the car,
(45:33):
because no way my parents were going to listen to it.
But no, it really did strike a nerve in a
way that nothing else really had. Popa Roach too though,
it really like it got your blood flowing. There was
nothing like that on the radio, and certainly, you know,
you couldn't play a lot of it on the radio now,
like those those tracks the Red hot chili peppers. Maybe
(45:57):
not motivating you for a game the way those did,
But I get what you're saying. You're the first one
to come on here and say popa roach in Lincoln Park.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
That's I mean.
Speaker 4 (46:05):
That's show show my age, certainly.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
But I think that's the best description of that album
I've ever heard. Just like one long song, I think
that's the best I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Last one for you, I read that you you kind
of joked you had a family connection to West Point,
but you joked that you would never go.
Speaker 3 (46:23):
Now what changed? What? What flipped the switch for you?
Speaker 2 (46:28):
When I took, you know, my official visit, And I
think I've talked to a lot of buddies who have
played it, you know, college ball, and there's nothing you
can really pinpoint. It's just a feeling you get whether
you when you step on campus from the locker room
or in the stadium. And yeah, I really said, like,
(46:50):
there's no shot. My grandfather went there, so I've been
going up there for as long as I can remember
as a kid, and I was like, I'm not going
to go to school here. I've been going to school
wearing a uniform since kindergarten. I don't want to keep
wearing uniform and all the rules, and I don't want
to be in the Army. And then yeah, they just
they showed interest and then they recruited me, and then
I took my visit and I canceled my four other
(47:10):
visits because I just went there. And I can't I
cannot give you a succinct answer other than I just
had a gut feeling that this is where I was
supposed to be, and that's the way it worked out.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Always got to trust your gut.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
Man. Where can people find you throughout the week? You
got a lot of things going on. I know they
keep you busy over there at Barstool. Where can people
find you if they want to listen to more?
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yeah, just just just chock us out there at Captain
Collins and zero Bug thirty and then we have the
college Football show for Barstool Saturday morning at Army Navy.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
If you're going to be up there.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
At Foxborough at the rodmin Ford Dealership, and I think
it's I'm not as familiar with Foxborough's am with some
of the other places we play, but it's right outside
the stadium from the looks of it, so very easy
to get to and very easy to find.
Speaker 4 (47:56):
So I think that's going to be a lot of fun.
And yeah, just.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Special, special game. And I'll share one other thing just
to give you an idea of, you know, kind of
the game. And this isn't unique to me, because I
think this is probably similar to a lot of guys
who play at any level. But I can distinctly remember never,
you know, unfortunately, never beating Navy, and then, you know,
my locker room after my final game, just sitting there
(48:20):
and I was sobbing for forty five minutes just because
I knew it was never going to play again, knew
it was going to never get another chance at Navy,
and that's how much it meant that I was just
that bummed. Into this day, I'm still crushed. And it's
probably why I, you know, takes such a vested interest
and stay as connected to the program as I do
now because I'm kind of living vicariously through these these
(48:41):
players now and obviously I'm not on the field, but
you know, certainly I'm still part of this brotherhood that
we have, so I'm you know, I can still take
a little bit of the wins and enjoy them from
that advantage point. But it's just, you know, every vivalry
is special for different reasons. But when you take everything
(49:06):
around the game, obviously football is football, but take everything
around the game and what in the last twenty years,
specifically and certainly before that, but definitely the last twenty years,
what all the players on the field went and did
afterwards in the army, given what's been going on in
the world. I just think that adds a little extra,
a little little something that's more special that you have
(49:28):
that bond that hey, we did this on the football
field and then we went and did it on the battlefield.
You know, I don't know that you can. You can
tell me Ohio State, Michigan, or Auburn, Alabama, or you know,
Georgia Georgia State or excuse me, George Tech is gonna
stack up. So that's why I think this is one
that's just a little bit more special.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Absolutely so much deeper than a lot of those other programs,
no doubt about it. Army. I'm looking at two and
a half point favorites. Is that what you got?
Speaker 4 (49:58):
Sounds about?
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Right?
Speaker 4 (49:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (49:59):
Yeah, all right, man, gonna be a good one.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
Chles, thank you so much, dude, And certainly follow him
if you want to hear more about his takes on
more than just Army Navy Football zero blog thirty. Fantastic
show and appreciate your time, dude.
Speaker 4 (50:14):
Thanks dude, appreciate it. Go Coffee Town.
Speaker 1 (50:19):
Thank you cons for coming on. And if you're a
Navy guy, no offense. I just happen to have contact
with CONS and set it up. But I'm sure you
got some stories too. If you're a Navy person and
I can't wait to watch that game, I'm glad it
has its own day and its own moment, its own
opportunity to shine, and it was great to hear from
(50:43):
the Captain himself about how we got there. Thank you
for listening to this show, for watching it, for hitting
subscribe and following along. Love everything that y'all send me.
All your submissions make this show hum and I hope
you keep them coming. Some big state championship games coming
(51:03):
up around the country, including Coffeetown playing for state. I'm
gonna have that season finale call on next week's episode
of Go Fight Win, y'all don't miss it. Join us
head on over to the shop, gear up for the
game and for a long cold off season, no matter
(51:24):
what happens next.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Appreciate y'all. Catch you soon.
