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Navy QB Blake Horvath · The Heisman Hopefuls Podcast

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the official I think podcast in the winner is here's your host, Chris Houston.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome back to yet another episode of the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_04: We appreciate you for joining us today.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_04: I'm really excited about this week's show because I have a special connection to both of the guests.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_04: As a veteran of the United States Navy, it was really fun to have a chance to talk to Navy quarterback Blake Horvath.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_04: He's going to kick things off for us to start the show.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_04: But coming up after that, a long, in-depth interview with 2002 Heisman Trophy winner out of USC, Carson Palmer.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_04: And this is a unique situation for me as a podcast host and interviewer because I ran Carson Palmer's Heisman Trophy campaign back when I worked at USC in the early 2000s.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_04: Being involved in the granular marketing details of that campaign and studying the Heisman electorate really served to stoke my interest in the Heisman Trophy.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_04: And a little later, I started the blog HeismanPundit.com, which was one of the first college football blogs, and of course that got me started on my career in media covering the Heisman Trophy.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_04: So we've got Carson to blame for all that.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_04: And I think if you're a USC fan in particular, you're going to really enjoy the level of detail that we get into when talking about late 90s, early 2000s USC football.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_04: Let's go right away to our first guest, Navy quarterback Blake Horvath, a junior, 6'2, 195 pounds.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_04: He's out of Hilliard, Ohio, and right now he has led the midshipman to a 5-0 record, their best start since 2017.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_04: And Horvath has pretty much been unstoppable to this point, averaging 267 yards of total offense per game with 17 touchdowns rushing and passing.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: He has a passer rating of 211.63, and he's averaging almost nine yards per carry.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_04: Truly one of the great surprises of the college football season so far.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_04: We caught up with Blake early Monday morning, and uh here's how it went.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is Karsten Palmer, 2002 Heisman Trophy winner, and you are listening to the official Heisman Podcast.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_04: Blake Horvath, welcome to the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks for having me, Chris.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_04: Navy is off to its best best start since 2017 at 5-0, and you guys are fresh off a 34-7 victory over Air Force on the road.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_04: Your first win over the Falcons in Colorado Springs since 2012.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: Congrats on that big win.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_04: With a couple days now to process things, tell me about your mindset and your team's mindset as you head into your bye week.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think I think we're really geared up for Air Force and just excited for the opportunity to go out to Colorado Springs and get our first victory since 2012.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, our our seniors on our team hadn't hadn't beat them yet.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: So I think it was just a big you know mindset thing and you know, preparing for them and going into it knowing that you know you throw the records out out the window with any Academy games because you know the best team may not always win, the team with the best record.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think we went in there, just really had a gritty win, and you know, now we're we're feeling the effects of the game, obviously.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, I think we're excited for the bye week to sort of recuperate and get ready for Charlotte.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: That was your first game against a Service Academy team.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_04: Was that extra special for you?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_04: Were you really pumped up for that one?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I I was super excited.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um it was just, you know, not trying to make the moment too big.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just like any other game, and just being thankful to even be out there.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, I'm blessed to, you know, even have the opportunity to be playing college football.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: And so you know I try and think about that before every game and not try and get too anxious or worked up about the whole thing.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_04: Navy was picked to finish 11th out of 14 teams in the preseason AAC media poll, and you're now 3-0 in conference with a victory over the preseason league favorite Memphis.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_04: Are you surprised by this great start?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_04: And when did you have an inkling that this team could be special?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't think I'm surprised at all.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think we knew what we had, and and I think it it really started in Springball.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, when we, you know, when Coach Cronick came in and installed his offense, and you know, we have a pretty good defense that you know gives us some tough looks, especially in practice.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: And so when we were executing our plays against them and you know hitting big plays, I thought, you know, I was like, man, you know, this this feels different than it has in the past.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I I don't blame, you know, we don't have any uh I guess animosity towards the people that ranked us 11th, you know.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we hadn't done anything to prove that we were better than that the past few seasons.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, we came in knowing what we can do and trying to prove them wrong.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but you know, preseason-wise, you know, they were going off what we've done in the past, which you know just wasn't enough uh to meet our standards.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I think we're really excited to be proving those guys wrong.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and your production as a first year starter is pretty remarkable.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_04: You did start a game against North Texas last year, hurt your thumb, and you were out for the rest of the year.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_04: So not a lot of people predicted this level of performance so far.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, is this something that you expected, or are you just kind of pleasantly surprised at how everything's going?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh a little bit of both, honestly.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: Just, you know, I I think this is just expected.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm not doing anything outside of myself, you know, trying to be a superhero in any way.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just, you know, playing football, having fun, and you know, our team, our offensive line, our receivers, running backs, everybody's blocking their butts off and just making plays.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: And so it makes my job easy as a quarterback to do things when, you know, I can throw a screen pass and our offensive lineman can pancake some guy, and then we take it 70 yards for a touchdown.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I think uh, you know, with everything that's happened in the past with my injuries and stuff, you know, I know a lot of people were uncertain uh about me coming into the year, but you know, I feel like I was always confident in what I could do.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_04: You grew up just outside Columbus, Ohio, in a town called Hilliard.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_04: Can you share how you first got involved in football and what inspired you to pursue the quarterback position specifically?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I I've played football, I think, since I was four years old, uh flag football, starting that young, and I I've just loved ever since, loved watching it, you know, spending time with my family.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: My my entire family sort of comes together for football season, you know, with Columbus being a huge college football town with Ohio State.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I would be on Ohio State's campus every weekend for the games with my parents tailgating and that.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think uh, you know, really it started then, and then when I got into like pee-wee football, like tackle football, one of my coaches just said, Hey, you're gonna play quarterback.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: And honestly, ever since then, that's just what I've played.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, thanks to uh my coach uh Jerome Ross for for putting me there at quarterback back when I was, you know, six, seven years old.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because I, you know, who knows what I'd be doing now if he didn't do that.