Latest / The Heisman Hopefuls Podcast / BYU QB Jake Retzlaff

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BYU QB Jake Retzlaff · The Heisman Hopefuls Podcast

0:03
SPEAKER_06: Welcome to the official Island Podcast.
0:34
SPEAKER_03: And the winner is, here's your host, Chris Houston.
0:38
SPEAKER_03: Hello, hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
0:43
SPEAKER_03: Welcome to BYU fans, welcome to South Carolina fans, welcome to college football fans everywhere.
0:49
SPEAKER_03: We've got another awesome show for you today featuring BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff and also 1980 Heisman Trophy winner out of the University of South Carolina, George Rogers.
1:00
SPEAKER_03: And this was a fun show for me because I got to talk to two players from two schools who were very prominent in my early youth when I was watching college football for the first time, paying really close attention for the first time when I was nine.
1:12
SPEAKER_03: The year was 1980, and over at BYU, quarterback Jim McMahon was setting all kinds of passing records.
1:18
SPEAKER_03: Of course, we couldn't see him play on TV back then because no games were on TV back then.
1:22
SPEAKER_03: But I remember looking at the box scores in the paper the next day and just being amazed at the sheer numbers that he was putting up.
1:29
SPEAKER_03: And then, of course, Rogers, who was a college football legend, was able to hold off the great Hugh Green of Pittsburgh and Herschel Walker of Georgia for the Heisman that year.
1:38
SPEAKER_03: He was just a great running back with a tremendous combination of size and speed.
1:41
SPEAKER_03: So if you remember those days, I think you're going to get a kick out of what he has to say.
1:45
SPEAKER_03: But let's turn our attention back to the BYU Cougars, 8-0 and sitting in the top 10 with the only Jewish starting quarterback in college football.
1:53
SPEAKER_03: So let's talk to the self-styled BY Jew.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: Jake Retzlaff, BYU Cougars.
1:57
SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, man.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me on.
2:01
SPEAKER_03: BYU was 8-0 after a 37-24 victory at UCF a couple Saturdays ago.
2:07
SPEAKER_03: Best start for the Cougars since 2020.
2:09
SPEAKER_03: What's the mood of the team like and what is Coach Sataki telling you guys as you prepare to take on Utah?
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the team, team's feeling good right now, obviously.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, but at the same time, not getting ahead of our not getting ahead of ourselves.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of the message always at this point in the season.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: It's about approaching each game as it is, and uh and just that's kind of it.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: And just keep doing what we're doing.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, what we're doing is is leading to success, and so we just gotta keep that stuff up and keep rolling.
2:37
SPEAKER_03: You might have had your best game of the season against UCF.
2:40
SPEAKER_03: Before that game, you said the offense was on the cusp of greatness.
2:43
SPEAKER_03: Does it feel like the game is slowing down for you a bit as the year goes along?
2:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no doubt, man.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this team has is found their identity, especially offensively.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: We found what we love to do.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh we run the ball successfully and play action pass, a little bit drop back game stuff, and so we're owning that, and uh, and we're doing a great job of just being ourselves.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: And so going into each game, there's obviously slight tweaks to the game plan and little different formational stuff, uh, but it is us, it is our offense, and so we're doing a great job, man.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: The guys are doing a great job week by week.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Their approach is second to none, I believe, and that's what leads to the wins on the field.
3:17
SPEAKER_03: You had a great scramble for the first touchdown against UCF.
3:20
SPEAKER_03: Did you like uh running the ball and getting out there and and uh mixing it up?
3:25
SPEAKER_00: Of course, man.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Running the ball is fun.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: It's one of my favorite parts of the game, whether it's the scramble drill or it's uh QB run game and stuff like that.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: And so uh when I just saw the opening, I took off and then made made a guy miss and just found the end zone.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty fun there.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: And great way to start the game.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
3:40
SPEAKER_00: First drive of the game.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's an incredible, incredible feeling when you go down there and score and put the pressure on the team early.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you had some great cuts there to get in the end zone for sure.
3:50
SPEAKER_03: There's a pretty remarkable stat that says BYU is just the second college football team since 1990 to start 8-0 while being an underdog in four of those games.
3:59
SPEAKER_03: You guys were also picked to finish 13th in the Big 12 preseason poll.
4:03
SPEAKER_03: Does having that underdog status work in your favor as kind of extra motivation to prove Dadders wrong?
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, this whole season, man, it was all about how bad we're gonna do.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'll tell you what, in this building, we we knew what we had, and we and we were confident in this team and and what we are gonna be able to accomplish.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And so uh we're just excited to prove everybody wrong, man.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: A little chip on our shoulder, never hurt anybody.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Um and so we we were that proud and and doing what we're doing, man.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's been a lot of fun.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh definitely looking at all that stuff preseason, like you don't you don't go looking for it, but you definitely see it at times.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: And so it's fun to just kind of look at.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not gonna lie, for me, it was kind of amusing, and I'm like, this is gonna be fun to prove everybody wrong, and and we've done a lot of that so far.
4:45
SPEAKER_03: It seems like the fan base has embraced that underdog status as well.
4:48
SPEAKER_03: There's a nice chunk of BYU fans showing up at the games all the way over in Orlando.
4:52
SPEAKER_03: What's the buzz like around Provo now that you guys are off to this great start?
4:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's awesome, man.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this guy, this place is second to none when it comes to the atmosphere of football games.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: Lavelle Edward Stadium is one of the greatest places to play a football game in the country.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: I believe that uh our fans are second to none.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: The backdrop is is the first, second to none, also.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: And and we travel well, man.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: It is incredible.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Our fan base is global.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, I believe if we traveled internationally, that our our fans would show up and fill the stadium before whoever our opponent was.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: And so uh it's really fun to go to places like Orlando and and see how, I mean, by the third quarter, it was more BYU fans than than UCF fans by the end of the game.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: And so that was a that was a fun time.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh and the fans, man, the fans, we owe them a lot because they've done a lot for us.
5:37
SPEAKER_03: And then it's fun to celebrate uh with the with the fans after a great road win for sure.
5:42
SPEAKER_03: Um back to the start of it all, what kind of sports did you play growing up?
5:45
SPEAKER_03: And how did you end up deciding that you wanted to become a quarterback?
5:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, what's funny is my first position in tackle football ever was like nose tackle or something.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think they just threw me there because I didn't know anywhere else to go, which is crazy because I was probably the skinniest guy in the field.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, growing up I played football, basketball, and baseball, lettered in all three in high school.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the recruitment started to come for football the most.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: And so it was it was fun to just, you know, see that journey happen.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Of course, it didn't happen early, obviously, with junior college having to be the way to go, but I just felt football was the was the calling for me and and uh as it was my older brother, and so it just felt right.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: Did you always have a strong arm?
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, baseball, I owe a lot of that to baseball, man, throwing in all different arm angles and and and throwing across the diamond.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: I was a shortstop, and so I was throwing all over the all over the place and making plays in the five, six hole up the middle and stuff like that.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: And so that's where I learned the arm dexterity and stuff, and and then I started to put it all together.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: And when I translated to quarterback, that's when I feel like my game started to take off and started to become uh started to have that big arm that you're talking about.
6:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, in high school you played for football, powerhouse, corona, centennial.
6:57
SPEAKER_03: Like so many players, your senior year was lost due to the pandemic.
7:00
SPEAKER_03: You didn't really get a chance to show your stuff for the major programs.
7:03
SPEAKER_03: How did that lost year impact your development both mentally and physically?
7:09
SPEAKER_00: Um I wouldn't say it impacted my development too much, other than the game reps.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the game reps are huge and we lost a lot of those.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, but like it was it was development all off-season.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: The entire year was basically an off-season because we were just waiting for that season to come and it and then it didn't end up coming until the spring, and there was only five games, and so it wasn't really a season.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: So uh I think that it was definitely a mental battle, there's no doubt.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think a lot of people had mental battles during COVID, and and it was like, when's our football season gonna be?
7:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because we were super excited going into my senior year, it was gonna be a fun team.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: We thought we had all the pieces, um, and so we were excited for it.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, like you said, it was it was a mental battle, and uh, but getting through that you know helped.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: And uh I wouldn't trade it for anything, man.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: I love the journey I went on from high school.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh Chrono Centennial coach Matt Logan has taught me so much and has allowed me to be the player I am today.
7:59
SPEAKER_03: You started out at Golden West Junior College, had a really nice season before transferring over to Riverside City College.
8:06
SPEAKER_03: It's at Riverside where you really exploded onto the scene, throwing for almost 4,600 yards, 44 touchdowns, rated the number one JC quarterback in the country at that point.
8:15
SPEAKER_03: What schools were vying for your services?
8:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh BYU was always number one.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh they were the kind of the first team.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: They came onto my recruiting scene in uh that summer.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh I came up here on an unofficial visit and realized I really loved it.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: And so BYU was kind of my number one since they showed up.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: But you know, after that, I offered from New Mexico State.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Um offered, or I was talking to a bunch of coaches like Liberty, Coastal Carolina, Louisiana Tech Troy offered.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: I visited there.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, BYU was always the spot.