Welcome in to go fight win. That's right, it's time
yet again for the show with all the high school
football stories you love. Don't adjust your watch, don't adjust
your dial. Even those state championship games are wrapping up
around the country, it doesn't mean that we don't have
some phenomenal stories in the sport. Like the player trying
to get a bionic arm I'll tell you how you
(00:20):
can help, and more about him. A state championship game
in the state of Arizona between the cac die ruined
by poor officiating in the aftermath that followed, and a
player in Mississippi that's got a little bit of the
bandit in him. Speaking of Mississippi, our buddy Ben Ingram
called a few state championship games over the past weekend,
and he sent me his all name team out of
(00:43):
Mississippi and a guest. Just in time for the Army
Navy game, a former Army player and captain himself, Barstool
Sports's captain cons tells us all about how he dominated
high school football in New Jersey. Hit like and subscribe
if you don't already, and fix your face mask.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Son.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's time to get to work.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
We get the battle to Donny coug and let that
puasure up. Well, I'm grateful to be back. Time for
go Fight Win, Love this show, Love this first fall
that we've all been together and enjoying it. Please tell
(01:32):
other people about it, Hit like and subscribe if you've
just stumbled upon this here broadcast and uh your learn
yourself a thing or two. This is about high school
football and it will continue to be throughout the winter
and spring and summer and fall because we all love
the sport. We all love the game even when it's
not being played. There are stories to tell, stories to share,
(01:55):
and people to speak with about it, and that's what
this show is all about. So leave a comment, leave
a rating or review, hit like, hit subscribe, and join
me and everyone else who's already on this journey. Coffeetown
apparel and merch if you are a fan of the Copperheads,
still up and available at go cooffeetown dot com in
(02:16):
the team store. There is a link to it in
the show's description, And of course, the Coffeetown Copperheads still
got some business to attend to this year as well.
Stay tuned for that as Coffeetown plays in the state
championship game next week. You won't want to miss that call.
We've got some great stories. As I mentioned in the open,
(02:39):
let's talk about this cat right here from Fox twenty
six News in Ohio high school football player hoping for
bionic hand after fireworks accident. This is written by Abigail Forbes,
(03:00):
and this story really impressed me. And there's a way
for you to help. And if you go ahead and
look in the show's description, you can see the link
to this player's go fundme. But here's the background story.
Isaiah Evans loved ball. May of twenty twenty two, he
was out for the season with a knee injury and
(03:23):
trying to heal to get back to the game that
he loves. This time, he wasn't injured from the game.
He was injured from fireworks. Kimberly Nelson, Isaiah Evans's mom,
tells Fox twenty six He's surprised everybody, even me. He
surprises me every day, So I'm just really proud and
(03:43):
appreciative of all the support that he's had. Evans has
been playing ball since kindergarten. People get hurt in the
game every day. When you're playing football, it's a brutal game.
It's a dangerous sport. You sign up for that and
you know it. Life is a dangerous game as well,
and sometimes things happen that she can't foresee. On July fifth,
(04:08):
twenty twenty two, Evans was was getting ready for some
July fourth Independence Day festivities and to hear him tell
it to Fox twenty six News, it's been a struggle
after that injury happens. He lost his hand in it.
He says, I was right handed learning how to do
(04:30):
everything with my left hand, relearning how to do life.
But that doesn't say that Evans quit doing the things
in his life that he loved, like playing football. He
kept going after his hand got hurt. I pushed to
show that anything is possible. In the main motto, it's
not over until it's over. So that's what I live by,
(04:53):
and that's what I'll continue to do until it is over.
That's my main push, says Evans. Ah he's hoped to
do is get a bionic hand. That seems a little crazy.
I don't know much about this. I don't know how
those work. I don't know how you get one on,
but I know that Evan's here. Isaiah is not quitting.
(05:14):
He says, I remember the coach saying, you know, we'd
still love to have Isaiah come out and get the
kids in shape, because Isaiah is really into eating healthy
and working out, and he was just like, get him
out there condition the kids. Isaiah said, no, I'm not
just a coach now. I'm not just going to tell
people how to play the game. I'm going to keep
(05:36):
doing it myself. He keeps working. He was cleared in
time for the last playoff game of last season, and
his family watched him work hard every day, according to
Fox twenty six, So not only has Evans shown his
team how to eat healthy, do the right drills, do
(05:57):
the right thing, He's like, hey, I don't even have
a hand, and he clowns, and I'm out here playing
the game just as hard as you are. So the
plan for Evans now is to try to get this
bionic hand, and what it will do is help him
(06:17):
use his arm in a better way than just one
of these old school prosthetics. So if you want to
help him out with his hand, here is the GoFundMe
right up that I have in the show. This is
written by his grandmother. I'm Isaiah Evans Grandma. Isaiah is
a high achiever. He does well in everything he attempts,
(06:39):
whether it's academic or sports. Last year, Isaiah's life changed.
He was given a obstacle that many people would give
up on life, and illegal firework blew up, leaving Isaiah
with many serious injuries. The worst injury was his right hand,
which had to be amputated. He continues to have surgery
to fix his skin injuries. Isaiah was given a prosthetic
(07:02):
that has straps in a clamp. It is useless to him,
but his insurance will not pay for robotic prosthesis. He's
overcome many of the challenges that's been given to him,
but I see many opportunities for him to overcome. His
robotic hand may be able to help. He will go
to Denver for three days to be fitted and trained
on how to use it. Isaiah and I would tell
(07:24):
you that God has this. He's blessed to have so
many family, friends and community members to encourage along this journey.
Thank you all for your love and support. Let's make
it possible for him. So there's a twenty five thousand
dollars goal. I don't know how many people will contribute.
To this that are listening to the show here, but
(07:46):
if you feel compelled this holiday season, He's got a
twenty five thousand dollars goal. Two thousand of it has
been reached, and I just thought it might be a
good way to help somebody out, actually use this show,
use the people who listen to it to help someone
out that clearly cares a lot about high school football.
