Latest / The Heisman Hopefuls Podcast / Gino Torretta

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Gino Torretta · The Heisman Hopefuls Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the official Highland Trophy podcast.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the winner is, here's your host, Chris Houston.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome back to another episode of the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: As I sit here, Heisman Trophy ballots have gone out to the 928 Heisman electors.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Very exciting times.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: This coming up Monday, we will name the four Heisman Trophy finalists for 2023.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that will kick off Heisman Week.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to change things up a little bit this week.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of doing our usual Heisman roundup, we're going to go right into our interview with 1992 Heisman Trophy winner Gino Toreta.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Toreta became the second Miami quarterback to win the Heisman while leading his team to an undefeated regular season.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: They had 29 straight wins at the time of his Heisman victory.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: He entered 1992 as one of the favorites and did not disappoint.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Toretta threw for 3,070 yards and 19 touchdowns.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: He beat out two really good running backs, Marshall Falk of San Diego State and Garrison Hurst of Georgia.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: He finished his Miami career with 11 school passing records, including most career attempts, completions, yards, total offense, longest pass, 99 yards, which was also an NCAA record, and he has the record for most passing yards at a game 485 versus San Diego State when he was just a red shirt freshman.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Toretta has gone on to a career as a color commentator for collegiate and professional football games, and he's very up to date and informed on college football.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he recently testified before Congress, and we're going to touch on those things as well.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Gino Toretta, 1992 Heisman Trophy winner out of Miami.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_04: The official.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Chris.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations on getting your Jersey retired down in Miami at the Louisville game.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: First, what took them so long?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And second, what was that ceremony like?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_04: First off, I'm not in charge, so uh I'm not in that uh realm of uh why it took that long, but uh but it happened, so that's that's good.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the ceremony was awesome.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um you know, we did it at halftime, a bunch of my old teammates, uh, the university made t-shirts, you know, with my name and number on it.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_04: Uh had a bunch of teammates there.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_04: My uh wife, daughter, some friends, uh, other family members were there, and uh got to make a quick speech and uh take some pictures and and just spend some time.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_04: I had a little reception on Friday night where I got to see some other teammates as well.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_04: And uh it was just a great weekend to be able to kind of relive, relive the glory days for us.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: What a great honor.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you've been associated with Miami for so long.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think some people forget your roots.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you grew up in Panole, California in the Bay Area.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: I want to know what drew you to football, and how did you get your start as a quarterback?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_04: Well, uh how I got my start is I had three older brothers, uh, let's see, two or six years older than me.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_04: My oldest brother's nine years older than me, and there was a lot of times of uh being dragged out to a field in the summer to our high school field and stand here, catch the ball, and throw it back.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So the younger brother, that's that's the fate of the younger brother.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's where I uh I learned how to catch.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_04: My hands hurt, and then I learned how to, you know, I wasn't throwing the the uh small pop warner balls, it was whatever they were using in high school.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um so that's kind of kind of that.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_04: Then I I played all sports uh really growing up, played basketball, baseball, football.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_04: I might have had more talent, natural talent in in baseball, but all of my I guess additional uh extra time, if you will, outside of when we were playing actual games in a season for any of those sports is I spent with with the football, um, just getting prepared in the summer, you know, kind of after usually July 4th was kind of the end of the baseball season, city leagues and all-stars and all that stuff, and then it just was straight into uh straight into football.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um and then I I well I guess quarter quarterback.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um, let's see, my first year playing in sixth grade, I played quarterback, had a real good season.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_04: Then I didn't want to play football in seventh grade because my friend was going to Tahoe on a two-week vacation and it cut into two a day, so I skipped out on football in seventh and then uh eighth grade.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_04: I I literally played uh quarterback.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_04: I believe I lined up at tight end, I believe I also lined up at defensive tackle uh and at fullback.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I can say after getting my hands sandwiched once between two helmets as a defensive, I was a dominant defensive tackle, same mold as like Warren Sapp or one of those guys, you know.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_04: Um after getting my hands smashed between two helmets, I'm like, I do not want to do this.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't I did not like that.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_04: I don't mind people hitting me, but uh the uh that other side, so I just I I stuck to uh I stuck to the quarterback side, but then uh quarter coach, I want to play quarterback now, please.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the bad thing was is well, not bad thing, so play quarterback freshman year, I went to Salesian High School, which was a different high school, uh, and then transferred back to Panel, which was right close to my house.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_04: Played JV my sophomore year in my junior year.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: I split time at quarterback and then played wide receiver.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_04: So I got a little dose of figuring out you know the offenses from a from a different position.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um so I had uh I I guess all of the uh all tried all of the positions, and the quarterback one seemed to fit me the best where I might have a uh a future in it.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, well, I think you chose you chose correctly.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh your brother Jeff was at Miami as a quarterback and was the roommate of Vinny Testaverdi uh when he won the Heisman in 1986.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your senior season at high school, The Hurricanes won the national title.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Was it just a fate accomplis that you were gonna go to Miami a whole time?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, what schools offered you and what was the recruiting process like for you?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, I was pre-STARS and pre-all that the rankings and and that.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_04: And uh no, I mean, I I to be honest, I wanted to go to Stanford because I was a good student.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um I knew what their degree was worth.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I was making it more off academics than than necessarily football, at least when the you know, letters and all the schools are sending me letters.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_04: So I think I went to football camp before my junior year at Miami.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_04: And the offensive coordinator Gary Stevens, who was with at Miami at the time, he actually he goes, You need to go to camp where you want to go to school before your senior year.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_04: So I picked Stanford.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um I was there, Todd Murinovich, who was their you know, number one recruit out of the out of the country.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_04: He was he was there in camp, you know, went to camp for a week, spent on campus.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_04: I thought I had good camp, played, played my season, got letters from, you know, probably more correspondence, the old old school letters from from Stanford than any school.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_04: And after the season, um coach came to our you know, uh coach's office and they're watching film and talking to the coaches and basically said, You're not good enough to play here.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_04: We're not gonna recruit you, we're not gonna offer you a visitor or a scholarship.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: So that was that was a little bit devastating.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um and then uh a guy by the name of Dave Arnold, who's a tight ends coach at Washington State at the at the time, came early in the morning, gets me out of class, and it like I didn't even, you know what I mean, recruiting.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_04: I I had no idea like how this operated.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I mean it's like I knew schools recruiting you, and and then you try to pick one, and hopefully they pay for your school.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_04: That's when I was like, okay, I'm getting my school paid for it, I'm gonna have a chance to play football.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and uh Coach Arnold calls me out of the office, down to the coach's office, and and uh he goes, We'd like to offer you a visit.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I was just like, fine.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't I I don't even know where Washington State was.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_04: I knew they were in the Pac-10, and that was that was kind of about it, you know.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_04: And um so he goes, Great, you're our number one choice.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_04: And I so I take a visit there.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um I I was offered a visit, I took a visit to University of Washington um in Miami, and when I took my trip to Washington, Mark Brunel had just committed, and uh Bjornsson, who ended up playing tight end for the for the uh Cowboys, had committed.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_04: So they had two quarterbacks before I even took my visit.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_04: So they didn't they didn't offer me um Washington State, great, great visit, albeit it was Pullman, Washington, and it was snowing.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_04: So coming from a guy from Northern California, hadn't played a game in the rain, uh that that kind of concerned me.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_04: Uh snow was more for snow skiing than than playing uh playing football games on.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Got to meet your future coach.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_04: I I did, I did.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_04: So so Coach R got to meet Coach Erickson.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_04: Um I flew out of Pullman.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_04: I was the only player with the coaching staff on a small plane in a snowstorm, flew to Spokane, and then they distributed, you know, the throughout the country recruiting or the West Coast to recruit other players.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_04: So we take a we take that flight, and I was scared to death.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_04: I could see up the front windshield, frozen, frozen windshield.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_04: Coach Erickson's in the front row across from me.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um we're talking.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_04: I get on the plane and and spoke can to fly to Oakland back home.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_04: And there was a I I can't even remember who it was.