This week on The Unafraid Show, we sit down with Jonathan Stewart, an Oregon Ducks and Carolina Panthers icon, for an in-depth conversation about his journey in football.
Host George Wrighster also delivers his top 5 takeaways from the thrilling Super Bowl 58 clash between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, where Patrick Mahomes cemented his legacy as a potential GOAT QB.
George shares his experiences from Las Vegas during Super Bowl week, including memorable meals with local celebrities and his defense of 49ers' coach Kyle Shanahan against widespread criticism.
Show Content: -
**Jonathan Stewart Exclusive Interview**: Dive into the storied career of Jonathan Stewart, from his days with the Oregon Ducks to his achievements with the Carolina Panthers.
- **Super Bowl 58 Recap**: Analysis of Patrick Mahomes' performance, George's defense of Kyle Shanahan, and unique insights from George's time in Las Vegas.
- - **Let That Sink In**: In this thoughtful segment, George argues that college football's recent coaching shifts don't signal its demise but rather an exciting evolution of the sport.
Join us for a compelling mix of personal interviews, expert analysis, and candid discussion on the latest in football, from the field to behind the scenes. Don't miss this episode packed with insights and stories from the heart of the sport.
#OregonDucks #CarolinaPanthers #UnafraidShow #SuperBowl58 #PatrickMahomes #KyleShanahan #NFL #CollegeFootball #FootballLegends #SportsAnalysis #interview #sportsinterview
Chapters: 00:00- Intro 01:09- Five Super Bowl Takeaways from George's time in Las Vegas 07:40- An interview with Jonathan Stewart 21:48- Lunch Break at Shang Artisan Noodle 23:51- Wrighster or Wrong featuring Jonathan Stewart 26:10- LTSI: College Football is NOT DEAD 33:03- The Kyle Shanahan Slander needs to stop!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A lot of people will tell you that college football
is broken because coaches are trying to lead, but it's not.
I got the answer for you today, and we have
Panthers and Oregon legend Jonathan Stewart in the building today.
And of course my five takeaways from being at the
super Bowl. Of course we got to take a lux
break and that's up next here on Unafraid Show. Make
(00:22):
sure you like subscribe, tell a friend about the show,
and of course get notifications. Let's go. After being in
(01:10):
Las Vegas for Super Bowl fifty eight, I have five takeaways.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
That think are important.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Number one and my main takeaway from super Bowl fifty
eight is that the game should always be played in
Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm one of them people when people.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Say whether it's football, baseball, basketball, hockey f one and say, oh,
it should always be in this same place. I normally
don't subscribe to this, but in this case a little
bit different. And I get that people like to see
the game move around. And now that Las Vegas has
an NFL team, that's never gonna go overwhel But Sin
City was built to host events like this. The super
(01:43):
Bowl is a week long event, and Las Vegas is
sustained by conventions as much as it is gambling tourists.
Vegas knows exactly how to host, feed, shelter, and transport
a few hundred thousand visitors in a weekend. And that's
all without a year of preparation, just to have the
infrastructure in place to bring the big game into town.
(02:04):
And what other American city can guarantee that the weather
won't be a factor for the people in and around
the stadium. You know what the Super Bowls were like
in Minnesota, Dallas, and New York in February and on
to number two. Super Bowl fifty eight taught me that
Brock Party is the definition of not too high, not
too low, and Party is who he is, regardless of
(02:27):
the situation, whether it's playing in front of zero fans
in the Fiesta Bowl during COVID or in the two
hundred million viewers at the world's largest football party in
Las Vegas. He's the type of grounded human that athletess
been an entire career on a sports psychologist couch to
try and scratch the surface of And maybe that's his
it factor because so much of this game is mental
(02:50):
and Brock Party shows that type of measured humility. He's
got perspective emploise that professional golfers would kill for.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
But he's an NFL quarterback.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And you'll have to excuse me for being surprised that
somebody with Drew Brees's arm strength at thirty eight to
forty one years old is able to go out there
and play with the confidence that Drew Brees did at
age thirty.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
The world is.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Out here trying to fit brock Party into a box.
But brock Party knows who he is. It's us trying
to figure it out. And just like Ken and Barbie,
that seems to be enough. And number three Super Bowl
fifty eight gave us Travis Kelce's sideline temper tantrum at
the expensive head coach Andy Reid, and the things that
people are saying about that interaction are all over the place.
(03:32):
Let's be extremely abundantly crystal clear about this. Travis Kelcey
did not assault Andy Reid.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Was it a good look? Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But Travis Kelcey yelling at Andy Reid is only a
big deal if Andy.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Reid thinks it's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And remember when Antonio Brown ran off the field shirtless
after feuding with Bruce arians if Bruce arians chalks that
up to a passionate moment where Brown was just blowing
off steam, that moment probably doesn't mark the end of
Brown's playing career. And if Andy Reid can get over
being yelled at by Travis Kelsey, there's no reason we
should be offended on his behalf. Because Reid understands that
(04:12):
the game is emotional and at some point we have
to stop trying to apply real world things out into football.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's not normal life.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You can't apply the same rule standards or practices.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It's football.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
You're dealing with grown men in a locker room or
on a field who are using violence to solve their
problems and to get wins, and you expect emotions not
to be high. No, you have to just accept it
for what it is. And yes, there are times where
things get out of hand, and those things should be
dealt with appropriate league, But this wasn't it because Andy
(04:48):
Reid understands that the game is emotional and he's no stranger.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
To Kelsey's tipper.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
He even talked about how far Kelsey has come with
his anger in a pregame interview with Bill Cower plus
from My Friends weren't born yesterday. You remember that Andy
Reid survived the two thousand and five season dealing with
Terrell Owens moves right, He's probably gonna get over this
one too, assuming he hasn't moved on already.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Number four.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
All Super Bowl fifty eight did was reinforce my opinion
about Patrick Mahomes deserving to be the goat conversation. Look,
because you're not ready doesn't mean that it's not time
to have this talk. Because to this point in his career,
Patrick Mahomes has outpaced Tom Brady in every statistical category,
every other than Super Bowl rings, and in that department
(05:33):
they're tied. And it wouldn't have been insane to have
this conversation about Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson after Michael
Jordan's first three p So why is it insane now?
It doesn't diminish Tom Brady and all of his accomplishments
at all, because I'm always going to root for new
feats of greatness, and what we're watching is incredible And
(05:54):
the entire point of somebody new coming along to set
a bar for success is to give those who are
brave and blessed enough a chance to clear it. Because
Patrick Mahomes is the man who is on pace to
do it, and I'm supposed to root against him to
protect Tom Brady fans from having to admit reality.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
No way, because if you were.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Starting at franchise right now and you got to pick
between Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, you would choose Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I want Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
To clear that bar because that's what is inspiring today's
middle schoolers to go out there and try to be
even better than both of them, and somebody's gonna clear it.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Number five. Patrick Mahomes might have gotten.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
His third Super Bowl MVP with his clutch play in
the fourth quarter and in overtime, but I'm having a
hard time understanding why Super Bowl fifty eights MVP award
went to anybody other than mister Chris Jones. Chris Jones
made two of the most important plays of the game,
because if it wasn't for Chris Jones, there would be
nothing for Patrick Mahomes to catch up to. The forty
(06:55):
nine Ers would have run away with it in the
second half Brandon ayuk Is wide opening in the end
zone and overtime when Chris Jones forces Brock Party to
throw the ball away on third and four, and in
regulation he bullied brock Party into throwing the ball to
Juwan Jennings for an.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Eight yard loss.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Plus he had another big play to force and overthrow
the Deebo Samuel, Plus you had all the double teams
and is helping run support. I got a feeling, though,
that any disappointment that Chris Jones feels for not getting
MVP recognition is gonna go all away in free agency, baby,
when he becomes one of the highest paid players in
league history.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But I'm not sure this three feet even has.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
A chance for Kansas City unless the Chiefs are able
to bring Chris Jones back. We got Jonathan Stewart in
the building, Oregon legend, Carolina Panthers legend. Man holds a
lot of records everywhere. Jay stew thanks for coming on the.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Show, for having me. All right, so let's start at
the begin.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
It right, Why did you leave Washington to go to Oregon?
