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Pitt QB's in the NFL · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to another exciting episode of the Pittsburgh Sports Memories podcast.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: And on this podcast, we're going to talk about pit quarterbacks.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, we won't be covering all of them, so you don't have to hear the uh tales of Tino Censeri or John, who is it, John Terman.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we'll be just sticking to the ones that uh made it to the NFL.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: So um come join us on our fun trip down uh memory lane here.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and as usual, I'm joined with my uh co-host uh Tim Hannan.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: And Tim, um we're just I'm just gonna run through these uh chronologically.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess um we'll start off with maybe some people we haven't heard from, and then we'll work our way into probably some people we have heard from.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so without further uh delay, we'll get into a gentleman with I'm sure Tim remembers this guy.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: He was sitting definitely in Pitt Stadium watching him play.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um this is uh one Paul Rickards.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: I have no idea Ricards, Ricard, Ricardo?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I can't pronounce if I'm offending the Ricards family.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I apologize.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: But um he played from um let me see, he played in the NFL for like one minute.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: He played at Pitt, though, he was very successful.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: He enrolled in 1944, but um, you see there was this like whole war thing going on, so he ended up getting uh drafted into the Army Air Corps, which was the Air Force back then.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: So he he came back, he you know did hold up his end of the bargain after he survived the war and got discharged.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: He came back in 1946 and he announced that he would return to pit.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: So um after two years away, he came, but he had some trouble adjusting the new coach.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um he did play a little bit in the single wing, but I guess not a lot, but I guess he made enough that he uh got actually tried out for the Cleveland Browns in 48, but Paul Brown didn't like him.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So he ended up in the Los Angeles Rams.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: He was behind uh guy named Bob Waterfield, who's a Hall of Famer.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've I don't never heard of for the Rams.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not familiar with that guy, but yeah, apparently he was really good back in the 1940s.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um he only completed two passes.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't last very long in the NFL.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: He went to another league called I don't know what the American Football.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: I guess it was the AFL, and he played for some team called the Richmond Rebels.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, that was the new American Football League, so maybe that wasn't the AFL.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: So in 49.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I guess that would have probably predated the AFL that merged eventually.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: So um, like I say, he played he played two seasons for them, 17 games.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: He actually compiled almost 2,000 passing yards and 28 touchdown passes.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: So um good for Paul Ricard.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we go from 1948, and it's a little bit of a drought on pit quarterbacks playing in the NFL.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to say that uh Richmond Rebels would definitely be way too politically incorrect of a team name for today.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Could you imagine that?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, isn't all Old Miss is still the Rebels, technically, right?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Or did they get rid of their little rebel guy?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Good good point.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I know they got mad at them even back in like when Archie Manning was there, like when he was going for the Heisman, like they used to wave their little Confederate flags, and even back in like the 60s, that wasn't really cool.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So go figure, you know, people are offended by that.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can't imagine why.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, you know.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I it's all over states' rights, too.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: State's rights, yeah, yeah.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: They're really passionate about their states' rights down there.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: I digress.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know, a mere 30 years later, Pitt decided that it was time to put another quarterback in the NFL, and that would be one Matthew Kavanaugh.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: He played for the Patriots.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: He actually was a pick of the Patriots in the in the in 1978 after he graduated.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: But a pit, he um he was named MVP of the 1977 Gator Bowl, and he threw four touchdown passes and a 34-3 win over Clemson.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: See, having good games against Clemson.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's just what Pitt and Pitt quarterbacks do.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be another quarterback on this list that has a really good day against Clemson.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so he threw for a lot.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: He he won a national championship of Pitt, and that was the first one since the 30s, so it was pretty good.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think he was only I think uh in history, in Pitt's history, at that point, he only trailed Ken Lucas's yards for a single season or something.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so, but that was until some other guy came along and broke those records.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about him a little probably next.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um so he I remember him more I mean as a he was a backup, and I don't really remember him as a backup.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: He played a lot for San Francisco and the Eagles and the Giants.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: I remember him more as a coach than probably these guys.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like he was the backup to Joe Montana and uh Joe Jeff Haustetler.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um he retired in 91, believe it or not.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: He lasted, what is that, 12, 13 years in the NFL?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: He only he did appear in 112 games, he had 305 uh oh, 4,000 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, and 30 interceptions, which isn't very good, a 71 passer rating.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but his more is known, he's been everywhere as an offensive coach.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: He coached um the offensive coordinator at Pitt.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: He's been with the Cardinals, 49ers.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think he won, did he win a Super Bowl with the Ravens?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's Super Bowl 35.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the well, I don't know if that's a proud moment to be a coordinator of that offense.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I guess if you're just gonna tell people don't turn the ball over, I mean I could have probably coached that offense.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, um he he did come back to pit, and now he's actually um he's actually uh he coached the Bears.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: I forgot about that.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like he was offensive coordinator, and he's back, he was he was uh with the Red the with the Washington Guardians, whatever they are, more offensive names, I guess.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he he's now he was promoted after Sean McVeigh left to the to the Rams.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: So now he's the uh coordinator of the actually uh what he's an off a senior offensive assistant with the New York Jets, who um they're actually having a pretty good season.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: So kudos to Matt Kavanaugh.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um I always liked the Matt Kavanaugh spite play.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember that, Tim, at all?