Latest / The Rand Report: Sports / Walk-Off King, Blindside Blow, Arch Under the Microscope

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Walk-Off King, Blindside Blow, Arch Under the Microscope · The Rand Report: Sports

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  Football is back. And the first real test already
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  separated the guys who compete from the ones
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  still figuring it out. Welcome to the RAND Report.
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  I'm Jim Rand. Three stories that actually matter
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  right now. Not the soft narratives, not the pre
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  -season height machines spinning at full speed.
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  The ones with real stakes. Starting Canton. Hall
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  of Fame game. Panthers vs. Cardinals. Most years
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  this game is forgettable. A collection of backups
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  and bubble players running vanilla schemes under
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  stadium lights that feel bigger than the product.
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  Not this one. Undrafted rookie Haines King takes
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  over in the second quarter and ends it with a
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  5 yard touchdown run as time expires. 13 play
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  drive, 65 yards, third and goal, he keeps it,
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  dives, wins. 21 of 34, 180 yards, two touchdown
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  passes, 39 rushing yards, and the walk -off.
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  This is a kid who went undrafted after being
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  the ACC player of the year at Georgia Tech. Most
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  people wrote him off. Scouts saw the athletic
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  traits, but questioned the polish. Teams decided
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  someone else was safer in the draft. He just
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  made every one of those decisions look slow.
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  Watch the final drive closely. King doesn't panic
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  when the pocket starts to collapse. He converts
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  a critical third and 14 with his legs, getting
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  out of bounds to stop the clock. He keeps the
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  chains moving. When the final play arrives and
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  the receivers are covered, he sees the middle
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  of the field open and takes it himself. That
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  is not luck. That is a competitor who refuses
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  to let the moment get bigger than him. That is
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  the kind of play that forces coaches to keep
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  a player on the roster. On the other side, Carson
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  Beck. Third round pick out of Miami after a strong
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  final college season. Starts the game and looks
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  like he belongs. 15 of 19, 188 yards. A touchdown,
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  clean pocket presence. Throws with conviction,
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  doesn't panic when the rush comes, shows the
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  ability to climb the pocket and deliver accurately.
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  Beck played into the third quarter and left the
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  Cardinals with a real sample of what the future
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  could look like behind Jacobi Berset. Berset
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  is still the weak one guy. That is the responsible
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  call for a team trying to win games right now.
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  But Beck just made the conversation louder. He
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  showed the kind of command and accuracy you want
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  to see from a young quarterback in his first
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  professional action under the lights. Preseason
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  openers get overhyped every year. Talking heads
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  turn one good half into a franchise altering
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  performance before the film even gets reviewed.
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  This one earned some attention without the exaggeration.
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  King showed toughness and production when the
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  lights were brightest. Beck showed polish and
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  decision -making against live competition. That's
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  useful information for both organizations. Everything
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  else is noise until the regular season starts
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  counting and the games actually matter. The real
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  takeaway is simpler than the highlights. Opportunity
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  still exists for players who produce when given
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  the chance. Undrafted does not mean finished.
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  Third round does not mean finished. The tape
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  from Canton will get studied in both buildings.
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  And both of these young quarterbacks just forced
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  people higher up the depth chart to pay attention.
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  Second story hits harder. Washington commanders,
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  Saturday practice, one -on -one pass rush drills.
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  Laramie Tunsel, their high -paid left tackle,
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  goes down with a torn triceps. Surgery expected.
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  Most of the 2026 season likely gone. This is
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  the same Tunsel they traded for last year. The
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  same guy they just gave a two -year extension
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  that made him the first offensive lineman to
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  average 30 million a year. 60 .2 million total.
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  Highest paid at the position. A market -setting
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  deal designed to lock down the blindside for
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  Jaden Daniels and give the young quarterback
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  a reliable wall to work behind. And now that
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  blindside is a problem again. Daniels already
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  missed 10 games last season with various injuries.
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  Knee, hamstring, elbow. The whole point of bringing
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  Tunsel in and paying him like that was to keep
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  the young quarterback upright and available.