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_04: There was it was a coach in my row, and he was sitting next to me, and and he goes, So what do you think?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_04: I said, Oh, I had a great time.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_04: He goes, So did they are you gonna come here?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_04: I go, I go, well, I don't know.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_04: And he goes, Well, did they offer you a scholarship?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, uh, you know, I don't know.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_04: And he goes, he goes, Well, what did you do?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, Rosenbaum is my host, he was phenomenal.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_04: I said, I went into Coach Erickson's office and we started watching game film, and he was like teaching me about the offense, how it operated this.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_04: As soon as I got into Pinol, Coach Arnold is on the phone, basically yelling at Coach Erickson for uh for for not making it perfectly clear I was their their quarterback recruit that they really wanted to sign.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_04: So I was like, oh, okay, you know, I'm like, all right, I appreciate you clearing it up.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_04: And then uh Coach Erickson and Coach uh Coach Arnold make it made a home visit.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_04: My my dad was still alive, you know, my mom and and uh one of my brothers was there, and we we talked about their offense and and and that and uh and then you know I I it was it was great.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_04: I mean I they recruited me the hardest.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_04: I mean it was like you know, you're a guy, and and I mean seriously, had it been not for you know the the the climate concerned me for as a quarterback.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you want to throw the ball a lot.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that was before what was it back then, the CFA.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_04: So not a lot of games were on TV at the time.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's true.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, so you really didn't didn't know.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and then I took my visit to Miami, I think a couple weeks or a week after, um, to uh to Miami after Washington State.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_04: They had like you said, you they had just won the 87 National Championship.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_04: It was the ticker-take parade weekend.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't know if we flew in on a Thursday um from California, and it was your parents didn't come with you uh on visits when when I came out of high school.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_04: It was like they only paid for the the player.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_04: So I fly in, um, it was like the the football banquet, you know, which is kind of the normal rubber chicken bank blanket banquet, and you know, but the ticker tape parade being there, and it was I mean, me, Lamar Thomas, Michael Barrow, Darren Smith, there was probably 12 commits of our class were on that visit.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: What a recruiting class.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I just I just remember being, I was probably, Chris, a hundred and I wasn't 170 pounds, and I wasn't 6'2 yet.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_04: And I just said, man, if I don't get bigger, there's no way I'm gonna get a chance to play.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_04: These guys are gonna kill me.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I just I want to be part of this.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_04: I would just I want to have a chance to win a national championship.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_04: And of all the schools that recruit me, that I was obviously my, you know, my my best option was was there.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, coach uh Coach Stevens, I still remember, I mean, we're on my visit, and and he's like, he literally told me, he goes, You should not come to school here.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_04: He goes, you should go to he goes, you can start very early at one of the Pac-10 schools right now.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_04: You have that kind of ability.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_04: I've seen you since you were, you know, 14 years old.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_04: He goes, you have that ability.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, well, that's great, coach, but you know, Stanford said I can't play there.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_04: Cal, you know, not really recruiting me.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_04: UCLA already signed uh uh Brett Johnson, Rob Johnson, Brett's older brother.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I'm just like, well, you can say that, but you know, you need to go tell those coaches.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_04: I've been like, I get it.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, I I didn't care because I was like, you know, you go in the office and it's like the last four quarterbacks on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I said, if I get one year to start here, it's better than four years at some other school.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_04: And I wanted to win a uh a championship.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_04: So um that's kind of you know how I how I you know got to Miami and uh and didn't didn't take coaches' advice not to come and uh went there and and and everything worked out.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_04: And then when obviously Jimmy left in February, so one season uh with Coach Johnson, and then um Dennis came in and and you know I had several teammates and they're just like man, I didn't come here to play for you know Coach Erickson, and and I'm like, you know, Lamar Thomas was he was transferring, he's from Gainesville, he goes, I'm about to go back to Florida.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_04: And I just said, Listen, you need to go through the spring.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, he plays three wide receivers every single play.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_04: I go, sometimes four, sometimes five.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_04: And I go, if you're gonna tell me you're not one of the top four guys right now, we're true freshmen, then go ahead.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_04: You need to transfer.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_04: Go to go to Gainesville, you know, go block for Emmett Smith because that's what he was gonna, that's what he was gonna do.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_04: And uh so I convinced him to stay in, and we we uh we had a little bit of success while we were here together.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: I like the way you approach all that.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Very logical, very uh sound reasoning.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I wanted to ask you about the transition from Jimmy Johnson to Coach Erickson.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: What you know, what first, you know, I know we touched on the recruiting, but what was it like to be recruited by Jimmy Johnson?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, by the time you started your retro freshman year, you had a new coach with Dennis Erickson.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: What was the transition like for you as far as the coaching styles?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I know the offense, he brought the one back offense down.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what was like the biggest difference for you?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_04: I I think I think with Jimmy, because you know, I wasn't obviously I was just running the scout team, and he operated like a CEO, and it was man, he had everything buttoned up from offense, defense, special teams.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_04: And it was the the intensity of practice, the intensity of preparation, the the the psychology I I guess I'd say psychology now looking back, of somebody that could motivate and push all the right buttons of a hundred different guys on our team.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_04: And there it was like he instilled in us like there wasn't a doubt in our mind when we ran out on the field.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_04: Like I was like a freshman, I'm like, man, we're kicking this team's butt.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_04: We didn't care who, you know, and and it was like to be able to do that, he was he was amazing.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, it was like we prepared, I think, you know, you look at what he did and then Dennis right after him, like we were doing what Saban did now.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we're doing what Kirby Kirby Smart is doing now.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, we we did that at Miami already.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and he was kind of the first one.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_04: It was like, you know, when you prepare, you know, as hard as you possibly can and and you put the time in, you will, you know, win the game.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: And and I'm sure there was times there's other teams that may have had a little bit better talent than us, but you know, we we always felt we worked harder than everybody.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: We felt we were more prepared um than everybody, you know, and I think with with Coach Johnson is you know, you I guess you learn life isn't fair.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's like hey, you get you gotta you gotta produce, and that's you know, in everything and in um uh you know in life, you gotta produce or or you're not gonna be there very long.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, you know, it was just it was great.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_04: And then you know, with Coach Erickson, he was more hands-on.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously, he he was he was not the the offensive coordinator, but all of my meetings in four and a half years were with him.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_04: He was my quarterback coach.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, to be able to meet with the head coach, and you knew what he was thinking, what he wanted, and you're on the field was was phenomenal.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_04: And so what he and Coach Bratkowski was our offensive coordinator, and later uh coach Olson, you know, they would kind of collaborate on the headphones, and then he coach Erickson was sending the play.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_04: And it wasn't it wasn't a hey, I'm the one calling the plays, or you know, I'm gonna blame him.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I I remember Dennis and you know, probably the the best lesson he ever taught us is be accountable and be accountable to your teammates, be accountable, you know, to everybody out here.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_04: And when you can be accountable yourself, then you know you're gonna have a lot of success.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think that um, you know, that's kind of what you know his message was always, you know, and and and the preparation side of it, um, he just kind of kept up from Jimmy.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, because I know he was like, wow, you guys practice hard initially when we got there.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_04: He we kind of amazed him.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean, there was no there was no let up though when when he came in, and uh, you know, we started a one-back offense, which now pretty much everybody's doing.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, and now the quarterback runs an RPO game off of it.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, it's it's uh I'd like to say probably um reinvigorated the East Coast with some West Coast uh, you know, passing game and uh and one back offense and and spread that uh that we were kind of the first ones to do it.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_04: And it was it was just a a match made in heaven.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_04: You took a bunch of fast dudes on offense and defense and said, don't think, play fast, and and it'll all work out.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to ask you about something that I think Miami did, which was very unique in a span of eight seasons, three different national titles under three different coaches, and uh, you know, Schnellenberger, uh uh Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh to me that's such a interesting thing to happen.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And usually what happens in college football is when a coach comes and he usually wins a title very early in his tenure, because it's you know he comes in and he revives the program and there's this spark.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: But over time the shtick kind of gets old and and and either you know, either it's like Nick Saban and you're just like, you know, you figured it out and keep motivated for that long period of time, or you tend to kind of fade out a bit.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it seems like Miami uh the coaches didn't stay long enough to for the for the shtick to wear off.