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: You remember that game against South Florida where like the that was the year the refs just decided they didn't like Pitt at all?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: So like they they they scored a touchdown on like a pass play, and they literally ran the same exact like jump ball pass play on the next one and scored another touchdown.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like they scored a touchdown, got a called back, and it was like, oh, I'm just gonna run the same exact play, and they got another touchdown.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, yeah, Matt Kavanaugh's just out there, run it again, run it again.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it was that was kind of fun.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: He he was the offensive coordinator for 13-9.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, probably not the greatest offensive work performance in uh school history, but um, it's one of the best wins in school history, and um he knew enough to give LaShawn McCoy the ball a lot.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: So um, like I said, more known for a coach, wouldn't you say, Tim, than uh probably a player.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I totally agree.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's really what I know him for.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I vaguely remember him as a player, as a backup quarterback, and I think the only reason I remember him as a player is because I knew that he was the quarterback for Pitt's national championship team, you know, which predated me a little bit.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: But if he hadn't played for Pitt, you know, I mean he would have been just like every other second and third string quarterback in the 80s, and you would have forgotten about him.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: I still remember um Steve De Berg or uh He started though for a while.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't I don't like you said, Kavanaugh didn't didn't I mean he appeared in a bunch of games, but he was largely a backup.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, but kudos to him.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: He lasted for, like you said, a long time in the league and then certainly had a very long coaching career, um, albeit, you know, mixed results, you know, definitely coaching a lot of I I think he coached a lot of teams where it was, you know, run, game, and defense first.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, but like you said, somebody has to has to develop those kinds of game plans and he was successful in a few of those places.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, you can't argue with uh the results and um I I wasn't ever crazy about Matt Kavanaugh.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I like the um guy who came after him, the other Signetti.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Not the Signetti that's here now, I guess.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Who's there now?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Frank?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Now Kurt Signetti, I think, or I don't know.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: The other Signetti that came after him.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now there's another Signetti.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was the same guy.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's a they're brothers.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: And both their father actually, for just for fun facts, um coached at um West Virginia before Don Nealand in the 70s.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: He coached Oliver Locke, believe it or not.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: So fun fun times.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: And he he actually ended up going to IUP and was extremely successful head coach at IUP for like 20 or 30 years.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: He he died just this actually just this year and was very successful.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, we'll save that for our IUP football podcast.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Great moments in IUP football history.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so the next guy I think we've all heard of, um, one Dan Marino.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was a uh 27th pick in 1983 of the Miami Dolphins.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: So all right, here we go.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, a six-time first or second team all-pro.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's made the AFC six times.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: He's NFL rookie of the year in '84, NFL most valuable player, and he had 48 touchdown passes in nine uh 300-yard passing games, four, four hundred yards.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: 48 touchdown passes in a season, and what used to be really good.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: What's the record now?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: 55?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Is it 55?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: I I believe it's 55, but I mean that record stood for at least 20 years.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, and then like Peyton Manning just barely beat it by like what one or two the one year, and then then Tom Brady got jealous and was like, You better get me Randy Moss.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, whap, ooh, hoo, who I'm talking about.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's we'll save that for the let's make fun of Tom Brady podcast, which it just we I bet a lot of people would tune into that podcast.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's like they're like, I'm giving out million dollar ideas here.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's true, especially people in Pittsburgh.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're like, let's make fun of Tom Brady.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I digress.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, back to Dan Marina, who we like.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um, he held more than 40 single season and career passing records.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, some have been subsurped, a lot haven't.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was the first NFL quarterback to reach 50 and 60,000 career passing yards.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he also threw 400 career touchdown passes.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: He was the first to do that.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's, of course, a college football hall of famer and a pro football hall of famer.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he's only one of three former Miami Dolphins to have his jersey retired, number retired.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um, Marino is named to the NFL 100 all-time team as one of the 10 greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, you know, that was a lot of great stuff.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I would say, you know what hurt his draft stock?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this has always been the debate.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, he went, you know, you see how weight late he went.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: He had a bad game.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that his senior year was not good.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if he would have come out today, he would have come out after his junior year, or maybe his sophomore year.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I definitely say his junior year, he would have come out and probably been a much higher pick in 82 instead of 83.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So was that after they changed coaches, Steve?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Was that after that?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's what happened.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, his senior year he had Foge, a nice guy, good defensive coordinator, but not the greatest of offensive coaches, and they ended up losing in the cotton ball 7-3 to SMU and all their paid players, Eric Dickerson and Craig James, you know.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they they were they were paying for that big sack of money, you know.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: The coach for SMU would just put a big sack of money in the end zone.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: That makes you really motivated.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: So And Steve's not exaggerating that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: That they actually did get caught and they were given the death penalty a couple of years later by the NCAA.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that's actually that was actually really happening.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure he put the sack of money actually physically in the end zone.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, SMU was literally paying their players.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Before it was illegal.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's legal.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's just a thing, right?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: But whatever.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Good for Eric Dickerson and Craig James, I guess.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever happened to Craig James, he's not in broadcasting anymore, is he?