(08:07):
If you listen to this show, you do too. I
do as well. And let's see if we can't bring
a little joy to this guy. He says he can't
realize or he didn't realize how big a support system
was just based off of people who already know him. Well,
what about the people who don't really know him? I
bet that we can really really make this kid feel
(08:30):
some love from people that are out there that just
want to see him do his best. So I'm pulling
for Isaiah. I'm pulling for the people here on this
show to help him out. I don't know this kid
at all. It's just a story I found and read
a little bit about. And if you watch the video
about the hand itself, it's really amazing. I mean it
(08:50):
looks like some Star Wars technology, So who knows who.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Knows how he's able to use it. I believe that.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
From what I've learned about him and the reportage here
of this kid. We see a lot of stories that
we don't feel like we can help. These days, we
see a lot of bad news that makes us feel helpless.
I think that we have an opportunity to help. It's
up to you if you want to do it or not.
All right, let's move on to a story that y'all
(09:21):
submitted here on X And I love when people send
me these things on X because it just shows me
how many of y'all are out there listening and aware
of what's going on. This one's from Justin Prestigard. Justin
for Asu out of the state of Arizona. He's a
(09:42):
sun devil for life. So he quote tweets me about
Desert Edge thinking it had won the five A championship,
but a flag is thrown on the two point conversion
and according to Arizonavarsity dot Com, twenty plus players got ejected.
There's no time left on the clock, all zeros and
(10:03):
Desert Edge is playing Higglely. Higgly's up forty two to
forty one. They got a two point play. I do
love the guts here. You're going for two down one
in the state championship, no time left on the clock.
That's how you do it, that's how you coach them up.
And I love the decision. What I don't love is
(10:23):
when officials decide the game, because I am not sympathetic
by and large to people who use officiating as an
excuse to say, oh, my team lost because of this
flag that the ref through. My team could have won,
but the refs didn't review something. But they call a
(10:45):
holding on this play, and I don't see one. Doesn't
mean there isn't one. But generally speaking, it's an unspoken
rule you don't let an official decide the games. What happened,
according to AZ Central, Goodyear Desert Edge was down its
starting tailback, starting left tackle, starting center, that time outs,
(11:11):
drove ninety yards for a touchdown as time expired. I
don't blame him for going for two. I mean, you
got all the momentum there after putting the ball in
the hands of its best athlete, Deshaun Warner. It's punching
the two point conversion. Players ran wildly around the field. Yeah,
that's what you don't see, or you don't see if
you're just listening. The whole sideline erupts and everyone runs
(11:32):
out on the field thinking the game's over. They thought
they had just pulled out the greatest miracle comeback in
AIA five A football championship history. Yeah, that really would
be something. Desert Edge pushed back ten yards, still went
for two.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Okay, that's what.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, you're playing with house money when you actually get
it there from the two yard line. Hezekaiah Millander was
the quarterback, was broken up in the end zone and
Higglely won. And we didn't come here to tie. An
(12:12):
emotional Mark Carter, co coach of the Scorpions with his
brother Marcus. If you think of Desert Edge, you think
of guts, you think of a resiliency that comes with
an edge. Yeah, the Desert Edge. We didn't want to
give up the chance, man.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
That is hard.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
All the momentum was going Desert edges way. After Higglely
rolled up close to six hundred yards through three quarters,
Daxon Hall had one hundred and ninety eight rushing yards
one hundred and thirteen receiving. They looked unstoppable. Down forty
two thirteen. Late in the third quarter, looking like it
was over. They rallied, made big plays, and then the
refs ruined your chances. Speaking of scorpions and desert edge,
(12:58):
I was at the NFL's owners meeting in Atlanta several
years ago, and the Cardinals were about to learn that
they won the NFL draft location in Phoenix, and I
was standing in this hallway at a hotel talking to
an Arizona State trooper, a couple of state patrol guys.
(13:19):
One of them was a Native American, one of them
was a white fellow like myself, And I just watched
the movie Casino, and I said, you know how often
y'all look for missing people in the desert? Is it
a lost cause? Because in Casino you just take people
out to the desert and you never find them again.
(13:41):
And I'll never forget The Native American trooper didn't even
look at me, just kind of had this thousand yards stare,
and he says, yeah, well, by the time the coyotes
and scorpions are done with them, there's really not much
else for us to find. And I can't help but
(14:01):
think about this story here. The scorpions got robbed, and
by the time the officials were done with this game
out in the Desert Sun Devil Stadium and Tempe, there
weren't many players left on either sideline either, and it's
(14:22):
just a shame. The refs in this sport right now
are are facing a crisis.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I know it.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I've dressed it on the show before. There's a labor
issue and there aren't enough of them to go around,
it seems like. But the ones that are out there
in state championship moments like this have no right to
make a call on a play like that. They're feeling
themselves a little too much. And it's not about them.
(14:50):
The sport is about the players that are actually out
there scoring and running and playing and tackling and intercepting passes,
not you get a grip, all right, last story here
before we move on. Another submission on X from Bo Davis,
an actual high school football player right now, Senior Bo
(15:14):
Davis from Bernard. Where does he go to school? Warren
Central High. It is a little confusing because his graphics
says he's a Bernard Blackwell All Star North squad. But
here's what Bo says. Let me pull bow up. Bo
(15:35):
is a special fellow. It's clearly raised the right way.
Bow tagged go Coffeetown and myself on X and says
there's something about me that most people don't know. Dad
convinced Mom to name me Bo b e a U.