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_04: So you've been a quarterback ever since you were six or seven.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, basically.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you played in an option offense in high school, and as a result, you were overlooked by a lot of schools, which is unfortunate because I feel like the recruiting services don't really look at where guys might fit.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_04: They just look at, you know, uh they kind of kind of fit things according to their criteria.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_04: What was your recruiting process like and how did it lead you to Navy?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was it was definitely frustrating from the standpoint of COVID.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that sort of you know slowed everything down with with the extra years it gave people and the transfer portal sort of opening up more schools to you know going and finding a guy that's already in college rather than you know taking their chance on a on a high school recruit.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: So most of you know my division one action was you know preferred walk-ons to to max schools and you know, maybe if a coach moved, I know one of the coaches that had offered me from like Ball State moved to Duke, so I had preferred walk-on there, but it was mostly just division two schools within Columbus and uh around Columbus, who some of them weren't even looking at me for quarterback, just uh due to the nature of you know playing option football and and just you know your athleticism being on display, but not really your quarterback skills.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: So when Navy came along, honestly, the end of my uh my senior season, um I was still looking around and Coach Volker, our defensive coordinator now, came and visited me and you know it it was a hit from there.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I love the academy and you know I knew it would be a great fit for me.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_04: And so for those out there unfamiliar with academy life, what's life like as a plebe?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, as a plebe, it's it's definitely tough.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you it's just a different way of uh going about things and you know being you know, not treated, but it's your first time sort of being in a backseat role.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, all these people that come to the academy are are you know successful people from high school and and they're not used to just being the follower.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know, everyone wants to be the leader.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, you have to sort of take a step back and and realize your place uh at the academy and you know realize that everyone before you is has gone through all the stuff that you're going through, whether it was plebe summer, uh, that's sort of like it's not the best way to describe it to people is boot camp, but it's not really boot camp, it's just you know, physically uh straining and mentally straining.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's a great experience when you look back on it, but when you're in it, it's tough.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's like when you're going through it, you're like, why am I doing this?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_04: And then and then you you appreciate it later on, right?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_04: Every summer, uh, the midshipmen, you guys do a summer cruise.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: What have those experiences been like for you?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it was awesome this past summer.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: I actually went to Rota, Spain, and Gaeta, Italy, uh, on uh on the Mount Whitney out there, and so it was awesome getting to just spend time with the people on the ship and getting to know what their lives are like, and then obviously getting to spend some time in the cities that we were in in Europe.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: And so that was awesome.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I got to go out there with I think nine other midshipmen, and you know, it doesn't matter if you knew them before the cruise or whatever, like everyone at the academy I think is so close and connected that you know you can make friends with anybody.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: So uh it it's really awesome the opportunities that you can have outside of football here and all the cool things you get to do.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the Mount Whitney is a command ship, correct?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, sir.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_04: Uh what was it like interacting with with enlisted, enlisted folks?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_04: I know um back when I was in the Navy, uh, when the summer cruises happened, uh you guys are sort of in a in-between area, between, you know, you don't really have any authority, but but you're also kind of learning, kind of shadowing the officers.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, what was your experience like with the enlisted types?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think with with our crews, we spend a lot of time with the enlisted just to to understand what their roles are and what they do on a day-to-day basis, because sometimes, you know, as an officer, you you may not even understand what they're doing.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think it was huge for us and it really opened my eyes to all the work that they do and and what goes into you know running a cohesive unit on a ship, you know, from the enlisted standpoint.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so I I thought it was great getting to know them and just talking to them and and seeing sort of what makes them you know tick and function.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think it really opens us up to you know the idea of going onto a ship and just how to interact with you know those people when you get into an opportunity to lead them uh once you're in the fleet.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_04: Did you get assigned to a certain division or or uh um uh on the ship?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: Like I did, yeah.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: I was I was with the ITs uh on the ship.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: And what was that experience like?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: It was fun.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I got to I got to learn how to you know crimp some wires and and you know reroute some things, and so it was pretty cool.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_04: You're majoring in operations research.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_04: Tell me about that major and what have you learned from it?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's been great.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um I came in not really knowing what I wanted to major in, and the academy does a great job of sort of opening you up to all the opportunities and all the different majors, and so I sort of fell in love with operations research.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it I'm a math guy, so it's a lot of math, a lot of programming.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I sort of wanted to challenge myself with the programming aspect, something I I wasn't really used to.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, it's been really, really great, honestly.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: So far, I've met a lot of really great people within the major, whether they're instructors or other students.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: And so I'm honestly having a great time with it right now.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_04: What are your plans after graduating the academy?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: Are you gonna go surface, sub, air?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm still uncertain.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: I think uh my top choice would be would be pilot, but we're still figuring that out.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: What excites you about the possibility of being a pilot?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think just the culture that they have and and uh you know the excitement.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, people would say Top Gun, that's a great movie, but uh I think the culture uh of the pilots is really great and just the ability to sort of build a cohesive uh team, whether, you know, I don't think anyone has egos uh too big uh within the team.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I know sometimes it can seem like that, like on those movies, Top Gun and such, but from the people I've met, you know, I think they work really well and didn't have too big of egos.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_04: I read your nickname as Balake.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_04: How'd you get that one?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: Balakh, yeah.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, Balakh, sorry about the pronunciation.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh it's weird to spell it, but it from the there was a key and peel sketch a long, long time ago where you know the teacher was uh mispronouncing some names, and so that video went pretty viral.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: I remember.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so Blake was in that one, and so Coach Jasper, our quarterback coach, he he calls me Balakh every day, basically.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone calls me that.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: I don't really have a nickname, but if it was one, that's what people call me.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_04: So pronounce that again for me?