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: So like people were still into uh the newness of the coach.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so a new coach would come in who who was and all you guys had three incredible hires in a row, too.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Three uh you know, all timers in a row.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you were able to to win three titles under three different coaches without really any any rebuilding.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: It just seems such a rare thing to happen.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and I think that that was where uh I think Jimmy did it, I think Dennis did it, you know, and Lar and you know Larry did it when they won in 01.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's not about the coach.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_04: Like 30 years, you know, I'm what what am I, 35 years out?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_04: It's about the the guys you're in the locker room with.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that you know, I I don't know, I you know, we were the team people love to hate.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_04: We probably still are Miami, you know, people love to hate us.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_04: And we didn't really I don't know if we cared.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_04: I think it galvanized us as players to where this is on us.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's when if we lost, it wasn't we weren't blaming the head coach.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's on the players.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that's what Jimmy, Dennis, Howard, and and and even Larry did was this is about you, this is your team.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that when kids take ownership that in 35 years, you know, you you're right.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_04: Like I get asked, it's like, was you were you ever under Jimmy?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_04: I mean like you know, the obviously the memory is like, hey, I remember this, but um, you know, so I I think that we always have had that feeling, kind of the us against the world and and it's on the players.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_04: You know, let the let the coaches, you know, coach us.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm sure Some of us were vocal and saying, you know, it doesn't matter who the coach is, we're w we're gonna win a national championship.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's how the attitude that I I you know I came into, that's you know, I think that what the those Jimmy did, Dennis did, you know, they didn't change any of that.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_04: They weren't they weren't there, you know.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_04: I think a lot of times if you look at you know the the game today and and at any level where you know if a coach comes in and he wants all the credit for doing this or you know, is you know, it's that that's that's not gonna work.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_04: The teams that are successful, the teams that come together on their own and own the own their season.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think that that's that's what I I remember fondly about Miami is you know, we owned it.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_04: We didn't care, you know, who they were gonna hire.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um we were we were gonna go out and and win.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think that you know that's that's kind of probably how how it happened.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we're doing, you know, we didn't do what you know, we we did what Saban's doing, but he's he's one coach and he's done it with a bunch of different assistants.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_04: We had different head coaches, different, entirely different staffs of of coaches, different schemes.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh same defense, though.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: It doesn't matter.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_04: It didn't matter which guy was like, defense was always good, yeah.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_04: It was the same defense.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you were a big time contributor as a retro freshman to the 89 national title team.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: You had a school record, 485 yards in one game.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, was this when you realized, hey, I I can play at this level?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Was that I mean was that just a huge confidence builder for you?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there was no question.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: I think um, you know, I got thrown in second or third game.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_04: Craig Erickson broke his hand against Michigan State.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_04: We were on the road in East Lansing, they were top 10 team in the country.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um came in, I was prepared.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_04: We ended up winning the game.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, broke the school record for passing, I think, in my second start.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I my head got up, my might have got a little bit big back then because I was like, boy, I got this game whipped, you know.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um and then uh I I threw four picks against Florida State and then uh started one more, and then Craig came back healthy, so I ended up going back to the bench, um, which that was tough.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it it did give me confidence, and and I tell people now, I mean, with the changes in transfer portal, I mean, if I wanted to transfer, I would have had to sit out of season or I had to drop a level in football or go to Division I double A.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_04: And obviously, I don't think I would have won the Heisman if I would have transferred.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um, would I have transferred now?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I it it might have been easier to take a look at it because you know when I I look back, I was like, if you're gonna transfer, you normally transfer to probably somebody that recruited you, that you know that you, hey, I like that coach or I like that scheme, or or I've I've seen the school.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_04: Well, where was I gonna go?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_04: The other guy that offered me was actually my head coach in in Dennis Erickson's, and he was gone at at he wasn't at Washington State anymore.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, I just like man, I'm gonna sit at the bench for a whole nother year.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_04: And that's kind of that's kind of how it worked out.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um and and my thinking was I got two years after Craig leaves, I got an opportunity every single year.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_04: We felt we were good enough to win a national championship.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_04: So I felt I'd have a chance to to win multiple titles, and and with success, and you're the starting quarterback, maybe you get some some personal awards and accolites, and that's kind of kind of what happened, and that's you know, obviously it turned out.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny, back then, you know, there obviously there's no internet, and so if if you're a fan of college football, I think we had like Street and Smith's magazine where he would tell you like who was on the on the team.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And but there's these schools like BYU and Miami was one of them where where like there'd be this new quarterback that would pop up and everyone would be like, oh no, there's another.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: I remember when you had that start, this retro freshman, Gino Toretto, 485 yards.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: I remember thinking, oh god, they got an they got another one.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Geez, where's where did they get these guys?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was uh well remember USA Today printed the Friday, Saturday, Sunday paper.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_04: So your your national your national coverage for college football was the Friday paper of the USA Today.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_04: And if you didn't get it, you didn't really know.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, what big games are there and and uh you know what are the rivalry games and and that and it's yeah, it's uh obviously totally totally changed, and it's and it's uh a lot more lot more success and hype around it.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: So uh when you were on the East Coast, if you wanted to get a West Coast score, you checked your sports section.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it would just say late.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_04: Too late.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_04: Here's the final here's the final we had when we went to print in the second quarter.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: So going into that 1992 season, actually, let me back up.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: You went uh you were the starter as a junior, you guys went undefeated.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, that was one of the great teams in college football history.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um shared the national title with Washington.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, do you think you guys uh would have beaten Washington if you guys played in a neutral field?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_04: No question.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um you know I I I look at it, I I mean, I'm sure they say the same.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, they they're undefeated, we're undefeated.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_04: Um they played Nebraska.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_04: Our only uh multiple point was we we both played Nebraska.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_04: We blew them out 22 to nothing in the Orange Bowl.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Washington played him pretty well in in Lincoln and beat him.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um obviously, you know, I'm on Miami Hurricane, and we're we're pretty confident guys, and we're we're pretty confident that that we would have uh we would have had success.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's you know it's great now that it's gone to the BCS, it's gone to a playoff, now it's gonna expand to where you get, you know, literally everybody that's has a chance based on their roster to win is gonna be in it, you know, going forward once they expand to to 12 teams.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_04: I I think that um what they did with splitting was the only thing that they could have done.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm glad that it worked out as it did because I remember after we beat Nebraska handily, um, I don't remember sleeping much that night.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember being with Coach Erickson.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_04: We were at some, you know, the post-game party, and and you know, Coach Erickson, he was concerned.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we were all concerned that you know the I I think how it went, it was the coaches had us one, Washington two, and I think the press had Washington one and us two.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_04: So it flipped.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_04: And until that final vote come came in, you don't know if because we were like, okay, we both won the bowl game, give them the AP and give us the give us the coaches poll, and and we split a title.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_04: Because there was no way, you know, we couldn't play.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_04: And it was nothing against them there in a major conference.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they went through undefeated, had a great team.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we did the we did the same and and and had a great team.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think that um, you know, I'm I'm glad that you know it wasn't an issue like a you know, what was it, 94 pence state where they go undefeated and they don't get a share or you know, things like that.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: And it's you know, th those are things that when you're playing in a uh a Power Five conference, if you will, the of now and and you go undefeated, um you know that you you beat everybody that they put in front of you and and you're a player and you expect to to win a ch to win a championship.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_04: And I and I think that um you know it it uh I don't think it takes anything off of their them calling themselves champions or us calling you know us champions.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_04: I'm glad it worked out how it did, because that's just that was the system at the time.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think you know they have uh people can win two gold medals in the Olympics, so I think it's kind of a similar thing.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh going into the 1992 season, was winning the Heisman one of your goals?