8:46
SPEAKER_03: And of course, you, a Jewish kid from Southern California, Bar Mitzfood, wearing a star of David, you got an offer from BYU.
8:52
SPEAKER_03: What was the family reaction and what really sealed the deal in your mind to become a cougar?
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh family reaction was was interesting.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: We had to have a conversation, like what is it like?
9:02
SPEAKER_00: What's it gonna be like going to BYU, Brigham Young University?
9:04
SPEAKER_00: And uh we ended up talking about it and realized that coming to a religious university, it was gonna be easy to stay focused and just stay focused on ball and uh and getting a degree.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh, BYU degree holds a lot of weight, especially in the BYU network.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: And so um we knew that that was gonna be an advantage as well as the Big 12 football play.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: And then that leads to what sealed it, man.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: It was it was going to the Big 12.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: It was Coach Aaron Arteric's proven development of quarterbacks.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, with Zach getting drafted number two overall, with Jaron Hall getting drafted the as I was showing up, basically, he got drafted that that spring.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: And so um that's what kind of did it for me, man.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: It was it was it was easy to see that there was something special brewing here.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: Um and so that made it easy to make that decision.
9:49
SPEAKER_03: And how aware were you of the prior BYU quarterback tradition when you were being recruited?
9:53
SPEAKER_03: You know, guys like Ty Deppmer, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, were you able to meet or talk to those guys at some point?
9:59
SPEAKER_00: During my recruitment, I didn't talk to any of those guys, but um it's been fun to get to know them as I've been here, as I've been put in this role and uh been able to just try to do what those guys did above me and didn't did before me.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: Those are the guys that allowed me to do what I'm doing right now, and so it's been cool to meet those guys and talk to some of them and uh and just bounce ideas and conversations off of them.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: They've been fun.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, there's so many, like you said.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, from Detmer, McMahon, probably Bosco, Steve Young, like there's just the list goes on and on about the history of quarterbacks at BYU.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh like that was definitely an indication of like this is gonna be a good school for a quarterback.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to find one much much better.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: And so uh like that plus the recency of the quarterbacks made it easy.
10:44
SPEAKER_03: I saw a quote from you that was really thoughtful that cultures and religions obviously have many differences, but that there are also a ton of similarities between people, and you found that at BYU.
10:54
SPEAKER_03: Can you elaborate a little bit on that?
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Um what's a true fact is 99.9% of our DNA is the same with every human across the planet.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh for some reason we love to focus on that 0.1%.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: Um but when it comes to faith, even more of it is so similar.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: All the lessons, all the the ways we live and through caring for other people and through acts of service and uh through family and stuff like that, man, that is so powerful.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: And uh I think it's more powerful than any hatred in the world, honestly.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: And so being able to be at a place like this where it's all centered around faith, and so therefore it's all centered around so much more positivity.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's about what we can do for the world versus what the world is doing for us.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: And so uh just that message has just made it my life so much more valuable and just allowed me to be able to be of service to other people.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: And uh so it's been super fun just being able to, you know, connect with these guys, and even though our faiths are different, but so much of the faith is the same.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: And that's what that's what I've come to realize being here at BYU.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
11:56
SPEAKER_03: Hey, we can't do this interview without hitting on the amazing nickname BY Ju, which took off pretty quickly, right?
12:02
SPEAKER_03: And something your family and teammates both embraced.
12:05
SPEAKER_03: Who gets the copyright credit for that nickname?
12:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh the the uh the original guy who came up with it is actually my brother, uh, Reggie, my older brother.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: And he commented it on one of my posts, and then I went back and put it in that post.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: And so uh it's cool.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: Name started with him, and then I just kind of took off with it since then.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, it almost never happened because uh my roommate while I was here called me and was like, Hey, can you say that?
12:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, is that okay?
12:35
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm pretty sure it's cool if I'm saying it.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: And then like we asked like four or five or six other people, and like as long as you're saying it should be fine.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: And so we rolled with it and let it let it go out there, and then now it's as big as it is, which is pretty cool.
12:47
SPEAKER_03: Just rolls off the tongue.
12:48
SPEAKER_03: You know, you don't see a lot of Jewish stars of David around the necks of football players.
12:52
SPEAKER_03: How long have you worn that in football games?
12:54
SPEAKER_03: And was that a decision you made at BYU?
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I've been wearing it at football games like my whole life.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: Um I think in high school is when the like it happened the most.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: I think that's what I started wearing it a bunch.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's when I got it, and I just, you know, felt like that it was right, you know what I mean?
13:11
SPEAKER_00: And and uh sometimes it pops out and makes for some pretty cool pictures, but uh for the most part I like to keep it safe and make sure nobody's grabbing it underneath the pads.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: And but yeah, it's it's definitely just it's just me trying to be me, authentically, unapologetically.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: And um I think that can that can be positive for the guys around me and for people watching too.
13:31
unknown: Yeah.
13:32
SPEAKER_03: Tell us about the fan mail you've received.
13:34
SPEAKER_03: Like the Jewish star, you've kind of become a Jewish symbol to fans around the world, is that right?
13:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've gotten messages from people all over the country, all over the world, honestly.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: Like I've had sending love from Israel sent to me.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: I've had like watching from Canada, watching from all these places, and it's just like random Jews around the world who've never watched college football before.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: They're like, hey, now we're watching.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: And we're big BYU fans now, too.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: So it's cool that we're actually kind of bringing two-faced together even closer, and that that two-faced that honestly shouldn't have anything to do with each other, um, but they do in so many ways.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: And so uh it's cool to bring that connection closer together, and it's cool to see this outpouring support from people all over the world.
14:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's really amazing to see the connection between uh Jews and Mormons in that in that way.
14:17
SPEAKER_03: We saw a clip uh on ESPN of you being lifted in the chair uh during the aura of your uh bar mitzvah celebration wearing an Aaron Rodgers jersey.
14:25
SPEAKER_03: Is he still a favorite quarterback of yours?
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, ever since I was young, um he came out of Cal and uh to the Packers, and I became a Packer fan just like that.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, and just always, you know, when I was young, I was modeling my game right after him.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: And so he's definitely a guy that that I looked up to for a long time and still do in a lot of ways.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: And so um it's it's super cool to like see how he's playing so long in his career um and doing so well.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: And so um, yeah, that's been a guy for me that's been a top quarterback in my mind for as long as I remember.
14:58
SPEAKER_03: Were there any past Heisman winners that you enjoyed watching when you were growing up and in recent years?
15:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh man, I remember being in LA.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh the recent controversial one, of course, is Reggie Bush.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: But that guy was that was a USC guy, and man, that was fun to watch.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Him him run all over the place.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: And uh, we had little U little Reggie Bush jerseys uh running around the house in me and my two brothers, and so that was probably the most memorable watching Heisman guy that I remember watching.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: What do you enjoy doing when you're not playing football?
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh I feel like I'm a pretty chill guy, but honestly, any sports, man.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: I love going out and playing uh whatever sport is next, man.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, like I said, I grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm down to go play any of those, down to go play pickleball as pickleball blows up, gotten into golf a little bit this offseason, so golf is fun.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I mean, just playing outdoors.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: I think uh, you know, from Southern California, the beach has always been a favorite of mine.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Um so that's just that's just kind of me and and in in a nutshell.
16:00
SPEAKER_03: Have you had a chance to do any skiing, or is that just one of those things you just can't you can't do now that you're you're playing football?
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, no, it's uh it's I haven't been able to get to it.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: Um I've spent two winters here now, so you'd think I'd be able to, but um maybe at some point I'll go do the easiest slope up there because there's some six in here in in Utah, but I don't know how much coach would appreciate that.
16:23
SPEAKER_03: I hear you've made a claim that you're the best ping pong player of the team.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Is that is that true?
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh, 100%, no doubt about it.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm number one.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: And any of those guys who say anything else, they can see me in the locker room because we got two tables in there.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: So uh I take pride in those skills that I've developed.
16:40
SPEAKER_03: You heard it here first, fellow BYU Cougars.
16:43
SPEAKER_03: It's uh Jake Retzlap is the number one player for ping pong.
16:46
SPEAKER_03: Thanks again for coming on the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
16:49
SPEAKER_03: Good luck against Utah and the rest of the season.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it, man.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me on the Detmer, 1990 Heisman Trophy winner from Brigham Young University, and you're listening to the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
17:13
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17:19
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17:29
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17:35
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17:51
SPEAKER_03: We are here with George Rogers, 1980 Heisman Trophy winner out of the University of South Carolina.
17:59
SPEAKER_03: Mr.
17:59
SPEAKER_03: Rogers, thanks for coming on board.
18:02
SPEAKER_04: Good to be here, man.
18:03
SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm I'm anxious to get started with you.
18:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, I I want to go all the way back to the beginning when you started out in Duluth, Georgia.
18:13
SPEAKER_03: I guess you started out in Atlanta, but you moved to Duluth and you grew up in Duluth, went to Duluth High School.
18:18
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
18:19
SPEAKER_03: Um and you know, uh you had a famous coach there named Cecil Morris.