Because I know Washington fans could not be happy about that.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Because I didn't like purple. Naw, there's a story behind it.
A little kid from Lacy, Washington found a gift in football,
and I said gift and football because my parents divorced him.
You know, football was an outlet for me to connect
with other kids and you know, male role models. But
(08:24):
I chose Oregon basically, you know, through prayer. I asked
for a sign, and long story short, I saw a sign.
And if you've been on Interstate five going down to Oregon,
you'll realize that there is a cross on a hill
as you get closer to Eugene on the left side,
if you're coming down from Tacoma on I five. I
(08:47):
had a flashback of oh wow, that that same cross
lights up a night because me and my dad went
to Las Vegas from my football tournament and I remembered
seeing this cross that lit up at night. So yeah, man,
it was. That was the reason why I decided to
go to Oregon, is ask God for a sign and
I saw one.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
How is that shaped kind of you being a father
of a couple of kids and being at being a
husband the way that you grew up.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
You know, it's you know, whenever you find yourself in
generational curses, you know, it's always a challenge that you're
faced with every day to overcome those and and the
challenge is to not not to be that you know
not to be. You know, the father that you know
shows weakness in times of the need for strength and
(09:44):
being able to have better communication skills and understanding that
you know, softness isn't weakness. You know, being being soft
is being vulnerable, and being vulnerable allows you to be
a better human. Being a better human allows you to
you know, be accepted in ways that usually end up
(10:04):
as a gift. I mean the really the true gift
is you know, to be that person for the people
that you love.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
I think that as men we get taught, like you said,
that we're supposed to provide and what the idea of
toughness and masculinity looks like. When I've learned that being
a man is not not showing emotion, but that it's
being able to accept those emotions and then not let
those things stop you and also be able to show
(10:35):
care and compassion and love and discipline in yourself to
those people who you love and care about the most.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, that's spot on, man. Compartmentalizing is one of the
gifts and curse curses of a great athlete. Yep, because
if you can compartmentalize, you're gonna be okay. That means
you know how to focus and you know how to
turn the on and off switch John and be a
serial killer one moment and then be you know, a
child of God the next.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But the transition to colleges sometimes very difficult, right, So
I remember I went in I read shirted my freshman year.
The only person in our class that played was Keenan.
Howary you come in and you're immediately a guy like
what was your four years at Oregon? Well, threes at Oregon?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Like it was a little bit of a blur because
I mean, Terrence Whitehead like this to this day might
be one of the most gifted, like find the whole,
Like I don't know. He was just and just yeah,
just sneaky, like one of the best. He had the
best feat kind of reminded me a little bit of
(11:46):
like how Marshawn would find holes. Right, Marshawn's obviously on
a whole different level of running backs. But like you know,
it was a gift for me to be able to
play behind terror that's Whitehead, because I learned a lot
learned patience. I learned the importance of you know, saving
your body, not taking so many hits. You always used
(12:09):
to tell me, hey, man, get down.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
You don't get no trophies for this. So a lot
of people would be shocked when they would hear that.
They're like, hold on, hold on, hold on. A guy
as good as Jonathan Stewart dealt with doubt at some
point in time in his life and like, and you're like,
he's highly talented. So how did you deal with that
doubt and what helped you overcome that?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Oh? Man, my faith? You know God is you know,
God is. God is not first in your life, man,
Like you are bound to drizzan. So there's a lot
of things that you know, your mind hears, and it's
a lot of things that your mind tells itself. The
first thing that I put him in my brain in
(12:56):
the morning is I can do all things through Christ's
strengthens me. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
It just means that you can. I need to prepare myself. Yeah,
you know what I'm saying. And if you're and if
you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. And
so if you are capable of just being ready and
being in position for when your time does come, everything
(13:18):
else settles. People always ask the question of like, man,
what's the number one thing you ever had to overcome
in your life? And I'll say self doubt. If you're
a person that can say I don't deal with self doubt,
you're lying, yep, because everybody deals with self doubt.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
And if you don't spout that at times like yeah,
where he would when people say, oh, I'm just so confident.
You can be confident, but there's sometimes when you all
alone and.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
You say, I don't know about this.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You got to get yourself back together. But you are
famous for also, in addition to being a football player,
like a hell of a pionist. And we've seen videos
of you playing the piano when you were at Oregon
and all that. Where did that come, that love of
music come from? And how has that impacted your life?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Man? That came straight from my mom. My mom for
Christmas got me a keyboard for my fourth grade for
my fourth grade Christmas. Yeah, third grade Christmas, and lo
and behold, I sat down and I just started playing it.
Bro and my mom are self taught.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yeah, So my mom was like, wait a minute, and
so there's you know, you can press the buttons that
have songs on there. And it was number thirty one
slow rock, and I was playing the piano to this song,
making my own song out of this song that was
like you know, yeah part of the keyboard and yeah, man.
(15:01):
And ever since then, I just kind of always knew
I could, you know, sit down and play by ear.
And so when I got to college that was definitely
one of those outlets in Barnhart. They had a piano downstairs,
and so you know, kids would come in from you know,
being out at night, you know, and I'd be sitting
(15:22):
down there playing a piano basically like a you know,
a person that's you know, in the lobby at at
a hotel or something.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Or or in the airport, just there just playing, like
just trying to make everybody else feel good.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
How big of a part of your life is music? Now?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
It's a huge part. Man. It's crazy. The older we get, right,
we turn into our parents, Like what y'all listening to?
What they talking about? But yeah, but you and so man,
it's really crazy because like I've gravitated towards a lot
(16:04):
of different types of music, country music, R and B,
eat and M and.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Now want to fast forward to the Carolina Panthers years
because you got a chance to play with some really
good players Christian McCaffrey toward the end of your career,
but obviously the biggest name was was Cam Newton. You
played with Greg Olsen, like some really really good players.
What was kind of that Cam Newton experience, like his
rookie year when you guys obviously had a really good
(16:34):
year and he played well and it was like a
phenomenon where you guys became like the most popular team
in the league.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Man, it was a good time. The chemistry that we
had probably the best of any team that you could
ever think of. We weren't necessarily the most talented roster,
but we had one goal and we all knew the
same goal. I would say the word was alignment. When
you have a group of men, coaching staff, players, when
(17:07):
you have people understanding what the goal is and making
all jump on the same ship and go towards that goal.
Just imagine like how that should feel. You know, it
was fun. You know people you know so much laughter
in that locker room that year, But it was just fun.
(17:28):
Was it just came easy? It was It was a
bunch of smart football players realizing that hey, we have
something pretty special here. I actually care about you. That's
really what it is. And that's you know, like and
I'm talking about you know, I can look at the
whole roster and say, oh, I know that guy's family,
(17:50):
I know this, I know his kids, I know where
he's from. I know a joke to play on him.