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: He just kind of I don't know, after he got mad with his kid and all that, huh?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, this this uh the very uh stream of consciousness podcast section.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of we have a lot of follow-up episodes to do on IUP, Craig James.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well the Tom Brady wine.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Tom Brady things we don't like.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So got a lot of good ideas for future episodes, too.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Not sure any of it relates to Pittsburgh sports, but that's okay.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh poor Dan um kind of got jobbed in that way, and the Steelers fell for it.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: So and it hurt hurt Chuck Knoll.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: They really should have drafted him, but you know, we've talked about that ad nauseum.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I don't know.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: I still think it it Dan probably made Don Shula like kept him in the league way longer than he should have.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I wonder if like Dan doesn't play for like Joe Walsh or yeah, the guy out in San Francisco.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Joe Walsh.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, or even um Gibbs, Joe Gibbs in uh in Washington.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I I bet he wins at least one Super Bowl.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I I can't I all I know is that the Dolphins never won the Super Bowl, and I I can't know, I don't know if I could pin it on why.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the fact that they only made it to one, you know, it was Marino's second year.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the AFC had it was really like the the Broncos and Bills and Ellie and Kim Kelly and those guys that were dominating the AFC all those years when Marino was was in his prime.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So why they could never cross that hurdle, I I don't know that I have a good enough reason for that.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very Ben-like thing, like after that one Super Bowl against Aaron Rodgers.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's like an Aaron Rodgers thing.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's like Aaron Rodgers almost say you could say the same thing about like they've they've been they've both been to one Super Bowl since those first two.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know, maybe the Ben doesn't hold up as much as the Aaron Rodgers.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: At least Aaron Rodgers won one.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean Ben won too, but it's it's Rogers.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Rodgers I always felt doesn't play very well in those big games.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Ben, and this is probably just me being totally a homer here.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Ben had some bad luck in those playoff games with injuries, defense giving up 45 points against Blake Portles.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: So stuff like that.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um but maybe it's maybe it's a combination of all those things for Marino.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe there were games, playoff games where his defense didn't hold up.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there were games where he just wasn't as clutch as he needed to be.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I would I would say the one where they gave up 67 points would be one where his defense didn't hold up.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was his last ever game.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so he played all the way until 99, and then yeah, Jacksonville beat them 60 whatever, 67 to 3 or whatever the score was.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was embarrassing.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that was Jimmy Johnson.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: That was a different coach, too.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so he just it just never worked.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's unfortunate for him.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: He, you know, maybe maybe the greatest quarterback ever to not win a championship.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think you could easily make that argument.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, one of my favorites, and then he had like kind of a sorted career there.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why'd he get kicked off CBS?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Is wasn't there some like personal stuff going on or something weird like that?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it was like a Me Too thing or I don't know.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: He had like a secret girlfriend.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's still married, even though he had like a child with a girl or something.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's something weird like that.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what happened to Dan.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: I I I I he seems like a nice guy.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, besides the whole cheating on his wife thing.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Moving on to people that um you back to people, well, you might know who this is.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: You probably know who this is.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one Alex van Pelt.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now I actually saw Alex Van Pelt play in college.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: I saw Dan Marino play in the pros, but I never saw Alex Van Pelt.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I saw Alex Van Pelt.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: I never saw Dan play in college, so that's what I was trying to say.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Spit it out, spit it out.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so so Alex Van Pelt attended the University of Pittsburgh where he graduated, and he broke all the records by Dan Marino.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: And he actually, wasn't he the top when he left?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: He was the top passing yards leader in NCAA history, if I do remember correctly, I think, right?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: He was definitely the top passing leader of Pitt.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I know that.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he had a single season mark, which actually he held for a while until it got broken by another guy on his list, his single season of 3,163 passing yards.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was broken by somebody else who's gonna be on our list here shortly.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: But and I bet people people are gonna think it's somebody else who it isn't.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna guess who this is, so um, he had a lot, he had a really good career, Pitt, and he was pretty good.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I guess they ran more of like a passing friendly offense too.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: That who is that?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Was that Mike Godfrey?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was his yeah.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So they kind of and they and that was those years Pitt went like six and six every year, right?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I think there was one year maybe they had like four four wins, but for the most part.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: So Alex Van Pelt, the Pitt or the Steelers for once, before though we'll get into that later, but remember they used to never draft Pitt players?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that it'd be like, oh no, we're not drafting anybody from right next door.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they didn't practice right next door at that point, but for some reason they never I mean, granted Pitt didn't really have that great a teams back in the 90s, but it never seemed like even when they did, they never drafted anybody.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: So he they the Steelers did the eighth round draft pick.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do they even have eight rounds of the drafts?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 19:36
  unknown: Wow.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: So so he would have been a free agent signing nowadays, but um he spent um he got cut during training camp.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: I remember that he didn't get much of a chance.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: I uh what was that 93?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: So they had other quarterbacks that were probably better.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it Donald and Tom Zach and probably Brister, maybe still was possibly, yeah, or like Rick Strom or somebody like that would have been in there.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't think they had Cordell.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Cordell didn't come until like a year or two later.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, he uh got he also went to Kansas City and he got um he actually I think he got some playing time because he was uh following an injury to Joe Montana.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um he just spent three games there.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: He did not get any playing time.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: He was uh he was re signed by the Chiefs, but then they were cut, and then he went to Buffalo, and that's where he found a home.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And he spent probably like the rest of well he did, he spent the rest of his career as a backup in Buffalo.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um he actually, ironically enough, his first win as a starter was against Dan Marino.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, pit on pit crime there.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you were picking quarterbacks to win against each other, would you pick Van Delta for Marino in the NFL?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely not.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um he actually, you know, he he got um he supplanted Rob Johnson.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then uh he got he devoted to backup when they brought in Drew Bledsoe in the 2000s.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um he had an 11-year career.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Van Pelt totaled 16 touchdowns and 24 interceptions, and he had 31 career appearances.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of like he kind of had the same career path as um what's his name?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Matt Kavanaugh.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: So um he was a radio announcer in Buffalo, and but he's been coaching since 2005, and he's been all over the place.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not even gonna name all the places in the NFL, but um, as of right now, currently he is the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And um, he was actually, I think when Stefanski remember Stefansky that year, um the Steelers lost to the Browns.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, remember he got like Stefansky got like COVID or something and had to like stay in his basement.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And like Van Pelt had the was actually, I think, the head coach that game.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: So so he's got that.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: I I he seems like he's Pretty solid coach.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: He's kind of gone the Matt Kavanaugh route, maybe.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Any any other memories of Alex Van Pelt there, Tim?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely remember him being the de facto coach for Cleveland when they beat us in the playoffs.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Also remember him playing against the Steelers in the playoffs back in 1995 in the divisional round because Jim Kelly got knocked out of that game.