May 18, 2024 • 9 mins
Kordell Stewarts sits down with Rob King to talk about his football career and more
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Cordea. I want to ask you how a guy in
New Orleans, Southern Louisiana winds up in Colorado. What was
that like? I'm sure it was a shock, climate wise,
culture wise, everything wise.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, when you play good football, they come find you.
Right at that time, Colorado just won a national championship
against Notre Dame in nineteen ninety and I.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Became one of their recruits.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Little did I know they would come recruit me because
they ended up getting avanced Joseph the year prior, who
lived in the same area. So to have two quarterbacks
back to back come from the same area, and then
his high school be my art rival Arts Speciomshaw against
John Arrett. I'm like, they recruiting me, So I just
wanted to go on a visit to take a peak.
When getting there, I was like, whoa, this is pretty good.
(00:56):
It's not that bad.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Just won a national championship. I was one of the
top recruits.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I got to the end, well Bill McCartney and he
opened up the window behind him and there were the
flat irons and you know, the peaks of the of
the mountains with the snow caps and all that fun stuff,
And I'm like, can I have some time to think
about it. He said, I'll give you forty eight hours.
So I get on the plane, fall asleep and I
(01:21):
literally dreamed about mountains. Woke up, got the bags claimed out,
one hundred go buffs, and I committed right there on
the spot before I even spoke to my dad.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
He didn't take the visit.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So in all due respect, you know, to him and
his wishes and wanted to collaborate a little bit.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I was like, Nah, that's where I want to go.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
He had a great career, record setting career. How many
teams wanted you, that were talking to you prior to
the draft, how many teams wanted you as a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So Jacksonville I ended up taking a visit before the draft.
They ended up getting Mark Brunell in the supplemental draft.
And I know Minnesota was right there because between myself
and U was the quarterback. Chad was a chat may
at Kansas State. We were in the topic of the conversation,
but we just blowed him out at Kansas State, so
(02:11):
I know he wasn't going before me. Couldn't have happened,
of course, you know, egotistic this weekend, I was like,
of course, not so, of course they take Mark Brune
other night before jackson they Jacksonville does Minnesota goes by?
I guess I think they got something else. And then
they ended up getting Corey Fuller two picks ahead of
me in the second round. And then I got to
Pittsburgh and got the phone call, end up having a
(02:31):
chance to come here, and the rest was history.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
What did you think of this slash rule? I mean,
you played receiver your rookie year, you got the Super Bowl? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Did you enjoy it?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Was?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
It was? It was.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
It was the best time of my life because I
threw it, I ran and I kicked it. You know,
I caught it.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
You know, it was it was.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
It was the time where there was nothing really to
think about. Even my first year in ninety seven, there
was really nothing to think about because I knew the system.
The problem was we end up losing change with the music,
the anti thick pen so the carousel of people leaving
and coming began and so. But the slash role was
(03:10):
was second to none. It was the first. And being
able to do it at quarterback, running back wide receiver
and punting the ball too at the same time, and
then committing to playing quarterback.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I wasn't heard of during that time when you're running
the ball receiver was there? Did you want to be
the quarterback that most?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Definitely?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah. So what ended up happening to that in that
situation was Nil o'donnald got hurt, Charles Johnson Lake Charles Johnson.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
He was heard a few other receivers were hurt.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And I'm sitting on the sideline just watching, but min
you In practice on scout team, I'm sometimes doing on
the L one or R one, which is a guy
on the very far outside on either side. I'm going
down helping out or whatever and playing quarterback. You know,
I'm warming up with Neil catching the ball. So I'm
(04:01):
beating d Darren Perry in practice, I'm beating Cornell la
Come beating Rod Woodson, I'm beating Willie Williams. You know,
I'm being pretty much everybody that I'm going up against,
Chris Oldham, all the guys, and Greg Lloyd, whoever lined
up in front of me. And so it gets to
a point where Neil o'doonwald asked me, said would you
play wide receiver? And I was like, man, that's man.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
I don't care. I'm wanna don't wanna sit them sideline
with no khaki shorts on, holding the clipboard all day.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I'm like about to get fat sitting over here watching
this mess. And so you know, one thing led to another.