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_04: When in uh our my goal when we started working out probably three weeks in January after we had won the the championship and beat Nebraska was our goal was 30 and oh.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_04: And if we went undefeated, we would have been 30 and oh in our last 30 games as as my class.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_04: So that was that was our goal.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_04: And um, you know, I you know, you you know with with team success comes individual accolades, and that's kind of you know how how I looked at it, but it wasn't, you know, there was no way I was winning anything unless we were winning games, and and um um so that was kind of I I let the let the other stuff kind of fall as it may and and just kind of go through go through the season and and work our prepare, but it was it was to go undefeated again.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you were one of the Heisman front runners coming in, and so you must have had Well, I don't know about that, Chris.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_04: I I would I would I would uh totally combat you there because there's one all American team that I didn't make, and do you know what all American team that was?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Was it the USA of the day?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_04: Uh all Playboy preseason All-American.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_04: And one of my Rusty Madaris, and that was back when Hefner had, you know, flew the whole teams back to to uh you know do the photo shoot.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, that was the still nursing the still nursing the grudge to this day.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_04: Still hurts, still hurts.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_04: So uh I give I give Shane Matthews grief all the time.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_04: You you you you stole the preseason All American, not I don't think I was um you know, I I would have been considered a dark horse.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_04: I think Rick Meyer was one of the favorites at Notre Dame.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um he was coming off a good year.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously it was Notre Dame, so you're gonna you know have that success.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you were up you were up there.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you were at you were in the conversation.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, maybe in the top ten guys, you know, on the front on the front.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_04: I was on the fringe looking in.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it wasn't it wasn't uh I just had to go out and play.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_04: It was it was uh it was a it was a slow burn at the the the uh hype built, I guess, as the season progressed.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then you guys, of course, did go undefeated in the regular season.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yet you got to 29 uh games.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: What was that a lot of pressure to to keep that streak going?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it was because then we also had so we ended our um regular season, so we won at home, we won won 25 games in a row at the Orange Bowl when I was in college for my five years, um, which ended up being part of the 58 uh game win streak that that still stands home win streak.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_04: Which Washington broke.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_04: Which Washington did beat us after I left and and broke the streak.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_04: So that you know, I don't know if it was pressure, you just you just knew about it.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that um, you know, we had a close call, Arizona guy.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_04: We beat him like 8-7, I think, you know, in the in the Orange Bowl.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, when when people were like, oh, Arizona's not any good, and it's like, oh, okay, Teddy Brucey's in the Hall of Fame, you know, I'm our Ty Partons.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, they had they had some studs on the body.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_04: Tony Tony Bowie.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but Bowie, you know, they had some studs.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_04: And uh they they played, obviously played well and and almost beat us.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um and then um, you know, we we we did well.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_04: We did, you know, obviously, you know, went went undefeated.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_04: So it was it was it was a great, great season.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't it wasn't it wasn't easy.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, I would say it probably wasn't as easy as our junior year.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_04: We lost a bunch of offensive linemen from my junior year to my senior year, and uh it wasn't as easy.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_04: Uh defensively, we had a I mean phenomenal defense.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think our defense gave up, I think it was less than 10 points both seasons, nine my 91 and 92 teams.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but was there had to be a point in the season where you thought, uh, I just might uh might win this Heisman thing.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_04: Uh you know, you never know.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_04: I think uh as the uh interview requests increased, um it was it was being at Miami was great because we were prepared like an NFL team to deal with the media.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think um, you know, when I got there, Steve Walsh, you know, was there, won a national championship, was probably top, I know he was top ten for the Heisman, you know, his his junior year.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um Tessa Verdi had had won the Heisman in in 86.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um and it was great.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, we had you know had to stand up in front of a podium every Tuesday and deal with the deal with the media that local media turned into national media.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um some of my good friends, uh John Ruth, who was the Ibis at the time, and and and uh Joe Slater, they had uh they had uh uh boats and Chris Fowler, this was pre-game day.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_04: I don't even think game day went on the road back then.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_04: Was that the Ibis that got uh that got momentarily detained by the John did get mom arrested or momentarily detained in uh in Tallahassee for shooting off the smoke in the in the uh in a fire extinguisher before our game.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um but Chris Fowler comes down to do you know a national interview.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_04: Next thing I know, it's me and Chris on the back of you know uh a big, nice big yacht riding around in uh in uh Biscayne Bay, and I turn behind me and John and and John Roos in the Ibis outfit, Joe's Joe's driving him.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_04: John's got a fishing pole and a sign he had made.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, this guy should he's should be in the after the uh mascot hall of fame because he had made a sign, you know, got it printed at wherever it's a Toretta for Heisman, and like he was fishing, you know, behind us, and just they were just driving back and forth of the camera.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um so it was just kind of you know, I would say as the as those interviews became more national, then you know, there became more pressure was okay, keep winning, and and you might have an opportunity to do it, but at no point, you know, I I mean I you you remember things that were said.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I th we we played Arizona, Penn State, Florida State, three back-to-back games.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, I I don't know who said if it was Corso at the time, if it was Edwin Pope, our Hall of Fame writer at the Herald, and it was like, if he wins those three in a row, he's got a good chance of winning the Heisman Trophy.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and you're like, okay, you know, whatever, but you don't you don't know.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, Marshall ended up being a uh, you know, runner up to me.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, if he if he rips off a 300-yard game at any point in those games, then it's it's totally changed.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, look at look at this year.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, yeah, I mean, it's the the the the front runners that have flipped every every single week.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, there have been amazing performances, which has been phenomenal.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, when people always ask me, it's like, who do you vote for to Heisman?
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_04: I and I and I literally I tell them I go, you know how hard it is to vote for the Heisman?
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_04: You get three blank lines and you have to pick them.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_04: And I go, you pick three, you tell me three.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_04: And people just they they freeze.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's not easy because they're like, well, yeah, I go, yeah, okay, that's why it's hard.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_04: You know what I mean?
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_04: You can make a case for the guy at three to be one on any ballot, and you can make a guy, you know, guy at ten to be three.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_04: Uh you know, it's like it's very hard to make that determination.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_04: So you have to come up with your, you know, how you're gonna vote.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_04: You don't just put down somebody's name because you think they're gonna win or somebody else is doing it.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_04: You do it how you want to do it.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what was your trip to New York City like, and who were some of the Heisman winners that you were excited to meet?
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, I was in Louisville, Kentucky the night before.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_04: And I believe at midnight I was told, well, this was when Johnny Nice was still alive, won the Johnny Nice Golden Armor Senior Quarterback Award, and uh, we were at a banquet, and I was told at midnight you are not making it to New York.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_04: There's a major um ice storm in the city, all the airports are shut down.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh NBC, who was doing the telecast at the time, you're going into a Louisville um studio to uh to tape it live.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_04: And then if you if you win, you know, they'll we'll figure out a way to get to you to New York and and go from there.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_04: So I was like, okay.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um so I went to sleep.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_04: I think I don't know, it might have been three, four in the morning.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_04: My mom, you know, is is in the next room.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_04: She wakes me up and she's like, Come on, we gotta go.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, what are you talking about?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_04: They're like, they're gonna fly.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_04: I think they flew me and my mom.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not sure if my brothers flew if we all threw together or different flights, but they're going, Newark is open, and we gotta get on the first flight.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, okay.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_04: So it was you know, obviously a 6 a.m.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_04: flight, you know, it's back back before the pre-NIL days, so you're flying commercial, you're not flying private jets of uh all over the world.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_04: So um get on a plane, land in New York, or landing in Newark, get in a car.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Jack, the Jack the Limo driver who's since passed, who's you know, great, he picks us up.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_04: We're driving in the city, and he's telling us, you know, about the ice storm.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean, I'm telling you, we went through the Holland Tunnel on that side on the west side, we come into the city, there had to be six inches of ice, like just all over cars.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_04: Like I had never seen, I mean, I've obviously snow skied and all that sort of thing, but sure had never I was like, what is an ice storm?