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: Balakke.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_04: Balakh, got it.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_04: For for those listening, that's B-A-L-A-K-A-Y.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_04: Balakke.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, not every football player has a has a nickname quite like that.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_04: A one a one-word nick one word nickname.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um I read somewhere that you said that you once had a small toy stuck up your nose for seven years and never told anybody.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_04: Is that true?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_04: I want to know all about that story.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, it's true.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's a hundred percent true.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: I um when I was seven, I believe, I was messing around and accidentally got, you know, this little toy, it was about the size of an eraser, uh, you know, on a pencil, stuck up my nose.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, maybe in the moment it freaked out, but then didn't tell my parents.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: So seven years had gone by, didn't really ever think about it.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, thought it was gone at that point, you know, maybe it passed through, you know, somehow came out.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh, you know, I was messing around with my older sister and she punched me in the face, funny enough.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh the next day I was messing around and then I, you know, felt something, you know, like I had to, you know, cough and get something out of my nose.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: And so then I did, and then I felt something like a rock in my mouth, and then I had to spit it out, and then I looked at it, and it was uh it was the toy from seven years ago.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: So my my mom was sort of upset with me that I didn't tell her.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_04: But where where was it lodged?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: Was it like behind your nasal cavity or what it was basically right in like the the nasal canal, right in the middle, just stuck right there.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: So um they were worried that I they think you know it was blocking my airways a little bit, so maybe wasn't getting enough oxygen from age seven to age fourteen, but must have been quite now.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_04: Must have felt great once he had it out.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: It felt like uh seven years of like smells like entering my nose at once.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they say that you know, if you you you you'd swallow gum, it stays in your system for seven years.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_04: I I didn't know this about uh about a uh a toy, eraser.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um Navy is no stranger to the Heisman Trophy with the late Joe Bolino winning in 1960, Roger Staubak winning in 1963, Stauback, of course, was the last Service Academy winner.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_04: What's it like to be part of such a storied tradition, not only with Navy, but with all the service academies?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think it's being even in the the same sentence as Joe Bellino or Roger Staubak, it would be amazing.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think just the tradition of the academies and and what they sort of stand for and how long they've you know been around and all the you know they represent more than than just a school, they represent, you know, the the armed forces and and the military in general and and sort of just America, I think.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so to go out each weekend you're really playing for for everyone, you know, that's gone before you in the Navy, at the Naval Academy, uh really in any service, and you're and you're playing for them each week.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: And so um to be a part of a brotherhood and tradition like that, it's one of a kind.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_04: When you decided to come to Navy, did you go back and look at the history and just to see what you were a part of?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I'm a big football stack guy.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: So um once I finally committed, you know, I was real big into you know watching all this stuff and going back and you know, obviously looking, I knew a lot about Roger Stauback already and and Malcolm Perry and Keenan Reynolds and and all those guys who are all-time greats here.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think just you know, I sort of became obsessed with just like looking up all the stats and and figuring out everything.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it was sort of fun to figure out all the, you know, maybe some people who I didn't even pay attention to, some great quarterbacks like you know, Will Worth or Zach Abe and those guys, and you know, just seeing what they did uh at their times here.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Keenan Reynolds, of course, is is the last Navy quarterback to to really factor in the Heisen race.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_04: He finished fifth his senior year.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, so that's kind of a that's actually a pretty recent tradition um that you can that you can kind of work off of.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, he he's amazing.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, all time, I think touchdown score, if I'm right, 88 touchdowns.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: So amazing.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_04: You know your stats.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_04: Your next game is at home versus Charlotte.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_04: One of just two remaining home games the rest of the season.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_04: Seven of your 12 games overall this season are either at a neutral site or on the road.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_04: How much of a challenge is that for you and your team not to be at home that much?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think it's definitely a challenge because, you know, it was weird.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: We we had three home games to start the year.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: And then, like you said, seven out of the remaining nine are not gonna be at our home stadium.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it was great to get our first three at home, you know, feel comfortable there.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: But now it's you know, a lot of moving around and trying to get comfortable in new places and just trying to figure things out on the move is gonna be difficult.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we're used to our routine of playing at home and everything we can do here and being being comfortable.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think, you know, we're we're gonna push our limits a little bit and and get you know comfortable being uncomfortable moving around each week.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_04: Clay Corvath, Navy quarterback.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_04: Enjoy your bye week and good luck against Charlotte and the rest of the year.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Chris.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_04: Have a goodman is handed out every December, but the history of the trophy lives year-round at Heisman.com.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_04: Home to the most iconic trophy in sports, Heisman.com tells the stories of all 88 of our winners and features news, bios, and statistics on all your favorite Heisman heroes.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_04: Heisman.com also highlights our Heisman humanitarians, the many charities supported by the Heisman Trust, and so much more.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_04: Make Heisman.com your first stop for all things Heisman.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_04: Our next guest won the Heisman in 2002 for USC.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_04: He was USC's fifth Heisman Trophy winner, the first quarterback from USC to win the Heisman.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_04: He is perhaps the player most responsible for igniting one of the great runs in college football history under Pete Carroll.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_04: As a senior, he threw for 3,639 yards with 32 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and he led USC to its first 11 win season since 1979, as well as its first top five finish since then.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_04: Truly one of the noblest Trojans of all time.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_04: We caught up with him last week as he was driving up uh the Golden State Freeway in his car, and we're glad to have him on.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_04: Carson Palmer, 2002 Heisman Trophy winner out of USC.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome to the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me on, Chris.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_04: Where are you uh where are you living these days?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh living in Orange County, California.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_04: The old stomping grounds, huh?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the old stomping grounds.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Kids are in school, and got my oldest two are starting high school, and then I've got a uh a seventh grader and a third grader, so I got my hands full.