18:24
SPEAKER_04: Cecil Morris.
18:25
SPEAKER_04: What did he get me right?
18:28
SPEAKER_04: I got jacked up and everything.
18:31
SPEAKER_03: Well, what I'm curious is uh you grew up to be uh six foot two, two hundred and thirty-pound running back.
18:38
SPEAKER_03: What was so key to your development physically, do you think, growing up?
18:42
SPEAKER_03: Like did you did you run track?
18:44
SPEAKER_03: Did you play football a lot?
18:46
SPEAKER_04: What what was the what was your believe I ran track?
18:49
SPEAKER_04: I can't kid.
18:50
SPEAKER_04: I hated it too, but uh but it helped me, it helped me with some of my speed, but you know, that that that mile relay didn't help me none.
19:00
SPEAKER_04: I tell you what, I had to run the mile relay, and uh I throw the shot put and um throw the uh uh long jump.
19:08
SPEAKER_04: Those were the three things I did, and I ran the the mile relay at the end of at the end of the track.
19:14
SPEAKER_03: So you did the quarter, so basically you did one, you did one one lap around.
19:18
SPEAKER_03: Uh one lap around.
19:20
SPEAKER_04: Run lap around.
19:21
SPEAKER_04: You give me your best shot.
19:22
SPEAKER_04: You give me your best shot.
19:24
SPEAKER_04: And I don't care how I don't care how bad you come in, your legs is really burning when you get through that last lap.
19:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that they said they say that last turn, right, is when the elephant the elephants on the pianos on your back, right?
19:36
SPEAKER_04: What are you talking about?
19:38
SPEAKER_04: You know what, though then you try to go and catch somebody, the pianos already done got on your back.
19:45
SPEAKER_04: It was it was a fun ride, you know, to do the do the track thing, and I had a a good time doing it.
19:52
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:52
SPEAKER_03: So just as a little kid though, were were you were you a uh Pop Warner legend?
19:57
SPEAKER_03: Or what was what were you doing?
19:58
SPEAKER_04: Man, was I good when I was a Pop Warner?
20:00
SPEAKER_04: I was that's when I played my best.
20:02
SPEAKER_04: And then, you know, I think you see, I I think I was in about the fourth grade, and I played until I was in the fifth grade, and I didn't play no more until I was a sophomore in high school.
20:13
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
20:14
SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, the the living was wasn't that good, you know.
20:17
SPEAKER_04: My mom, you know, we were moving several times from different place to this place to that place, that place.
20:22
SPEAKER_04: So I never was uh comfortable, and then my mom figured out that, you know, he looked he only thing he can do is play football.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: He he might be a little bit smart, but he wasn't real smart.
20:34
SPEAKER_04: But she she let me go live with my aunt in Duluth, Georgia.
20:38
SPEAKER_04: And down in Duluth, I didn't get picked at for wearing bad clothes, you know, not having good dress clothes and stuff like that.
20:45
SPEAKER_04: So I was real comfortable.
20:47
SPEAKER_04: And Coach C Samars jumped on me one day, and after that, he didn't have to jump on me no more.
20:53
SPEAKER_04: I was ready.
20:54
SPEAKER_03: So you came out as a sophomore and to play football, and were you put right away at running back?
20:59
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I was out of running back.
21:01
SPEAKER_04: I was a running back all the way.
21:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
21:03
SPEAKER_04: And I played defense too.
21:04
SPEAKER_04: I played defense too, you know, defensive man.
21:06
SPEAKER_04: But, you know, my we just need a running back so bad to uh he told me I couldn't play both ways.
21:12
SPEAKER_04: I gotta play, uh we'll have you for just offense.
21:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
21:16
SPEAKER_03: Well, this was the era of this was the era of the great running attacks.
21:20
SPEAKER_03: So you're you're talking, gosh, this has got to be 19, what, 73, 74 when you're a sophomore?
21:25
SPEAKER_03: Because you're your class of 77.
21:27
SPEAKER_04: I think I was 70, I think it was 76, 77.
21:30
SPEAKER_04: 76.
21:30
SPEAKER_04: Okay, 76, 77.
21:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and then uh uh I'm gonna tell you, man, I boy, what you talking about?
21:38
SPEAKER_04: I'll running that ball every I'll run it every down.
21:40
SPEAKER_04: I mean, every beating.
21:41
SPEAKER_04: What no, what no other way?
21:43
SPEAKER_04: One way, right?
21:44
SPEAKER_04: One but one way, and that was my way.
21:46
SPEAKER_04: I was getting it too.
21:47
SPEAKER_04: I was and Coach Mars was a hell he was a hell of a coach.
21:51
SPEAKER_04: He really was, man.
21:52
SPEAKER_04: He he saw in me what I didn't see.
21:55
SPEAKER_04: And uh at the end of the day, you know, I did pretty good.
21:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it seemed like this was the area.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: When big backs like you were starting to really get into vogue because you had uh Earl Campbell and Ricky Bell.
22:07
SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
22:08
SPEAKER_03: And then you were like the next you know part of that group.
22:11
SPEAKER_03: And then later on, you had Herschel Walker and Marcus Dupree and Keith Bayer.
22:15
SPEAKER_04: Oh man, yeah.
22:17
SPEAKER_03: You named the right ones.
22:18
SPEAKER_03: I know that.
22:18
SPEAKER_03: Herschel Walker was a man.
22:19
SPEAKER_03: Right?
22:20
unknown: Bad boy.
22:21
SPEAKER_04: Herschel Walker was a bad boy.
22:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and he's a and he's a character that that shows up later on in the show here.
22:27
SPEAKER_03: Um, but but uh, you know, so you're this big, you know, speedy running back in high school.
22:34
SPEAKER_04: I wouldn't say with all that much speed, but you know, I had I had enough to get by.
22:38
SPEAKER_03: Speed for your size, speed for your size, right?
22:40
SPEAKER_03: Speed for your size, yeah.
22:41
SPEAKER_04: Well, size, I was about 220, 225.
22:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I was I was uh I was good size, and you ain't gonna bring me down without no fight.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: So you had to do what you had to do.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: So what kind of year did you have as a senior in high school?
22:54
SPEAKER_04: Oh man, I had 2500.
22:56
SPEAKER_04: Well, actually, my my my junior year, I had 2,500 yard rushing and 36 touchdowns.
23:02
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
23:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I know that that is wild.
23:04
SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm looking at myself like, and then we we went up a went up a notch, you know.
23:09
SPEAKER_04: I instead of being class B, we went to we went to double A.
23:13
SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
23:14
SPEAKER_04: And uh I I I I think I ended up having maybe like 1,600 yards then.
23:20
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
23:21
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
23:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, so you were you were wanted by everyone in the world, in the college football world.
23:27
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, Tennessee and Georgia Tech and South Carolina were final three.
23:31
SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
23:31
SPEAKER_03: Who were some of the other schools that called as well?
23:34
SPEAKER_03: And and what were some any funny stories in your recruitment that you can that you can tell?
23:38
SPEAKER_04: Oh, you know what?
23:39
SPEAKER_04: Everybody thought I was gonna go to Georgia Tech.
23:42
SPEAKER_04: I had no plan in my mind going to Georgia Tech.
23:46
SPEAKER_04: That's about that's about 20 miles out of Atlanta.
23:49
SPEAKER_04: I was like, ain't no way in the world I'm gonna stay at home.
23:51
SPEAKER_04: Right.
23:52
SPEAKER_04: Because I wouldn't go to school.
23:53
SPEAKER_04: I knew I wasn't gonna go to school, uh-huh.
23:55
SPEAKER_04: You know, because you know I'm gonna have all the people around me.
23:58
SPEAKER_04: I wanted to go not far out of town, not not far as Alabama, not far as Tennessee, but Columbia just fit right there.
24:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
24:08
SPEAKER_04: I mean, three hours away, three hours, 15 minutes away was good enough for me.
24:13
SPEAKER_04: I loved it.
24:14
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and then the coach said, son, you come here next year, you'll be starting.
24:20
SPEAKER_04: I was looking at him, and I was waiting for him to move his eyes, you know.
24:24
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna be a freshman.
24:25
SPEAKER_04: I'm a freshman.
24:26
SPEAKER_04: He didn't he didn't he didn't move his eyes, he didn't budge.
24:29
SPEAKER_04: So I told my mama, I'm going to South Carolina.
24:33
SPEAKER_03: That was Jim Carlin, right?
24:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:35
SPEAKER_04: Jim Carlin, yeah.
24:36
SPEAKER_03: Jim Carlin, yep.
24:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:37
SPEAKER_03: And and and was it a big deal?
24:39
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember the, you know, when you finally signed, signed your letter of intent?
24:43
SPEAKER_03: Was there a big hullabaloo coming into the state, which is a good idea?
24:47
SPEAKER_04: My mama didn't sign because she said he might change his mind.
24:50
SPEAKER_04: I was telling her right then and now, I wasn't changing my mind.
24:53
SPEAKER_04: I was going to South Carolina.