I know what name to call him to make him mad.
I know what he likes to eat, like, I know
where his cleats are. I know, like you know what
I'm saying, I know what to do to piss them off.
In practice, it was just one of those years where
(18:10):
you just look back and say, man, I'm so glad
to be a part of that.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
It had to be wild in that locker room because
I know Steve, Steve Smith and man boy boy, especially
him at that point in time.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Man, that man I would have nicknamed him Volcano.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Listen, He's Steve Smith is one of the rawest, most
authentic people on this planet, you know, and that's rare.
They don't make people like Steve Smith anymore, and they
probably I guarantee you, there's not another person on this
planet just like Steve Smith. He gives a team a baseline,
you know what I'm saying, Like, Hey, this is the
(18:51):
BS meter, and it's all the way down there.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
At the floor.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
You got guys like that on a team that's like,
look now we ain't with that, but you can do
all this other stuff though. Right yeah, we can joke,
we can laugh, we can play, we can whatever, but
we ain't with the BS. And you know that's how
you really, you know, develop a manhood because all the
(19:17):
BS is just a waste of time for right now
we're in this locker room. I got business see about.
I remember on Saturdays we'll have like donuts, the rookie
offensive lineman, we'll go get you know, donuts. And one
of the things that I always was mindful of was
to hold on tight to whatever I was eating. Yes
(19:39):
you want it will be the last bite too, bro.
And so you know you got that big brother that
just like I'm gonna get you in the locker room.
People ask like do you miss it? It's like you
don't really miss the games, you miss those interactions.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
This is the question that we ask everybody who is
I'm on this show, which is in your life, what
has been your biggest leap of faith?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Man? I would say my biggest leap of faith was
declaring for the draft. And I say that because that's
how I felt, And it goes back to that self doubt.
Everybody else might believe in me or see me in
a certain light, but you know, me having that injury
my last year, my toe injury, ended up playing in
(20:27):
the Bowl game, and I ended up having a good
game on a messed up toe.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Someday, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So you went for twenty three carries in two hundred
and fifty three yards against UCF and was the some
Bowl MVP on on a bad toe.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah, on the toe that I ended up having surgery on.
In March of the year that I got drafted. I
remember Coach Cam saying like, Nah, this is this is
your time. You need to go get about of here.
You did what you're supposed to do. You rush for
you rush for two see notes, man, You're out of here.
(21:02):
And so Coach Cam really gave me some confidence. And
you know who I was as a who I was
as a player, as a man. You know, I looked
at him, you know still to this days, as you know,
one of those fathers that I feel like God placed
in my life. Man for the obvious absence of you know,
(21:24):
my father during that time. I think the biggest leap
of faith that I've actually taken was that because it
was the biggest decision of my life.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
And you guys, he's Jonathan's Steward. You guys can go
check out Charlotte Lately and make sure you guys watch
the whole episode and everything else. But we got to
go for a lunch break in just a second. Yeah,
we'll be back with Jonathan Stewart for Rights or Rock.
We're at sean Artistan Noodle and we are with the
(21:55):
with the famous Las Vegas Field and Vegas Star.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
You guys make sure that you guys follow them on.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and everywhere else. They're giving you the
best places to go, the best recommend days is the food,
the hotels, everything, the whole shooting match and I'm an
excited man.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
We got a great arras up here for starters, We're
gonna we got the spicy wantons. These are Phillip pork
oversus like a similar silky smooth wanton skin, spicy refreshating juice,
sitting really good.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
We got the cucumber salad. We need some venis and
Mark a shan beet noodles. Soupers.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
See what their most famous sc The second most popular
dishes are then don noodles. All their noodles are made
Freshian house, and it's a big reason why I love
this puss.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
All right, let's go.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
These are super pan fride beet pancakes, kind of like
a Michelle m bottle of dumplings.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Got pant ryders.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
They're super juicy. A lot of people who kind of
pick it up and haven't square it out the end.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Man, So we just finished a great meal. It's shun
Artistan noodle and the meal was so good.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
But I will have a piece of advice, do.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Not wear a white shirt.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
It's toast.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
The dumplings were amazing, the fried rice was great, the
hand pulled noodles, but I did learn something about the
eat about the knife shave noodles.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Those were by far my favorite. Yeah. It's not on
the strip.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
So if you're a person I gotta eat on the strip, listen,
get off the strip. There are great places here and
this is one of the places that you need to
come to. So there was too many dishes for me
to go, you know, dish by dish, but overall, I'm
giving this place eight point nine out of ten. That
means anything about eight point five. I'm going out of
(23:44):
my way to come back mazing. Loved it, fantastic, Make
sure you get there. And now we're back with Jonathan
Stewart for reister or wrong? Jonathan? Am I reister or
am I wrong? If Jonathan Stewart weren't a football player,
(24:05):
we would still know who Jonathan Stewart is in the
world of music.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Right ster, Am I reister or am I wrong?
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Your best game in college was at Washington only time
you got a chance to play there. Thirty one carries
two hundred and fifty one yards, two touchdowns, twenty yards
receiving a thirty four yard kick return. Or is it
the bowl game that we talked about against us against
(24:34):
us self in the Sun Bowl?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Twenty three carries two hundred and fifty three yards.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Man, that's actually a tough one because all my life
I was actually thinking to myself the UDUB game was
my favorite, my best game in my my career. But
once you actually put the put that together, it actually
makes me realize that you know that some bowl might
be my best game simply for the fact that I
(24:58):
was hurt and and I knew it was on the line.
I knew that there was an opportunity there for me
to really pave the way.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Am I reister or am I wrong? The order for
NFC South hate is Falcons, Saints and then Buccaneers.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
I'm gonna say you're not wrong because I hit them all.
I hit him all. That's a good order.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Am I reister or am I wrong?
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Steph Curry is actually more famous in Charlotte than Greg Olsen,
Luke Keikley, Steve Smith, or even Cam Newton.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Yes, reister, you're right.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
He'd even play there, which is wild. Am I reister
or am I wrong? Jonathan Stewart is a better piano
player than Joey Herrington.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Uh. Joey is like classically trained, isn't he? Yes? Yeah,
I'm not better than Joey Harrington, but I can say
that I can probably create a better beat than he can.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Okay, hey, Ben, everybody has their own lane, and you, guys,
he's Jonathan Stewart, Oregon legend, Carolina Panthers legend, Jay stut
Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Brother all man. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I've been listening to people sound the alarm about the
demise of college football since the confetti dropped on Michigan's
National championship win over Washington. You had Jim Harbaugh leave
the Wolverine toward the NFL, Nick Saban retired, Jeff Hafley
left Boston College to become an NFL coordinator, and Chip
Kelly left UCLA after trying to become a coordinator anywhere
(26:34):
that anybody would take him, only to end up at
Ohio State in the vacant spot left by Bill O'Brien
who took over at Boston College. And people point to
these things as evidence that the once great college football
empire has started the crumble. But it only took two
days for Alabama to replace Nick Saban with Washington's Kaylin
de Boor. It only took two days for Washington to
(26:55):
replace Kayln de Boor with Arizona's Jeff Fish. And it
took a couple of days for Arizona to replace Jed
Fish with San Jose State's Brent Brentnan. The Boston College
job was filled after one week, Ucla was filled by
Deshaun Foster in less time than that. People are lining
up out the door to have a crack at being
a college football head coach. And that's not what a
(27:16):
dead or dying sport looks like. That's because college football
isn't dead, it's just changing. Is it a drastic change, Yeah,
for sure. And there's nothing wrong with the coaches staring
down these changes and saying, ah, that's not for me,
because in fact, it's refreshing. But I want to take
a second to be intellectually honest about whether or not
(27:38):
that that's actually what's taking place. Because Jim Harball didn't
leave Michigan because he hated the transfer portal nil or
player empowerment. He was actually doing the opposite. He was
complaining constantly that college football wasn't changing fast enough and
he wanted profit sharing. Nick Saban was the second oldest
coach in the country behind Mac Brown. He would have
(27:59):
been seven twenty three heading into the SEC's annual November cupcakes.