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, it seems amazing that that you would have uh someone starting high school at this point.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, we all get old, don't we?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_04: Doesn't seem possible.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_04: So what year did you retire from from the NFL?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: My last year, I believe, was 2017.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I believe 2018.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_04: And what's been your focus since?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_04: What have you been working on?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in 2019, uh I started a small real estate development group with one other partner.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we've really focused on the Pacific Northwest.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: A couple properties entitled, a couple projects going right now.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so I spent a lot of time uh dealing with that, and then also coaching my freshman son's high school, helping out with the high school football team and my third graders flag football team.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: So my my days are busy, my days are full.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_04: I hear you.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_04: Do you miss the sport?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_04: Are you are you um is it are you getting involved in football mainly with your kids, mainly because of your kids, or because you you just really want to get back to football?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I love the game and and always have.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't love all that comes with with the NFL and politics and all that.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um and just being back in high school and helping out with the freshman team.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's just so pure and fun.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the energy these kids and the excitement to play, and uh just the opportunity to play the uh Trinity League, which is known as one of the best leagues in all of high school football, and just the competition and the desire for these kids to get better and to be coached and uh to try to win and build game plans and just all all the fun things that come with the purity of the sport.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, not not the not the media, not the you know, pay for play, NI.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: all that stuff it's just it's really the last frontier that's that's left to be pure is high school football now that the college is involved salary caps and denial and all of that so it's been a lot of fun and and really enjoying it.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_04: That's awesome.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_04: Let's let's go back to when when you were a kid in that pure environment uh what what really got you into football in the first place?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_04: What what what what drew you in?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know I I watched it on TV quite a bit and you know my dad would always have Monday night football on and remember Sunday night football and just sitting around as a family and and eating dinner you know in front of the TV in the family room and um I just was drawn to it.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know what it was um it helped but I could naturally just flick a football and throw it pretty well um but I I was fortunate enough to be around some great coaches that really helped me and showed me all the kind of ins and outs and helped me improve and I just I think more than anything at a young age I saw myself get better and I saw myself um improving and I think that's so important at these young ages when you're trying to get kids into sports and and when they see that improvement they see that they're working hard at it and it's paying off I I think um those opportunities at a young age can really endear you to a sport and draw you in.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's what happened with myself.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_04: Speaking of back then do you do you remember like the smells of playing football when you're a kid like the the the mouthpiece the the like the mint mouthpieces and the like the the wet grass and and just the smell of the of like the the rubber with the the shoulder pads and all that is oh yeah is that something that you that you remember?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah it's funny you say that too because on on this freshman team there's a couple other uh buddies that either have kids that came through the program or or um have kids in the program and they're they're dads coaching with with this these freshman kids and you know we're we were telling stories we have all these water breaks and these mandatory time in between drills for kids to rest and days off and they're checking the temperature and if it's too hot we have to practice later and you know all all these protection systems around these kids and and me and some of these other dads that are coaching remember the day we got one water break.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: We had a three-hour practice and we got one water break and it was just a hose that we turned on over by the old shed and the water was warm and it tasted like plastic and um you know now we've got Gatorade bottles everywhere and you know like I said multiple mandatory water breaks.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't smell like it used to Chris you know you don't have double days anymore so your pads aren't wet and stinky from the morning sweaty practice.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: These kids have multiple pairs of cleats and different shoulder pads and different uniform combinations.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: So you know it's just the game has changed it doesn't feel like I've been I've been gone from the high school game for that long but just to see the the strides the high school football game has made since you know my last year in 1998 so almost 25 a little over 25 years ago the game has progressed the game has changed but it's still a great game.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah absolutely I remember uh you in high school I came up through Santa Margarita and what I remember is after your junior year you were kind of a local a local talent considered so to speak and then some point like maybe midway through your senior year you just kind of blew up is is that what you remember too?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I mean I I my junior after my junior year of high school football I went to the Notre Dame summer camp I went to the University of Colorado summer camp and then came back home and and while I was on both of those those at at both of those camps I got scholarship offers.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think all the other teams heard uh that Notre Dame had offered me and and Colorado had offered me on site and so then all of a sudden the tension started to build and then our senior year we went out and I had a great year and uh we we won won the whole thing and then everybody was involved in the recruiting process for me at that standpoint.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah that was a tremendous year for Southern California football.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: I believe uh you had Deshaun Foster down there at Tuston uh there was um McNair over at uh modern day fullback and you guys had some battles back then yeah we actually played against Deshaun's team in the CIF championship um and I'll never forget that game I think Deshaun had like 300 and something yards rushing he had he was starting on defense and on offense and was cramping like multiple times per quarter because he was their offense I mean he was so hard to get on the ground he was so explosive and then he was also roaming the middle of the field at free safety but we luckily the the Santa Margarita Eagles edged out the Tussin Tillers uh win a championship and and that Tussin team was loaded.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean good friend of mine Frosty Rucker was on that team but multiple guys along with Sean that had gone on to Oregon Oregon State uh other Pac-12 schools so uh it was just a loaded team and a lot of fun back in the day.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_04: And that was just when the whole internet recruiting stuff started to hit and there was all kinds of all kinds of expectations heaped on you like you said you had uh I think Bob Davy at Notre Dame offering you you had uh was it Rick Newheisel over Colorado and of course Paul Hackett at USC maybe John Robinson might have offered you first I'm not sure um what were these coaches like for 17 18 year old kid and kind of fresh faced in the world what what did you how did you regard these older men making their pitch to you well coach Robinson known as J-Robb back in the day was just I mean he was a legend uh growing up in Southern California and and he had multiple Rose Bowl trips and multiple Rose Bowl victories and had a stint with the Rams and then came back to came back to SC so he he was just a legend in my eyes but Newheisel Newheisel man I was Colorado wasn't even on the map.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then you know Coach Newheisel started talking to me and started coming to practices and showing up to games and really recruiting me hard and I got really close to him and I I really didn't want to go to Colorado I just really wanted to play for Coach Newheisel.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: So um I grew up wanting to go to Notre Dame because Notre Dame played on TV all the time.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then Newheisel came in the picture and and um I really was I really wanted to play in his system.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: I really liked what he did.