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Van Pell came in and threw a touchdown pass and started leading them back.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think eventually Kelly did come back into the game after that.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: I did not yeah, I don't remember.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: I remember like one time like he gained a lot of weight.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: And like they're like, hey, you gotta watch them quarterbacks.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: They turned into tackles.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think Jim Kelly said that too.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like so, I don't know, Jim Kelly was his own kind of guy.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: But he finally he found or he really found a home in Buffalo.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: And he I think he did coach in Buffalo for a little bit, maybe.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: So good for Alex Van Pelt.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um you know, he he's probably gonna be a head coach in the NFL, I would imagine, before soon, right?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean Oh yeah, I I think I think he'll get a shot at being a head coach at some point here.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's probably he's probably not gonna go to college, he's probably gonna be a pro coach.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: I can't see him you know, why would you I don't know.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's enough about Alex Van Pelt.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Moving on to the next guy on our list, it's one pistol Pete Gonzales, who was um one of my favorite quarterbacks.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: I liked Alex Van Pelt was more in my childhood.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: I remember Pete Gonzalez, like I remember him being hurt for a whole year.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't get to play.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: But when he did as a senior, he had a really heck of a year with Walt Harris.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Him and Walt Harris had a great season his senior year.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: So that was 97.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um he led the uh pit from a come come from behind victory over WVU in the backyard brow, the old fourth and seventeen to was that Jay Coufort or Terry Murphy, one of them.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: One of them, I think it was Terry Murphy, but Terry Murphy.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Don't quote me on that.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just remember Gonzalez serve in the pass.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, fourth and seventeen.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: That was so he's a legend at Pitt.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he's another guy.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: He did sign with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I say he I remember him spending two years with them, and they just and they have him throwing one pass to Heinz Ward for eight yards, and that was his whole NFL career.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then after two years, they chose not to re-sign him, and um, he was out, he was cut, he never really caught on with another team.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: He played, I don't know, he went to the CFL and he was a backup for a year or two, but he didn't really have much success in the CFL either.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I remember the rule, like everybody wanted to start him.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: There was one year like Cordell stunk, wasn't there?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody's like, Why don't you put Pete Gonzalez in?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then like there was a rumor that he threw three straight interceptions in practice or something.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it was it was the 99 season.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um the Steelers lost, I want to say eight games in a row that year, like heading into like December.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean it was like the end of the season.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: They were they had like four wins, there was like three games left.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, it was over.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: And they had at that point they had Yank Cordell and they had Mike Tomzak starting, and Tomzak was literally like two games away from retiring, which he did.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like why not just throw him in there just to see, just to see if you have something.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess to your point, you know, we're not there for practices, and they just didn't think he was at all NFL ready.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: So no one else in the NFL thought so either.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: So correct.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, and even the Canadian Football League, you didn't even have any success.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean he was really really that was the end for him.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um fun fact, he was the last Pittsburgh quarterback to wear number seven before some other guy.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I I g I guess he'll be the last guy besides Ben Rothesberger to to wear that number.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think they'll ever get out again.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean No, I I don't either.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and yeah, to your point, not a very good didn't do anything in the pros, but um we'll always remember him for that 97 season in that WVU game.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I remember reading about him in the media guide at Pitt, like the one year, and I was like, why isn't this guy playing?
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: And he just he was hurt, and he's from Miami, and I thought, and that was the that was one of the few times they beat Miami at all, but they beat them here, and that would that would be the one, you know, till I think the James Connor year, that was the last time they'd beat them at all.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, and then that was only the second time they beat them before the Kenny Pickett year.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: So go figure, go figure he had his moment in college.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think he still lives in Pittsburgh, I think.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I he's out of football completely.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: He just you know, I don't know.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: I saw his LinkedIn, but I didn't I didn't go on it.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't like gonna like try or try and hire Pete Gonzalez for whatever he's doing or you know, consulting or something.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: Do you need like you know, some consulting from Pete Gonzalez, Tim?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I would hire Pete Gonzalez to do something.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: I would hire him if I had like a really like long-shot situation and I needed somebody to handle it.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: I I would I think he could handle the pressure.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, P.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Gonzalez, if you're listening, we loved you.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: We loved you at Pitt and wish it would have worked out for you better in the NFL.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um moving on to a guy who I cannot believe played in the NFL.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can I cannot believe he was there and lasted as long as he did.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Matt Lytle.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: He lasted two seasons.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: I swear he lasted four, but I guess he only lasted two.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: I I thought he lasted four, but anyway, Matt Lytle should have lasted zero.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: But sorry, sorry, Matt, you you were like not even that great of a college quarterback.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean now his defense, he played on a some horrendously bad pit teams.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like the teams he played on were just not very good.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he I guess he was the quarterback after Pete Gonzalez, right?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: He was the quarterback.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he was a quarterback before and after.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you're right.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was the quarterback in 96, and then Gonzalez supplanted him in 97, and then Gonzalez graduated, so Lightl was back as the starter again in 98.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: So he kind of like bookended Gonzalez and he's and he and Pitt did nothing either of those seasons.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm with you.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot I never could believe at the time he was an NFL quarterback, and that he he had much more success than Gonzalez did in the NFL.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, he he was claimed by um he played for the Rhine Fire, and he won a World Bowl with with them.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe that's what happened.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: He was claimed off waivers by Seattle, and he actually played against the Raiders in a 21-3 loss.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: He paired again another game against the Chargers, but then I remember him, he went to Carolina, and they really liked him in Carolina.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: Who was the um it was the old coach of the 49ers who ended up?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: George Seaford.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he really liked Matt Lytle for some reason.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's why George Seaford doesn't have a job anymore.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't think George Seaford was that bad.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I thought he was another guy that kind of got a bad rap.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like um, who's the guy who who they still did they ever put did they put Tom Flores in the Hall of Fame yet?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: I know there was a push.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they did.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because I always thought that was another guy like a George Seaford that like nobody gave any credit to.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: But at least at least four is is definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: George Feeder, you could probably is more on the fence, probably more towards not, but I still think he was a good coach.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you don't win a Super Bowl if you're a complete.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess Barry Switzer won a Super Bowl, so maybe not, I don't know.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: He won two of them, though.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I agree.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: I I think I think I mean the knock on him was you inherited the 49ers dynasty, and you didn't do as much with it as you could have.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: They lost that championship game to the Giants, all that stuff.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of the knock on him.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then and then when he went and coached somewhere else in Carolina, that probably hurt his legacy because it's like, oh yeah, you don't have one of the greatest teams of all time, and look, you're not very good.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I I don't necessarily agree with that, but that's the that's the narrative.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, I why don't people say it about Mike Tomlin then?