And he's not eternal. How many seventy three year olds
do you know that are able to put in fifteen
hours a day for eleven months a year working around
young people. And if you think that man lets societal
changes dictate his decisions, explain how he won nine of
his eleven SEC titles in the age of social media
(28:22):
without ever being on social media. And don't get me
started on Chip Kelly. He's a good dude and I
like him and a good football coach. But it would
be one thing if Chip Kelly had mastered college football
prior to the transfer portal and nil. But he's always
done his own thing. But just because it got harder
to operate outside the system doesn't mean that in chips case,
(28:44):
the system was the problem because Chip was out here
ignoring recruiting rankings, neglecting the Southern California talent pool, and
hiring coordinators without the energy and appetite for selling UCLA's program.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
The energy was what they were missing.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
It was an innovator in college football, and because of that,
he was always trying to ice skate uphill. And if
it got too hard for him to keep his balance
and be a contrarian, that's not a college football problem,
that's a Chip problem. And now the Jeff Hafley thing
is alarming because logic tells you that if you're young, energetic,
and have a high paying head coaching job somewhere, that
(29:22):
you're starting to gain some traction at taking a step
back to become a coordinator. Sounds a logical, right, but
the quality of life in the NFL is better than
it is in college and Halfley's camp said that for him,
college football was becoming less and less about coaching players
and he wants to get back to that, and that's understandable.
(29:43):
But one case doesn't make a trend. And even if
it is the start of a trend of head coaches
stepping down because they don't feel equipped to handle all
the responsibilities of the new landscape, that's not a bad thing.
We need their knowledge, but as fans, we don't want unqualified,
unmotivated dudes hanging on.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
For a check.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I've never been a college football coach, but I have
a lot of friends in the profession and respect the
hell out of the grind that it takes to not
only thrive as a developer, recruiter and schemer, but also
be open to all the changes taking place in the game.
But I don't want to hear any of them complain now,
not even one of them, when I've never heard any
(30:23):
of them complain about the freedom of movement that has
always been afforded to the coaches, or the market value
that helps them have access to salaries that most Americans
will never see in their professions, and to the fans
threatening to abandon the game that they once loved. Do
you not see the irony that the changes that are
frustrating you and supposedly ruining college football are that the
(30:45):
players have a fraction of the ability to act like
their coaches. Now, maybe the problem isn't the players having
expanded rights. Maybe the problem is that the NCAA spent
ways too long fighting against expanded rights, and if they
missed an opportunity to make football players employees of the
university who are beholden to contracts and have protections that
(31:07):
would allow coaches to get back to focusing on development
and protect players from coaches being able to push them
into the portal instead of, you know, doing their jobs.
And I'm not going to negate people's feelings or push
them away from college football, although if you do pull
a Jeff Hafley and you move on, you need to
know the game will be fine without you. And what
(31:29):
I'm trying to do here is point out that the
sport you love is going through puberty. It's a little
awkward right now. Covered in acne is moody, dramatic, wearing
clothes once before they outgrow them. But this is all
a natural metamorphosis, and because of the NC doublea's artificial
hormone suppression, I'd be even say that this is a
case of late blooming. But college football will come out
(31:51):
of this much much stronger because the game is strong,
and as long as the NC DOUBLEA gets out of
the way, players will be able to share and the
profits their efforts generate. The television networks, apparel companies, and
bowl sponsors eventually will take the burden off of fans
for player compensation, as well as provide the Title nine
funds that ensure thriving existence of women's sports. The universities
(32:16):
will then hire general managers in charge of talent acquisition
and contract negotiations, and the coaches that aren't comfortable and
insecure about what their players earn will have stuck around
long enough to get back to what they wanted to
do in the first place, which is coach football. But
maybe maybe I'm just an optimist. Maybe the pessimists right
(32:36):
and the NCAA deciding to force amateurism down our throats
while the coaches, administrators, TV network executives and corporate partners
built generational wealth, then treated the players like cattle, and
then bragged about trading office equipment for labor as a
character building exercise.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
What's college football at its best?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Or maybe just maybe some changeing girls are a good thing?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Let that sink in.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
We need to talk about the forty nine Ers head
coach Kyle Shanahan at this point, the slander needs to stop.
Kaz all I've seen since the Kansas City Chiefs scored
the game winning touchdown in Super Bowl fifty eight.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Was Shanahan blew it again?
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yes, he was the offensive coordinator who built the twenty
eight to three third quarter lead on the Patriots in
twenty seventeen. He didn't make Jake Matthews hold and take
the Falcons out of field goal range to end the
third quarter. He didn't make Devonte Freeman miss a block
that got Matt Ryan sacked. He didn't make Matt Ryan
fumble on that sack. He didn't make Jake Matthews hold
(33:40):
a second time with under four minutes left to take
the Falcons out of field goal range again.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
You know what else Kyle Shanahan didn't do.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
He didn't give up the game time drive or two
point conversion or overtime touchdown that secured the biggest comeback
win in.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Super Bowl history.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
And of course you have the twenty twenty Super Bowl
where Sam Francisco led to Kansas City Chiefs twenty to
ten with under ten minutes left in the game. And
then something clearly happened to Jimmy Garoppolo, who was seventeen
of twenty before he spent the second half of the
fourth quarter missing receivers and holding the ball too long.
And maybe that is Kyle Shanahan's fault, but maybe Kyle
(34:17):
Shanahan deserves credit for getting Jimmy Garoppolo there in the
first place. And maybe he's just got to hit if
Manuel Sanders wide open and you got a touchdown. Let
me repeat that in a way that people are going
to look back on in twenty years as proof of
Kyle Shanahan's genius. Kyle Shanahan won four playoff games with
Jimmy Garoppolo, averaging one hundred and twenty eight passing yards
(34:40):
per game and a one to three touchdown and interception ratio.
That's like being ahead in the last lap of the
Daytona five hundred despite three flat tires.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
And sand in the gas tank. But we want to
blame the driver though.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
And this year the forty nine ers had a lead
in both regulation and overtime with less than ten seconds
to go on the clock, and I get that win
and losing is a zero sum game. And to some
Kyle Shanahan's record of losing leads in the Super Bowl
is alarming, But do you know how many people with
a lifetime of coaching the experience never get the opportunity
to actually blow a lead in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
You got to get a lead to blow a lead.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Kyle Shanahan is forty four and he's built San Francisco
into a consistent NFC powerhouse. You know who else had
teams consistently knocking on the door in his mid forties,
Andy Reid.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
That man got knocked.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Out in the NFC Championship three times before he finally
made it to the Super Bowl where he got an
early lead on Tom Brady, and then Tom Brady did
what Tom Brady does. Kyle Shanahan is out here having
to replace coordinators every year because of his success. He
has a seventh rounder at quarterback and he still had
a lead on Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes in overtime
(35:51):
in the Super Bowl, and some of you take that
whole close only counts and horseshoes and hand grenade's thing
way too seriously, take a lesson from Andy Reid. If
somebody can get you to the table over and over again,
it's only a matter of time before you get to feast.