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: I liked the way um he handled the team he had a great energy about him and then you know when it came down to it SC was down the street really I mean SC was like a 40 minute drive I could still come home on the weekends and see my mom and dad my my little brother could come and watch me play and it just logistically made a ton of sense and also um you know having the opportunity to to help turn around the USC program because back then it had you know it'd been struggle.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: SC SC didn't have uh you know a national championship prior two decades and and everybody in the 70s expected championships at SC and and Rose Bowls and you know national championship type appearances and so that that was enticing as well that to stay close to home and and hopefully bring some of those those glory days back to USC.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_04: And so back then the the two days were down in Irvine I believe and uh it was always super hot down there and very uncomfortable.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: What was your reaction to to being handed that that big uh Paul Hackett playbook your your freshman year well I was overwhelmed I mean I I had spent the whole summer working with Hugh Jackson who was the offensive coordinator and just trying to learn protections I mean just protections alone because it was such a it was just a pro-style system it was absolutely a system pulled from you know Paul's days with with Joe Montana running the Kansas City Chiefs offense.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we were we would literally sit around and watch Montana film which was weird seeing him in a Chiefs uniform but we were we were running the exact same system that they were running which was a lot.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it was a lot for a freshman that that was coming in and having to play but it was a lot for our juniors and seniors.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: There were so many different um schemes within that system formation adjustments you know read reads on the fly post snap changes from a post to a comeback or whatever the um the on-the-fly change would be so it it was tough I mean we we struggled on offense you know pretty much every year Paul Hacker was there you know and I I think it was a good you know testing grounds to see if you can run real old school West Coast style offense in college because it really hadn't been done at that point.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not many people had tried it there'd been some experimentation uh but we tried it and unfortunately it it just didn't work out and Paul Hackett was gone and then in came Pete Carroll.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah they say that the system's great it just takes five years to learn which is problematic in college so um exactly so so uh you know that first game Purdue again super hot really hot summer that that summer I think it was 110 degrees in the Coliseum you come in uh Mike Van Raphorst starts out the season yeah you come in I think Purdue scored uh was ahead in the game Drew Brees in his first start uh great trivia question you and Drew Brees uh playing for the first time significant minutes you come in and I think you came in and hit a deep pass how much of that first start how much of it was just you kind of treading water and how much of and just trying to make plays using your natural instincts and athleticism and how much of it was was actually running the plays that's called well I I especially my true freshman year I was just trying to find somebody that was open and given the ball you know I really didn't I didn't have any kind of understand uh understanding of of you know all the challenges that come with facing a college defense and the change from pre-snap to post snap and all the disguising of coverages and blitzes.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: And of course when you're a freshman the obvious answer for a defensive coordinator is just put a lot of pressure on you and bring a lot of blitzes and try to you know try to try to get you scared and get your feet chattery.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so really my my first couple years like you said it it took five years to really master that system and master that offense.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: So those first couple years I was I was literally dropping back trying to make sure I wasn't hot and need to get rid of the ball and then just try to find somebody in the same color jersey that was open.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_04: And that was tough because the fans didn't really understand that right they didn't understand why things were work weren't working um necessarily they think you just go back and throw the ball second season game three I think I can't remember the Oregon safety's name Terrell something uh you were uh toward the end of the first half you were running to your left and uh before you could square up to throw he hit you hard on the on the on the right shoulder and you were out for the season broken collarbone.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: In retrospect was that uh a blessing because it gave you that extra year yeah maybe um you know it's funny because uh you're right it I think it was the third game at Oregon and Rashad Bauman that's it is the guy who hit me who I actually ended up later he was a teammate of mine uh in Cincinnati and and we we joked around about that play quite a bit uh but yeah I mean I I think I think everything happens for a reason.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know you you may not see it at the time um but it gave me two years on under Norm Chow and Pete Carroll and and let you know let Pete build that program for an extra season.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's really when it took off because Pete's first year it was kind of still trying to figure it out and get going and then that second year we took off and then the third fourth fifth sixth years were were obviously amazing years in the Pete Carroll era.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah but yeah I mean I every opportunity you have to play for a guy like Pete Carroll um you just have to relish in it and absorb it and soak it up and I I uh I I feel very fortunate to have played and and learned under Pete for two seasons.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_04: There's a story that I heard I wasn't sure if it was true or not so I'm gonna ask you that the first time that you did a little workout with Norm Chow he said I want to see you drop back and you asked him how how many steps do you want me to drop and he just said just drop back and throw it he didn't really care.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Is that true I don't remember that but you know to you to go from a uh a Paul Hackett system where that west coast system every placement of of your feet literally every cleat that goes in the ground is harped on and coached and coached and coached and then to go from a West Coast system into you know norm system that he was running in in BYU for all those years and um had so much success in the screen game and it's just get the ball to the guy that's open.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he's an ex-offensive lineman so so uh coach Chow really didn't care about all the particulars of the fundamentals and the techniques of the quarterback as long as that ball hit the receiver in the chest that's all he cared about.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_04: Because those dropbacks didn't Coach Hackett say that it it's supposed to hurt your your ankles are supposed to be sore but by the angle or something like that.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: Your feet are supposed to be sore the way blisters Norm Chow Pete Pete Carroll things were kind of you know you can still you could see a little bit of uh things starting to blossom but but not putting it all together uh summer before uh that 2002 season one of your tight ends Scott Huber came into our office and said man there's something something different about this team do you do you guys feel it and I was talking I was with my you know my old boss Tim Tessalone and we you know we'd heard this you know this had happened every this happens every year right player comes in talking up the team and and you hope they're right and and uh this time Scott was really right you know what was so so different about that summer going into that your senior year and how the team united around the the ethos that Pete Carroll Norm Chow the whole staff had had installed there yeah I mean a lot of it was that ethos a lot of it was um just the discipline and and the competition that that coach brought to practice every day to bring the best out of everybody but a big chunk of that was that senior class um I mean that group of guys had been through been recruited by John Robinson then played for Paul Hackett and now they're they're really third coach and so just think that hardens you that toughens you up when you have to go through multiple coaching changes especially in a city like LA where it's everything is just all over the media it's it's intense coverage um and then to have that group of leaders you know the Troy Palomalu's Malayfo McKenzie Lenny Vandermee Norm Katnik Eric Torrey I mean there were so many just influential positive good good players but but really great people and great leaders and guys that held each other accountable um and then there was young guys underneath us like you know Carrie Colbert who then carried on some of the things that we brought in that senior class brought in when he was a junior so I I think the combination of Pete and his discipline and his commitment to competing every day in practice uh combined with a great group of seniors and great leadership um foundation is really what what helped that team take off.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah yeah do you do you remember the first team meeting uh it was in the when Pete came in I think it was December 2000 he'd just been hired he called called a team meeting and he went into the meeting room and I think he played um this ESPN video it was at the time it was the end of you know it was a millennium just happened and they had this ESPN video of all these great sports moments played to Aerosmith's dream on and I was in the room I was watching it with you guys and um I kind of got chills but how how was it for the rest of the team?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_04: Were you guys like what was your reaction to first meeting Pete Carroll what what did you guys think of him and and um if he didn't get on board right away how long did it take to get on board?