Mom didn't know that I was named after Bo the
(15:56):
Bandit Darvil from Smoky in the Bandit. Dad confessed this
to her right about the time I turned one. She
wasn't happy. Hashtag swagger. Now Bo is gonna represent his
team on the All Star North Squad. He's a first
team All District Region two six A player All State
(16:18):
six A second team Thebodavis dot Com, he's got a
website six one and a half two hundred and eighty pounds,
three point six gpa, twenty five act five Ata Kappa
class of twenty four kids, got his head screwed on straight.
Let's go to the bodavis dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I'm Bodavis. I'm a class of twenty four center and
special teams prospect from Warren Central High School in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
I'm the returning starting center for the WCCHS Vikings. I'm
a coachable player who's always looking to improve my skill
sets and will do whatever is needed to help my team.
I value, integrity, leadership, dependability, teamwork, commitment, humility, resiliency, and respect.
(17:01):
I hope to continue my football career on a team
with similar values. Whatever Bo ends up doing, I don't
think he's gonna be making beer runs from texaar Cana
to Atlanta, but if he wants to, he'll do it.
If he wants to outrun the police, I don't think
(17:24):
he's gonna try to, but I think he's got a
good shot to do whatever he wants to do. I'd
let him coach my boy when he gets a little
bit older. I'm talking about my boy, not Bo. I
think Bo could coach my boy right now if he
wants to. I think he could coach your kids. I
think he might end up doing it one day. Go
get him. Bo named after the bandit, and I think
(17:49):
he got some bright, bright things ahead, Son. Thanks for
reaching out, and another Mississippi man, Ben Ingram, reached out
to me with an all names a mission list in
the Mississippi State Championship Games. We'll get to that in
a minute, so we've got quite a list of names here.
(18:14):
Thanks to Ben Ingram, voice of the Atlanta Braves, who
if you listen to his episode a few weeks back.
You'll remember that he said he gets to go back
home and call some state championship games in Mississippi. And
he just texted me this out of the blue the
other day and said, this is my list of best
names of players I'll be covering in the twenty three
(18:38):
state championships. And there are a lot of names that
he texted me, but I'm gonna pare down this list
of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty,
twenty one, twenty two.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Is in all okay, I'm not gonna cut it down.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Ben gave me some hard work here, and I'm just
gonna read them all off because he's got a twenty
two man roster here, eleven on defense, eleven on offense. Maybe,
but I'll read you what Ben submitted, and you be
the judge about who the top names are, and maybe
by the end of this I'll give you my best.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Two or three.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
We got Alricas Graves from Heidelberg. We got Cornel Bacon
from Velma Jackson, Joori Archie from Velma Jackson. You know,
Archie's a popular name. That's the last name there in
the state of Mississippi. Christian Smith, Velma Jackson, niz Bick
(19:40):
Johnson from Velma Jackson. So Velma Jackson's got quite a few,
but they don't even have the most. Xialis Blackman Zialis
Blackman from Biggersville, Troy Lando Eden from Whina, Lounse Nicholson
from win No to Quadrian Welch from Knaksubi Naejavius Jones
(20:09):
from knak Subi. That one just flows off the tongue
like Tupelo honey, the Kyleierian Dancy knak Subi, e. Cameron
Smith from knak Subi, Dierique Gray from knak Subi, Jemitri
(20:31):
Johnson from Kna Subi, and thus concludes the Knasubi a
name team. Good luck competing with them. Cashwan Drayne from Charleston,
Xarion Haynes from Louisville, Korzavier or maybe it's Corkxavior Coleman
(20:55):
from Louisville die Jalen Miller from Louisville. This is gonna
be a fan favorite here because other people even tagged
me in this kid's name, not even knowing that Ben
Ingram and sent me this list. Toody Lindsey from West Jones,
t O O T I E two D go get
(21:16):
him two D, Dan Diego Collins from Grenada, Harveyon Willis
from Grenada, and le Joshua Brown from Starkville. So let
me just go through and I'll pick a few of
my favorites here. These are all stellar, stout names. I
do appreciate Ben Ingram for keeping me in mind and
(21:36):
keeping all of you in mind, because he knew you'd
like this. My top five in no particular order. Cornell Bacon,
You just can't top Bacon anytime it's in the name. Zialis,
blackman from Biggersville. Xialis never has a problem getting up
(22:00):
before the game. We got Lee Kyleerian Dancy. I mean
you got like four names in there. That's pretty stout
Cashwan Draine Cashwan and that's k A s h w
(22:23):
Ua n cash him outside how about that? And then
of course, how can I leave out Toody Lindsay, the
team captain. What did Tudy do in his game? Funny
I should ask? Two D the quarterback led his team
(22:48):
to a six to a state title.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Way to go twody. We're all pulling for you.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Here, go fight, win, and you're welcome in Coffee Town anytime,
as is anyone who made that list. All right. Coming up,
our guest this week an Army captain. Don't have those
every single week.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Our guest is a former varsity quarterback for Army fitting
time for that Army Navy coming up this week. Graduated
in six eventually earned the rank of captain, and served
in Iraq as a platoon leader for a year. You
can hear him now on Barstool's zero Blog thirty podcast.
More importantly, he was a three time All Areas selection
(23:38):
in Edison, New Jersey. His name is Connor Krea, and
you know him as captain CON's what's up man?
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Not much?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
How you doing doing?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
All right?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
So before we get into your high school glory days,
walk people through the Army Navy week for someone that
was in this game, because I think a lot of people,
you know, the conference championship wraps up.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
If you're a diehard college football fan, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
About Army Navy, but being in it, if you've never
attended it, it's unlike anything else.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah, it really is special and part of the reason
it's so special is because it's I know other rivalries
are like this, but you really do carry it with
you in your first job out of college, which is
the military. So whether that's the Army of the Navy,
you really do carry it with you and you carry
that moniker of former player, and that's how you get
(24:32):
introduced to your soldiers or sailors or whatever. And you know,
when you think about who attends the game, obviously the
president is known to show up from time to time.