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess people do.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they say it about, oh, he won with Bill Cower's players, but yeah, but Tomlin wasn't inheriting a team that like literally the 49ers were the great one of the greatest teams of all time, you know.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like that would be like if Belichick would have retired in, you know, Josh McDaniel took over or something.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: If Belichick would have retired right after, like when Brady was still in his prime and they just won their third Super Bowl, right?
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: That was the equivalent of when Bill Walsh retired.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that was the knock on Seaford.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: But like you said, starting Matt Lytle as your as your quarterback probably also did not help his legacy.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: He had Chris Winky too, didn't he, at some point?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and Damian Craig.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's some bad uh front office work there.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: I remember they had this white wide receiver.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember his name for the life of me.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they had Fred Lane, the late Fred Lane, too.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why I remember that Carolina team so well, but I I remember them.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um they weren't that good.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Liners, Lionel's final appearance.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: He came as the uh 27-23 loss to the Saints.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um he threw one pass after Winky got a concussion.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: He was tendered a contract offer, but you know, they they rescinded it.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: He went into the CFL and he was a backup for a while, I guess.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: To Anthony Calavillo with Montreal.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard of that guy.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: So he's been he's like a CFL and he he played some in the uh AFL.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this is another guy like who just yeah, I think he's on LinkedIn, he's totally out of football now.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: He's like on he's another guy on LinkedIn.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: I saw he had a LinkedIn.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Is like LinkedIn like the new Facebook or something, Tim?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the professional um social media.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: So how long before that becomes a dating site?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully not.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a 42-year-old professional with a chemical company and looking for a yeah.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I got jokes.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: I got jokes.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Matt Lightle, I mean, you know, he had a heck of a I mean, I I think Pete Gonzalez would have taken that career in the in the NFL.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: And he almost had about this, I mean, I think Alex Van Pelt had a little longer, a little better career than him, but it's almost you know equivalent to Alex Van Pelt.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: So not quite Matt Kavanaugh, but hey, we all can't be him.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um now here's one that people probably argue with.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we'll list this guy under, you know, you know, we had our Hall of Famers, we had our people we can't believe.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: I can't believe he's in the NFL people.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: And this is probably people that had a cup of coffee in Pittsburgh.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're here for literally five minutes.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, and that would be one Joe Flacco, my favorite New Jerseyan.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I thought, well, maybe my second favorite, because Kenny Pickett's probably my favorite.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Who else would be uh who's your favorite person from New Jersey?
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: Frank Sinatra, Tim?
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Chris Christie.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I would need to see a list of New Jersey Natas.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: New Jersey.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know who else is from New Jersey.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Tony Soprano.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: Tony Soprano.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: Bruce Springsteen, is he from New Jersey?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think, yeah, yeah, I think he is.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: Bon Jovi is in Bon Jovi.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Slim Pickens there, I guess.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: The the Jersey Shore is nice, though.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: Wildwood's nice if you like to think the Jersey Shore.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Very stream of consciousness today, Tim.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Very dangerous.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I like I said, Joe Flacco, my second favorite person from New Jersey.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so what happened was Joe Joe played.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, he played for Walt Harris, and unfortunately, Walt Harris had to uh start Tyler Palco, who ended up being a good quarterback, but it was more about keeping you know his dad, Bob Palko, in the recruiting line open at local high schools than it was starting the better quarterback.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: And Flacco, I remember Flacco playing in a spring game and thinking he weighed about 160 pounds, but he could throw the ball through a wall.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the kid had an arm.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: And he just, you know, he he played that one year and then he played another year uh with 2004, and then when Wandstatt came, he would have he was gonna still be on the bench and he decided he didn't want to just sit the bench and only be had like Wandstadt said if you stay here, you'll still have one year of eligibility, and he didn't want to do that.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't want to he wanted to go take advantage of his playing time elsewhere, so he went to um Delaware, actually.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um actually with Pitt, what did he have?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh I saw I had I thought I had his stats, like he had like one pass for like four years.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was the Nebraska game that you and I were there for uh the game where there was the flood.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Four passes before, yeah.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's it.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: He had four passes for and one completion for 11 yards and a 25-yard punt.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe he didn't like punting.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: So he went to Delaware and uh won didn't win a championship game, but he went to it twice.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, he had to play Appalachian State in one of those.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think both no, I think one of those championship games he had to play Appalachian State.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately for him, Appalachian State had beaten like second or ranked Michigan that year.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: So they were pretty good, Tim.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but on to Joe.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: Joe, uh he he ended up with Baltimore and um he he played well.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: He he was there for years and he won a Super Bowl with them, and he was the uh Super Bowl MVP, right?
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, he was Super Bowl MVP of what is that?
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: XL V I I.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it was at 57, 47.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 47, yes.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: See, aren't you glad we learned those Roman numbers?