So count Kyle Shanahan out all you want to make
fun of him for blowing leads in the game. Unless
(36:12):
you're a Patriots or a Chiefs fan, your team had
nothing to do with. But you and I both know
you would drop your favorite team's entire staff just to
bring Kyle Shanahan in because you know that if Kyle
Shanahan is at the wheel, you're going to see the
finish line, even if the car breaks down right before
it crosses.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
You.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Guys, that's the Unafraid shoe.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Make sure that you like subscribe, tell a friend about it,
get notifications, because sharing means we can continue to bring
great dope content to you.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Catch you next week.
A lot of people will tell you that college football
is broken because coaches are trying to lead, but it's not.
I got the answer for you today, and we have
Panthers and Oregon legend Jonathan Stewart in the building today.
And of course my five takeaways from being at the
super Bowl. Of course we got to take a lux
break and that's up next here on Unafraid Show. Make
(00:22):
sure you like subscribe, tell a friend about the show,
and of course get notifications. Let's go. After being in
(01:10):
Las Vegas for Super Bowl fifty eight, I have five takeaways.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
That think are important.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Number one and my main takeaway from super Bowl fifty
eight is that the game should always be played in
Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm one of them people when people.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Say whether it's football, baseball, basketball, hockey f one and say, oh,
it should always be in this same place. I normally
don't subscribe to this, but in this case a little
bit different. And I get that people like to see
the game move around. And now that Las Vegas has
an NFL team, that's never gonna go overwhel But Sin
City was built to host events like this. The super
(01:43):
Bowl is a week long event, and Las Vegas is
sustained by conventions as much as it is gambling tourists.
Vegas knows exactly how to host, feed, shelter, and transport
a few hundred thousand visitors in a weekend. And that's
all without a year of preparation, just to have the
infrastructure in place to bring the big game into town.
(02:04):
And what other American city can guarantee that the weather
won't be a factor for the people in and around
the stadium. You know what the Super Bowls were like
in Minnesota, Dallas, and New York in February and on
to number two. Super Bowl fifty eight taught me that
Brock Party is the definition of not too high, not
too low, and Party is who he is, regardless of
(02:27):
the situation, whether it's playing in front of zero fans
in the Fiesta Bowl during COVID or in the two
hundred million viewers at the world's largest football party in
Las Vegas. He's the type of grounded human that athletess
been an entire career on a sports psychologist couch to
try and scratch the surface of And maybe that's his
it factor because so much of this game is mental
(02:50):
and Brock Party shows that type of measured humility. He's
got perspective emploise that professional golfers would kill for.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
But he's an NFL quarterback.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And you'll have to excuse me for being surprised that
somebody with Drew Brees's arm strength at thirty eight to
forty one years old is able to go out there
and play with the confidence that Drew Brees did at
age thirty.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
The world is.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Out here trying to fit brock Party into a box.
But brock Party knows who he is. It's us trying
to figure it out. And just like Ken and Barbie,
that seems to be enough. And number three Super Bowl
fifty eight gave us Travis Kelce's sideline temper tantrum at
the expensive head coach Andy Reid, and the things that
people are saying about that interaction are all over the place.
(03:32):
Let's be extremely abundantly crystal clear about this. Travis Kelcey
did not assault Andy Reid.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Was it a good look? Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But Travis Kelcey yelling at Andy Reid is only a
big deal if Andy.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Reid thinks it's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And remember when Antonio Brown ran off the field shirtless
after feuding with Bruce arians if Bruce arians chalks that
up to a passionate moment where Brown was just blowing
off steam, that moment probably doesn't mark the end of
Brown's playing career. And if Andy Reid can get over
being yelled at by Travis Kelsey, there's no reason we
should be offended on his behalf. Because Reid understands that
(04:12):
the game is emotional and at some point we have
to stop trying to apply real world things out into football.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's not normal life.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You can't apply the same rule standards or practices.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It's football.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
You're dealing with grown men in a locker room or
on a field who are using violence to solve their
problems and to get wins, and you expect emotions not
to be high. No, you have to just accept it
for what it is. And yes, there are times where
things get out of hand, and those things should be
dealt with appropriate league, But this wasn't it because Andy
(04:48):
Reid understands that the game is emotional and he's no stranger.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
To Kelsey's tipper.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
He even talked about how far Kelsey has come with
his anger in a pregame interview with Bill Cower plus
from My Friends weren't born yesterday. You remember that Andy
Reid survived the two thousand and five season dealing with
Terrell Owens moves right, He's probably gonna get over this
one too, assuming he hasn't moved on already.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Number four.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
All Super Bowl fifty eight did was reinforce my opinion
about Patrick Mahomes deserving to be the goat conversation. Look,
because you're not ready doesn't mean that it's not time
to have this talk. Because to this point in his career,
Patrick Mahomes has outpaced Tom Brady in every statistical category,
every other than Super Bowl rings, and in that department
(05:33):
they're tied. And it wouldn't have been insane to have
this conversation about Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson after Michael
Jordan's first three p So why is it insane now?
It doesn't diminish Tom Brady and all of his accomplishments
at all, because I'm always going to root for new
feats of greatness, and what we're watching is incredible And
(05:54):
the entire point of somebody new coming along to set
a bar for success is to give those who are
brave and blessed enough a chance to clear it. Because
Patrick Mahomes is the man who is on pace to
do it, and I'm supposed to root against him to
protect Tom Brady fans from having to admit reality.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
No way, because if you were.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Starting at franchise right now and you got to pick
between Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, you would choose Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I want Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
To clear that bar because that's what is inspiring today's
middle schoolers to go out there and try to be
even better than both of them, and somebody's gonna clear it.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Number five. Patrick Mahomes might have gotten.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
His third Super Bowl MVP with his clutch play in
the fourth quarter and in overtime, but I'm having a
hard time understanding why Super Bowl fifty eights MVP award
went to anybody other than mister Chris Jones. Chris Jones
made two of the most important plays of the game,
because if it wasn't for Chris Jones, there would be
nothing for Patrick Mahomes to catch up to. The forty
(06:55):
nine Ers would have run away with it in the
second half Brandon ayuk Is wide opening in the end
zone and overtime when Chris Jones forces Brock Party to
throw the ball away on third and four, and in
regulation he bullied brock Party into throwing the ball to
Juwan Jennings for an.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Eight yard loss.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Plus he had another big play to force and overthrow
the Deebo Samuel, Plus you had all the double teams
and is helping run support. I got a feeling, though,
that any disappointment that Chris Jones feels for not getting
MVP recognition is gonna go all away in free agency, baby,
when he becomes one of the highest paid players in
league history.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But I'm not sure this three feet even has.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
A chance for Kansas City unless the Chiefs are able
to bring Chris Jones back. We got Jonathan Stewart in
the building, Oregon legend, Carolina Panthers legend. Man holds a
lot of records everywhere. Jay stew thanks for coming on the.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Show, for having me. All right, so let's start at
the begin.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
It right, Why did you leave Washington to go to Oregon?
Because I know Washington fans could not be happy about that.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Because I didn't like purple. Naw, there's a story behind it.