I don't know how many games he consistently shows up
in other rivalries. So it's special from that regard that
it has the attention to the entire country, especially as
a standalone game, and it's just something that doesn't ever
(24:57):
leave you and something I mean I think about to
this day and it's kind of almost part of my
everyday life. And I don't know if that's ridiculous or
endearing or what, but it's just how it is.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, I mean, so much of your career that I
mentioned there has nothing to do with football, but that
game stands on its own and it is so timeless.
They rotate it, you know, it's played different venues and
all that, but it really doesn't matter where they play it.
If you've watched it, the camera pointed on the stands
could literally be anywhere. Now, I was looking at your
(25:32):
Army Football bio, which is still up by the way,
go Armywestpoint dot com, and it lists you as a
gritty competitor who remains in the mix at the quarterback position,
strong arm signal caller throws a nice ball. How does
that stack up to your scouting of yourself in college.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
I think that's pretty accurate.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
You know, it's interesting when you make the jump from
high school to college and things changed.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
The speed of the game changes, and.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I don't know that I've ever really talked about it,
but I mean, for me, I just didn't get up
to speed as fast as I would have liked from
the mental aspect of it, from that side of the game.
So I think that's what prevented me from seeing more
time at the quarterback position. But you know, found my
way onto special teams to get myself on the bus
(26:23):
and very much what should have been included there was
locker room guy throw and through. I think that is
really where I earned my bones. And you know it
was a great teammate and ensured that everybody else was
working hard and getting better and helping my teammates in
that regard.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
But in terms of my you know.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Physical abilities and capabilities at the quarterback position, I think
that's all accurate.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It does say you're a consummate team player, so it
is in there.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, it's in there.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
So before that, you had quite the career in high school.
Where did you attend high school? What was your mascot
team colors? What was the vibe like for you before
you played college ball.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yes, it was the Bishop r Announ Saint Thomas, Aquinas Trojans,
red and white, some great colors in Edison, New Jersey.
There they just had a really nice season. I think
they finished like nine and one this year. And competing
New Jersey high school football is I think for those
who don't know, it really is really quality football. And
(27:27):
you know, people think New Jersey, they're like, ah, no,
like best football is in like Texas, California, Florida, And
that's all true. But I mean, if you look at
college rosterers across the country, we put some really good
players at some big, big time schools. And I enjoy,
you know, being from Jersey and then having that be
(27:48):
part of my bio, and you know, I cherished my
time there in high school, although it's quite a long
time ago now.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I mean, look, I live in Georgia and the dogs
are recruiting everybody, and if you're good enough, they'll find you.
It doesn't really matter how quote unquote good the high
school football is in your state. I mean, there are
dudes everywhere, right, and there are some big guys, some
big boys up there that Georgia and a lot of
teams down here in the South are really priding themselves
(28:19):
on getting on their offensive lines. So that's been pretty
fun to watch. When you talk about your high school career,
who's a coach, teacher, somebody that molded you, whether it
was for the better or for the funnier, somebody that
you and your buddy still kind of talk about to
this day as a leader that impacted you back in
(28:40):
those days.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Well, certainly, my head coach, Ron Hilliard was a great
guy to me and mentor and kind of really treated
me in such a way that made me feel more
mature maybe than some of the other guys on the team.
He kind of spoke to me, not like as an adult,
because I wasn't an adult, really gave me a lot
of responsibility and had a close relationship with regards to him.
(29:07):
And then another guy was Mike Lang who's actually a coach,
a head coach now at Redband Catholic. They just want
to stay title. He's doing a great job, and certainly
his approach to the game had always stuck out to
me as a very serious approach.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
I think sometimes high school it's it's fifty to fifty.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Sometimes you get guys who are just kind of doing
it part time, and then other times you have guys
who are really invested in will give you legitimate football advice,
if that makes sense, as opposed to just somebody who's
there holding a clipboard or maybe calling plays as a
way to make a little extra cash on the side
and isn't necessarily very invested. And that's been my experience,
(29:43):
whereas I think maybe you know, other parts of the
country it's more of a full time job, but especially
you know Catholic high schools in New Jersey where the
funding might be a little more sparse at some schools
as opposed to others. That's just what it produces for
the coaching.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Staff, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
You know down here the Catholic schools here in the South,
not a huge thing, but you kind of get the
foil of that is the Christian schools, the private schools
as opposed to like the seven a massive county money
that's you know, basically an SEC big ten factory. It's
(30:24):
crazy to watch. What was your main rival? Who was
the hated school of Bishop bar probably JFK.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
We would play them every year on Thanksgiving or the
night before Thanksgiving. I always had good games against them,
as three to zero against them, so maybe that's why
I have fond memories of them. But they were always
you know, running their mouths, but never seemed to beat us.
So I enjoyed that. But you're talking about like Catholic schools,
I think that's really I mean, certainly we have some
large public schools in New Jersey, but Catholic schools are
(30:54):
really if you look across the country about you know,
top teams in the country, it's our Catholic school that
are always going to be mentioned in those conversations, you know,
top twenty five and things of that nature. You know,
I pay close attention also my dad's high school, Don
Bosco Prep, which some of your listeners might know that's
certainly a little more well known. They have that national presence,
(31:14):
have won a couple of national championships, certainly.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
A good brand of football here in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
So y'all would play on Thanksgiving night, night.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Before, night before, So that was always kind of cool
because everyone you know would come back, all the older
guys that maybe had just graduated a year or two
before would always come back and back in town and
before they might head out to the bars that night,
they take the game in and you see some former
teammates and that was always cool.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Which sports did you play?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Now?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
You played football, obviously, but what all were you doing?