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_04: What is that, you know, what does that look like, you know?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_04: And so you see it, and I'm like, this is crazy.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_04: And get to the old downtown athletic club, and I don't know how much time I had, I know it wasn't a lot of time, um, but they they checked me into one of the rooms, and I'm like, Do I have enough time to shower?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_04: So I run upstairs, you know, go upstairs, um, take a shower, old building in New York after ice storm.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_04: That meant cold water.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_04: No different no the hot water didn't work, and I mean, it was um when you, you know, it's so cold you were just kind of running back and forth past it, you know, uh, just to try to try to get the soap off, and then make it, you know, rush downstairs, go to the go to the 13th floor, the Heisman floor, and and Marshall and Garrison were already there.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, it was probably 200.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_04: I don't even know if there was 200 people back then.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't a lot, but the the the floor could fit.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_04: We're all set up, TV broadcast is set up.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_04: Sit down, we we start talking, and and uh it was the Bills Dolphins playoff game, or playoff or regular season four playoff.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: Probably regular season at that point.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_04: And it went overtime.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, geez.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_04: So we're sitting there watching Jim Kelly and Merino battle it out.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's in Buffalo.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_04: They're it they're snowing like heck there.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um and we're sitting there and and waiting for the game to go overtime, because back then it was okay, it's not you don't have your own channel, you're waiting on NDC to to open and and start the broadcast.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_04: So that was a little bit hectic.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um in the USA today, that the day before, I think I don't know who wrote the article, it said Toretta's a favorite to win.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_04: That that's kind of all I all I saw coming in.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_04: Um I wrote some notes, you know, on a piece of paper for a speech in case I did win.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_04: And uh I remember sitting next to Garrison.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_04: I was sitting next to Garrison, I was at the end and Marshall's on the other side, and Garrison, I remember him asking me, he's like, Well, when you when are you um what are you doing after this?
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, I don't know, man, I barely made it.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_04: I just came in from Louisville, I don't even know what what happens here.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, I go, I I said, Well, what if you win?
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_04: And he goes, and he's I I can't remember what he said, and I said, Yeah, I go, yeah, I I prepared a speech just in case.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_04: And I think he was a little then he was nervous.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_04: He's like, uh-oh.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe I should have prepared a speech in case I in case I win.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_04: And um, you know, and then and then kind of would go through it, and OJ Simpson was one of the hosts on MBC, and you know, he was doing the interviews with us.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_04: He might have been partial to the running backs.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think he I think he I think he was biased towards I can see I can see that.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_04: He might have been biased towards Marshall and uh and Garrison, but uh yeah, and then it was I mean, when they said my name and I I went up there and I remember my mom screaming, um, I said a few words, said a few thank yous, and then it was I mean, it was a war with like I mean, five days of a whirlwind from from there.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_04: It was, come on, we're going up to a different floor, we're going to the 12th floor where the gym was in the DAC, all the national press is there, and then you're just you're just firing, you're firing back questions, answers.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_04: And I don't even think our sports, I don't think Linda, our sports information director, had made it yet because of the ice storm.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_04: So it was like everybody was taking different flights into the city.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um I know Coach Erickson was not there.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um he wasn't there until I think Sunday, Sunday or Monday when when he came in.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um so it was just kind of, yeah, it was uh chaotic.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was it was crazy time.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, how did winning the Heisman change your life?
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, well, how hasn't it?
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I you You know what I mean?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's like it's hard.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_04: It's like you you when I was twenty two, you know.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I was twenty two, I was a college football player.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_04: That was kind of kinda how it was.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_04: And then at twenty-two you become a historic college football player.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_04: And everybody knows you as you know the ninety-two Heisman Trophy winner.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think that um, you know, that's it, it's part of who you are.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I think, you know, you tell every winner from that day forward, you know, you'll always be remembered as the Heisman Trophy winner.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, even Dorset, even these guys that are NFL Hall of Famers, I mean, the first thing they always say is Heisman Trophy winner.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, and that's that's a uh you know, something that's that's with you, and I and I think that it gives you tremendous opportunity to do a lot of good things, you know, in the in the rest of your life, but it also brings attention and and you have to be have you have to be mindful of of that as you as you go through your uh your life, and then you become you know, you're part of an another family.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, you become good friends and and family with with other winners as as we continue to go back to New York and and welcome a new new uh fraternity member member in every single year.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_04: So it's uh it's it's a nice brotherhood, if you will.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_04: Changes your life.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_04: You whole whole other family is a pretty good one.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: Gives me chills just thinking about it.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: After the NFL, you went into a career as a financial advisor and you're covering college football and the radio for touchdown radio and Sirius XM and others.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about the state of college football these days?
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, I I think there are a lot of good things, but I think there are a lot of things that that could be addressed.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um and you know, I testified in Congress, you know, um last month and you know, gave my two cents.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_04: You know, would I have stayed at Miami with NIL and transfer portal now?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_04: I I don't know.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_04: But I don't think I would have had this, enjoyed the success that I ended up having by sticking it out and and hey, grass isn't greener always on the other side.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that you know the those things that the transfer portal, um I think one thing that that coming from the West Coast and growing up in the Bay Area, I made a choice to come to Miami.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_04: And and I knew that was gonna be tough.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_04: I knew I would play in front of my family if they came to the games, which is you know going to be very hard.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_04: And fortunately, my family, you know, could could afford to, you know, my mom could afford to fly to the games and on the east coast.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_04: But I look at what has currently transpired with the conferences, and you're essentially rendering, I would say, college athletics on the West Coast non-existent because you got SC and and UCLA going to the Big Ten, Cal and uh Stanford are coming here to the to the ACC, and I think about the kid that, you know, maybe as fortunate as me, and wanted to play at Cal.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_04: And he but he wants to play, be able to play in front of his family and friends essentially his whole season.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_04: Because you could take an hour flight, you can drive five hours down to LA, you get to see UCLA, you get to SC game, take an hour flight up north, you go see Washington, you go see, you know, why Washington State, you go to Oregon, you're there.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_04: You go to Salt Lake as an easy trip from the from the Bay Area.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_04: Well, what if you're not that fortunate?