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well it's hard because like like I said earlier in LA there's so much media coverage and before we even knew who was gonna be hired or who was about to be hired the papers you know the LA Times let you know and all the negative it was just all negative.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah all the articles all the talk he's another Paul Hack at NFL hire I mean just you know as this 18 19 year old kid you kind of just assume you believe the newspaper and so we we really didn't know what to believe.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then we got through the first couple team meetings and saw how inspirational he was how positive he was you know his love for the game his attention to detail so I think you know as as a new coach comes in and and you're affected by the media and affected by the things you're reading and seeing on TV and then you experience it real life you know all those articles go out the door you know you've got a I I had a newfound respect for him felt like I was getting to know him and understand him.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so you know it it's a tough place to be in because you want to you you you naturally read the papers you naturally see the ESPN ticker you're naturally around um just media's influence and then to see the total opposite in a meeting room and on the practice field um and in offensive and defensive installs it lets all that stuff go out the window and you just focus on what's in front of you and you're right he always had great videos he always had great lines some meetings were long some meetings were short he didn't waste your time if there's something needed to be said he delivered the message and and delivered if nothing needed to be said he didn't fill fill time with a bunch of words.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: So when he spoke and when he talked guys listened learned and absorbed.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah I still think that 2002 season and that team might have been the most special of all those teams of the Carroll era.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: Even though you guys on paper maybe didn't have the players that some of those later teams had Pete Carroll always said that he thought that team just mentally was so tough that they would have beaten any of the other teams he had I think so I mean I I know at the end of the season when Miami was getting ready to play Ohio State I I just I we felt like we could beat both those teams and we were playing in the Orange Bowl against Iowa and we beat them pretty pretty easily.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um I would love to have seen us go go up against that Ohio State team or that Miami team so I think it would have been a much better game.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_04: First game of the season uh was really interesting game battle against Auburn um a lot of new guys starting and uh you had a sneak at the end and had a great game what what are you thinking after that first game you guys are 1-0 things are are are clicking on offense zipping the ball in what was the attitude like after that game I just remember thinking um man those guys are really good I can't believe we just beat them like are we are we really good it's funny too because I then later played with their their star on defense was a guy named Carlos Dansby and I played he I was a teammate of his we played in Arizona together and and we were joking around about that game and he was talking about how good we were and how how tough we were to defend and I just remember being like man we didn't even know we were very good at that point.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: We were coming off a season and and a slow start to to Pete Carroll's tenure there and then we right out the gates beat beat a really talented as far as NFL is concerned there was a bunch of NFL guys on that defense and and that offense.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah and and we beat them and and didn't even know at that point what was ahead of us or just how good we were yeah there were a couple you know low low points early in the season a loss at Kansas State who was really good that year and then a I think double or triple overtime or maybe a single overtime loss up at Washington State with Jason Gesser.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember talking to some of the players and it was just a really low point.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_04: I think uh guys were really down after that Washington State game you were three and two at this point and it seemed to be one of those situations where okay this season could go one of two ways and of course we know we all know which way it went but as the as the quarterback the one you know leader one of the leaders of the team a lot of pressure on you at that point and there was lots of people I think who were you know putting a lot of pressure on you what what was from your perspective how did you guys dig down and and turn things around yeah you know we we went up like you said we went up to Washington State and pulled ahead right at the end and thought we had the game one because I think we went up by we went up by more than a field goal.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember just like the game's over all we have To do is kick off.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think there was like a handful of seconds left on the clock, and they had to go 80 yards.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we're on the sideline, we're celebrating, we're and then boom, they hit a post down the middle for the game winner and go 80 yards, and it was just so deflating.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's one thing to lose a game that you're not sure about, but to lose a game you think you won because there's not there's really not enough time on the clock for them to go down and score, and then they find a way to go down and score and do it and go 80 yards.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: It it is just it's it's just deflating.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: It just sucks all the energy out of the room.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: All the energy out of you you personally.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you know, I I don't remember the specifics after that.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: I just remember how down we were, how how shocked.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we were shocked.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was a weird game, weird weather.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_01: Wa Wazoo's a weird place to play.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: It was a night game.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's rainy and wet, and just it was just an odd environment.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: And to think you've had the game won and you're getting ready to go in the locker room, and then boom, the crowd goes nuts and you lost.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: But Pete got us right back on track.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it we went right back to work.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: There was no woe is me, feel sorry for yourself.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was just a lesson learned.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: And he that's what great coaches do.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: When the team when the team just has the air sucked out of the room, great coaches find ways to bounce back and make sure it's not two losses in a row.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then we never lost again, and we just took off from there.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was amazing.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_04: The next week, uh, you played Cal at the Coliseum.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_04: And that was uh that was a game I recall a Sultanacullah had a really good game.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_04: And then at that from that, like you said, from that point on, from Washington on, and that's when when you just started going off and kicking everybody's butt.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_04: Did you were you just did was it just a matter of you had full command of the offense, you knew exactly what you were doing, what was expected of you, and you were just feeling it like you were just confident?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_04: Because you were just going on a tear, like you're unstoppable.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think that that Washington State game kind of opened my eyes because Washington State, believe it or not, was really good that year.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_01: They had a bunch of really good players.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: They were coached by Mike Price, who ended up leaving and going to Alabama.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: And Jason Gesser was a phenomenal college quarterback.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: And every time we scored, they scored.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'd score and they'd score.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I I remember at at a point in that game, um I just kind of felt like uh I'll get us in the end zone.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'll get us in the end zone.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: And and then we did it to go up at the end, and then I just kind of just kind of felt like um we were rocking and rolling, guys were confident system.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: At that point, Mike Williams was a true freshman, and he made he he made what was supposed to be the game-winning touchdown catch.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that gave him a ton of confidence.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I think he realized I can dominate even as a true freshman because he was dominant in that game.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they had a bunch of really good guys in the back end, too.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I just think that game, even though it was a loss against a good team, it gave us the confidence that we were as good as anybody we were gonna play.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it didn't matter who we played, we we could beat him.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_04: And then a couple weeks later, or a week later, after Washington, uh, you guys were up at Oregon, and this was your this was really the game where on a national level uh you became uh the Heisman candidate that was everyone was looking at, right?
