The Drive with Josh Graham - Wake Forest Fight Song

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It's brilliant. Cam Newton didn't practice again today, so Kyle Allen's likely going to start in Arizona Sunday against last year's Heisman Trophy winner, Kyler Murray. And if you're Kyler, you have to view the current state of Cam's health and his game as a red flag, don't you? Cam Newton's career should be a warning to Kyler Murray. Now, I'm not out here saying Kyler's going to get hurt.

I'm not making any kind of predictions that way, but when you look at these two quarterbacks and the parallels that exist, and also how much admiration Kyler has for Cam. I was reading the Jordan Rodriguez story from The Athletic earlier this morning, and Kyler Murray was talking to Panthers reporters. Here's how he described Cam. Quote, he's one of my favorite quarterbacks.

He's one of the best players to ever play. That's how Kyler views Cam. And you could see in what he did in college and even to an early degree in the NFL the influence Cam has had on the young quarterback.

But here's where the concern lies. Cam Newton, this is all cumulative with football. The shoulder injury, the shoulder surgeries, the foot injury, the rib deal he was dealing with. Five other quarterbacks other than Kyler Murray in this decade have been taken number one. Two of those quarterbacks have been physically broken down, one of which submitted out of the sport altogether in Andrew Luck. And he cited this rehab pain recovery process as being the result of why he decided to step away from the game.

His overall quality of life, he felt, was going to be hampered if he continued to play football. This is also the quarterback position we're talking about. Two of the last five number one picks of the last decade who play that quarterback position physically deteriorated.

And look at what's happening in the league over the last 10, 15 years. Every rule change seems to favor the quarterback. Carson Palmer gets knocked out of the game against Pittsburgh in the playoffs because a defensive lineman went low. They changed the rules where you can't go low on quarterbacks anymore.

Jamal Adams, look how upset he was when he made public. He got fined 21K for essentially pushing a quarterback too late with both his hands extended. That quarterback being Baker Mayfield. Even on Sunday, Bradley Chubb, former NC State Wolfpack defensive lineman for the Broncos, he fell on top of a quarterback. That was the penalty falling on top of the quarterback, even though he was pushed by that offensive lineman into said quarterback. So they're doing everything they can to try and protect these quarterbacks. They've been doing this for the last 15 years.

It just hasn't worked. Carson Wentz missed essentially a year. RG3, these are the top guys in the league. And if you're a mobile quarterback, your odds of getting hurt just that much higher. And for Kyler, if you think he looks small on television, I had a chance to watch him play in person Sunday afternoon against the Ravens.

I was impressed by it. I love watching Kyler Murray play. He had four or five throws against the Ravens, a terrific defense, a terrific team that are unstoppable throws. And he got the Cardinals back into a game with a coach I don't think is a great and qualified coach for an NFL job and a team that Steve Wilks couldn't lead the victory last year.

Somebody I felt was qualified under Ron Rivera taking over the Cardinals. Kyler Murray, he's easily the smallest quarterback of the bunch. The six quarterbacks taken, him included, this decade number one. Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Jamis Winston, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield and Kyler.

He's easily the smallest. They're doing everything they can to protect the quarterbacks. They've been unable to do so. I'm convinced the game, just football, is not significantly safer with all these changes the last 10, 15 years. We've been told it is, looking at concussion numbers going down.

And that's good. That's how the NFL is trying to disconnect itself from CTE. I think it was the Mercury News in San Jose who unveiled this strategy that the NFL has. Lesser concussions means that we can distance ourselves from CTE, even though brain experts are saying, yeah, concussions and brain trauma, that is a direct cause of CTE. But just because you don't have a concussion doesn't mean you can't get CTE still. So that's the strategy moving forward.

Don't want to get too caught into the weeds of that. But at best, I think it's marginal, the game being safer over the last few decades. The rule changes, just overall knowledge of how to deal with players, mental health, that stuff is better. But are players safer on the field as a result of these things?

I'm not convinced of that. At worst, I think it could be more dangerous. Players are bigger, faster, and stronger than they've ever been before. And the field isn't getting any smaller.