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_04: These parents and family members, you know, maybe it's your grandparents, and they can't I mean they're gonna fly have to fly any away game that they play in, besides the was it five or six home games, is three thousand miles away, basically.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_04: I mean it's you know, it's it's for sure one flight, probably two.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think that I I just I don't agree with that.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um as far as how you fix that.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_04: I think there's a you know, there's obviously a lot of money that is is going around in the conferences that that something needs to be figured out.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I just think of how college football doesn't have a commissioner or some type of you know governing body that has teeth because the NC2A is afraid of, you know, I think they're afraid of being sued because they haven't had a lot of success in court based on NIL and all these other things that that they you know kind of suppressed for years.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um and like to me, it's if you have a fire power five, which okay, it's a power five, how how the games aren't structured with some kind of uh geography in mind.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_04: And what I mean by that is why there isn't a college football west coast, college football east coast, college football Midwest, college football southwest.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_04: Similar to the NFL, somebody schedules, you guys all play each other.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um the end of the year, top 12 teams are gonna make the playoffs, but you can keep, you know, you can keep Cal and USC as a rivalry.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_04: You can keep, you know, I mean, listen, Miami's gonna start playing Cal, which would have been great, hell, that'd have been great when I was in school.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_04: At least I'd have got some trips out to out to Northern California to see my family and and uh you know play in front of them.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh exotic matchups, to be sure.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, it's it you know, it's the battle of the GPAs between Duke and uh Stanford and any sport.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_04: So I so that's where I just think that there are certain things that that they could do that I believe would help because to me the success of college football, a lot of it is the regional rivalries.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I just broadcast Texas TCU isn't gonna happen.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_04: Bedlam isn't gonna happen.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, these are these are games.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_04: I I mean, and they already did it kind of with Nebraska leaving the the Big 12 prior, you know, Texas and Nebraska, Oklahoma, Nebraska.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_04: They don't play anymore.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_04: And it's just like, you know, you ask Johnny Rogers, ask those guys, ask Mike Rosier, ask, I mean, those are their biggest games.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_04: To to not have that regional rivalry where it's, I mean, you know, you're base barely across the state border, and those are things that I unfortunately are are just getting left on the wayside.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_04: And I I I don't agree with it.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_04: And and I just to me is I think there's enough money there to figure something out to say, here, here are the teams we got.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_04: How do we structure them?
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_04: Keep some kind of semblance of of you know these rivalry games, um have some kind of scheduling, maybe the Big Ten, you know, plays the Pac-10, and you know, the ACC plays the SEC, and you're you're mixing that in, and now you have an expanded 12-team playoff, and you're gonna get that that exposure.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, I just it I I feel sad for the people of the West Coast, but and I would even if I was a high school kid, I mean, if you think about it, yeah, you know, maybe he wants wanted to go play in the East Coast, okay, fine.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_04: Now, if he wants to play on the West Coast, which is fine, he's still gonna end up playing on the East Coast.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_04: Right, you know, and that's and though that that's somebody from the West Coast that came to the East Coast and stayed, but I made that choice, and they're not given a choice to stay home because a lot of guys where they go to college is based on where they live or where they grew up geographically, and I think that how it's currently constructed, you're not giving those kids on the West Coast that option.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_04: And to me, I'm sad for that.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lot of rivalry games that have a ton of history that I think that they're just going by the wayside, and I disappointed in in that.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if I had a vote for a commissioner of college football, I think uh I would give it to you, Gino.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think you'd make it.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_04: Hopefully they do something.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_04: I I don't know how it how it tell how it will transpire, but uh I I think that uh you know it's like when you have kids at some point in time, somebody's gotta be an adult and sure and teach them.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well it's good that someone who has who's played it and has had great success it cares about it enough to think about these things.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that's good.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um okay, we're gonna do uh close things out with just a few rapid fire questions.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the end of the season, we're gonna do a clip show.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_00: I ask all the Heisman winners who've come on the show.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um Okay.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_00: One, what's your favorite Heisman moment by someone else?
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, wow.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um I would say this.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_04: I broadcast the Arkansas at Texas AM game, and I remember saying in the game, I think Manzel had almost 600 yards of offense.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_04: And this was early, and I just said, We might have seen a Heisman Trophy winner today and don't even know it.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_04: And that was just I it was just it was just a jaw-dropping performance for 60 minutes.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you keep your Heisman trophy?
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_04: It is uh upstairs in the bookcase.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_04: Blend it out on occasion to our Hall of Fame when they when when the University of Miami asked for it.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: What Heisman winner winner were you most excited to meet?
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_04: Oh God.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I I don't all of them have been so great.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe Jay Burwinger, he was the first one, he was still alive when I won.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_04: But you don't, I I mean, as a kid, you know, at 22, I I didn't know the history.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_04: I knew that you you know the award.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but you really don't know, you know, kind of the history of of guys that won it.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_04: My my favorite story, you know, is that you we would go down on the third floor in the grill in the in the DAC.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember going down there by myself, and and I remember Hopalon Cassidy, uh Johnny Lattner, Jay Burwanger, and Joe Bellino are all sitting at a table.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_04: I sat by myself, and they're like, no, no, no, sit over here.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember sitting down, listening to their stories.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I remember asking Joe Bellino, well, Joe, what'd you do after you won the Heisman?
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_04: And he goes, Well, I was sent to Vietnam.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_04: That's what I did.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and I was just, you know what I mean?
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's just like your your eyes pop out of your head because the the history of the ward and the stories of the winners, especially the you know, the the older guys that I got a chance to meet that have passed on, is that's that's I mean, it's second to none.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the DAC was the real Heisman house back in the day.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, describe to me your kind of like signature play as a Heisman winner.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I don't know if it's a signature play, it was win.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_04: I I knew you know, I I do whatever it takes to win.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_04: And I and I think, you know, I'm I'm always appreciative.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_04: I think after Wide Right two, when we beat Florida State my senior year, and Coach Bowden just said I could sum this game up in one word, and it was Toretta.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_04: He was great.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um who's the greatest Heisman Trophy winner of them all?
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um Wow, so many great options, but don't you just have to go with Archie since he did it twice?
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I mean there, you know, having having seen guys for the last 20-some years broadcasting, um just an awe to be in a fraternity with them.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, Cam Newton, the size, and you know, guys couldn't tackle Bo Jackson, the speed, Herschel, the the speed, Rozier and and Johnny, the the the special teams, door you know, doorset, you know, Staubach, Testa Verdi running around at it at Miami, uh, you know, Ty Deppmer lighting us up at the start of the 90s season, and he wrapped up the Heisman in week one.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yep.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, just I've seen so many great performances and and and seeing those guys.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_04: I you know, I would probably say, you know, even Tim Brown, I mean, obviously the special team or Desmond, I mean, they basically did it off special teams and and and others.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_04: So I I don't know if I could say I say one, but I'd say Archie because he's got he's got two nice bronze trophies.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a very popular pick.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's either it's either him or Barry Sanders that we get a lot of.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_04: See, and I forgot Barry, but I play with him with the Lions.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_04: And but the greatest thing about Barry, we would watch game film on Mondays in Detroit, and every single offensive play Barry got the ball, it was nice run, Barry.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_04: And he would just be like, Thanks.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_04: Nice run, Barry.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_04: And I I mean like five guys on defense would touch him, nobody could tackle him.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_04: Nice run, Barry.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, thanks.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if you could give a Heisman out to someone who didn't win the award, like an extra Heisman to someone, who would that be?
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my god.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um Wow.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_04: Uh players that I thought.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_04: I thought I thought guys that like McCaffrey, I thought was right there.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean not taking it, you're not taking a Heisman away from anyone necessarily by doing this.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're just saying that this guy, you know, was Heisman worthy.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_04: Oh man, there's a lot.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_04: Deshaun Watson, uh McCaffrey, heck, uh, you know, uh my runner-up, Marshall, was was phenomenal.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_04: Got hurt at the end of the year.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um you know, I think there's there are so many great guys.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_04: I think I you know, I I get a kick out of you know, Hugh Green and and Jim McMahon always give George Rogers grief.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you told my Heisman.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_04: I I don't know.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_04: That's a that's a tough one because I I would say this, uh, that there's probably a lot of runner-ups that uh that are that are very deserving as well.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_00: Who's the toughest player you ever played against and why?
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_04: Toughest player ever played against.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um Wow.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um in college, I think some of the great performances defensively I've seen Mark D'Noffrey at linebacker at Penn State had one arm tied to his side and made about 15 tackles on us.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Marvin Jones of Florida State was was just a beast.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um you know, I I'd I guess I'd have to go with with those couple guys besides.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I can't pick my teammates because they're they're the toughest ones when I used to have to practice against them every single day.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now I I asked this question of Archie and and um Ricky Williams, and and they, you know, uh it was about the strangest place you've ever been recognized as a Heisman winner.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: Archie was in a play in England, and Ricky Williams was in the I think the Familia Sagrada in the church in uh Barcelona, uh, and he got called out.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um has have you ever been somewhere and and someone said, Hey, didn't you win the Heisman Trophy?