24:55
SPEAKER_04: They had two running backs leaving, they had Kevin Long and Clarence Williams.
24:59
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
25:00
SPEAKER_04: And they were the two starting running backs at Carolina, and they had just got over a thousand yards apiece.
25:05
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
25:05
SPEAKER_04: And I was going, and I was going to get the ball to get a chance to be a freshman starting.
25:10
SPEAKER_04: I'm going to start my, I'm going to start mine off right now.
25:14
SPEAKER_04: And uh I think I got the play, I think I got maybe my first year, I got maybe four or five hundred yards.
25:20
SPEAKER_04: And then my second year, I got over a thousand.
25:23
SPEAKER_03: 623, actually, as a true freshman, 1977.
25:27
SPEAKER_03: Nine carries for 40 yards in your first game against Appalachian State.
25:31
SPEAKER_03: Remember that first game?
25:33
SPEAKER_04: You know what?
25:34
SPEAKER_04: I can say I remember because I didn't play the whole game.
25:37
SPEAKER_04: That's the only reason why I remember.
25:39
SPEAKER_04: I didn't play the whole game.
25:41
SPEAKER_04: But you did you start it, right?
25:43
SPEAKER_04: I started.
25:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I started.
25:45
SPEAKER_03: They didn't say you would finish, they just said you'd start.
25:49
SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, we were we were kind of, you know, score was probably up there a little bit, but yeah, you know, it wasn't calling me.
25:56
SPEAKER_04: I wasn't out there.
25:57
SPEAKER_04: I wasn't, I wasn't doing it.
25:59
SPEAKER_04: It was some other guys doing it.
26:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
26:00
SPEAKER_03: Now there was another running back in your class, Johnny Wright.
26:04
SPEAKER_04: Johnny Wright.
26:04
SPEAKER_04: George Left and Johnny Wright.
26:06
SPEAKER_04: That's right.
26:07
SPEAKER_04: That's what that's what they call a George Wright and Johnny.
26:11
SPEAKER_04: I mean, George Left and Johnny Wright.
26:15
SPEAKER_03: Although you were pretty good going right yourself.
26:17
SPEAKER_04: Uh I said, George, I said, Johnny, I don't you know now I can go left and right.
26:22
SPEAKER_04: So don't get fed up now.
26:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
26:26
SPEAKER_03: And so early on, you you played a lot of fullback, right?
26:28
SPEAKER_03: As well.
26:29
SPEAKER_03: Or you listed as well.
26:31
SPEAKER_04: I didn't play fullback in the eye position.
26:33
SPEAKER_04: We played, it was like they had to veer.
26:35
SPEAKER_04: You know that like that, like that.
26:36
SPEAKER_04: You had two one back on one side and this running back on this side.
26:40
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
26:40
SPEAKER_04: Johnny played left and I played right.
26:42
SPEAKER_04: Johnny played right and I played left, you know, like that.
26:45
SPEAKER_04: But then we would go into an eye, Johnny goes Johnny is the fullback instead of the tailback.
26:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
26:51
unknown: Okay.
26:51
SPEAKER_03: I'm the tailback.
26:52
SPEAKER_03: And then, like you said, as a sophomore, 1,06 yards.
26:56
SPEAKER_03: You had a really big game against Wake Forest.
26:58
SPEAKER_03: Your best game of your career, as it turns out, 237 rushing yards.
27:03
SPEAKER_04: Um I don't know where you don't know where you got that from.
27:06
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
27:07
SPEAKER_03: That's I mean, that's what it says at South Carolina's website.
27:10
SPEAKER_03: 237 rushing yards.
27:11
SPEAKER_04: Don't believe everything here.
27:16
SPEAKER_03: So you okay.
27:17
SPEAKER_03: Well, you also had your first 100-yard game versus Duke that year, 150 yards.
27:21
SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow.
27:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
27:23
SPEAKER_03: And then, and then the other interesting highlight of that game, because you weren't known as a as a pass catcher because the the offense didn't throw the ball much, but there was a game against Ole Miss as a sophomore where you had four catches for 103 yards that included a 72-yard touchdown pass from Ron Bass.
27:42
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember that game?
27:44
SPEAKER_04: I you know what?
27:45
SPEAKER_04: I remember I'm vaguely remember it because I was going home after the game.
27:50
SPEAKER_04: Because, you know, it was a game where you know we're gonna have we're gonna have a bye week, and then you can go home and and and and and and and uh have fun of whatever you're gonna do go when you go home.
28:01
SPEAKER_04: And I could not wait to get home.
28:03
SPEAKER_04: Boy, I said I got to win this game.
28:05
SPEAKER_04: Because if you don't win, you don't go home.
28:08
SPEAKER_03: You caught that 72-yard pass and you just kept going out the stadium like like Forrest Gump, right?
28:14
SPEAKER_04: A little bit like that.
28:16
SPEAKER_04: Although I had I know I had people chasing me.
28:18
SPEAKER_04: And I, you know what?
28:18
SPEAKER_04: By the time I got to the end zone, I went zigzag and crossed and that way, that way.
28:23
SPEAKER_04: When I got when I got to the end zone, my legs were so tired.
28:27
SPEAKER_04: I was like rubber leg.
28:28
SPEAKER_04: You know how you get rubber leg at the very end.
28:30
SPEAKER_03: Like running a quarter mile, right?
28:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, oh man.
28:33
SPEAKER_04: I was stiff.
28:34
SPEAKER_04: I was really stiff, and I had to, I had to almost dive because the guy was catching me and to get in the end zone uh to get the touchdown.
28:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
28:44
SPEAKER_03: As a young running back, what kind of what backs were you looking up to during that era in your high school and early years?
28:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Tony Dorsett.
28:52
SPEAKER_04: Um Tony Dorsett was Franco Harris.
28:56
SPEAKER_04: Uh who else?
28:58
SPEAKER_04: Man, I Tony Dorsett was probably the one I was like, oh yeah, I'm gonna be like him.
29:03
SPEAKER_04: And then um uh what's the what's the guy played for Houston?
29:08
SPEAKER_03: Uh Earl Campbell.
29:09
SPEAKER_04: Earl Campbell, yes.
29:10
SPEAKER_04: Earl Campbell was the one I'm gonna bowled over.
29:13
SPEAKER_04: You know, Earl Campbell was my my other one.
29:16
SPEAKER_04: You know, I I always went behind the good running backs.
29:18
SPEAKER_04: If they were pretty good, I usually try to be right behind them.
29:22
SPEAKER_03: Right.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: So, you know, you're you go into your junior year, you've just had a couple pretty successful seasons, and Johnny Wright hurts his knee.
29:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well actually, actually it was during my it was our so uh well junior year, yeah.
29:38
SPEAKER_04: It was our junior year.
29:39
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
29:40
SPEAKER_04: Well, my well going into my um my sophomore, it was my sophomore year going into my junior year.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: I see.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: And Johnny got his knee, hurt his knee, and then we changed position and went to the eye, and I was a tailback.
29:54
SPEAKER_03: Do you think you were more suited for the eye versus your old old uh?
29:58
SPEAKER_04: Well, and you know what?
29:59
SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm gonna say I was because when I was running all my touchdowns when I was a little kid, we were we were pitching that ball to me every time.
30:06
SPEAKER_04: I I mean I I can almost I can almost get the ball without looking on a pitch.
30:12
SPEAKER_04: You know what I mean?
30:13
SPEAKER_04: Because I was doing it ever since I was little.
30:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:16
SPEAKER_03: And what was the trick?
30:17
SPEAKER_03: What was the trick on that pitch when when you were as the tailback, who who were you looking at downfield, who are you keying on as far as like if this person went this way, you went that way?
30:28
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I'm I'm waiting on that cutback.
30:30
SPEAKER_04: Oh Lord, I'm waiting on that.
30:32
SPEAKER_04: I'm waiting on that cutback.
30:33
SPEAKER_04: If I see you trying to get out there outside real quick, I will cut back on you in a heartbeat.
30:39
SPEAKER_04: And I when I cut back on you, I'm cutting that away.
30:44
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna be slicing it.
30:46
SPEAKER_04: And then once you get outside me, ain't no catching.
30:49
SPEAKER_04: You ain't gonna catch me.
30:50
SPEAKER_04: Like I ain't gotta go by maybe 40 and 50 yards.
30:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm trying to take it all, all the way.
30:56
SPEAKER_03: It's kind of a race to the edge, right?
30:58
SPEAKER_03: So you maybe look at the linebacker.
31:00
SPEAKER_03: The linebacker's trying to beat you to the edge.
31:02
SPEAKER_03: If he can't get there before you, you cut back in.
31:04
SPEAKER_03: RFP.
31:05
SPEAKER_03: If you can't get there, you just keep going.
31:07
SPEAKER_04: I mean like a jet.
31:09
SPEAKER_04: I mean, boom, just cut him right in the slice, man.
31:12
SPEAKER_04: Uh-oh, here come the comeback.
31:14
SPEAKER_04: Here come the comeback.
31:14
SPEAKER_04: He's cutting back, he's cutting back.
31:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
31:16
SPEAKER_04: It ain't nobody there.
31:17
SPEAKER_04: It's too late.
31:20
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
31:20
SPEAKER_03: And then as a so as a junior, you took advantage of more carries, more, you know, having more time.
31:27
SPEAKER_03: You had 1,548 yards as a junior.
31:30
SPEAKER_03: My junior year, yeah.
31:32
SPEAKER_03: Seventh in the Heisman voting.
31:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:34
SPEAKER_03: Uh that you had a great game against NC State.
31:36
SPEAKER_03: That was your best game, 217 yards.
31:38
SPEAKER_03: What do you remember most about your junior year?
31:40
SPEAKER_03: And as it came to an end, and you were, you know, you saw that you got some recognition, all American honors, and all that.
31:46
SPEAKER_03: What were you thinking about as far as your your goals that you had set for yourself and and how you were going to carry that over uh you know into your senior season?
31:54
SPEAKER_04: Well, I didn't, you know, I really didn't know because I was kind of nervous about, you know, I'm gonna be playing against people just as good as I am.
32:00
SPEAKER_04: I mean, they they say seniors, and they they're getting drafted too, and um I was being kind of shy and scared that, hey, I'm I'm gonna have to turn on turn up a notch, you know.
32:13
SPEAKER_04: And yeah, I was working out and getting and getting in shape and trying to be able to be able to run when I get when I do get there.
32:22
SPEAKER_03: Well, going into your senior season at South Carolina, the Heisman year, what was your your your workout routine over the summer?
32:28
SPEAKER_03: What did you do to prepare for that season?
32:31
SPEAKER_04: Well, I went I went went back to Duluth and I was running from from my little house that I had that we call it, we called in Duluth, all the way across, all the way down to the high school, all the way down by the hospital, all the way around the hospital, and all the way back to the hills of Duluth.
32:53
SPEAKER_04: And that was my run.
32:54
SPEAKER_04: And that's like a make that's about like a five-mile trip of running.
33:00
SPEAKER_04: And I mean, I'm I'm talking about for real.
33:03
SPEAKER_04: I ain't talking about just playing.
33:05
SPEAKER_04: That's pure running.
33:06
SPEAKER_04: I stopped every I stopped every now and then, but then when I started back, I started back running, and that was a that thing right there was a long roll, walk.
33:16
SPEAKER_04: I mean long, long walk.
33:17
SPEAKER_04: That was a long run.
33:19
SPEAKER_04: I didn't know how far it was until I started measuring it when I got older.
33:25
SPEAKER_04: And I said, I ain't quit running yet.
33:28
SPEAKER_03: Let me see now back then you were you were pretty much responsible for your own workout routines and your own preparation, right?
33:35
SPEAKER_02: No doubt.
33:36
SPEAKER_02: I was.
33:36
SPEAKER_04: And I was now running a lot too.
33:38
SPEAKER_04: I was running, and then you know, the thing that comes in hand is those gassers when you run across, across, across, and then and then stop.
33:47
SPEAKER_04: Those right there get you.
33:48
SPEAKER_04: Now that ain't that ain't running.
33:50
SPEAKER_04: Um I I can run miles and and not get tired.
33:54
SPEAKER_04: But when you start running them gassers and that that wind comes real fast and you're breathing real hard, that's what hurts.
34:02
SPEAKER_03: Especially in that humidity down there.
34:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh there.
34:06
SPEAKER_04: What you talking about?
34:07
SPEAKER_04: Ain't nothing like South Carolinas though.
34:09
SPEAKER_04: Right?
34:10
SPEAKER_04: I'm just glad I wasn't.
34:11
SPEAKER_04: I'm glad I wasn't with South Carolinas because it gets hot down here during summertime.
34:17
SPEAKER_04: When I'm talking about hot, the the you can see the heat waves coming off the ground.
34:22
SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
34:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:23
SPEAKER_03: Do you ever think do you ever think what it would have been like uh, you know, in this modern age, they have the strength coaches and everyone, there's really no time off.
34:31
SPEAKER_03: Everyone's working out even during the summer as a team.
34:34
SPEAKER_03: If you had had like uh a more um targeted strength regimen or you know, a lot of the other guys back then too, obviously.
34:43
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I I probably would have played longer.
34:46
SPEAKER_04: I probably would have played longer.
34:47
SPEAKER_04: I played, I played seven years, and that was that's a long time because I was running every time I'm running all the time.
34:52
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, take a lot of hits.
34:54
SPEAKER_04: Of course, when I my last year at uh the Redskins, you know, I I didn't I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to, but you know, I I had my tires was worn out, and I and they told me that, you know, hey, your tires ain't running no more like they used to, so you need to think about retiring, and that's what I did.
35:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, let's talk about your 1980 Heisman winning season.
35:17
SPEAKER_03: You guys started out ranked, you know, South Carolina had had never really been ranked before.
35:23
SPEAKER_03: They had uh had never uh been ranked in the top ten at some point during the season, and that was something that you guys accomplished.
35:29
SPEAKER_03: Uh in those two years, you guys both won uh eight games both both times.
35:34
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
35:34
SPEAKER_03: Which again, South Carolina had never won eight games in a season, except maybe I think the very first season they played football, they won eight games, which was like 1903.
35:42
SPEAKER_03: But uh but they had not won eight games.
35:47
SPEAKER_03: Well, no, I'm just saying you got you you um helped South Carolina into the modern age.
35:53
SPEAKER_03: And people don't remember that South Carolina was an independent back then.
35:57
SPEAKER_03: Yes, and you guys played a really interesting schedule, the kind of schedule that people now would would would be shocked over, really.
36:04
SPEAKER_03: Uh and and the big game early on, well, there's a couple big games early on against ranked teams.
36:08
SPEAKER_03: And the first one, um, after starting out 2-0, you went over into the LA Coliseum to take on USC.
36:15
SPEAKER_03: What was that experience like playing in the Coliseum against an amazing defense that had Ronnie Lott, Dennis Smith, Joey Browner, Chip Banks?
36:22
SPEAKER_03: Dennis Smith.
36:24
SPEAKER_03: Dennis Smith.
36:25
SPEAKER_04: I mean you can it's about it's about they had about 10 of them, I can tell you right now.
36:30
SPEAKER_04: And I all played defense too.
36:33
SPEAKER_04: So, but they were they were tough, they were tough to play.
36:36
SPEAKER_04: But we went down there and had a pretty good game, and I had a little run that toward at the end of the uh of the game, and yeah, that kind of cemented the highsman.
36:44
SPEAKER_04: I guess it did anyway, but they beat us.
36:46
SPEAKER_04: Uh thing I think they beat us 21-23 or something like that.
36:50
SPEAKER_04: 23-13.
36:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
36:52
SPEAKER_03: 23-13, I think.
36:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I know it was something.
36:54
SPEAKER_04: I didn't I didn't know exactly what it was, but uh, but you know, we put we we we put up a good fight.
36:59
SPEAKER_04: It was at their place, and yeah uh we we played as best that we could, and uh I just wish we would have had a more of a passing game.
37:06
SPEAKER_04: We didn't we didn't pass the ball very much, but yeah, we did we definitely run it, and you knew we were gonna run it, so you ain't got to worry about nothing else.
37:13
SPEAKER_03: Everyone knew you were running.
37:14
SPEAKER_03: They had you know eight-man fronts.
37:15
SPEAKER_03: You still got 142 yards against that defense, which is you know, I think from an individual standpoint, it really showed people that, hey, he could do it.
37:24
SPEAKER_03: It doesn't matter who he's running against, whether it's uh you know uh Pacific the first week.
37:28
SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, you gotta have your blocking, though.
37:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, don't forget about my blocking.
37:32
SPEAKER_04: I got a lot of blocking.
37:33
SPEAKER_04: Them guys hitting head to head, they gotta hey, they gotta know what the play is.
37:37
SPEAKER_04: I got to know what the play is too, and I can't, hey, uh, you don't do it by yourself.
37:41
SPEAKER_04: And that's what that's what we call football.
37:43
SPEAKER_04: We're playing it together.
37:44
SPEAKER_03: And then the the next week, you guys went up to the big house at Michigan and beat Shocked them.
37:53
SPEAKER_03: Shocked him 17 to 14.
37:55
SPEAKER_03: Tell me about tell me about the the the the feeling going into that game, what you guys were preparing for, what you guys were telling yourselves, and then what the experience is like actually pulling it off.
38:06
SPEAKER_04: Um Coach Carlin said, Coach Carlin told us, he said, I tell you what, y'all playing so good now.
38:12
SPEAKER_04: If y'all go out there and whoop their ass, I'll go over there and whoop uh Bo Schimberger ass.
38:18
SPEAKER_04: Oh, it was oh it was on, then it was on.
38:22
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it was on.
38:24
SPEAKER_04: I mean, everybody just lit up fire.
38:27
SPEAKER_04: And then he of course, you know, after the game, because we thought calling, when you gonna go over there, we gonna go over there and they and show him up now.
38:39
SPEAKER_04: Uh uh, but you know, that was to get us fired up, you know.