And which numbers did you wear?
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Three, number three was for everything football, basketball, baseball, And
then my senior year I stopped doing baseball just as
a way to get ready for football. I switched over
to track. And then, you know something else I'm very
proud of and I think you might have seen. I
don't know if that's in my college bally or not,
but I also was in the drum department. It did
three musicals, quite the renaissance. Man.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
I don't know if that is mentioned in your army
bio or not. It should be no, you were, Yeah,
performed in three school musicals.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
There you go. It's the next to last thing they said.
Weezed it in there.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
It's important. It's important to have other interests.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I think the only thing that you and I have
in common other than playing football, I certainly didn't have
your career. You were a peer leader, and that that
certainly goes a long way for a lot of people.
I don't know what it looked like for y'all. I
just taught a couple of fifth graders how to do
math every every.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Other day and got to leave school early.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
So that was a yeah, well no, that was like
it was like one of the periods where we would
like go and teach freshman something. I don't really remember
the specifics, but what position did you play?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I played tied end and defensive end, and we didn't
really throw the ball much to the to the tight ends.
And I think the pinnacle of my career I had
two sacks and a fumble recovery in our spring game.
And of course, as the years have gone by, I've
embellished that. You know that that became like a quarterfinal
(33:18):
game in the state playoffs, And I mean.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
If that's not the way it's supposed to go.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Though, the lore of the high school days, you know,
get greater and greater as you get further removed.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
And what was great?
Speaker 2 (33:29):
You know, I think now every kid's got a huddle tape, right,
everyone's got got there, their highlights there.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
But now it's it's it's a lot harder or a
lot easier now.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
But when I was in high school graduating no two
like that just wasn't as prevalent.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
We were still sending out VHS tapes.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
So the ability to find highlight tapes of me online,
I think it's pretty much non existent except for whatever
I've put out there on social media.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
You had to depend on what your coaches did, right, yes.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
That you know another reason I talked about my head
coach like he did that out of the you know, goodness,
basically goodness of his own heart got me recruited, like
put together the highlight tapes and bhs's and I don't
even know how the hell they get it, you know,
from an nexus and ohs standpoint, like two tapes in VCR,
So I don't know, I honestly don't know, but he
took the time to do that for me, and you
(34:17):
know it was the reason, or you know, largely part
of the reason I was able to go play at
the next level.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah, I had to stop playing my senior year because
I got too many concussions. And this was before anybody
really knew what CTE was, dude, So I'm.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Grateful that I stopped.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
At the time, it was kind of like, so what
you know, you got, you got a little bit of
a head an you can't see, just go back out there.
But I ended up helping the team out through the
video stuff and I would tape practice set this. You know,
we had this for like drones or anything like that.
We had this giant mechanism that you'd pump up like
(34:54):
a bicycle tire and it would like shoot up like
thirty feet in the air and just this camera down
we'd use like a remote control. Somebody rigged it up
and we'd film practice. And so, you know, if I
knew what I was doing, or I think now, like
if that had happened to me now, you know, I
would probably be leaned on by a lot of my
(35:16):
teammates to like cut their huddle tapes up. You know,
I could have had a nice side business there.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Absolutely, and definitely could have maybe even parlaid that into
doing that at the collegiate level for your you know,
your Georgia team there. Certainly, I mean that the film
guys are so valuable. I mean the film guys for
us at Army. I like, I'm still friends with to
this day. You're great guys and so valuable obviously to.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
The success of every team. It's funny you mentioned CT dude.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
I can think back specifically to games where I definitely
got concussion and just nobody said a word about it.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
It was just okay, go back in the game.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So my final one was like friendly fire and uh,
my own like I was combining to make a table
and my own guy hot me and uh.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
It was actually in a practice. Was the last one.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
And you know, like I said, tight end this couple
of minutes later, like running a uh you know eight
or nine, which was either a run to the right
or run to the left, an odd or even number.
I know, I'm either on the right or the left,
and I just looked at my quarterback and said, I
don't know where to go, and he's like, you.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Need to you need to get the hell off the
fenny because yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Yeah, maybe get out of here right now.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Probably not the best.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yeah, all right, So when when I talk about your
your career as a whole, are there games memories, whether
it's something you did really well, something that didn't go well,
that really still stick with you to this day, even
with your collegiate accomplishments.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Yeah, probably, you know, starting as a sophomore, you're I
was young. So I was geez fourteen when.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
I started, you know, playing against seventeen eighteen years and
then turned fifteen the middle of the season, and I
can remember the first game I won. It was a
fourth quarter comeback, and that kind of always stuck with me, like, Okay,
maybe I can do this. Even though these guys are
older than me and bigger than me. You know, I'll
catch up to them eventually, but I can do this now.
(37:18):
I'm capable of handling this level. And that really gave
me the confidence to go forth and you know, continue
on the rest of my career there and and really
do well for my school. But certainly that that first
win against North Brunswick my sophomore year, on the fourth
quarter when we were trailing four points, so I couldn't
(37:41):
even settle for a field goal, needed that touchdown and
got it done. But that that really just because I
mean you talk to anybody who plays a quarter acquisition,
anybody who plays it well. There is a vast difference
between someone who has confidence and someone who doesn't. Like
if you put me up against the guy who started
(38:01):
in my college, like, physically I was better, but he
had more confidence early because he was more prepared. And
when you just feel like you're spinning it and you
can't be stopped, you can't teach that. You either have
it or you don't, and you need the proof on
the field. Yeah, I mean you can get it from practice,
(38:24):
but I think the real proof comes from doing it
in competition in a game. And I think that's the
difference between good, great and exceptional quarterbacks or any any
position for that matter.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah, it's totally different.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
It's why you know, you get so much credit when
you do it great and while you get none of
it when you lose or when you break your leg
if you play for Florida State.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
Yeah, that's so unfortunate.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Looking at your bio still here says you were selected
to the Snapple Bowl.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
What is that?