A little kid from Lacy, Washington found a gift in football,
and I said gift and football because my parents divorced him.
You know, football was an outlet for me to connect
with other kids and you know, male role models. But
(08:24):
I chose Oregon basically, you know, through prayer. I asked
for a sign, and long story short, I saw a sign.
And if you've been on Interstate five going down to Oregon,
you'll realize that there is a cross on a hill
as you get closer to Eugene on the left side,
if you're coming down from Tacoma on I five. I
(08:47):
had a flashback of oh wow, that that same cross
lights up a night because me and my dad went
to Las Vegas from my football tournament and I remembered
seeing this cross that lit up at night. So yeah, man,
it was. That was the reason why I decided to
go to Oregon, is ask God for a sign and
I saw one.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
How is that shaped kind of you being a father
of a couple of kids and being at being a
husband the way that you grew up.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
You know, it's you know, whenever you find yourself in
generational curses, you know, it's always a challenge that you're
faced with every day to overcome those and and the
challenge is to not not to be that you know
not to be. You know, the father that you know
shows weakness in times of the need for strength and
(09:44):
being able to have better communication skills and understanding that
you know, softness isn't weakness. You know, being being soft
is being vulnerable, and being vulnerable allows you to be
a better human. Being a better human allows you to
you know, be accepted in ways that usually end up
(10:04):
as a gift. I mean the really the true gift
is you know, to be that person for the people
that you love.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
I think that as men we get taught, like you said,
that we're supposed to provide and what the idea of
toughness and masculinity looks like. When I've learned that being
a man is not not showing emotion, but that it's
being able to accept those emotions and then not let
those things stop you and also be able to show
(10:35):
care and compassion and love and discipline in yourself to
those people who you love and care about the most.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, that's spot on, man. Compartmentalizing is one of the
gifts and curse curses of a great athlete. Yep, because
if you can compartmentalize, you're gonna be okay. That means
you know how to focus and you know how to
turn the on and off switch John and be a
serial killer one moment and then be you know, a
child of God the next.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But the transition to colleges sometimes very difficult, right, So
I remember I went in I read shirted my freshman year.
The only person in our class that played was Keenan.
Howary you come in and you're immediately a guy like
what was your four years at Oregon? Well, threes at Oregon?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Like it was a little bit of a blur because
I mean, Terrence Whitehead like this to this day might
be one of the most gifted, like find the whole,
Like I don't know. He was just and just yeah,
just sneaky, like one of the best. He had the
best feat kind of reminded me a little bit of
(11:46):
like how Marshawn would find holes. Right, Marshawn's obviously on
a whole different level of running backs. But like you know,
it was a gift for me to be able to
play behind terror that's Whitehead, because I learned a lot
learned patience. I learned the importance of you know, saving
your body, not taking so many hits. You always used
(12:09):
to tell me, hey, man, get down.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
You don't get no trophies for this. So a lot
of people would be shocked when they would hear that.
They're like, hold on, hold on, hold on. A guy
as good as Jonathan Stewart dealt with doubt at some
point in time in his life and like, and you're like,
he's highly talented. So how did you deal with that
doubt and what helped you overcome that?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Oh? Man, my faith? You know God is you know,
God is. God is not first in your life, man,
Like you are bound to drizzan. So there's a lot
of things that you know, your mind hears, and it's
a lot of things that your mind tells itself. The
first thing that I put him in my brain in
(12:56):
the morning is I can do all things through Christ's
strengthens me. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
It just means that you can. I need to prepare myself. Yeah,
you know what I'm saying. And if you're and if
you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. And
so if you are capable of just being ready and
being in position for when your time does come, everything
(13:18):
else settles. People always ask the question of like, man,
what's the number one thing you ever had to overcome
in your life? And I'll say self doubt. If you're
a person that can say I don't deal with self doubt,
you're lying, yep, because everybody deals with self doubt.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
And if you don't spout that at times like yeah,
where he would when people say, oh, I'm just so confident.
You can be confident, but there's sometimes when you all
alone and.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
You say, I don't know about this.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You got to get yourself back together. But you are
famous for also, in addition to being a football player,
like a hell of a pionist. And we've seen videos
of you playing the piano when you were at Oregon
and all that. Where did that come, that love of
music come from? And how has that impacted your life?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Man? That came straight from my mom. My mom for
Christmas got me a keyboard for my fourth grade for
my fourth grade Christmas. Yeah, third grade Christmas, and lo
and behold, I sat down and I just started playing it.
Bro and my mom are self taught.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yeah, So my mom was like, wait a minute, and
so there's you know, you can press the buttons that
have songs on there. And it was number thirty one
slow rock, and I was playing the piano to this song,
making my own song out of this song that was
like you know, yeah part of the keyboard and yeah, man.
(15:01):
And ever since then, I just kind of always knew
I could, you know, sit down and play by ear.
And so when I got to college that was definitely
one of those outlets in Barnhart. They had a piano downstairs,
and so you know, kids would come in from you know,
being out at night, you know, and I'd be sitting
(15:22):
down there playing a piano basically like a you know,
a person that's you know, in the lobby at at
a hotel or something.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Or or in the airport, just there just playing, like
just trying to make everybody else feel good.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
How big of a part of your life is music? Now?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
It's a huge part. Man. It's crazy. The older we get, right,
we turn into our parents, Like what y'all listening to?
What they talking about? But yeah, but you and so man,
it's really crazy because like I've gravitated towards a lot
(16:04):
of different types of music, country music, R and B,
eat and M and.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Now want to fast forward to the Carolina Panthers years
because you got a chance to play with some really
good players Christian McCaffrey toward the end of your career,
but obviously the biggest name was was Cam Newton. You
played with Greg Olsen, like some really really good players.
What was kind of that Cam Newton experience, like his
rookie year when you guys obviously had a really good
(16:34):
year and he played well and it was like a
phenomenon where you guys became like the most popular team
in the league.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Man, it was a good time. The chemistry that we
had probably the best of any team that you could
ever think of. We weren't necessarily the most talented roster,
but we had one goal and we all knew the
same goal. I would say the word was alignment. When
you have a group of men, coaching staff, players, when
(17:07):
you have people understanding what the goal is and making
all jump on the same ship and go towards that goal.
Just imagine like how that should feel. You know, it
was fun. You know people you know so much laughter
in that locker room that year, But it was just fun.
(17:28):
Was it just came easy? It was It was a
bunch of smart football players realizing that hey, we have
something pretty special here. I actually care about you. That's
really what it is. And that's you know, like and
I'm talking about you know, I can look at the
whole roster and say, oh, I know that guy's family,
(17:50):
I know this, I know his kids, I know where
he's from. I know a joke to play on him.
I know what name to call him to make him mad.
I know what he likes to eat, like, I know
where his cleats are. I know, like you know what
I'm saying, I know what to do to piss them off.
In practice, it was just one of those years where
(18:10):
you just look back and say, man, I'm so glad
to be a part of that.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
It had to be wild in that locker room because
I know Steve, Steve Smith and man boy boy, especially
him at that point in time.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Man, that man I would have nicknamed him Volcano.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Listen, He's Steve Smith is one of the rawest, most
authentic people on this planet, you know, and that's rare.