And in fact, they're looking at potentially adding more games for these players to play. And you want me to believe that this game is safer? When I see the injuries that are being sustained by players who are supposed to be protected most, Andrew Luck, lacerated spleen, or excuse me, kidney, and then the ribs he broke, the stuff with his foot and ankle, what Cam Newton's dealt with. These are car accident injuries, not ones that we associate normally with recreational games. We don't see that in basketball.

It's usually soft tissue stuff. In football, it's completely different. And we accept it because that's the entertainment of it all. Here's what I find most interesting about Kyler Murray, though.

Kyler has an out that none of those other five quarterbacks did. Baseball. Des, you're the producer of this show, Desmond Johnson, Ticket Your Calls It. 336-777-1600. Your thoughts on Kyler Murray, Cam Newton, the Carolina Panthers.

Welcome right now at 777-1600 on Twitter, at Sports Hub Triad. Do you know how much his signing bonus was worth with the Oakland Athletics? Take a guess. For baseball, drafted in the first round, what that contract's worth. If I'm not mistaken, I want to say it was like six or seven million or something. $4.6 million signing bonus. But when it became clear he could be picked number one by the Arizona Cardinals, they started renegotiating and said in addition to that $4.6 million, we'd be willing to pay you $14 million more guaranteed if you decide to play baseball, not football.

Wow, bro. Thank you, Kobe White. That's not as much as what he's making right now with the Cardinals. His contract is $23 million guaranteed, and it's a four-year deal. But the lifespan for football is likely shorter than it is in baseball. I doubt this was a financial decision for Kyler. He admires guys like Cam Newton. See, that's one of my favorite players, one of the best to ever play it.

I think he wants to become a star, and today you can't become a star in baseball. I think football now has a little bit of the perception or a little bit of what boxing did 40, 50 years ago, the forbidden fruit, the danger of it. People covet that, and that's why we like watching it. It's the thing that's going to end my career one day.

Retroactively, people going back and plucking your takes, and if it doesn't jive with what the current sensibilities are, we're going to try and hold you responsible for that and cancel you. I like violence in my sports. I like fighting in hockey. I like the hits in football.

I'm pretty honest and upfront about it. I think most people would agree that's what attracts them to football, at least an element of it. And I think the same applies to players. If you want to be a star, you have a better shot doing that as a Heisman winning trophy or a Heisman trophy winning quarterback in the NFL versus playing in baseball, even though you might be safer, and over time it might be more lucrative. Who has the longer career in the NFL, Kyler Murray or Cam Newton? I think I'd have to say Cam because it's not over yet.

This is year nine for Cam, and the average lifespan would suggest that Cam Newton is going to last a little bit longer. But I wish Kyler Murray the best. I like watching the guy play, and I enjoyed watching that on Sunday.

Things are clearly going very well in Charlotte. Cam again didn't practice today. Norv Turner wouldn't say who's going to start on Sunday. Neither would Ron Rivera. His press conference lasted about two minutes because guess what? Reporters wanted to talk about Cam Newton, and Rivera got sick of it. Ron, would you think Cam would travel in either event, or would that be decided tomorrow? You guys want to sit there and watch, so you'll have to wait and see. I'm not going to talk about it anymore, guys. Let's talk about it at Arizona. I haven't really talked about Arizona, so it would be good to answer those kinds of questions. I know it's about Cam, but I don't know anymore until tomorrow, so let's talk about Arizona. If not, there's no reason for me to stand here.

Before the opener, you were 100% confident he was going to be ready to go. Where are you on that level now? I just asked you to ask me questions about somebody else. I'm not going to do this anymore, okay? I told you, I won't know anything until tomorrow, okay?

Thank you. That's a special place in hell to be, and that's hilarious. He doesn't want to talk about Cam. It's a bad look for Rivera. Never tell reporters what to ask. He just doesn't want to lie. He knows more than what he's leading on.

He says he's going to tell them tomorrow. Reporters are going to ask about Cam because, guess what? I'm sorry, one game against Arizona on the road, that's not really going to move traffic. That's not what fans and players are more interested to hear about, but it is a hilarious thing. Coaches never liked being asked really about the other team.