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  That plan just took a direct hit in the middle
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  of August. Andrew Wiley or Brandon Coleman will
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  get the first look at left tackle. Neither is
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  Tunsel. You can talk about depth charts and next
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  man up culture all you want. The drop off is
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  real. Tunsel has been one of the more reliable
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  and highly graded left tackles in the league
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  for several years. When that level of protection
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  disappears overnight, the entire offense feels
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  it. The quarterback feels it first. The play
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  calling has to adjust. The margin for error shrinks
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  on every dropback. This is the risk every team
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  takes when it hands out premium money on the
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  offensive line. Durability is part of the contract,
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  whether it is written in the language or not.
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  When it fails, the organization has to absorb
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  of the consequences in real time. Commander's
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  fans can spin this as temporary. They can point
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  to the calendar and hope for a late season return
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  if the recovery goes perfectly. Reality is simpler.
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  Losing one of the best left tackles in football
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  before the season starts is a major blow to any
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  team with playoff hopes. Especially one that
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  already saw its quarterback get banged up repeatedly
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  last year. Accountability cuts both ways. The
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  player has to stay healthy enough to honor the
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  investment. The organization has to plan for
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  the possibility he doesn't. Washington just learned
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  that lesson the hard way in the middle of training
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  camp. The rest of the league is watching. Big
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  money does not buy certainty. It only raises
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  the cost when the certainty disappears and the
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  season is still weeks away from starting. Third
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  story moves to Austin. Texas Fault Camp is open.
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  Arch Manning is the clear starter for the second
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  full season, and the microscope is already locked
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  in. Sarkeesian said he had a good first day.
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  That's the baseline. Manning is coming off a
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  season that started rocky and finished strong.
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  3 ,000 plus yards, 26 touchdowns, 7 interceptions,
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  better late than early. He showed growth through
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  the middle of the year. He showed the ability
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  to tighten decision -making after early struggles
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  and finish the season with momentum. Now the
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  expectations are higher. Heisman talk, playoff
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  talk, SEC title talk, national championship talk
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  in some corners. Every throw will be dissected
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  on social media and highlight shows. Every incomplete
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  will get the still not ready treatment from the
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  same people who overhyped him last year and then
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  pivoted when the early results were imperfect.
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  This is the cycle with high profile quarterbacks
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  at blue blood programs. The scrutiny never turns
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  off. The name brings attention. The program brings
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  pressure. The combination creates a constant
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  evaluation that most players never face at this
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  volume. Manning has shown he can handle it and
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  still improve. That matters more than the first
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  day practice reports. The question this year
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  is whether the supporting cast and the scheme
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  give him enough room to play free instead of
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  playing tight under the weight of outside noise.
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  Texas has the talent around him. They have the
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  coaching. They have unfinished business from
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  last season. All of that lands on the quarterback
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  first when the games begin. Watch how the conversation
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  unfolds over the next few weeks of camp and into
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  September. If Manning starts strong, the narrative
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  will shift quickly to national championship contender.
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  If he has an uneven stretch, the same voices
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  that demanded perfection last year will return
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  with the same doubts and the same volume. The
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  noise is predictable. What is not predictable
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  is how a young quarterback responds to it over
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  a full season when every possession is examined
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  in public. Arch Manning knows the assignment.
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  He knows the spotlight does not move. The rest
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  of us get to watch whether the noise helps him
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  play freer or forces him to play tighter. That
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  is the real test in Austin right now. Not the
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  first day practice reports, not the early camp
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  praise, the ability to perform while everyone
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  is watching and waiting for the next mistake
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  or the next statement drive. Three stories, one
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  clear thread. Competition reveals, contracts
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  don't guarantee health, hype doesn't win games.
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  Haynes King just reminded everyone that undrafted
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  still means opportunity if you produce when the
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  lights come on and the moment is real. Carson
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  Beck showed polish under the brightest early
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  lights and forced the Cardinals to keep evaluating
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  what they have behind the veteran. Laramie Tunsel's
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  injury shows how fast a 30 million a year plan
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  can change and how expensive the consequences
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  become when the protection disappears. And Arch
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  Manning starts another year with the entire college
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  football world watching every step, every throw,
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  every decision under the same intense microscope.
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  That's the real scoreboard right now not the
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  soft takes not the polished narratives that protect
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  the big names and the big contracts the ones
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  that actually force people to compete the ones
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  that show who is ready when the moment arrives
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  and who is still figuring it out football is
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  back the tests have already started and the truth
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  is already showing up on the field and in the
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  training rooms this has been the rand report
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  i'm jim rand less hype more truth until next
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  time keep competing.