38:43
SPEAKER_04: And it did.
38:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and we and we we ended up winning that game.
38:46
SPEAKER_04: And man, I just uh those those days, man, I stick they I stick them in my mind, and I it's just enjoyable to go back and think about it.
38:56
SPEAKER_03: Golly Yeah, and once again, once again, very consistent, 142 yards against Michigan.
39:03
SPEAKER_03: In fact, against the three ranked foes that you guys played that year, Georgia, who of course was number one, USC and Michigan, you averaged 150 yards in those three games.
39:13
unknown: Wow.
39:13
SPEAKER_04: So you pulled your offensive lineman.
39:16
SPEAKER_04: You pulled your weight, though.
39:17
SPEAKER_04: They knew they knew we were gonna run.
39:19
SPEAKER_04: Everybody knew we were gonna run.
39:21
SPEAKER_04: We didn't have very good passing games.
39:23
SPEAKER_04: We had a passing game.
39:24
SPEAKER_04: I ain't gonna say we didn't, yeah, but we definitely had running game.
39:27
SPEAKER_04: And you can you can believe that.
39:29
SPEAKER_04: Uh I knew I knew I was gonna get the ball.
39:31
SPEAKER_04: I didn't have to worry about that.
39:33
SPEAKER_04: And uh, but sometimes I was like, he calling my name again?
39:37
SPEAKER_04: God, slow down a little bit, you know.
39:40
SPEAKER_04: Uh because after after a while you get tired, and sure.
39:43
SPEAKER_04: That's when you that's when you fumble when you get tired and yeah, don't hold on to the ball and stuff.
39:48
SPEAKER_04: But I knew I wasn't gonna let it go though.
39:49
SPEAKER_04: I wasn't I I didn't have many fumbles, but I, you know, I I I had a lot of guys made me look good.
39:56
SPEAKER_04: That's why I like to say that.
39:57
SPEAKER_03: Well, you were a big dude, and you got so you were a big target, and you got you took a lot of hits.
40:02
SPEAKER_04: I did.
40:04
SPEAKER_04: So it was it was you know a testament not only to your your vision and your your toughness, but also just your endurance and your uh and and your uh resilience to to come back after every every hit and just tell you what that's that's that's a that's the that's the do of God and and my mama praying for me and everybody else is praying for me too because you know you don't endure those things by yourself.
40:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and also I guess when you're young, uh you you you don't feel them as much, and you don't feel them until you're old until you're older, I guess.
40:39
SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah, I got yeah, I got a bad shoulder.
40:41
SPEAKER_04: I can't I mean I gotta look at that.
40:43
SPEAKER_04: See how high that's that's as high as I can put this shoulder right here.
40:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, wow.
40:47
SPEAKER_04: That's from playing football.
40:49
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
40:49
SPEAKER_03: Well that's what I got.
40:52
SPEAKER_03: It's like uh you should get a purple heart for that, you know?
40:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm sure it would.
41:00
SPEAKER_04: If I would have been in the in the Navy somewhere, I probably would have got it.
41:04
SPEAKER_03: All right, so I want to talk to you about the big game of the year, the Georgia game.
41:08
SPEAKER_03: That's a classic game.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: Two Heisman trophy winners.
41:12
SPEAKER_03: You know, Herschel Walker, of course, would eventually become one.
41:14
SPEAKER_03: You won it that year.
41:16
SPEAKER_03: He was a true freshman.
41:18
SPEAKER_03: The hype for that game was unbelievable.
41:20
SPEAKER_03: And I just remember it being tough fought.
41:24
SPEAKER_03: Again, you had a another, you know, very good game, and and and Herschel Walker went crazy.
41:30
SPEAKER_03: Tell me what what that whole experience was like and and just what it felt like after it was a tough, tough loss.
41:37
SPEAKER_04: Tough loss, man.
41:38
SPEAKER_04: I I mean I had I had you know, even even when we played Clemson, who's who's our Navy, who they they're our rival anyway.
41:47
SPEAKER_04: And we I lost both we lost both of them.
41:49
SPEAKER_04: We lost to Clemson and we lost uh to Georgia.
41:52
SPEAKER_04: And Herschel Walker deserved everything he was getting, and uh I might deserve some of the stuff I was getting, but when you lose, you lose.
42:01
SPEAKER_04: Ain't no way of trying to put that together.
42:04
SPEAKER_04: But you know, I I had a lot of people that thought I was a pretty good running back, and they they hung in there with us, and you know, eventually we stayed in there and we got the Heisman trophy.
42:15
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
42:15
SPEAKER_04: We didn't get nothing else.
42:16
SPEAKER_04: We got that.
42:17
SPEAKER_04: And we certainly didn't win a bowl game, the ones that we played in, we didn't win them.
42:22
SPEAKER_04: Uh so you know, I I was kind of, you know, I kind of heartened by by the way that we didn't win uh some games that we that I thought we should have won, but you know, God look after his his people, and I think I'm one of them.
42:38
SPEAKER_03: Well, certainly it was a well, it was an interesting time because Georgia obviously won the national championship that year.
42:44
SPEAKER_03: You you talked about the loss to Clemson at the end.
42:46
SPEAKER_03: Well, Clemson won the national title the next year, so they were just sort of you know getting going, kind of getting away.
42:53
SPEAKER_04: I tell you what, though, I tell you what they would do.
42:55
SPEAKER_04: They was hitting.
42:56
SPEAKER_04: On that football field, you go out there and play them, you better be, you best be right.
43:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
43:01
SPEAKER_04: Because they ain't joking.
43:03
SPEAKER_04: They put up a good fight.
43:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
43:05
SPEAKER_03: And then of course he played uh Penn uh Pittsburgh in the bowl game, like you mentioned, and that had Hugh Green, who was the Heisman runner up.
43:15
SPEAKER_04: I'm looking at them like, why, why, why are they playing us?
43:18
SPEAKER_04: Why why is Pittsburgh playing us?
43:20
SPEAKER_04: They lost damn game.
43:21
SPEAKER_04: We done lost, I think we'd have lost three.
43:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and we're playing Pittsburgh.
43:25
SPEAKER_04: What kind of what kind of deal is that?
43:28
SPEAKER_03: Dan Marino and Yeah.
43:32
SPEAKER_04: No, not Archie Manny.
43:32
SPEAKER_04: I ain't mean to say Archie Manny.
43:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
43:34
SPEAKER_03: Dan Marino and uh Hughes, uh Ricky Jackson.
43:38
SPEAKER_04: Ricky Jack.
43:39
SPEAKER_04: I just named I just named we just named three of them right there.
43:41
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think.
43:42
SPEAKER_04: Ricky Jackson, Hugh Green.
43:43
SPEAKER_03: Bill Frelick, I might have been in there, I guess.
43:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Frelick, yeah, Frelick was in that game.
43:50
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
43:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
43:52
SPEAKER_04: I mean, they but they had they had they had they had an all pro team by they by themselves.
43:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, without these sending them.
44:06
SPEAKER_03: So you played USC, Michigan, Georgia, Clemson, who's on you know, gonna win the title the next year, and Pitt.
44:13
SPEAKER_03: And Pitt.
44:13
SPEAKER_03: So you played same year?
44:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, played five elite teams in the same year.
44:18
SPEAKER_03: And that's sort of, I guess, the the out, you know, the outgrowth of being an independent, right?
44:23
SPEAKER_03: You uh Yeah, right.
44:24
SPEAKER_04: You can play anybody you want to.
44:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:26
SPEAKER_04: Well maybe we should have got in a conference and played the ones that we supposed to play.
44:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:31
SPEAKER_03: Your final home game was a 39-38 victory over Wake Forest.
44:35
SPEAKER_03: You had a career high, 38 carries, they just kept feeding you the ball.
44:39
SPEAKER_03: 177 yards in your final home game.
44:41
SPEAKER_03: They retired your jersey at halftime.
44:45
SPEAKER_03: What was that whole experience like in your last final game?
44:49
SPEAKER_03: Uh playing.
44:50
SPEAKER_04: I was so I was so sad.
44:53
SPEAKER_04: I was so sad.
44:54
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I was sad in the way that I won't be playing at William Bryce no more.
44:59
SPEAKER_04: But I would be I was proud that I was gonna be able to go and, you know, when I get in the NFL, so I'm gonna buy my mom a house.
45:06
SPEAKER_04: That's the first thing I wanted to do was to buy my mom a house, and uh, I I got that done.
45:12
SPEAKER_04: But you know, still still there are some other things I did I I was proud of.
45:17
SPEAKER_04: But being being able to win the Heisman Trophy, it's it's a team award.
45:22
SPEAKER_04: It's not it's not an individual award, it's a team award.
45:25
SPEAKER_04: And those guys that that that know we won it, and they know I was on I was on their side just as much as they went on my side.
45:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
45:33
SPEAKER_03: Well, tell me when you uh when you finally found out you won it, what was the process?
45:39
SPEAKER_03: Uh what was your reaction?
45:41
SPEAKER_03: Who did you tell first?