Chain Gale and Ron Eirhart and coach Carr, I guess
came up with this one play against Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It's like thirty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
They have a three receivers Citi side, Yancy and Neil
o'd Downald's lined up on the outside. So the very
first play was a quarterback draw. At this time, they
didn't have a spy at this time. It was just
straight cover two. Who's gonna cover Neil O'Donnell was a
question of who's gonna cover fourteen? It's gonna cover Neil.
And I'm sitting there laughing, I'm like, I like it.
So I get the snap.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I rushed.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I I like a twenty yard game on third down,
just caught in this shot up the middle of field
full speed. Next week, that's when the famous Myron Cope,
late Myron Myron Cope comes out and gets Cleveland. I'm
high slashy, slashing dashes, and he catches the ball. He
throws it in him high that corndown sort Street and
then also Slash is born off of that one playoff
(05:21):
throwing to Ernie Mills in the back of the end
zone and that kind of catapulted us and winning that
game because it was kind of slow and lethargic a
little bit of that game, and I ended up going
to Super.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Bowl with an addition of Slash helping out just.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
A little bit and getting a touchdown in the AFC Championship.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And getting the touchdown and tip me toe touchdown in
the back of the end zone.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You know, you know that was That was a great year.
That was a fun year.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
What was it like to quarterback the team to AFC
championship games?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
It was awesome, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
The the unfortunate thing I will say about my time
starting from ninety seven to the latter part of it,
in six years, I had four different coordinators, so the
continuity was it was a little tough, right. You know,
you can Kevin Gilbrad with a running shoot system with
its your own Bears Betts with a power runner and
you know, Plexico Burs and Hines Ward you know, we're
(06:08):
not We're not a runner. Were more of in between
the tackles type of a team with a little play
action pass and none of the stuff they came up
with later with quarterbacks that were mobile, but a traditional
style quarterback. When you look at the game today, see
how guys are doing it today, that was a lot
of good work put in way back.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
When do you look at today's quarterbacks and think, maybe
I just came along twenty years too soon. You're a pioneer,
and would you enjoy playing in today's you knows.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You know, the stubbornness, The stubborn side of me says
they weren't ready for me. I was ready for the game,
That's the stubborn side. But being that I was kind
of like that minority, if you will, figuratively speaking in
the sense of not too many were doing it that way. Yeah,
I was a little ahead of my time. We had
two good coaches that were able to make it work.
(06:58):
It wasn't like we were, you know, doing quarterback draws
and sprinting out all day.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
We were just playing ball and.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
They understood how to work with my skill set that
was unconventional at that time in comparison to the damn
Marinos and you know, the Jim Kellys to then the
Peyton Mannings and.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
You know, so on and so forth.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So it just Boomer siacins, you know, cause if you
look at it, the AFC was a copycat conference.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So was the NFC. So if you looked at the NFC,
there were more runners in the NFC.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Steve Young playing against the Cowboys and his run and
getting his championship, to the Donovan mcmaths, to the Michael Vicks,
to the Randam Cunninghams. You look at the AFC, you
think of all the passing records, even going back to
Warren Moon, even a right that.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Was the side that was throwing the ball.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So when we did do it within our conference, it
was kind of unfair to the guys who were playing
against an AFC because they didn't know how to defend it,
because that's not where.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
It mattered most.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It mattered in the coverage, pass coverage and the stunts
up front, you know, to try to you know, confused quarterback,
bring a linebacker dropping in out, you know, things like that,
And then they started catching on and before you know it,
the mobile carter quarterback became extremely relevant. But when looking
at the game today, it's a joy to watch it
because now you have Taysom Hill down in New Orleans
(08:22):
that's playing the slash role sort of, right. Look at
the look at twenty twenty three. The first four picks
in the twenty twenty three draft. Number one was young
number two, I think, which was strout right, and then
you look at four, it was Richardson. What does that
look like?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
So so you know everybody, And then if you look
at the game itself, instutality of thirty three teams, I
think that maybe fourteen mobile quarterbacks, maybe more even if
you want to go to Josh Allen even but you
need that because guys on a D line are running
four fours at the forty now four fives.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So catch up the listeners, the viewers. What is Cordell
Stewart doing today?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Being a daddy man?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I mean, I've got a twenty year old son, dude,
like bruh seriously, and then coaching, you know, do a
little coaching with high schools, and play a lot of golf, man,
and just take my time, that's all, and just enjoying life.