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I wouldn't know what Super Bowl it is, so I'd like to shake the hand of the Roman Emperor that came up with that numbering system.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's um it was a little easier when it was like X and like XII.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I could get those a lot easier.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now you now you really have to think about them.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: You're like uh uh when they get into like you know the C's and the D.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: What what's uh yeah, isn't C 100?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, Super Bowl 100 would be Super Bowl C.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be a but remember Super Bowl 50, they didn't do Super Bowl L.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: They did they actually did the number 50 for that one.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know they went back to large after that.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't want to be large.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: I like that when Super Bowl 40 was awesome.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: That was Super Bowl extra large.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: XL, yeah, I remember that.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was an extra large Super Bowl.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: But but you know, but to your point about Flacco, I mean, he he he made the right choice for sure, leaving Pitt.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: That was the right choice for him in his career.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we were all, I mean, we got all those great years of Steelware Ravens rivalries from him making that decision.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: I good good on him.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I was, you know, as much as the Ravens are our biggest rivals, I was I was a little bit happy for him winning that Super Bowl because you know, they had a good team for years, and that was that one year they finally put it all together, and they deserved it.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he did um I his single postseason record, he tied Joe Montana's 11 touchdown passes without an interception in that one season.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: So was that the year he was that the year they went to the Super Bowl?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: He threw that Hail Mary at the end of the game against Peyton Manning.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was awesome.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like why did why why do you let that I don't know how Denver let that happen?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like just literally keep everybody back.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it wasn't it wasn't quite a Hail Mary because there was like, I don't know, a minute left, but it was like third and long or something, and all you had to do was you could have given them 10 yards or 20 yards a yeah.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: But for some reason they let uh I think it was Jacoby Jones, yeah, get behind their defense and Flacco could throw.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one like it wasn't like oh Flacco can't throw it that far.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's like dude has an arm, man.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: He all it's been accuracy with him, and he's like a statue.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: He can't move around.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: So and he did throw and he's still playing.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he just he he won a couple games for the Jets this year.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: He I mean he did throw that awesome interception to Troy Balamalu, which I'm we're all forever grateful for.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: So um, oh well.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Joe Flacco, cup of coffee here, but had a great NFL career, good for him.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, it was definitely the right move for him.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna jump back.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: This is kind of before Joe Flacco and even another guy that's on our list.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this guy is Rod Rutford, and he was undrafted, but he was signed by Carolina as an unrestricted free agent.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um Pitt, now you would not guess that he was the one who broke uh Alex Van Pelt's single season passing record.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: Would you have guessed that, Tim, out of all the uh pit quarterbacks?
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: I would not have guessed it, but I'm pretty sure I know the reason why.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it might have had to do with the guy he was throwing to.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: That would have been RJ English, yes.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh yeah, I'm sure that was it.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: So you're saying it might have not been him, it might have been Larry Fitzgerald, huh?
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, I mean he had a great year that year, and he's the one that got the ball to Fitzgerald, so it's not like you can take that away from him, but he did have the greatest receiver in the history of the program.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest receivers in the history of college and pro football, so that that helped, is all I'm saying.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Probably, yes.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and funny enough, he won a Super Bowl ring.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Can you believe it?
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the Steelers?
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, on the two he was on the practice call.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: I remember that because like you remember like in Super Bowl Media Day, they have like all those jokey reporters.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like they have the girl that's like not wearing any clothes hardly, and like somebody dressed like with Troy's hair.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like they have like the guys like Rod would sit in the stands because nobody wants to talk to them.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess one of those reporters got bored and like started interviewing them, like asking him stupid questions, you know.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it was like a foreign reporter, so nice.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good for him.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm glad he he won a Super Bowl.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Did he ever play it down in the NFL?
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: I do not think so.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: But he got a super did he get a ring for being on the practice conference?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's good.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's something he can tell his grandkids someday that he has a Super Bowl ring, and then they when they say, Can you show us footage from that year?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: He can say, I don't think they have any footage in 2005.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was at practice every day.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: So uh okay, so uh going on to another guy that um I don't know.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: I I do I I don't know.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't think he'd have that much success in the pros, but he was good in college, uh Tyler Palko, and he spent two seasons in the NFL, and he was really good at pit, and he really liked effing being at pit.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: He really liked it.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: He was proud of his his guys, that's for sure.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, he was very proud of being a Pitt Panther, which is awesome.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: He he he also has a LinkedIn page.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like I found everybody's LinkedIn page on this.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: He does, I think he does uh some sort of like corporate stuff.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: Something with sports, like sports corporate crap, I don't know.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: Good for him.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so he he played for um the chefs.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they were the I call them the chefs when they're bad, but that it was the Chiefs in 2011, and he was not all that great with the Chiefs.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um he actually played in the game against the Steelers, and he thought I think he had three interceptions.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um that kind of ended.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like at the end, he ended his career.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like he threw a lot of interceptions and stuff.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember like the Kansas City media not really liking him very much.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: So um I mean, was it mistake that Wanstack kept uh him instead of Joe Flacco?
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, you can debate that till the end of time.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was under Todd Haley with the Chiefs, so I mean eventually when Todd Haley got fired, Romeo Cornell benched Palco and started Kyle Orton.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a very long career for him, the two seasons, but he played a fair amount compared to you know Rod Rutherford.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean he um he was also on the stewards practice squad at one point Alco.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um but but there's no way that the the the kind of the joke you were making about him being bleeping proud of his team, that was in reference to him swearing on the NBC broadcast.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: After he had thrown five touchdown passes in South Bend to beat Notre Dame in 2004 and carrying Pitt to the Fiesta Bowl that year.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that would have been the year that Wansted would have had to, because Wantested was then the hired after the Fiesta Bowl.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he would have had to done a very unpopular thing.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Bent the quarterback that beat no threw five touchdown passes in Notre Dame, led Pitt to the Fiesta Bowl because he thought Joe Flacco was better.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, no one would have supported that.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, like you said, you can debate that to the end of time, but there was no way that he he would have been able to do that.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's why Wandstatt tried the other way and tried to sell them on like how Matt Castle at USC had one year.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: He tried to, and I'm sure Matt Castle didn't receive any money to stay.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because who would do that?
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, so I'm sure Matt Castle got paid to stay those two years because there was a bunch of guys that did that in the SEC too.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, um, who's next on our list?
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: Tom Savage.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do you remember Tom Savage to him?