Speaker 4 (38:58):
That was just one of that I got two of them,
that's Napole and then North South. There are just two
All Star games. But you know with Army, when you.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Have to show up to start your beast barracks as
we call it, there your first summer. They were both
in July, and I had to show up July first,
so I couldn't play any of those All Star games
that I got selected for, which was kind of a
bummer because two of them, actually both of them, I
would have been playing against friends of mine, which would
have just been fun as a memory to have. So
(39:27):
I missed out on that. But certainly, you know, the
opportunity to go play at Army was a little bit
of a bigger calling than playing in those All Star games.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Who did you model your game after? You talk about
having the confidence to spin it? Who did you kind
of envision yourself as when you were spinning it?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I had such an affinity for Peyton Manning growing up,
you know, through high school. You know that, you know
that I was in high school from ninety eight to two,
so you think about what he was doing, you know,
early part of his career there and really having a
lot of success. Certain that was somebody, but then also
two other guys you know from growing up, Troyman and
and and Steve Young and probably a little bit more
(40:07):
Steve Young with his ability to scramble around. I enjoyed
running with the ball as much as I enjoyed throwing it.
So I think those those three really stood out for me.
But certainly, you know, my my formative years there, growing
up first starting to play in middle school.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
Uh Aikman and Young really.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Just I mean, you talk about the QBS of the nineties,
those those two are two of the best to ever
do it. But certainly in the nineties, great great players
who were Who are some you know that that that
stuck out for you growing up?
Speaker 3 (40:40):
I mean Peyton.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Peyton was who we watched all the time. I think
I'm like four, four or five years younger than you,
so similar overlap. And Peyton was the guy growing up
you know, watching Vic. He was totally different. You know,
there's a there's a local radio guy here, Brian Finneran
who played a villain and was an outstanding player in
(41:03):
his own right there, but he played with VIC on
the Falcons receiver and years later he was like, dude,
we would get the game tape that we were supposed
to be studying that week, and one day I was
walking past them in the parking lot and I just
saw him open the trunk of whatever brand new sports
car he had. He just tossed it in the trunk,
and I saw stacks and stacks and stacks of the
(41:25):
previous week's game tapes and he just didn't have to watch. Now,
obviously that is going to catch up with you. He
had his own, you know, getting arrested and all that.
But when he overcame it and came back to the
league and was able to actually kind of beat Father
Time a little bit there because he actually did start
(41:45):
to prepare. It was just disgusting to see how he
didn't need to prepare like everybody else because of the
talents that he had, Yes, and that that was just stupid.
Speaker 4 (41:56):
That's God given too write.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
You can't teach what he was able to do impressive
eventually like, but then you look at someone like Peyton
Manning who doesn't have those physical attributes, and the reason
he was able to be arguably the greatest one of
certainly one of the greatest, was because everything he had
going on upstairs and his ability to prepare and no
(42:18):
defense is inside and out. I mean people used to
say ed Reid would say playing against him was like
playing against the computer.
Speaker 4 (42:24):
It was just unbelievable how smart.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
And how prepared he was each week to overcome his
his physical limitations. But I had an opportunity of I
met Vic at a golf outing one time, get to talk,
and you know, and I mentioned, you know that I
played an Army and he was aware that Army runs
a triple option. He just said, man, the things I
would have been able to do with the triple option. Now,
(42:50):
I mean just imagine him, you know, understand, and running
a triple option would have been special to watch, just because.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
It wouldn't be legal. That shouldn't be legal.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
No, no, no, But I mean yeah, I mean taking
everything he off the field aside, certainly, I don't condone,
you know, Hart and dogs. He was a special, special guy.
And I can still just think remember his freshman year
when he was playing in that national championship, and I
remember it was playing that game he was flat footed
and threw it forty yards on a rope and I
(43:19):
was like, WHOA, that is legitimate, legitimate arm strength. So
but imagine if you took like Manning's work ethic in
his brain and put it in VIC like, who knows
what he could have been because he did everything he
did based on what you're telling me seemingly from you know,
just physical being physically better than everybody and not necessarily
(43:41):
doing all the prep work.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Yeah, well, I mean to take it back to New
Jersey not getting the credit of being a great high.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
School football state.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
You had VIC out of Virginia, and you also had
Alan Iverson. Yeah, amazing high school football in Virginia and
just kind of had to choose right. And I think
both guys made the right career choices for them. But
those are you know, those are guys I think of
when I think about your example of New Jersey and
in the state of Virginia. Every state has the guys,
(44:14):
and you get found the cream does always rise to
the top. Got a couple more and I'll let you run.
Uh ask every person that comes on this question. Take
me back to your pregame playlist. What are some songs
that you were listening to for for motivation before you
take the field.
Speaker 4 (44:30):
Oh my god, so listen.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
This is gonna sound bad, but like I'm so old
that you know, I didn't have my own like you know,
headphones and CD players like they were around, but like
it wasn't as prevalent like everybody has own you know,
air pods and cell phones now.
Speaker 4 (44:49):
But I can remember.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Popa Roach in high school last Resort I was just
playing on repeat seemingly and in the locker room before
every game. So that was probably the one song that
I definitely remember. And then a lot of Lincoln Park.