You know, work very hard, joining the fruits of my labor,
so to speaking, and so you know, just staying busy,
(09:24):
staying out the way minding my business.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
That's it, Cordell, thank you always, yes, sir, thank you
Cordea. I want to ask you how a guy in
New Orleans, Southern Louisiana winds up in Colorado. What was
that like? I'm sure it was a shock, climate wise,
culture wise, everything wise.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, when you play good football, they come find you.
Right at that time, Colorado just won a national championship
against Notre Dame in nineteen ninety and I.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Became one of their recruits.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Little did I know they would come recruit me because
they ended up getting avanced Joseph the year prior, who
lived in the same area. So to have two quarterbacks
back to back come from the same area, and then
his high school be my art rival Arts Speciomshaw against
John Arrett. I'm like, they recruiting me, So I just
wanted to go on a visit to take a peak.
When getting there, I was like, whoa, this is pretty good.
(00:56):
It's not that bad.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Just won a national championship. I was one of the
top recruits.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I got to the end, well Bill McCartney and he
opened up the window behind him and there were the
flat irons and you know, the peaks of the of
the mountains with the snow caps and all that fun stuff,
And I'm like, can I have some time to think
about it. He said, I'll give you forty eight hours.
So I get on the plane, fall asleep and I
(01:21):
literally dreamed about mountains. Woke up, got the bags claimed out,
one hundred go buffs, and I committed right there on
the spot before I even spoke to my dad.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
He didn't take the visit.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So in all due respect, you know, to him and
his wishes and wanted to collaborate a little bit.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I was like, Nah, that's where I want to go.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
He had a great career, record setting career. How many
teams wanted you, that were talking to you prior to
the draft, how many teams wanted you as a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So Jacksonville I ended up taking a visit before the draft.
They ended up getting Mark Brunell in the supplemental draft.
And I know Minnesota was right there because between myself
and U was the quarterback. Chad was a chat may
at Kansas State. We were in the topic of the conversation,
but we just blowed him out at Kansas State, so
(02:11):
I know he wasn't going before me. Couldn't have happened,
of course, you know, egotistic this weekend, I was like,
of course, not so, of course they take Mark Brune
other night before jackson they Jacksonville does Minnesota goes by?
I guess I think they got something else. And then
they ended up getting Corey Fuller two picks ahead of
me in the second round. And then I got to
Pittsburgh and got the phone call, end up having a
(02:31):
chance to come here, and the rest was history.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
What did you think of this slash rule? I mean,
you played receiver your rookie year, you got the Super Bowl? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Did you enjoy it?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Was?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
It was? It was.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
It was the best time of my life because I
threw it, I ran and I kicked it. You know,
I caught it.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
You know, it was it was.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
It was the time where there was nothing really to
think about. Even my first year in ninety seven, there
was really nothing to think about because I knew the system.
The problem was we end up losing change with the music,
the anti thick pen so the carousel of people leaving
and coming began and so. But the slash role was
(03:10):
was second to none. It was the first. And being
able to do it at quarterback, running back wide receiver
and punting the ball too at the same time, and
then committing to playing quarterback.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I wasn't heard of during that time when you're running
the ball receiver was there? Did you want to be
the quarterback that most?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Definitely?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah. So what ended up happening to that in that
situation was Nil o'donnald got hurt, Charles Johnson Lake Charles Johnson.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
He was heard a few other receivers were hurt.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And I'm sitting on the sideline just watching, but min
you In practice on scout team, I'm sometimes doing on
the L one or R one, which is a guy
on the very far outside on either side. I'm going
down helping out or whatever and playing quarterback. You know,
I'm warming up with Neil catching the ball. So I'm
(04:01):
beating d Darren Perry in practice, I'm beating Cornell la
Come beating Rod Woodson, I'm beating Willie Williams. You know,
I'm being pretty much everybody that I'm going up against,
Chris Oldham, all the guys, and Greg Lloyd, whoever lined
up in front of me. And so it gets to
a point where Neil o'doonwald asked me, said would you
play wide receiver? And I was like, man, that's man.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
I don't care. I'm wanna don't wanna sit them sideline
with no khaki shorts on, holding the clipboard all day.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I'm like about to get fat sitting over here watching
this mess. And so you know, one thing led to another.
Chain Gale and Ron Eirhart and coach Carr, I guess
came up with this one play against Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It's like thirty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
They have a three receivers Citi side, Yancy and Neil
o'd Downald's lined up on the outside. So the very
first play was a quarterback draw. At this time, they
didn't have a spy at this time. It was just
straight cover two. Who's gonna cover Neil O'Donnell was a
question of who's gonna cover fourteen? It's gonna cover Neil.