They usually like to avoid that. Don't ask me about their team. I want to worry about my team. But things have gotten so poisonous talking about the quarterback.

Rivera is literally begging. Can you please? I haven't talked about Arizona all week. Can I please just talk about the Cardinals? Do you have to keep asking me about the quarterback? Who should win Saturday, not Sunday, Saturday between North Carolina and Appalachian State and Chapel Hill?

I'll tell you next on The Drive. Often when the group of five team faces the power five school in state, it's viewed to be a bigger game for the G5 team. However, with Appalachian State, North Carolina, I think this is a measuring stick game for both teams. Now, North Carolina should win the game.

They have more resources, more raw talent. It's a home game for them. They have a better head coach.

Mac Brown, Hall of Famer, Eli Drinkwitz. This is just his third game he's ever coached as an FBS head coach. North Carolina, this is an opportunity for them to prove they can bounce back after they rallied cardiac heels.

They've rallied in all three of their games. They just weren't able to complete the comeback against Wake Forest on the road. But publicly, embarrassing comments from Miles Dorn and North Carolina during the week saying, hey, we're not really worried about the O-line at Wake Forest and they probably should have. And Miles Dorn saying, yeah, we overlooked them, essentially paraphrasing here, because it was hard preparing for a team that didn't have, quote, football culture. Now, North Carolina might have football culture.

According to Miles Dorn, they do. But Appalachian State has, quote, championship culture. And they've done so for the last handful of years now in FBS.

So these players, they're not going to be afraid. Zach Thomas, second year starting at quarterback, his first career start last year was in Happy Valley, and he almost beat Penn State. So do you think he's going to be worried about Keenan Stadium in that environment?

I don't think so. We're going to be at the game Saturday at 3.30. Look forward to catching North Carolina and Appalachian State. Zach Thomas versus Sam Howe. This is a matchup between two of the top three quarterbacks in the state of North Carolina right now. I'd still say Jamie Newman is number one, first and foremost.

The numbers back that up. Jamie went on the road, spoiled Ryan Finley senior night and his first career start, beat Daniel Jones, top 10 draft pick out of Duke by 52 on his, I guess, senior day, even though he wasn't a senior. Then you have him beating Sam Howe just last week. You got to say Jamie Newman, probably the best quarterback in the state of North Carolina right now. But I think two and three, Sam Howe and Zach Thomas. Zach has proved more at this level than Sam has.

So I'd probably give him the edge at the moment. But that's a matchup I'm very excited to see. Appalachian State has a lot back on defense, but it's hard for you to be sold on Eli Drinkwitz as a coach at this point.

I'm not saying he's struggled already. He hasn't lost a game, but they haven't played anybody. Appalachian State should have handed it to Charlotte. Charlotte and Coach Will Healy, they're trying to turn things around. But the Mountaineers, they were a 24, 25 point favorite when they faced Charlotte two weeks ago.

They're at home and they allow 41 points to the 49ers, those 56, 41. And they handed it to East Tennessee State. But there's just been points at Ted Roof coming from NC State to be the defensive coordinator for App State. It's become clear that Eli Drinkwitz is not Scott Satterfield.

And that's just fine right now. But it's worth recognizing that. I'll admit, the first time we saw Coach Drink on a graphic with his visor in the announcement by Appalachian State that he was the coach, I had to do a double-take and make sure it wasn't Scott Satterfield. The two look alike and Drink's gotten that done.

And we've joked with Drink about that when he's come on this show. But Scott Satterfield, there's a reason why he was able to do something that is almost unprecedented in college football. Go from FCS or Division 1 AA into FBS, big time college football, and continue to win and win at a championship level. There are only a couple of programs that have been able to do that going from FCS to the FBS level. Marshall sticks out, UCF to a degree, and what we're watching with Apple, there's a reason why Louisville liked them enough to make them an ACC head coach. And we're seeing less and less of that in college football. Usually it's top assistants at Power Five schools that get the head coaching jobs. Very rarely it's the Group of Five head coach getting the head coaching job in a Power Five university. But they saw something and sat, and we've all seen it for the last 15 years or so, dating back to when he was a coordinator for Jerry Moore. So it's not necessarily a slight to say Eli Drinkwitz isn't Scott Satterfield right now.