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_04: It was after that game that Pete Carroll came down, came down to my office and said, We we got to start doing something for our guy.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and so uh so we started pushing you uh for the Heisman.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_04: I I imagine at the time that you were like, oh man, great, just more more pressure, more pressure, more media stuff.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_04: What were you thinking at the time when when you found out what we were pushing you for?
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't even realize that was happening.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't I didn't know that meeting happened, I didn't notice um an uptick in and media requests.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't I think I was oblivious to it.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was so focused on Cal and then whoever we were playing next.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you guys did a good job keeping that from me because I didn't know you were really pushing from that point on.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I noticed it as we got, you know, we beat Notre Dame and then you know we were rocking and rolling there at the end, but I didn't realize it was after that Oregon game and didn't notice the uptick and and media appearances for myself.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_04: So you didn't realize going going into Notre Dame that, hey, if I have a big game tonight, then then this could be what's in store for me.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: I knew it at that point, but if you're talking after that Washington State Oregon um span, you know, I uh that was middle of the season, so I was just focused.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was just you know who's next?
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get past them and then who's next.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I knew it because I think Notre Dame was like the second to last game.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_04: Or maybe the it was the last game of the regular season, the last game of the regular season.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I I knew it at that point.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was impossible to not know it at that point.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: But at the midway point, I I think it was really that Notre Dame game that I was like, all right, this is for real.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: This this can happen, let's go handle business.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_04: And it was a very tough uh Heisman field that year.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_04: You had the two Miami guys, Dorsey and McGahee, uh Brad Banks out of Iowa, who you who later played against, uh and the Orange Bowl, and then Larry Johnson at Penn State was running for 2,000 yards.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_04: So you know, pretty strong field.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_04: But before that nerd end game, there was the UCLA game, and and probably the most uh outstanding play, or at least the play that a lot of people remember from that year is the the flip you did at the end zone.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_04: Uh LA Times made a made a thing about it.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_04: What do you remember about that play?
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: I remember coming off on the sideline and Pete Carroll chewing me out to to step out of bounds and not not dive over people and get flipped up in the air.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that that that's what I remember about that.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: I came to the sideline, I was all excited, and Pete just laid into me, stepping, you know, yelling at me to get out of bounds, protect myself.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: He was right, but unfortunately, sometimes those things happen.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I I always thought there was something very unique about your career trajectory, because look, you're you're from a skill set perspective, 6'5, 6'6, you know, incredible arm, you're athletic, you can run.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_04: You have all the measurables of what you eventually were, which was the first overall pick.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_04: But because of the circumstances of your career being thrown into the fire early, um playing under different offensive coordinators and different systems.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_04: Kind of rare for someone in in his fifth year now to be to go number one overall, because usually at that point, uh if they have that physical tools, circum you know, they usually get a chance to show it earlier and and leave after their junior sophomore retrick sophomore year.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_04: You would come on off of rough four years, right?
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_04: And so did you think this was all something that was possible and what could be laid out before you if you if you did everything that you needed to do?
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: I was hoping.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I don't think you ever really think it's possible until you achieve it.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I was hoping and and wanting and working uh towards it.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean to to know that you're gonna be the number one pick and the Heisman Trophy winner.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think anybody really truly believes that.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: You hope it and you want it, and and it's a goal.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um but until you achieve something like that, I don't know that you really think it's attainable.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: May maybe, maybe different, maybe somebody else's situation that's been in that, which is rare, you know, really felt it or really knew it was in front of them.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, I was so young, I I wasn't ready to go pro any year earlier than when I did.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I had so much maturing to do and and so many things to learn.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um like I said uh a bit ago, I just think everything's everything's meant to happen.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: Everything happens for a reason, and and it took me five years to be mentally ready and probably physically ready too.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_04: I remember talking to your dad uh at practice, I think it might have been after Notre Dame, and he he thanked thanked me for for the efforts and he said, You did a great job.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_04: He's not gonna win, but I just want to thank you for for uh for doing all this stuff, you know.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh was that kind of just your attitude going in?
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like you you didn't want to think about winning because you'd rather be surprised and not disappointed?
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: No, I just didn't think I I didn't think I would win.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean that back in the day there if you remember, there was this big East Coast bias.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_01: And the Pac-12 didn't really exist almost in a lot of people's imaginations, yeah.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, from the central part of the of the country over.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_01: And there was such an East Coast bias.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: There were so many years where the the winner had come from the SEC or the Big Ten or the Big 12.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so you know, I again it's kind of like all the negativity I heard about Pete Carroll.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: All you heard about as far as the Heisman was concerned, is that's not a Pac-12 award.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just kind of thought, hey, hopefully I can get to go to New York.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been to New York, that'd be fun to go to New York.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_01: And all the papers were talking about, you know, Larry Johnson had run for 2,000 yards, which at Penn State was a huge deal, and that was a big hyped-up um campaign.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, Willis McGahey had had an unbelievable year on an unbelievable roster, and everybody was talking about Miami.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I didn't start the year, you know, as a Heisman favorite um like Larry Johnson did.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we didn't have you know the dominant victories that Miami was putting out and and the huge, huge stats early on that Miami was just rolling right over people.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean that that's all we heard, and that's all I heard.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of expected that you know the the Pac-12 would get shut out again and until they called my name.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_04: And so you're even so when you're sitting uh at the ceremony with those guys, you still didn't think you were you were gonna win?