They don't make people like Steve Smith anymore, and they
probably I guarantee you, there's not another person on this
planet just like Steve Smith. He gives a team a baseline,
you know what I'm saying, Like, Hey, this is the
(18:51):
BS meter, and it's all the way down there.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
At the floor.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
You got guys like that on a team that's like,
look now we ain't with that, but you can do
all this other stuff though. Right yeah, we can joke,
we can laugh, we can play, we can whatever, but
we ain't with the BS. And you know that's how
you really, you know, develop a manhood because all the
(19:17):
BS is just a waste of time for right now
we're in this locker room. I got business see about.
I remember on Saturdays we'll have like donuts, the rookie
offensive lineman, we'll go get you know, donuts. And one
of the things that I always was mindful of was
to hold on tight to whatever I was eating. Yes
(19:39):
you want it will be the last bite too, bro.
And so you know you got that big brother that
just like I'm gonna get you in the locker room.
People ask like do you miss it? It's like you
don't really miss the games, you miss those interactions.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
This is the question that we ask everybody who is
I'm on this show, which is in your life, what
has been your biggest leap of faith?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Man? I would say my biggest leap of faith was
declaring for the draft. And I say that because that's
how I felt, And it goes back to that self doubt.
Everybody else might believe in me or see me in
a certain light, but you know, me having that injury
my last year, my toe injury, ended up playing in
(20:27):
the Bowl game, and I ended up having a good
game on a messed up toe.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Someday, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So you went for twenty three carries in two hundred
and fifty three yards against UCF and was the some
Bowl MVP on on a bad toe.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah, on the toe that I ended up having surgery on.
In March of the year that I got drafted. I
remember Coach Cam saying like, Nah, this is this is
your time. You need to go get about of here.
You did what you're supposed to do. You rush for
you rush for two see notes, man, You're out of here.
(21:02):
And so Coach Cam really gave me some confidence. And
you know who I was as a who I was
as a player, as a man. You know, I looked
at him, you know still to this days, as you know,
one of those fathers that I feel like God placed
in my life. Man for the obvious absence of you know,
(21:24):
my father during that time. I think the biggest leap
of faith that I've actually taken was that because it
was the biggest decision of my life.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
And you guys, he's Jonathan's Steward. You guys can go
check out Charlotte Lately and make sure you guys watch
the whole episode and everything else. But we got to
go for a lunch break in just a second. Yeah,
we'll be back with Jonathan Stewart for Rights or Rock.
We're at sean Artistan Noodle and we are with the
(21:55):
with the famous Las Vegas Field and Vegas Star.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
You guys make sure that you guys follow them on.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and everywhere else. They're giving you the
best places to go, the best recommend days is the food,
the hotels, everything, the whole shooting match and I'm an
excited man.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
We got a great arras up here for starters, We're
gonna we got the spicy wantons. These are Phillip pork
oversus like a similar silky smooth wanton skin, spicy refreshating juice,
sitting really good.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
We got the cucumber salad. We need some venis and
Mark a shan beet noodles. Soupers.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
See what their most famous sc The second most popular
dishes are then don noodles. All their noodles are made
Freshian house, and it's a big reason why I love
this puss.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
All right, let's go.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
These are super pan fride beet pancakes, kind of like
a Michelle m bottle of dumplings.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Got pant ryders.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
They're super juicy. A lot of people who kind of
pick it up and haven't square it out the end.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Man, So we just finished a great meal. It's shun
Artistan noodle and the meal was so good.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
But I will have a piece of advice, do.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Not wear a white shirt.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
It's toast.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
The dumplings were amazing, the fried rice was great, the
hand pulled noodles, but I did learn something about the
eat about the knife shave noodles.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Those were by far my favorite. Yeah. It's not on
the strip.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
So if you're a person I gotta eat on the strip, listen,
get off the strip. There are great places here and
this is one of the places that you need to
come to. So there was too many dishes for me
to go, you know, dish by dish, but overall, I'm
giving this place eight point nine out of ten. That
means anything about eight point five. I'm going out of
(23:44):
my way to come back mazing. Loved it, fantastic, Make
sure you get there. And now we're back with Jonathan
Stewart for reister or wrong? Jonathan? Am I reister or
am I wrong? If Jonathan Stewart weren't a football player,
(24:05):
we would still know who Jonathan Stewart is in the
world of music.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Right ster, Am I reister or am I wrong?
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Your best game in college was at Washington only time
you got a chance to play there. Thirty one carries
two hundred and fifty one yards, two touchdowns, twenty yards
receiving a thirty four yard kick return. Or is it
the bowl game that we talked about against us against
(24:34):
us self in the Sun Bowl?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Twenty three carries two hundred and fifty three yards.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Man, that's actually a tough one because all my life
I was actually thinking to myself the UDUB game was
my favorite, my best game in my my career. But
once you actually put the put that together, it actually
makes me realize that you know that some bowl might
be my best game simply for the fact that I
(24:58):
was hurt and and I knew it was on the line.
I knew that there was an opportunity there for me
to really pave the way.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Am I reister or am I wrong? The order for
NFC South hate is Falcons, Saints and then Buccaneers.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
I'm gonna say you're not wrong because I hit them all.
I hit him all. That's a good order.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Am I reister or am I wrong?
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Steph Curry is actually more famous in Charlotte than Greg Olsen,
Luke Keikley, Steve Smith, or even Cam Newton.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Yes, reister, you're right.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
He'd even play there, which is wild. Am I reister
or am I wrong? Jonathan Stewart is a better piano
player than Joey Herrington.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Uh. Joey is like classically trained, isn't he? Yes? Yeah,
I'm not better than Joey Harrington, but I can say
that I can probably create a better beat than he can.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Okay, hey, Ben, everybody has their own lane, and you, guys,
he's Jonathan Stewart, Oregon legend, Carolina Panthers legend, Jay stut
Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Brother all man. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I've been listening to people sound the alarm about the
demise of college football since the confetti dropped on Michigan's
National championship win over Washington. You had Jim Harbaugh leave
the Wolverine toward the NFL, Nick Saban retired, Jeff Hafley
left Boston College to become an NFL coordinator, and Chip
Kelly left UCLA after trying to become a coordinator anywhere
(26:34):
that anybody would take him, only to end up at
Ohio State in the vacant spot left by Bill O'Brien
who took over at Boston College. And people point to
these things as evidence that the once great college football
empire has started the crumble. But it only took two
days for Alabama to replace Nick Saban with Washington's Kaylin
de Boor. It only took two days for Washington to
(26:55):
replace Kayln de Boor with Arizona's Jeff Fish. And it
took a couple of days for Arizona to replace Jed
Fish with San Jose State's Brent Brentnan. The Boston College
job was filled after one week, Ucla was filled by
Deshaun Foster in less time than that. People are lining
up out the door to have a crack at being
a college football head coach. And that's not what a
(27:16):
dead or dying sport looks like. That's because college football
isn't dead, it's just changing. Is it a drastic change, Yeah,
for sure. And there's nothing wrong with the coaches staring
down these changes and saying, ah, that's not for me,
because in fact, it's refreshing. But I want to take
a second to be intellectually honest about whether or not
(27:38):
that that's actually what's taking place. Because Jim Harball didn't
leave Michigan because he hated the transfer portal nil or
player empowerment. He was actually doing the opposite. He was
complaining constantly that college football wasn't changing fast enough and
he wanted profit sharing. Nick Saban was the second oldest
coach in the country behind Mac Brown. He would have
(27:59):
been seven twenty three heading into the SEC's annual November cupcakes.