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um Bulldog Cafe in Amsterdam.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_04: And and I was we were we were there, I was there playing in the world league.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_04: I think it was our first, it was our first game.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_04: I played for Düsseldorf out of Germany.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um back when they were trying to bring the before it was even called it was called World League still, it wasn't even called NFL Europe at the time, but it was still NFL and the and NFL backed.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, yeah, remember we just walking around seeing Amsterdam and um wearing the Bulldog and sitting there, and this couple sitting next to me was like, they kind of look at me and they're like, it was well, it started with, aren't you, Gino Toretta?
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_04: Don't you play with the for the Vikings?
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_04: And I was just like, wow, this is kind of you know, I just alright, yeah.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_04: They're like, you won the Heisman Trophy, right?
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_04: And I was just like, yeah.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_04: So I I guess farthest away from home for sure, that was uh finally, what would you be doing if you never played college football?
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh if I never played college football, well, hopefully I would have had a long, successful career playing baseball of some sort, but uh that's that's what I would say.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_04: My wife always tells me I should have been an engineer.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_04: So uh so maybe I'd be an engineer.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, you were in the Bay Area, so you know, not too far from where all the action is.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_04: I say, I say if you know Stafford would have recruited me, my roommate could have invented Google when I wouldn't be working.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: Gino Treda, thanks for coming on the show.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was a great conversation, really enjoyed it, and uh, we wish you the best of health going forward, and we'll probably see you in New York, I imagine, uh coming up in December.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_04: Sounds good.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_04: Appreciate it, Chris.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hey college football fans, tickets to the 2023 Heisman Trophy Dinner Gala are now on sale.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_00: The event takes place in New York City on Sunday, December 10th, the day after the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_00: The guest of honor for the gala is the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner, as well as the 50th anniversary winner John Capoletti, the 25th anniversary winner Ricky Williams, and the 10th anniversary winner Jameis Winston.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, we'll also be honoring the 2023 Heisman Humanitarian Award winner.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_00: Just go to Heisman.com to purchase tickets and witness Heisman history.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_00: Take an even deeper dive into Heisman lore by going to Heisman.com, home to all things Heisman, including news, bios, and the latest on all the winners, plus updates on the Heisman Trophy Trust and its charitable mission.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's the A to Z for Everything Heisman, from Alan Amici to Danny Werfel.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: We really need a Heisman winner whose name begins with Z.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to close out this week's episode with our next guest.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_00: He is one of the great American sportscasters in the modern era.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_00: From 2007 until 2023, he was the co-anchor of the West Coast edition of SportsCenter, alongside Stan Verrett.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_00: He was born in Portland, Oregon, raised in Spokane, definitely a child of the Pacific Northwest.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right now he is working uh with the Portland Trailblazers, and he will be hosting the Heisman Trophy Dinner Gala on Sunday, December 10th.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it will be uh great to have him to uh introduce the new Heisman Trophy winner, and we're excited to have him on the show today.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_00: Neil Everett, Sportscaster Extraordinaire, thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm living the dream.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna host the Heisman Gala on Sunday, December 10th in New York City at the Marriott Marquee.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: How did it come about that uh you're the man this year?
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I thought I was getting punked when I got the phone call.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh what a terrific honor.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_03: My thanks to Rob Whalen and and his group for uh penciling me in.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh just tremendous.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it came out of left field.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_03: I know this is football, but this came out of left field.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Rob called up, asked if I was available.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_03: I immediately ran to my little calendar and made sure I was available.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, this is this is beyond enormous in uh in my playbook.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, my my this would go to the top of my resume.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the gala is very different from the ceremony itself, a bit more majestic, I'd say, kind of has its own tradition.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_00: We talked earlier in the year with the great Don Cricky, whose footsteps you will be following in.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_00: He was a longtime host.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been to the gala?
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_03: I have been.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_03: I was yeah, I've been to the Heisman's uh the whole weekend in uh was it uh 2007 when Baker Mayfield uh or was that 17, 2007?
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_07: 17, yeah, yeah.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh he's not that old.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh when Baker Mayfield won.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I went, you know, I was able to go to the room where all the dudes are just hanging out.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I went to the event itself and had great seats.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_03: And then I went to the dinner, they honored Ernie Else, who was such a great dude, and Reese Davis was the uh the host that evening.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how do you go about preparing for an event like this?
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, you I I think you can get if if I get too deep into it, if I go too into a rabbit hole of Heisman stuff, I'm gonna f I'm gonna freak out.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I think you know it's uh everybody's there to have a good time, uh a dignified good time.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I think you just set the tone by uh, you know, being dignified, not but being funny, but not too funny.
• 1:05:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh right.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_03: I I I think just like I'm gonna just uh to be honest with you, I'm gonna be like uh I'm just hoping I don't beavis and butt head it, you know what I mean?
• 1:05:18
  SPEAKER_03: Because I'm gonna see it see all these guys that I've looked up to my whole life, and uh just to be uh in the same uh room with them is quite a thrill.
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily, there's a nice selection of wine that's served at the event, so generally the speakers get get funnier as the night goes on.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_00: Being a University of Oregon alum, are you holding out hope that you might get a chance to introduce Bo Nix as the next Heisman winner?
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well, he's right there.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_03: He's he's Nick's is in the mix, that's for sure.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_03: Uh uh yeah, that'd be something else.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's it's been nearly 10 years since uh Marcus Mariota won it.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we all remember his acceptance speech was one of the greatest ones ever.
• 1:05:55
  SPEAKER_03: And uh uh he was, you know, Bo Nix is Bo Nix is having.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_03: A Heisman worthy season, uh uh, but only one guy can walk away with that trophy.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's a it's that's it's a the exclusivity of the club is what makes it so special.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_00: You worked in sports information at Hawaii Pacific University, so you know what it's like working in college athletics.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think of schools that promote their players for awards like the Heisman?
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_00: And do you think that kind of stuff is effective?
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_00: And what kind of messaging do you think works best?
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, uh, you know, I don't know that it I don't think it's ineffective, but the the bottom line is it's what you do on Saturdays on the on the football field.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_03: So you can put up uh you can put up whatever uh media presentations you want.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I I would think you know it come it comes down to the uh it comes down to the eye test on the football field more than the eye test on uh promotional material.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_03: But uh heck, yeah, if if if if I was a school that had a kid that was that was in the mix, I'd be I'd be all in 24-7 on pushing his name.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's the you know, not only does the the kid win, the young man win, but the school wins, and it wins forever.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you become, you know, Mariota won.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_03: That was a huge deal for the University of Oregon and still is.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think of this year's Heisen race?
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, uh listen, I Michael Pan, you know, I went to Oregon, okay?
• 1:07:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm not supposed to be an awe of anybody from the UW.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but Michael Pennox, you know, there's something, there's something, Chris, about the one when it comes out of a left-hander's hand, it just, it's, it's just, it's just Kenny Stabler or who have T Bow, you know, whoever lefties.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, just it's there's something something sexy about that uh coming out of the left-hander's hand.
• 1:07:47
  SPEAKER_03: But I think, you know, it look it looks to me like, you know, it's it's Penix and Nick's and and and Jaden Daniels are probably your top three, but Harrison at Ohio State is, I mean, anything that's thrown in his vicinity, he seems to catch.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the uh the the Michigan quarterbacks had a great year.
• 1:08:05
  SPEAKER_03: The Florida State quarterback was having a great year until he had the had the injury.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a lot, there's a lot of lot of worthy candidates, and the the you know, the the the men and women who vote, they're they're I think they're usually on it.
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think anybody's jumped up and down and said, My God, they got that one completely wrong.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a Heisman voter yourself?