But let's just call a spade a spade. It hasn't been that impressive. You shouldn't give up 41 at home to Charlotte if you claim to have a good defense. Now you're going on the road in Chapel Hill. North Carolina should win this game. More raw talent, more resources, home game, better coach.

App State, it's going to be tough for them. It's the first time Coach Drink's going to be away from home as the head coach. The last time he was in that building was actually Larry Fedora's last game.

Offensive coordinator at NC State. There was that fight on the field. And I remember vividly right after it ended, you could hear the coaches, drink included, celebrating right after the win. They were in the booth right next to us, going nuts.

It's going to be an even tougher task to try and pull it off this time around. The Drive brought to you in part by our friends at Pie Guys Pizza and More. You can find them on Twitter or online at pieguys.com. Terrific sponsor of the show. Try the Gram Slam pizza. You got bacon.

You got chicken. Texas based. Wonderful place to try tasty pie and also you got the Baravia sugarcane pie, which we are a big fan of here on the show. pieguys.com.

Get them in there. Which comments right off of Lewisville, Clemons Road. How about this right now? Justin Sternad. Do you know who he is?

No. Star linebacker at Wake Forest. Come on now. Oh, OK. Justin Sternad.

I don't know if he wants to watch a single Wake Forest game this year. Well, you need to apologize to Justin Sternad. I'm sorry, Justin.

Because Justin just tweeted the show saying that we're tuned in the car right now. Oh, man. Him and Nate Gillum. Oh, no. And they're happy about our compliments to Jamie Newman. So you got to say sorry to Justin Sternad. Oh, man.

That's on me. Here's what I want by the end of the segment. I want you to find the Wake Forest fight song, and I want you to sing this song on the air by the end of the segment, or at least read the words.

I can do that. That's what you need to do to apologize to Justin Sternad for not knowing his name. I mean, he had a pick to win a game.

They've been playing on Fridays. I've been doing high school football. He won a game against Utah State with his pick. He's the leader of the defense. He's a captain. I'm happy for him.

He almost knocked the Tar Heel out last week. Spell his last name for me. Just Sternad? Stern, S-N-E-R. You're not making this better. Find the Wake Forest fight song.

I want you to sing or read the words at the end of the segment here. That's a hard last name. He's the best player on defense for Wake. I'm going to see him this Saturday.

Yes, you are. For sure. At noon? Hopefully. Like I said, they've been playing on Fridays. I want the fight song.

That's what I want right now. Unacceptable. There is Thursday Night Football tonight. It is the AFC South on display. It feels like since the beginning of time, since the beginning of these Thursday Night games, that Jags Titans has been this game.

Right? Like, if you would have told me, hey, it's funny, Jags Titans have been played on Thursday night every single week for the last 10 years, I would have believed you. How often it seems like these two teams are the ones facing off against each other. Thursday Night Football is garbage.

I saw it last week in person. I don't really care much to watch this game usually, but this year I'm kind of roped in. Gardner Minshew, former East Carolina Pirate, before going to Washington State. Has the Stash taken the league by storm even though he hasn't won a game yet? Jalen Ramsey, is he going to play? You got teams asking the NFL if Jalen Ramsey plays tonight and then gets traded tomorrow. Can he play on Sunday? And the league says, no, it's already inhumane going Sunday to Thursday. Maybe not have just three days of rest for these players. Or less than three days. It's really just two days of rest.

So there are interesting elements to this game that I'm fascinated by. The Drive broadcast live in the Law Offices of Timothy D. Wellborn Studios is where I learn about the ways Tim Wellborn can help you. I'm going to need the fight song. Darren Vaught's going to join us. We're going to be sharing with Darren in a second.

This is for Justice Dernab because you forgot his name and he says he's listening to the show right now. Give me the fight song. So here's to Wake Forest, the class of the finest. Red Ruby Rinnish filled up to the brim.