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: He was another guy.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: He had more than a cup of coffee at Pitt.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: I guess he had a uh he had he had that one season, but it was a pretty pretty good season.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, the thing I remember about him was didn't he play for like 18 teams before he came to Pitt?
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: What happened was he played for Rutgers mostly.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: He was another, I think, I don't know if he's from I think he's from somewhere in I think he's from Springdale, PA or something.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: He's from Pennsylvania, but he went to Rutgers because he liked Chiano.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: And he really he played really well on a bad team.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: But his problem, he's like um kind of like Flacco.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: He can't move around a lot.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: So he started getting concussions, and that was his he had a couple at Rutgers, and they went to Arizona for a year, and then they fired the coach at Arizona and brought in Rich Rodriguez.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously Tom Savage isn't gonna fit in with Rich Rodriguez's system, so he came back to Pitt with Paul Christ because he he wanted to go to Rutgers, but uh for some reason he it didn't work out again.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: So he he actually had a really good year at at Pitt, like you said, and I mean he he played, he ended up going to Houston, and he played pretty well at Houston for a while.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think he I don't know if they made uh uh did they make any playoff I playoff cuts with him in Houston?
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Houston was kind of mediocre then.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: But he he did he did have like he he three or four years with Houston.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: He spent a year or he was uh bounced around with the Saints, 49ers, and Bengals after that.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: He threw um you know what he threw right.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: He threw he threw like 2,000 yards, I think, that season at Pitt and 21 touchdowns.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean he he was really good with Pitt.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: And he but he's another guy.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: He had Tyler Boyd and he had James Connor and they had Aaron Donald.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: And once again, you remember when they went in the pizza bowl that year, he got another concussion in the in the in the uh pizza bowl too, and they had to play Voytek.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: So and can you believe like with Aaron Donald, James Connor, and Tyler Boyd and Tom Savage, they the best pick could manage manage was a seven six record in a barely win over bowling green in a last minute.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: So go go figure.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's uh that's our that's our pit panthers, I guess.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that that sounds about right.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um I what I remember about Savage was there was one point during like the draft season where some people were projecting him as a first round pick, which I could not believe.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um but he eventually did slide in as a fourth round pick for the Texans, and like you said, played a played a few years there and did a you know, didn't do much.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I just he was he was a decent quarterback for Pitt, but man, when people were talking about him as a first round pick, I thought that was insanity.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: He wasn't bad, he was good.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, but a first round pick.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe not, yeah.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: So um the next guy on our list, another guy kind of like Savage at transfer, Nathan Peterman.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, people really didn't like him in Tennessee.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he spent two years there.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think he was they'd had a coaching change, so he transferred and he he spent two years at Pitt.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he he had uh he had a career day against the national championship Clemson.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is with Clemson and Pitt quarterbacks, but it seems to bring out the best in them.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: Except for Kenny Pickett.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, even Kenny had a good one that that other one other time.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: So um he he threw for 300 yards and five touchdowns and Pitts victory.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that was Clemson's only loss.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um Buffalo selected Peterman in the fifth round, so he's actually a a for real draft pick.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but he was a backup, but then he had the um he's the one that threw like what five interceptions?
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think I have that in the first half, yeah.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he threw five interceptions in his first career start, and that kind of like doomed him in Buffalo.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: And they they they had Tyrod Taylor, but he kept getting hurt or wasn't very good.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: So and he won a game that remember that snow game in Buffalo where like the snow is like a foot deep and nobody could do it.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: That was Peterman played in that game.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think they had LaShawn McCoy, another pit pit player.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that was pretty crazy.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Bills won an overtime, 13-7.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: You couldn't kick a field goal.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was horrible.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he actually entered a playoff game, unlike all some of the other, and but he didn't do well.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: He ended up throwing an interception.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: Then they finally replaced him with some guy named Josh Allen.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: Did that guy ever do anything for Buffalo?
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, big mistake there, Buffalo.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, really.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um he uh finished his Buffalo career with four touchdowns and 12 interceptions, yummy.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Gruden really liked him when he was with the Raiders.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think he's with the Bears practice squad currently.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember that the John Gruden was like a huge fan of his.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and then I when he was out there um as a free agent, I I did wonder if the Steelers, when the Steelers made Matt Canada their offensive coordinator, I did wonder if the they would go after Peterman.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is like before they had signed, you know, all the guys that they had, like the Dwayne Haskins and those Mitch Trubiskys and all those guys, because just because he and Canada had a lot of success together, and neither of them have had really good success apart from each other.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not that uh not that they probably would have had success here with the Steelers as well, but I just wondered if they would have tried to reunite those two.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, they didn't.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: Apparently, though, Canada did try to draft or recruit another person in college that is on our list here, not to give away, but hey, and another person, I can't believe they're they were in the NFL.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, is that it's like I can't believe it's not butter, only I can't believe they were in the NFL moment.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um that would be one Ben Denucci.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um he not only was he in the NFL, Tim, he was a draft pick.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: What in the heck?