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_03: I have been, yes.
• 1:08:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um what are some of your favorite Heisman memories and some of the favorite guys you voted for in the past?
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I haven't been one for very long, so I've only had a couple boat, I've only had a couple years where I voted.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think somebody dropped out on the West Coast and they were kind enough to include me.
• 1:08:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I'll tell you the great story, Chris, is I got uh I got introduced to the Heisman um in about I think it was uh about 07, maybe it was uh uh we did a deal in New York for ESPN, and Heisman was looking for somebody, uh Nissan and Heisman were looking for somebody to host a weekly event at college football games throughout the country.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_03: And for some reason, uh they they picked me.
• 1:09:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so for the for the next six, seven years, I got to travel across the country, go to all these different venues on Saturdays, and we'd have what they call the Nissan Heisman House.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_03: And then how and then some you know, if we were in if we were in Oklahoma, uh, you know, or if we were in Oklahoma State, Barry Sanders would show up.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_03: And all of a sudden now I'm sitting here talking to Barry Sanders about winning the Heisman.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_03: He tells a story about how he was in Japan when he was awarded the Heisman because the Cowboys are playing there.
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_03: But we I did this for I did this for a number of years.
• 1:09:44
  SPEAKER_03: I met, I was counting, I think I met 45 Heisman Trophy winners doing this gig.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so to uh, you know, to and every time I'm just like, well, I'm with Herschel Walker.
• 1:09:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I remember I told I saw Eric Dickerson in LA at something, and and we were talking, and I said, uh, he said, hey, tell Herschel he's got my Heisman.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_03: So the next time I saw Herschel, I said, Hey, I saw Eric Dickerson.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_03: He said, You have his Heisman, and Herschel looked at me and goes, Well, tell Eric he can come fight me for it if he wants.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_03: So just just stuff like that.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, just you know, George Rogers, what I mean, he's always in a Mike Rogier, he's the coolest dude in the room.
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, all these guys and to to sit around and be backstage and talk to him.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_03: And uh Desmond with the the the you know should be selling toothpaste, he's got the greatest smile on television.
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so so so they're all they're all memories that are just like I you know what it is.
• 1:10:45
  SPEAKER_03: I I feel like I'm living outside my body when I see myself in those situations.
• 1:10:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, wow, I'm with, you know, I'm with this Heisman guy.
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_03: Unbelievable.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Did you find yourself following the Heisman race more since you've been involved with the Heisman and getting a Heisman vote?
• 1:11:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, 100%.
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, but again, you don't, you know, like I was reading, I was reading uh an article just this morning, and it was like, well, according to this guy's formula, one of one of the three guys is one of the three that I mentioned is heads and tails above the other two.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_03: And it was surprising to me.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but I saw what where his logic was, uh, and it was it was in it was interesting, you know.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_03: And there's all those websites out there that say, you know, this is who's gonna win, or this is who's gonna win.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_03: But uh that used to be me.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I used to have one of those websites.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you did?
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Before I started, before the Heisman reeled me, and I was Heisman Pundit.
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I probably used that on a on a sports center uh uh lead at one time.
• 1:11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh did you have any favorite winners growing up?
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what was your earliest exposure to the Heisman?
• 1:11:51
  SPEAKER_03: Ooh.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I want to say like Jim Plunkett.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_03: Man, you know, I'm 61, so I go back I go back a ways with the Heisman.
• 1:12:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and you know, just uh growing up on the West Coast, I grew up in Eastern Washington, so it was uh it was you know Pac 8 football uh uh was the big deal back then.
• 1:12:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I remember the some uh throwing Samoan, who didn't win the Heisman, but you know, him him being Thompson.
• 1:12:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, him being in the conversation.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and I listened to Koog games on my little portable radio or in the car when the when when Pops was driving wherever we were going.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_03: So um I I think I think you know it was funny.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_03: We we were doing the the Heisman commercial at the Heisman House, the one that runs, you know, that the the folks out there, you know, the one that runs on game days and all that.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so they had a big room where all the the the guys who were filming, all former Heisman winners, were in this room.
• 1:12:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I walked in and I look and I'm like, okay, there's Ricky Williams, there's Johnny Rogers, and then I and I look in the back and I go, Oh, there's Jim Plunkett, you know, who I'd never met.
• 1:13:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I kind of look and we made eye contact.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_03: And Jim Plunkett goes, Hey Neil, how are you doing?
• 1:13:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, Oh my god, Jim Plunkett knows who I am.
• 1:13:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so it was super cool.
• 1:13:13
  SPEAKER_00: What a great feeling.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, that's how I'm gonna be, you know, that that's how I'm gonna be when I meet 90, you know, even the guys I've already met, just to be in that room.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, it's a room of greatness, and then I'm there.
• 1:13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, you're a Pacific Northwest guy at heart, obviously.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what do you think about these great years that both Washington and Oregon are having in the last year of the Pac-12 and and you know, the demise of the conference itself?
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a that's like a death in the family.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it really is.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, my grandpa played for the Ducks in the 1920 Rose Bowl.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_03: So uh so it's really in my DNA, this whole West Coast football thing.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, I'm I'm sorry that it uh came to that.
• 1:13:55
  SPEAKER_03: It was uh uh screwed up by people a lot smarter than me.
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_03: So uh, you know, it's just uh it's it's uh it's unfortunate.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_03: But um, you know, hey, listen, change, change is inevitable.
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, so you know, I think years from now we'll look back.
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_03: I I think probably the the football part of it's gonna, you know, change, but I would I would imagine the rest of sports are gonna have to have to bounce back to regional rivalries at some point because for for economic sense and for for the good of the uh the good of the athlete.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you've been to uh the ceremony and and the gala before, but what are you looking forward to the most uh when you get up there in that dais with all those winners?
• 1:14:39
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'll tell you what, I I guess I'm looking forward, because I assume that he'll be there, is uh uh shaking Bo Nix's hand and thanking him for uh what he's done for the university, because uh, you know, it's the only sport in town in Eugene.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_03: And uh what he's done and what Dan Lanning's done, uh uh you know, to be able to thank them personally uh for uh all the all the entertainment and uh that they've they they brought not only me but all my buddies who went to Oregon, you know, it's it's a it it's a glue that keeps a community together and and not just the community in Eugene, but the community of Eugene, of which I am part of that, having gone to school there.
• 1:15:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, and then and then taking a look at all the guys who are there and just like saying to my wife, that's Mike Rogier.
• 1:15:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's Barry Sanders.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_03: So uh, you know, just you know, listen, when you're when you're when you're in a room of greatness, you know, how can you not absorb it in uh just the the mana, the aura of it, and just bathe in it.
• 1:15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm sure it's gonna be a great event, and we look forward to seeing you out there.
• 1:15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Neil Everett, thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_00: We look forward to to uh catching up with you uh when you get out to New York.
• 1:16:00
  SPEAKER_03: Started living a dream, still living the dream.
• 1:16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Deal.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I appreciate you.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that'll do it for this week's show.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to check back next week when we will at some point have all four Heisman Trophy finalists on the show.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're not sure yet on the timing, and we're also gonna tell some great stories about the Heisman Trophy ceremony itself, its speeches, and all the traditions.
• 1:16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the big conference title matchups this weekend.
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're about to find out who's gonna be the next Heisman Trophy winner.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Very exciting.
• 1:16:35
  SPEAKER_00: The official Heisman Trophy podcast streams every Wednesday during the college football season and is hosted, co-produced, edited, and engineered by Chris Houston.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Goldberg is the executive producer and editor.
• 1:16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Special shout out to Isaac Mohencron, and big thanks to the Heisman Trophy Trust and its executive director, Rob Whalen, and associate director Tim Henning.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_00: The official Heisman Trophy podcast can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.
• 1:16:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find clips of our show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
• 1:17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Just go to Heisman Trophy.