And I'm sitting there laughing, I'm like, I like it.
So I get the snap.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I rushed.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I I like a twenty yard game on third down,
just caught in this shot up the middle of field
full speed. Next week, that's when the famous Myron Cope,
late Myron Myron Cope comes out and gets Cleveland. I'm
high slashy, slashing dashes, and he catches the ball. He
throws it in him high that corndown sort Street and
then also Slash is born off of that one playoff
(05:21):
throwing to Ernie Mills in the back of the end
zone and that kind of catapulted us and winning that
game because it was kind of slow and lethargic a
little bit of that game, and I ended up going
to Super.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Bowl with an addition of Slash helping out just.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
A little bit and getting a touchdown in the AFC Championship.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And getting the touchdown and tip me toe touchdown in
the back of the end zone.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You know, you know that was That was a great year.
That was a fun year.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
What was it like to quarterback the team to AFC
championship games?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
It was awesome, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
The the unfortunate thing I will say about my time
starting from ninety seven to the latter part of it,
in six years, I had four different coordinators, so the
continuity was it was a little tough, right. You know,
you can Kevin Gilbrad with a running shoot system with
its your own Bears Betts with a power runner and
you know, Plexico Burs and Hines Ward you know, we're
(06:08):
not We're not a runner. Were more of in between
the tackles type of a team with a little play
action pass and none of the stuff they came up
with later with quarterbacks that were mobile, but a traditional
style quarterback. When you look at the game today, see
how guys are doing it today, that was a lot
of good work put in way back.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
When do you look at today's quarterbacks and think, maybe
I just came along twenty years too soon. You're a pioneer,
and would you enjoy playing in today's you knows.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You know, the stubbornness, The stubborn side of me says
they weren't ready for me. I was ready for the game,
That's the stubborn side. But being that I was kind
of like that minority, if you will, figuratively speaking in
the sense of not too many were doing it that way. Yeah,
I was a little ahead of my time. We had
two good coaches that were able to make it work.
(06:58):
It wasn't like we were, you know, doing quarterback draws
and sprinting out all day.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
We were just playing ball and.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
They understood how to work with my skill set that
was unconventional at that time in comparison to the damn
Marinos and you know, the Jim Kellys to then the
Peyton Mannings and.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
You know, so on and so forth.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So it just Boomer siacins, you know, cause if you
look at it, the AFC was a copycat conference.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So was the NFC. So if you looked at the NFC,
there were more runners in the NFC.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Steve Young playing against the Cowboys and his run and
getting his championship, to the Donovan mcmaths, to the Michael Vicks,
to the Randam Cunninghams. You look at the AFC, you
think of all the passing records, even going back to
Warren Moon, even a right that.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Was the side that was throwing the ball.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So when we did do it within our conference, it
was kind of unfair to the guys who were playing
against an AFC because they didn't know how to defend it,
because that's not where.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
It mattered most.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It mattered in the coverage, pass coverage and the stunts
up front, you know, to try to you know, confused quarterback,
bring a linebacker dropping in out, you know, things like that,
And then they started catching on and before you know it,
the mobile carter quarterback became extremely relevant. But when looking
at the game today, it's a joy to watch it
because now you have Taysom Hill down in New Orleans
(08:22):
that's playing the slash role sort of, right. Look at
the look at twenty twenty three. The first four picks
in the twenty twenty three draft. Number one was young
number two, I think, which was strout right, and then
you look at four, it was Richardson. What does that
look like?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
So so you know everybody, And then if you look
at the game itself, instutality of thirty three teams, I
think that maybe fourteen mobile quarterbacks, maybe more even if
you want to go to Josh Allen even but you
need that because guys on a D line are running
four fours at the forty now four fives.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So catch up the listeners, the viewers. What is Cordell
Stewart doing today?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Being a daddy man?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I mean, I've got a twenty year old son, dude,
like bruh seriously, and then coaching, you know, do a
little coaching with high schools, and play a lot of golf, man,
and just take my time, that's all, and just enjoying life.
You know, work very hard, joining the fruits of my labor,
so to speaking, and so you know, just staying busy,
(09:24):
staying out the way minding my business.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
That's it, Cordell, thank you always, yes, sir, thank you
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