45:42
SPEAKER_04: I I didn't believe it.
45:44
SPEAKER_04: I thought it was, I thought they were somebody was trying to, you know, we played, we had, we cracked crank everybody, uh, you know, and I didn't think I was they wanted for real.
45:53
SPEAKER_04: And then they they had to sit me down and say, I'm serious, man.
45:57
SPEAKER_04: I'm not I'm not teasing.
45:58
SPEAKER_03: But who told you who told you first?
46:02
SPEAKER_04: One of my teammates came and told me.
46:04
SPEAKER_04: One of my teammates came, I forgot who it was, but once it got around, everybody knew it.
46:09
SPEAKER_04: And then I everybody but me, because I thought they were trying to prank me, because you know, that's the way we did each other.
46:16
SPEAKER_04: We did a lot of pranks on each other, but yeah.
46:19
SPEAKER_04: But once I did, I it coach Carlin came and told me that I had to go, I had to go to certain a certain place.
46:26
SPEAKER_04: Then I then I started realizing I might have, I might have won it.
46:30
SPEAKER_04: And then they but but then uh then they throw me off again because they told me there's three other people down there too.
46:36
SPEAKER_04: So they didn't want me to tell nobody that I had won it already.
46:39
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
46:40
SPEAKER_04: So I had to wait and see, and I didn't then I was the only one down there as they come out as game B.
46:47
SPEAKER_04: But I was proud, and you know, I was proud of my teammates because they, you know, they they work real hard about running the ball.
46:55
SPEAKER_04: You might get us, you might beat us, but you ain't gonna beat us because we didn't run the ball.
46:59
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
47:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I guess one of the good things about always running the ball is that you get really good at running the ball.
47:06
SPEAKER_03: Right?
47:06
SPEAKER_03: I mean like you know, it's like you can say that.
47:09
SPEAKER_04: I mean, yeah, I mean, I mean it didn't it didn't it didn't it make me it didn't make me feel bad running it, that's for sure.
47:17
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
47:17
SPEAKER_04: But you know when I when I got I didn't I didn't hardly get stopped too many times behind the line of scrimmage, although I know I did sometimes, but yeah my my offensive line was proud and we went we went forward, we didn't go backward very much.
47:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
47:31
SPEAKER_03: Um but okay, so you went up to New York uh to get your Heisman Trophy.
47:35
SPEAKER_03: What was that whole experience like going up to the downtown athletic club?
47:38
SPEAKER_03: Who did you want to meet?
47:39
SPEAKER_03: Who did you end up meeting?
47:41
SPEAKER_04: Man, I mean I was up there.
47:42
SPEAKER_04: I was up there, I was at like a country boy, didn't know what to didn't know what side to go up on.
47:49
SPEAKER_04: They had me going this place and that place.
47:51
SPEAKER_04: I was like, man, y'all, y'all moving kind of fast now.
47:55
SPEAKER_04: I don't move like this now.
47:56
SPEAKER_04: Y'all, I'm in New York, right?
47:58
SPEAKER_04: And they all said, come on, come on, come on.
48:00
SPEAKER_04: I'm like, wait a minute, nah.
48:02
SPEAKER_04: And uh, but it was it was it was it was hard getting used to.
48:06
SPEAKER_04: You know, uh get upstairs and get your get changed clothes.
48:09
SPEAKER_04: We gotta take you here, we gotta take you there, and then go go go upstairs, change clothes.
48:15
SPEAKER_04: I'm like, yeah, hey, time out.
48:18
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
48:19
SPEAKER_03: Very, very fast moving, I see.
48:21
SPEAKER_03: Very fast moving in New York, yeah.
48:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
48:23
SPEAKER_03: And well, who who were some of the winners that you met at the banquet after you went?
48:29
SPEAKER_04: Billy Sims, Tony Doy Sat, oh them, them, them, them, do, them are the ones that come right to right to mind.
48:37
SPEAKER_04: Uh uh, I know a lot, I know a lot of I know a lot more of them, but you know, I gotta see, I gotta see it on paper though.
48:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
48:46
SPEAKER_04: But you know, I know a lot of there's a lot more of them come because I even go to it and I even vote for them too.
48:51
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
48:52
SPEAKER_04: But I know a lot of them.
48:53
SPEAKER_04: I just don't my memory is just not very good.
48:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
48:55
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember having to give do you remember your speech that you gave to the gala at all?
48:59
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember what you said?
49:01
SPEAKER_04: I said thankful for uh my teammates and my the friendship that I made with them all other than football, and that uh thank my mama for for having me uh being able to play football and just uh accumulate uh all that with with you know with the bringing up because we didn't have very much.
49:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
49:27
SPEAKER_04: You know, the times when you know when we didn't we didn't eat and you know things like that, you know, that that happens and it did.
49:34
SPEAKER_04: But you know, my by my strength and by my mom's strength, we were able to pull through some hard times.
49:42
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
49:43
SPEAKER_03: Well, I tell you what, you came back from New York and you were probably the most famous person in South Carolina, more well known than the governor.
49:51
SPEAKER_03: You're honored by the state legislature.
49:53
SPEAKER_03: You had a street named after you in Columbia.
49:55
SPEAKER_03: Later on in 2015, they added a statue.
49:58
SPEAKER_03: There's a George Rogers Avenue in Duluth.
50:01
SPEAKER_03: I mean, do you even have to pay for food or drinks anymore when you go down in Columbia?
50:05
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you just waltz in and people take care of you.
50:08
SPEAKER_04: You go, hey, yeah, I go, I go to any bar, they be, hey, how much, hey, they got my tab right on the list, I guess.
50:15
SPEAKER_02: Are you like are you like, hey, I'm I'm thirsty, I'm gonna go into this bar.
50:18
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, where's my beer?
50:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh.
50:22
SPEAKER_02: No, I don't play that game right there.
50:24
SPEAKER_04: You know, I if I'm gonna have me a beer, I'm probably gonna have it at home.
50:28
SPEAKER_04: Uh, fair enough.
50:29
SPEAKER_04: Fair enough.
50:31
SPEAKER_03: So you got drafted by the uh New Orleans Saints, first pick in the draft, led the NFL on rushing as a as a rookie.
50:40
SPEAKER_03: Going from you stayed in the South, uh, different, you know, bigger city, not a huge city, but New Orleans.
50:46
SPEAKER_03: What was it like?
50:48
SPEAKER_03: Uh being a rookie in New Orleans, the big ease, the big easy.
50:52
SPEAKER_04: Oh man, you know, I saw the I saw the prettiest girls I ever seen in my lifetime.
50:58
SPEAKER_04: I didn't know what I didn't, I'm gonna tell you right now, I didn't know what to do.
51:02
SPEAKER_04: Most of the time, I didn't know what to do.
51:05
SPEAKER_04: Golly.
51:06
SPEAKER_04: Uh, but I I learned that, you know, um getting in trouble a lot, you know, you you that that turned the window upside down.
51:16
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
51:16
SPEAKER_04: You can do something that you ain't got no business doing.
51:19
SPEAKER_04: And my mom and my aunt and everybody was telling me this and that, and I was listening to them, but I still somehow managed to do what I wanted to do.
51:31
SPEAKER_04: And sure.
51:31
SPEAKER_04: And you know, those things came up, and you know, and I got hurt by doing it, but you know, I learned I learned my lesson.
51:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, and uh I'm still living, so I didn't keep doing it.
51:43
SPEAKER_04: I stopped.
51:44
SPEAKER_04: Awesome.
51:45
SPEAKER_04: So, you know, I'm still alive and I still thank God for giving me all the things that he gave me because that's what that's what I'm here for.
51:54
SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm here not only for my wife, but I'm here because God let me be here.
51:59
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
51:59
SPEAKER_03: You had a you had a seven-year career, yeah.
52:02
SPEAKER_03: Ended with uh you got a uh Super Bowl ring with the Redskins.
52:06
SPEAKER_04: I did.
52:07
SPEAKER_03: Awesome uh accomplishment.
52:08
SPEAKER_03: You got a Heisman ended with the ring.
52:10
SPEAKER_03: Right.
52:10
SPEAKER_04: That's my Super Bowl ring right there.
52:12
SPEAKER_04: Awesome.
52:13
SPEAKER_04: I got two of them.
52:13
SPEAKER_04: I lost, I lost, I lost my wedding ring right there, and I found it, and so I got both of them.
52:20
SPEAKER_03: Ah, nice.
52:21
SPEAKER_03: Hey, where do you keep your Heisman?
52:23
SPEAKER_04: Uh well uh my wife, she keeps it.
52:26
SPEAKER_04: We we keeps it in the in the in the guest room over there, you know.
52:30
SPEAKER_04: I don't, I don't, I don't really, you know, and most of the time it's in the case, so you know, it don't it don't it don't matter, you know, because when I get it, I just take the whole case and then I have it out on the case, and then people come by, they can see it, take a picture with it, and whatever they want to do.
52:47
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
52:47
SPEAKER_04: At the at the game and stuff, you know.
52:49
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
52:49
SPEAKER_04: Then then after that, you know, I load it back up and put it in the car and do the same thing over to all the football games.