And he's not eternal. How many seventy three year olds
do you know that are able to put in fifteen
hours a day for eleven months a year working around
young people. And if you think that man lets societal
changes dictate his decisions, explain how he won nine of
his eleven SEC titles in the age of social media
(28:22):
without ever being on social media. And don't get me
started on Chip Kelly. He's a good dude and I
like him and a good football coach. But it would
be one thing if Chip Kelly had mastered college football
prior to the transfer portal and nil. But he's always
done his own thing. But just because it got harder
to operate outside the system doesn't mean that in chips case,
(28:44):
the system was the problem because Chip was out here
ignoring recruiting rankings, neglecting the Southern California talent pool, and
hiring coordinators without the energy and appetite for selling UCLA's program.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
The energy was what they were missing.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
It was an innovator in college football, and because of that,
he was always trying to ice skate uphill. And if
it got too hard for him to keep his balance
and be a contrarian, that's not a college football problem,
that's a Chip problem. And now the Jeff Hafley thing
is alarming because logic tells you that if you're young, energetic,
and have a high paying head coaching job somewhere, that
(29:22):
you're starting to gain some traction at taking a step
back to become a coordinator. Sounds a logical, right, but
the quality of life in the NFL is better than
it is in college and Halfley's camp said that for him,
college football was becoming less and less about coaching players
and he wants to get back to that, and that's understandable.
(29:43):
But one case doesn't make a trend. And even if
it is the start of a trend of head coaches
stepping down because they don't feel equipped to handle all
the responsibilities of the new landscape, that's not a bad thing.
We need their knowledge, but as fans, we don't want unqualified,
unmotivated dudes hanging on.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
For a check.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I've never been a college football coach, but I have
a lot of friends in the profession and respect the
hell out of the grind that it takes to not
only thrive as a developer, recruiter and schemer, but also
be open to all the changes taking place in the game.
But I don't want to hear any of them complain now,
not even one of them, when I've never heard any
(30:23):
of them complain about the freedom of movement that has
always been afforded to the coaches, or the market value
that helps them have access to salaries that most Americans
will never see in their professions, and to the fans
threatening to abandon the game that they once loved. Do
you not see the irony that the changes that are
frustrating you and supposedly ruining college football are that the
(30:45):
players have a fraction of the ability to act like
their coaches. Now, maybe the problem isn't the players having
expanded rights. Maybe the problem is that the NCAA spent
ways too long fighting against expanded rights, and if they
missed an opportunity to make football players employees of the
university who are beholden to contracts and have protections that
(31:07):
would allow coaches to get back to focusing on development
and protect players from coaches being able to push them
into the portal instead of, you know, doing their jobs.
And I'm not going to negate people's feelings or push
them away from college football, although if you do pull
a Jeff Hafley and you move on, you need to
know the game will be fine without you. And what
(31:29):
I'm trying to do here is point out that the
sport you love is going through puberty. It's a little
awkward right now. Covered in acne is moody, dramatic, wearing
clothes once before they outgrow them. But this is all
a natural metamorphosis, and because of the NC doublea's artificial
hormone suppression, I'd be even say that this is a
case of late blooming. But college football will come out
(31:51):
of this much much stronger because the game is strong,
and as long as the NC DOUBLEA gets out of
the way, players will be able to share and the
profits their efforts generate. The television networks, apparel companies, and
bowl sponsors eventually will take the burden off of fans
for player compensation, as well as provide the Title nine
funds that ensure thriving existence of women's sports. The universities
(32:16):
will then hire general managers in charge of talent acquisition
and contract negotiations, and the coaches that aren't comfortable and
insecure about what their players earn will have stuck around
long enough to get back to what they wanted to
do in the first place, which is coach football. But
maybe maybe I'm just an optimist. Maybe the pessimists right
(32:36):
and the NCAA deciding to force amateurism down our throats
while the coaches, administrators, TV network executives and corporate partners
built generational wealth, then treated the players like cattle, and
then bragged about trading office equipment for labor as a
character building exercise.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
What's college football at its best?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Or maybe just maybe some changeing girls are a good thing?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Let that sink in.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
We need to talk about the forty nine Ers head
coach Kyle Shanahan at this point, the slander needs to stop.
Kaz all I've seen since the Kansas City Chiefs scored
the game winning touchdown in Super Bowl fifty eight.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Was Shanahan blew it again?
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yes, he was the offensive coordinator who built the twenty
eight to three third quarter lead on the Patriots in
twenty seventeen. He didn't make Jake Matthews hold and take
the Falcons out of field goal range to end the
third quarter. He didn't make Devonte Freeman miss a block
that got Matt Ryan sacked. He didn't make Matt Ryan
fumble on that sack. He didn't make Jake Matthews hold
(33:40):
a second time with under four minutes left to take
the Falcons out of field goal range again.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
You know what else Kyle Shanahan didn't do.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
He didn't give up the game time drive or two
point conversion or overtime touchdown that secured the biggest comeback
win in.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Super Bowl history.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
And of course you have the twenty twenty Super Bowl
where Sam Francisco led to Kansas City Chiefs twenty to
ten with under ten minutes left in the game. And
then something clearly happened to Jimmy Garoppolo, who was seventeen
of twenty before he spent the second half of the
fourth quarter missing receivers and holding the ball too long.
And maybe that is Kyle Shanahan's fault, but maybe Kyle
(34:17):
Shanahan deserves credit for getting Jimmy Garoppolo there in the
first place. And maybe he's just got to hit if
Manuel Sanders wide open and you got a touchdown. Let
me repeat that in a way that people are going
to look back on in twenty years as proof of
Kyle Shanahan's genius. Kyle Shanahan won four playoff games with
Jimmy Garoppolo, averaging one hundred and twenty eight passing yards
(34:40):
per game and a one to three touchdown and interception ratio.
That's like being ahead in the last lap of the
Daytona five hundred despite three flat tires.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
And sand in the gas tank. But we want to
blame the driver though.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
And this year the forty nine ers had a lead
in both regulation and overtime with less than ten seconds
to go on the clock, and I get that win
and losing is a zero sum game. And to some
Kyle Shanahan's record of losing leads in the Super Bowl
is alarming, But do you know how many people with
a lifetime of coaching the experience never get the opportunity
to actually blow a lead in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
You got to get a lead to blow a lead.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Kyle Shanahan is forty four and he's built San Francisco
into a consistent NFC powerhouse. You know who else had
teams consistently knocking on the door in his mid forties,
Andy Reid.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
That man got knocked.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Out in the NFC Championship three times before he finally
made it to the Super Bowl where he got an
early lead on Tom Brady, and then Tom Brady did
what Tom Brady does. Kyle Shanahan is out here having
to replace coordinators every year because of his success. He
has a seventh rounder at quarterback and he still had
a lead on Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes in overtime
(35:51):
in the Super Bowl, and some of you take that
whole close only counts and horseshoes and hand grenade's thing
way too seriously, take a lesson from Andy Reid. If
somebody can get you to the table over and over again,
it's only a matter of time before you get to feast.
So count Kyle Shanahan out all you want to make
fun of him for blowing leads in the game. Unless
(36:12):
you're a Patriots or a Chiefs fan, your team had
nothing to do with. But you and I both know
you would drop your favorite team's entire staff just to
bring Kyle Shanahan in because you know that if Kyle
Shanahan is at the wheel, you're going to see the
finish line, even if the car breaks down right before
it crosses.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
You.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Guys, that's the Unafraid shoe.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Make sure that you like subscribe, tell a friend about it,
get notifications, because sharing means we can continue to bring
great dope content to you.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Catch you next week.
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