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't think I was going to.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when I was sitting there, and I, you know, you're looking around that room and seeing all the paintings, and you you see all the the previous Heisman winners up on the stage, and then you realize just how big of a deal this is.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: Then I I really wanted to win.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_01: But all the way uh, you know, throughout the whole ceremony, all I was hearing about was Larry Johnson 2,000 yards, and Miami was getting ready to play in a national championship, so they had that going for him, too.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I just really didn't think um I really didn't think it was gonna happen.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_04: And so when they finally called your name, what did it feel like and and what was going through your head?
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, just immediate nerves.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um because you know, because I would I had prepared to make a speech, but you know, I I had just come from I was flying in from uh Louisville because I had won the Johnny Unitus Award.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so I was prepping, I knew I had won that, so I had to have a speech ready for that.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then I kind of had another speech, but I I honestly thought it was either Larry or Willis who was gonna win it.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so all of a sudden they call my name.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh man, I gotta give this speech, here we go.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so just the nerves, you know, the I was just overcome with nerves and excitement.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I got up there and was and said, you know, my my heart feels like it's gonna jump out of my chest.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's literally what I felt like my heart was racing.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you look around the room, you see your family, you know, you see your coaches and and your athletic director, and you just realize immediately what it means.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, all my all my roommates, we lived at 1013 West 24th Street, which is uh a house legendary house, legendary house, yeah.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so then I get a video, somebody was videoing um all my my roommates and buddies and teammates that were at our house watching the ceremony, and that was just a big dog pile in the room going nuts.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then somebody showed me that video right after I got off stage, and I just realized immediately, you know, you don't realize how big it is until you win it, and until after you win it.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know it's a big deal, you know there's great history, and you know about you know the Heisman Brotherhood, and there's only one each year, and you know, all these things, but until your name is called and you go through the speech, the acceptance, you hit the media row and you do all that, and then you start seeing videos of of your friends and family and teammates' reactions, then you realize just how big this is.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_04: It's a great proving ground for for a young person going through media trading for sure.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_04: I remember being very proud of you on that speech because you you you you weren't uh, you know, historically, you hadn't been a super eloquent guy uh in interviews.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_04: You'd been pretty pretty uh straightforward about things.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_04: But in that speech, I thought you were pretty elo- eloquent and heartfelt.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_04: And even that phrase, the heart beating out of your chest.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_04: I've I've heard multiple guys in years since uh use that phrase and they and they hadn't used it before you used it.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like you've kind of set a trend there.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's just real, it's raw emotion.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I literally I'll never forget it.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: My my my speech was in my chest pocket, and I'm I remember feeling reaching for my my chest pocket and feeling my heart coming through my chest.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just you know, it's it's just such a surreal moment that you can't be prepared for.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, unless you won it the year before and you're going like Archie Griffin back to back, you know, you just don't know.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, I remember being at Caleb's.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I went to Caleb's and and prior to Caleb winning, everybody knew Caleb was gonna win.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_01: Caleb knew Caleb was gonna win, and then you see his face as soon as they announce his name, and you just cannot prepare yourself for it.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_04: Amazing.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_04: So now many years have gone by.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_04: What's your perspective on the Heisman and and its history and your your role in that, and especially your role in reviving USC, which which which is what I think that the Heisman voters really were rewarding you the most, because you you took a storied program that had been in the dumps and you brought it back.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_04: With all the years now to look back on, what what's just your perspective on all that now?
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean the the Heisman's just such a unique fraternity.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's only one like it.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: And the brotherhood um of, you know, I'm I go to different events and things where I get to see prior Heisman winners, and it's just nothing but love.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_01: When you see somebody that that has been through that and has won that award, and you get to see them somewhere, there's just such a natural connection and and such a natural love.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um and just everybody involved in in the Heisman.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's still the same guys, Tim henning on down.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's all the same guys that that you remember that host you, whether you win or lose, that you know, they take care of you that weekend, they check in on you.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um I get multiple emails and calls and and sometimes just checking in, sometimes with with opportunities or or updates on things.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um but all kinds of different charities that that the Heisman Trust has been involved in and amazing charities, raised tons of money, affected multiple lives in such a positive way.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, uh as far as being involved in the Heisman um and and that being you know something that I am associated with, you know, now to hear it's not, you know, here's you know, first pick in the draft, it's it's here's Heisman Trophy winner, Carson Palmer, or playing golf with a buddy.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you won the Heisman.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that is such a synonymous thing with your name once you win it.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's there forever.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's the old guys, the you know, the Calebs of the world, the Jaden Daniels of the world, the young guys.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: When you when you watch the Washington Commanders play on TV, they bring it up every time he's gonna play on TV, they're gonna talk about the Heisman at one point in that broadcast.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: It will come up.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_01: It just does.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so um it the the respect of the award nationwide um is unlike anything else.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so to be associated with that um is is you know probably my my fondest memory of college and and something I'll look back on uh along with a number of other things that I'll just never forget.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_01: And just the opportunity to go to USC and, like you said, be a part of the resurgence for all the down years and and the tough years that SC fans have had, uh to be a part of a great one and and to have you know been on one of those teams that went to the Orange Bowl and won the Orange Bowl and won the Pac-12.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, just the recognition you get with that and and the work that you put in with your teammates to achieve that uh is something that they can't ever take away from me or or any of my teammates as well.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_04: Very well said.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_04: Carson Palmer, 2002 Heisman Trophy winner out of USC.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks so much for coming on our show, uh, and we wish you the best of luck going forward.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, Chris.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: Great to catch up.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_04: And that'll do it for this week's show.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_04: If you like what you're hearing, please help us out and give us a like, a follow, subscribe, maybe review.
• 1:01:11
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• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_04: Just look us up, and we'll see you next week.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_04: The official Heisman Trophy podcast streams every Wednesday during the college football season and is hosted, co-produced, edited, and engineered by Chris Houston.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_04: Paul Goldberg is the executive producer and editor.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_04: Special shout out to Isaac Lohencron, and big thanks to the Heisman Trophy Trust and its executive director, Rob Whalen, and associate director Tim Henning.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_04: The official Heisman Trophy Podcast can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcast.
• 1:01:46
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• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_04: Just go to at Heisman Trophy.