52:56
SPEAKER_03: So if you guys are entertaining at home or having a party, you don't take it out and just dust it off and line it up?
53:02
SPEAKER_04: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
53:07
SPEAKER_03: Where did you meet your wife?
53:09
SPEAKER_04: I met her.
53:11
SPEAKER_04: Where did I meet her at?
53:13
SPEAKER_04: Brenda.
53:15
SPEAKER_04: I forgot where I met her.
53:17
SPEAKER_04: You're in trouble.
53:17
SPEAKER_03: You're in trouble now.
53:18
SPEAKER_04: I I think I think I met her at a uh uh at a football game or something.
53:24
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
53:25
SPEAKER_04: I think I might have met her at a football game.
53:27
SPEAKER_04: Whatever I was, whatever it was, I fell in love right at sight.
53:31
SPEAKER_04: I know that.
53:32
SPEAKER_04: Uh there you go.
53:32
SPEAKER_04: I didn't let I didn't let her go.
53:36
SPEAKER_03: Doesn't matter where you met her.
53:37
SPEAKER_03: You remember you met her and you let you loved her right away.
53:39
SPEAKER_03: That's all that matters.
53:40
SPEAKER_04: That's right.
53:41
SPEAKER_04: We got a we got a 21-year-old who goes to the University of South Carolina, smart as all I do's.
53:47
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
53:48
SPEAKER_04: And he's uh he's uh he's a golden light in our eyes now, being that our other kids are grown.
53:55
SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
53:55
SPEAKER_04: Um they are in their 30s or better, you know.
54:00
SPEAKER_04: And uh, but but Brenda, Brendan is my shining light.
54:04
SPEAKER_04: She she's the one to help me out all the time.
54:07
SPEAKER_04: And if it weren't for her, it wouldn't be no George Rogers because I'd be gone already.
54:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, uh, you know, uh we she did a great job setting this interview up, tell you that.
54:17
SPEAKER_03: Um the we did talk about earlier for before we got on online here, the uh the George Rogers Foundation.
54:25
SPEAKER_03: From a very early start, uh you were uh involved with education and giving back.
54:32
SPEAKER_03: Tell us about what you do with the George Rogers Foundation and uh how people can help out.
54:37
SPEAKER_04: I give out first generation scholarships.
54:40
SPEAKER_04: If you're making them A's and B's, you might can get a scholarship.
54:48
SPEAKER_04: No C's.
54:49
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so it's people that's going to go to college and gonna make those grades because that's how you get past everybody else.
54:57
SPEAKER_04: You gotta make those grades, you gotta make those studies, you gotta know what you're doing.
55:01
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
55:01
SPEAKER_04: And the ones that don't know what they're doing will show that because they ain't made no A's and B's.
55:08
SPEAKER_03: Right.
55:09
SPEAKER_03: Now, is this for all students eligible or is it for South Carolina students?
55:14
SPEAKER_04: South Carolina and and Duluth, Georgia, because it's always about the kids, you know, because I always wanted some people to have a have a chance to go to college and have the grades, not the athletic ability, because I had the athletic ability, but I didn't know I didn't know if I had so much of the education to get in there.
55:34
SPEAKER_04: But I was able to get in South Carolina.
55:36
SPEAKER_04: I'm telling you, I'm gonna tell you right now, it was a really, really small, you had to have a 2-0 to get in college.
55:43
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
55:44
SPEAKER_04: I had a 2016.
55:50
SPEAKER_04: You tell me that ain't, you tell me how close that is.
55:53
SPEAKER_03: Well, you know you have plenty of room, plenty of wiggle room there.06 to wiggle too.
55:59
SPEAKER_04: I was wiggling too.
56:01
SPEAKER_04: Hey, you know what?
56:03
SPEAKER_04: Just get the bottom.
56:04
SPEAKER_04: Me and my um, what you call them?
56:06
SPEAKER_04: You what you call them?
56:07
SPEAKER_04: The one that they um they call you, they they help you.
56:10
SPEAKER_04: What they call them in in high school?
56:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh, uh, like tutors.
56:14
SPEAKER_04: Tutors, yeah, yeah.
56:15
SPEAKER_04: Tutor, my tutor.
56:16
SPEAKER_03: She said, this is gonna be close.
56:18
SPEAKER_03: Hey, all you only need to break the plane of the goal line.
56:21
SPEAKER_03: You don't need to get the whole body in.
56:22
SPEAKER_03: Just break the plane.
56:23
SPEAKER_03: That's what you did.
56:24
SPEAKER_03: You broke the plane.
56:25
SPEAKER_03: You got a good point.
56:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
56:27
SPEAKER_03: You got a good point.
56:28
SPEAKER_03: The George Rogers Foundation, you guys uh have a spring barbecue auction and golf tournament as well.
56:34
SPEAKER_03: Um I saw some pictures of that online.
56:36
SPEAKER_03: Looks like you guys have a great time.
56:37
SPEAKER_03: What's what's that whole event like?
56:39
SPEAKER_04: Oh man, it's it's it's it's it's you know, it's time to make money.
56:43
SPEAKER_04: It's time to get people of color in college, your people.
56:48
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
56:49
SPEAKER_04: In in in college to to so they can get a degree and have something to live for.
56:54
SPEAKER_04: Because, you know, we got we got a lot of us that as that's out there that's trying to do the wrong thing.
57:01
SPEAKER_04: Let's try to put the ones that's trying to do the right thing in there.
57:04
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
57:04
SPEAKER_04: You know, because it's definitely I I I've been there, so I already know they're out there.
57:10
SPEAKER_04: They're the people that's doing the wrong thing, they are out there.
57:13
SPEAKER_04: Because I was out there.
57:15
SPEAKER_04: I know.
57:15
SPEAKER_04: I know.
57:16
SPEAKER_04: And by the time I got into 10th grade, I got I got I got enough ass whooping.
57:25
SPEAKER_04: I went the right way.
57:26
SPEAKER_04: And and a lot of people that need to get they need they need their butt busted so they can get to be the right way.
57:32
SPEAKER_04: But you can't tell, you can't tell everybody when they get to be 17, 18, they think they're grown.
57:38
SPEAKER_04: They've grown up already.
57:40
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
57:40
SPEAKER_04: And they ain't.
57:41
SPEAKER_04: They're not.
57:42
SPEAKER_04: But they but they but if there ain't nobody looking out for them, they will not look out for themselves.
57:47
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
57:47
SPEAKER_03: You're uh the the part of your brain that that determines make decision-making processes doesn't fully form until you're 25.
57:55
SPEAKER_03: So that's how you go.
57:57
SPEAKER_04: All right.
57:58
SPEAKER_04: That's good enough for me.
57:59
SPEAKER_04: That's right.
58:00
SPEAKER_04: That's when you get all the way out of college.
58:03
SPEAKER_03: That's why the doctors are so mature coming out.
58:05
SPEAKER_03: They've they've been in school for seven years.
58:07
SPEAKER_03: Anyway, so the George Rogers Foundation of the Carolinas, uh, that is the foundation for those of you who want to donate.
58:14
SPEAKER_03: You can go to George Rogers the Fair of the Carolinas.
58:16
SPEAKER_03: Um sorry, George Rogers Foundation of the Carolinas dot org and uh and uh contribute there, find out their schedule.
58:25
SPEAKER_03: Um George, uh you're usually up at the Heisman, and one of the cool parts of the of the weekend, it's usually your birthday is December 8th, and and it's almost always uh right around your birthday.
58:38
SPEAKER_03: And so there's always a uh uh George Rogers birthday, uh happy birthday with the cake uh in the uh hospitality room.
58:47
SPEAKER_03: I'm looking forward to to singing happy birthday to you again this year, and uh just really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences uh at South Carolina and beyond.
58:59
SPEAKER_04: All right, man.
59:00
SPEAKER_04: Thank you, man.
59:00
SPEAKER_04: You're such a great guy to talk to.
59:02
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you you got that look on your face, and uh you can you can recognize you.
59:08
SPEAKER_04: Uh I I I just appreciate you being able to talk to me because I I don't talk to a lot of people like I talked to you because you just got that face that, hey, he only here he's there for you.
59:18
SPEAKER_03: Hey, right back at you, buddy.
59:21
SPEAKER_03: All right, man.
59:21
SPEAKER_03: You take care, okay?
59:23
SPEAKER_03: George Rogers, 1980 Heisman Trophy winner from South Carolina.
59:26
SPEAKER_03: Thanks for coming on the Official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
59:28
SPEAKER_03: We'll see you in New York.
59:30
SPEAKER_04: All right, man.
59:30
SPEAKER_04: I'll see you.
59:32
SPEAKER_03: The official Heisman Trophy podcast streams every Wednesday during the college football season and is hosted, co-produced, edited, and engineered by Chris Houston.
59:40
SPEAKER_03: Paul Goldberg is the executive producer and editor.
59:43
SPEAKER_03: 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.
59:50
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59:56
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1:00:00
SPEAKER_03: Just go to Heisman Trophy.