Is this something I'm drinking? There's songs there are many, unrivaled by any, whose hearts overflowing will sing a hymn. Draw, draw, Wake Forest, draw. Old alma mater, sons are we. Yeah! We'll herald the story and dock our glory. Old gold and black is ever waving high.

That didn't rhyme. Yeah! I'm a fan of that. It's about time for sharing with Darren, Vaught. And up next, there's a new Antonio Brown story that's okay to laugh at. Keep it here on the drive.

We're now sharing with Darren Vaught from the David Glenn show. And I just want to let everybody know, it's okay to laugh at about 95% of the Antonio Brown story. I know once sexual assault allegations get thrown in there, you might think it's all contaminated and we shouldn't be joking about any of it anymore. And I agree, the sexual assault stuff isn't all that funny.

And neither really, I think, the way he forced himself out of Oakland the final days there. But the Hollywood Hogan mustache is still very funny. The cameo video where he's wishing somebody a happy anniversary wedding near a pool, that is still very funny and worth laughing at. Him being sued by a chef because he hadn't paid them off after AB fed nine pro bowlers in Miami a few years ago.

We can scoff at that too. And this story from today, I think, warrants being laughed at where a doctor now has filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania claiming that AB owes him over $11,000 in unpaid fees. You might think, well, Josh, okay, just like the doctor or the chef thing, why is that so funny, him just getting another lawsuit, this guy is just deteriorating. Not only did that news come out, TMZ obtained video, because of course they did, of one of the appointments where AB is in this doctor's office. And he's repeatedly Darren farting in this guy's face as he is being examined. This is for real. This is where we arrived with the AB story. If this isn't funny to you, this might not be the radio show for you.

Also, it might be you that's the problem, not this story. Des, give me just a little taste of this. It's incredible! Usually you just want to hold that in while you have the doctor there, but no, AB just letting it rip then looking at the camera like he's a child smiling about it. Who's taking video of this? Excellent question.

I have no idea. I didn't believe it until you pulled the video up. Because if there's a surveillance camera at the doctor's office, A, that has me worried, but B, that just means AB knew it was there. How does he know to look into the camera?

No, it's a phone. Someone's shooting with a phone. It might be the same person who's filming AB while he's celebrating being released by the Oakland Raiders and him racing into the backyard celebrating the deal. Every part of his life has to be filmed, even when he's farting in a doctor's face in an office.

So was he doing it, what do we think, did he do it specifically for the camera, or was he there, he felt some pressure, and was just like, you know what, I'm going to lean in. There's actually, there's actually multiple farts. So you heard the first fart, let me hear the second one. That one's even worse, because the guy's mouth is open and he's talking.

The guy is talking to AB and he doesn't mind, it's actually a little bit more pronounced. Let me hear the farts side by side. Alright, give me the first one real quick. Versus the second one? Yeah, that was... You unloaded on him there.

He did! The first one sounds like he needed to go check himself after the fact, like that didn't sound like that. The first one sounds accidental.

Yeah. Like it could have been. The second one sounds like he was saving it. Yeah, and of course we have the quotes from the doctor telling Sports Illustrated, it just seemed childish to me. I'm a doctor and this man's farting in my face. What kind of doctor is this? What was AB getting checked out? They were looking at his chest. His body fat, he's getting his body fat monitored. So I heard a reference to like a bodybuilder and that sort of thing, so was it like a basic check of those sorts of things?

Because, I don't know, if he's, if it's an issue for which he is very dependent on this guy, or there might be a situation where he's going to need to be dependent on this doctor, it just makes it even worse. He doesn't have a bodybuilder, so this is something to pre-pick him up. 3-3-6-7-7-7-1-600 on Twitter, at SportsHub Triad.

Darren is on Twitter, at Darren Vaught. I do feel like this game has been on perennially for the last decade. Titans-Jags on Thursday night.

Yeah, always Thursday. Every Thursday night game might as well be Titans-Jags. Except, we have Gardner Minshew playing now for the Jaguars, who's taken the league by storm.