So Lincoln Park, their first album, was unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
Yeah, it really felt like one long song, if that
makes sense. Not that they all sounded exactly the same,
but you had like the same feeling going through all
of it. And my brother and I my brother's four
and a half years younger than me, and we would
just like share the headset on our CD player, just
praying that it wouldn't skip when we were in the car,
(45:33):
because no way my parents were going to listen to it.
But no, it really did strike a nerve in a
way that nothing else really had. Popa Roach too though,
it really like it got your blood flowing. There was
nothing like that on the radio, and certainly, you know,
you couldn't play a lot of it on the radio now,
like those those tracks the Red hot chili peppers. Maybe
(45:57):
not motivating you for a game the way those did,
But I get what you're saying. You're the first one
to come on here and say popa roach in Lincoln Park.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
That's I mean.
Speaker 4 (46:05):
That's show show my age, certainly.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
But I think that's the best description of that album
I've ever heard. Just like one long song, I think
that's the best I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Last one for you, I read that you you kind
of joked you had a family connection to West Point,
but you joked that you would never go.
Speaker 3 (46:23):
Now what changed? What? What flipped the switch for you?
Speaker 2 (46:28):
When I took, you know, my official visit, And I
think I've talked to a lot of buddies who have
played it, you know, college ball, and there's nothing you
can really pinpoint. It's just a feeling you get whether
you when you step on campus from the locker room
or in the stadium. And yeah, I really said, like,
(46:50):
there's no shot. My grandfather went there, so I've been
going up there for as long as I can remember
as a kid, and I was like, I'm not going
to go to school here. I've been going to school
wearing a uniform since kindergarten. I don't want to keep
wearing uniform and all the rules, and I don't want
to be in the Army. And then yeah, they just
they showed interest and then they recruited me, and then
I took my visit and I canceled my four other
(47:10):
visits because I just went there. And I can't I
cannot give you a succinct answer other than I just
had a gut feeling that this is where I was
supposed to be, and that's the way it worked out.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Always got to trust your gut.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
Man. Where can people find you throughout the week? You
got a lot of things going on. I know they
keep you busy over there at Barstool. Where can people
find you if they want to listen to more?
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yeah, just just just chock us out there at Captain
Collins and zero Bug thirty and then we have the
college Football show for Barstool Saturday morning at Army Navy.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
If you're going to be up there.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
At Foxborough at the rodmin Ford Dealership, and I think
it's I'm not as familiar with Foxborough's am with some
of the other places we play, but it's right outside
the stadium from the looks of it, so very easy
to get to and very easy to find.
Speaker 4 (47:56):
So I think that's going to be a lot of fun.
And yeah, just.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Special, special game. And I'll share one other thing just
to give you an idea of, you know, kind of
the game. And this isn't unique to me, because I
think this is probably similar to a lot of guys
who play at any level. But I can distinctly remember never,
you know, unfortunately, never beating Navy, and then, you know,
my locker room after my final game, just sitting there
(48:20):
and I was sobbing for forty five minutes just because
I knew it was never going to play again, knew
it was going to never get another chance at Navy,
and that's how much it meant that I was just
that bummed. Into this day, I'm still crushed. And it's
probably why I, you know, takes such a vested interest
and stay as connected to the program as I do
now because I'm kind of living vicariously through these these
(48:41):
players now and obviously I'm not on the field, but
you know, certainly I'm still part of this brotherhood that
we have, so I'm you know, I can still take
a little bit of the wins and enjoy them from
that advantage point. But it's just, you know, every vivalry
is special for different reasons. But when you take everything
(49:06):
around the game, obviously football is football, but take everything
around the game and what in the last twenty years,
specifically and certainly before that, but definitely the last twenty years,
what all the players on the field went and did
afterwards in the army, given what's been going on in
the world. I just think that adds a little extra,
a little little something that's more special that you have
(49:28):
that bond that hey, we did this on the football
field and then we went and did it on the battlefield.
You know, I don't know that you can. You can
tell me Ohio State, Michigan, or Auburn, Alabama, or you know,
Georgia Georgia State or excuse me, George Tech is gonna
stack up. So that's why I think this is one
that's just a little bit more special.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Absolutely so much deeper than a lot of those other programs,
no doubt about it. Army. I'm looking at two and
a half point favorites. Is that what you got?
Speaker 4 (49:58):
Sounds about?
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Right?
Speaker 4 (49:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (49:59):
Yeah, all right, man, gonna be a good one.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
Chles, thank you so much, dude, And certainly follow him
if you want to hear more about his takes on
more than just Army Navy Football zero blog thirty. Fantastic
show and appreciate your time, dude.
Speaker 4 (50:14):
Thanks dude, appreciate it. Go Coffee Town.
Speaker 1 (50:19):
Thank you cons for coming on. And if you're a
Navy guy, no offense. I just happen to have contact
with CONS and set it up. But I'm sure you
got some stories too. If you're a Navy person and
I can't wait to watch that game, I'm glad it
has its own day and its own moment, its own
opportunity to shine, and it was great to hear from
(50:43):
the Captain himself about how we got there. Thank you
for listening to this show, for watching it, for hitting
subscribe and following along. Love everything that y'all send me.
All your submissions make this show hum and I hope
you keep them coming. Some big state championship games coming
(51:03):
up around the country, including Coffeetown playing for state. I'm
gonna have that season finale call on next week's episode
of Go Fight Win, y'all don't miss it. Join us
head on over to the shop, gear up for the
game and for a long cold off season, no matter
(51:24):
what happens next.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Appreciate y'all. Catch you soon.
Host
Wes Blankenship
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