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Mike McCarthy lost his darn mind um and drafted Ben Denucci in the seventh round.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like you couldn't have signed him off the street.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_01: So uh whatever.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was a backup behind Peterman, and then he actually ended up playing um that season.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: He he played in the pinstripe bowl, and then the next year he he played some because um they signed I pit liked Ben Denucci so much they signed a transfer from USC named Max Brown.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: And Max Brown wasn't bad.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: I remember the season.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's at 2018.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_01: We got to do a podcast on a 2018 Pitt Football.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: I I really like that team, but Max Brown got hurt and nobody or maybe this too.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_01: This is 2017, actually.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and Matt Brown, uh Max Brown got hurt in at Syracuse and he separated his shoulder and wasn't gonna be able to play.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: So it came down to Ben Denucci and Kenny Pickett, who is just a freshman, like not red shirt freshman, like freshmen.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so they tried to start Denucci, and you could just tell Denucci didn't have it at that level.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just for whatever reason, they kept playing him until finally they they you know Pat Narduzzi like wised up and started Kenny Pickett the rest of the season.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: So smartly Denucci transferred to James Madison and had a great career at James Madison because that I thought from seeing him play, I really thought that's what his talent level was, was that FCS or whatever the lower division.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: And to his credit, he had a great so much so that he caught the eye of Mike McCarthy, and you know, he he went to the uh to the you know cowboys and he he he ended up playing.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: He played against a couple teams.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't think he played against the Steelers.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_01: They they had Cooper Rush by then, but I mean it was just crazy.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I couldn't believe Ben Denucci was playing NFL football and actually played games and years and finally just this year, 2022, they finally waived him.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: So like I said, uh he just pit had a much better backup quarterback than him, and um I don't know why Mike McCarthy just liked him.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think he he knew him growing up, maybe just one of those things.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, Tim.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: Any any if you can you find any logic on why some guys manage to stay in the pros and some guys don't?
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Ben Daninchi's much like Matt Lightle, where you know he wasn't he lost his starting job at Pitt and then somehow made it to the NFL.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I I never understood that, but you know, kudos to him.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad he I'm glad he had the opportunity, and you know, but I I was as shocked as anybody.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um last but not least, since we're going chronological, um, some guy named Kenny Pickett, ever heard of him?
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have heard of him.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, okay.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because he was uh the other guy that was behind Ben Denucci and Max Brown, and he was just a freshman.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember when he came in and he threw the ball, he actually threw, I thought his arm was better, I still do, was better than Max Brown, who was this like when Max Brown came out of high school was like this big recruit and went to USC.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I I didn't think Max Brown was bad, but I thought Kenny Pickett, even as a freshman, had a better arm.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought he was really good at pit.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_01: And he it the for even before that last year, that was that a fifth year or a sixth year.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was a fifth year, right?
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: It it they let him because of the COVID season, they let him play a fifth year.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because he had to start as a freshman because Brown got hurt or he would have redshirted.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: And he had he was just a guts, he's a gutsy player, and he had a that 2018, once again, he did not have the greatest season passing.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then 2019 and 2020, I don't know, they just he did not have a great seasons, you know.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that and then in 2021, it all came together for him, and he really, really played well.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: And um, he had 4,319 yards, 42 touchdowns, and he set school records for single yards and touchdowns.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: So he broke Rod Rutherford's single season record and the touchdown records.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_01: So um he's a first-team All-American, third place in the Heisman Trophy.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: They pit won the ACC championship.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, it's just great.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: It was just a really great performance by him.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um, he's actually right now, it I mean, as of this podcast, he's still starting for the Steelers, you know, as long as injuries permit, you know.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll we'll see what happens with Kenny Pickett.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_01: But I thought he was an NFL prospect way back his freshman year, all those games against Miami and stuff.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, there are people who disagreed with me.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: My dad mainly never thought Kenny was that good, but um, I did even back then.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: So and people always said, Oh, his arm's not that good.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I don't know what you you guys are talking about.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen guys play in the NFL with not half the arm that he has, and I don't know.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I love Kenny.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm um was super thrilled that the Steelers drafted him, certainly rooting for him, not only because obviously we're Steeler fans, but just because you know he you know, regardless of what happens with his broker or if it flames out or if it's great, um you know, leading Pittsburgh leading Pitt to an ACC championship after all those years of pit falling short.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh I think you and I as Pitt fans will never forget that.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: So he'll he'll be a legend at Pitt, no matter what happens in the NFL.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yep.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_01: And he's the uh first round draft pick, one of the few quarterbacks been per picked in the first round from Pitt.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_01: Overall, Pitt hasn't had that great of luck with uh sending quarterbacks to the pros.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um part of that's their own problem, like they didn't let Johnny Unitis come in because he couldn't pass the test to get into school, so he went to Louisville.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_01: So they kind of Johnny Unitis really wanted to go to Pitt.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've read that before, so we kind of lost out on him.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I I don't know.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like Penn State is putting a ton of guys in the pros at quarterback either.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, Pit Pitt's tradition is I would say is more tied to running backs than to quarterbacks in terms of even defensive players.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like they've had a lot of great defensive players go and you know, not just Aaron Donald.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_01: They've had you know Jabal Sheard is really good and Darrell Revis and Yeah, Chris Dolman and Ricky Jackson.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they've had a lot of great defensive players too.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_00: So but you're right, other than Marino and and Pickett, yeah.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and and you know, Pickett is to be determined, but I mean the other both of those guys being first-round picks.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um other than that, you're right.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody else really um that was on the radar in terms of NFL.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I wonder how that would compare with other schools.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know that there's a school that's put like just a ton of quarterbacks in the NFL.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: So well, if you remember the episode we did on the um on the 96 Seals quarterback controversy, and we were talking about Mike Tomzak.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, we went through that.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_01: There was the Ohio State quarterbacks, yeah.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, literally, and we we made the argument at the time that Mike Tomzak was probably the greatest quarterback to ever come out of Ohio State.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you look at the list of all the other guys.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not just like Pitt.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Pitt's kind of alone in that.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I that would be an interesting um analysis of, yeah.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there there's a so there's point being there's really big-time college football programs like Ohio State that have had way more success than Pitt that still haven't sent a whole lot of quarterbacks to the NFL.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it was fun going through that list though, and and remembering some of those guys and what they did do at Pitt and then you know, some of that stuff I didn't really remember all the stuff they did in the NFL.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_01: So well, I had fun walking down memory lane today, Tim.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um I hope everybody listened and enjoyed it.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um give us a rating on whatever podcast service you're listening to.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: Check us out on Twitter, um, check out our website.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um thanks for listening, and uh, we'll catch you next time.