He has the mustache, he has the suits. Nobody's criticizing him for his outfits, even though his team is losing, unlike Cam Newton, but I'll put that aside for now. I mean, that's about this. Gardner is also a former East Carolina quarterback before transferring to Washington State, where every quarterback throws for a million yards.

Luke Falk is about to get the start for the New York Jets in the place of the injured Trevor Simeon, who was in the place for the mono-infected Sam Darnold. Here's what I love about Gardner Minshew. See, this is a Gardner Minshew fan radio show. That's what this is. Like, if you want to label what the drive with Josh Graham is, it's a Gardner Minshew fan show.

It's got legs. You have a long, successful career doing this. You're big into underground music, Darren. I feel the way about Gardner Minshew. The way band goers or music seekers feel about a band that they noticed first. Like I feel about this new Youth Fountain album that nobody else is excited about. No, no, no, not like Youth Fountain, because nobody knows who they are. That's what I'm saying. What I'm saying is it's somebody you recognize and discovered, then they're in the national conversation.

They are someone being talked about a lot. Like, I was on the Gardner Minshew train two years ago when East Carolina was benching them in favor of former Duke quarterback Thomas Cirque. I was saying that's wrong and this guy might transfer. And he did.

And he did. I feel the way about Gardner Minshew that I felt about Kid Cudi about 12 years ago. I was in on Kid Cudi and then he became a massive deal.

That's a Kid Cudi reference. That's top shelf. Yeah, I love that feeling. Like when you find an album or something no one's ever really talked about or listened to, you throw it on, your friend gets in the car, you pop it in knowing you're about to blow their mind.

What is this? It's like, all right, it's like how I was when I was tired of the song Sugar We're Going Down before anyone I knew had heard of Fall Out Boy. That's incredible.

And also very snobby for you to say it's the truth. Hey guys, you know that song that you all love right now that you guys have been jamming to the last week? I was sick of it like a year ago. I was totally over it. I was over it like a year ago.

Fall Out Boy. You know that bus ride we took to whatever game? That was in my headphones. I was listening to it. Yeah, way back then. No, I did this.

Of course I said this. Were you on the Gardner Minshew train when he was at whatever JUCO and played in the championship game in season one of Last Chance U? It wasn't the championship game they were playing in. It was East Mississippi going up against, I forget what school he played at in Mississippi. But when he came in, man, he was just this gunslinger that everybody liked.

He was the teammate that everybody just loved being around. In fact, Des, if you could find the story involving his jockstrap and only his jockstrap from earlier this week, I'd appreciate that. You're asking me to google Gardner Minshew's jockstrap? Is that what's happening here? Yes, that's what I'm asking you to do.

What else are producers for? Duly noted. The drive brought to you in part by our friends at Twin Peaks. Now that I have a Sunday off, not having to go to a game, I might actually be at Twin Peaks this Sunday. Not saying for sure I'm going to be there, but it's your local sports lodge to watch NFL football games, maybe even like tonight, Jaguar's Titans, or whoever your favorite team is. There's screens all across the restaurant in addition to cold beer, delicious food, and the scenic views that there are.

Haynes Mall Boulevard in Winston-Salem is where you can find Twin Peaks restaurant, eats, drinks, scenic views. Des, what did you find on the Gardner Minshew front? Your boy Minshew, he's got some weird tendencies. Weird feels to the eye of the purveyor. So apparently in college, and who knows how much longer before that, he had a pregame ritual where he basically stretches in the locker room in nothing but a jockstrap, and apparently he has brought that with him to the NFL, so he's doing that right now. How much of a ritual is that? Stretching with your jockstrap?

Everybody stretches, if you're smart, before strenuous physical activity, and if he's in his locker room, then that's a safe space to only be wearing a jockstrap. I don't even see this as odd. That's of course the perfect way to punctuate that. Jaguars, Titans, get excited for it.

8.20 tonight. Buckle in. We've got a lot of sharing to do. That's what we've got here. Also, I think we've seen enough through three weeks of the college football season to try and establish where teams belong here in the state of North Carolina. I'll give you my list of the top North Carolina college football teams next on The Drive.