The Drive with Josh Graham - Peter King

Attention, please. This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. Tune into The Drive 3 until 6 p.m. weekdays on the Sports Hub. I love it.

It's brilliant. For the first time since that Monday Night Football loss to the Saints, Cam Newton speaks answering questions about what has become the most interesting shoulder joint in the NFL. Cam spoke to recent NSMA Hall of Fame inductee Peter King, a guest today on today's show, showing us further evidence that there is a brand new Cam Newton running the show at Panthers Camp in Spartanburg.

Sure, we talked about it last week. It was maybe the most exciting play in Panthers training camp history. All the questions are about Cam's shoulder, and he hits Curtis Samuel with a dart 35-40 yards down the field, a throw he wasn't able to complete all last year even when the Panthers were 6-2, and even to a degree in 2017, an 11-5 season in which Cam threw for over 3,000 yards. I'm not just talking about physically Cam looks right. It's also in his maturity, in his leadership.

It's not just the physical traits. He's interacting with fans differently. Reporters and administrative staff over there have noticed Cam in between drives and plays, talking to fans for minutes on end, spending significant time, when in the past, he might have a little fun, ramp them up, wave his arms at them, throw them a football. But it seems a little bit more different this time around, where he's making himself a little bit more accessible than in years past, now that he's a 30-year-old and a father of multiple children.

He also acknowledged his humanity in these quotes with Peter King, his mortality, his football mortality. Remember, he's had a bunch of content released this offseason that he's the center of, a YouTube channel, but that's controlled by Cam Newton. If things were awful, I don't think Cam is going to put it out there, a doctor saying, yeah, I don't know if his shoulder is going to be right this year.

If Cam's controlling that content, you've got to take that with a grain of salt, every single thing you see there. During kickball tournaments and his gala, it is expressed strongly to reporters that cover it, don't ask about football, don't ask about Cam's shoulder, or you won't be invited to the next thing. He was on with James Corden.

James Corden's not going to ask him football questions. So Peter King asking questions for Football Morning in America and NBC Sports, this is the first time we've heard Cam speak publicly, talking to reporters about the state of his shoulder. And he gave some illuminating stuff, specifically speaking about the evolution he hopes to take in his career from MVP quarterback a few years ago and trying to play at that level a different way moving forward.

Well, this is what I do know. You can look back at any type of player, you can look back at any type of sport, and as a player grows, your game has to change. I remember reading and seeing a lot of clips about Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Brett Favre, even Peyton Manning to a degree. When you get old, you have to change certain things. It kind of keeps you young and I actually look forward to it.

I embrace this whole process because it made me feel like a rookie again. Learning certain things, learning new mechanics, focusing on the little nuances of playing a quarterback position and trying to master it. And so at this point in my career, it's not about velocity, it's not about throwing a ball 70 yards, it's about efficient football that's going to win a football game. Don't you find it interesting the examples he brought up there? I don't think that's coincidental, where he's bringing up Brett Favre and Peyton Manning. Those are the two quarterbacks he named. Not Michael Vick, not Randall Cunningham, even though Joe Person brought up that story or wrote that story in the offseason for The Athletic, speaking to those guys as running quarterbacks with the air quotes, evolving to different parts of their career. Randall Cunningham having his best season later in his career when he wasn't nearly the runner. Warren Moon, the same way, having some of that success. He brought up Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. Peyton Manning might be the best example because he didn't have a lot throwing the ball his final year, but it was enough to win a Super Bowl coincidentally against Cam Newton's Panthers. Here's more from Cam.

Again, this is courtesy of Football Morning in America and NBC Sports. At the end of the day, you know, God has possessed me with things that I'm grateful for, you know what I'm saying? And now being older, you kind of look at things different. And, you know, for me, it's not that I'm limited with certain things or that I'm not capable of doing certain things. It's just other ways to do it, you know what I'm saying? And I'm not saying I'm not going to run people over. I'm not saying I'm not going to run the football. I'm not saying I'm not going to throw the ball down the field. You know, it's just I'm just in a position now where none of that matters but one thing, and that's winning football games. And if it requires me to do all those things, I'm willing to do it.

And if it doesn't, I'm still fine with that. You know, right now, I'm in a position where, you know, I'm going to win now, been in the win now for a couple of years now. And we just got to start with trying to take back this division.

And that's a hard feat in itself. But, you know, we're looking forward to it. This is a lot different, Cam Newton, from a public perspective, answering questions, being candid. I felt that's what he was right there.

There's a lot to sink your teeth in just in those two clips alone. And it actually reminds me of the last time Cam spoke. It was one of the more interesting. It was the most vulnerable I've ever seen Cam where they lose to the Saints. As Peter King pointed out in his story today, he only threw one pass through the air that exceeded 10 yards. Cam simply could not throw the ball down the field, yet he stood there for nearly 20 minutes, answering every question the best he could. But there was just so much uncertainty, even in his own mind, about what was happening with his shoulder. Mentally, he's sharp. Mentally, he's making the right decisions. But his body was failing him in a way that if your livelihood is that, athletics and sports, can there be a more terrifying thing than playing in that sport and not knowing if your body can communicate what your brain is telling it to do, specifically your shoulder. Thoughts are welcome on Twitter at sportsubtry at 336-777-1600.

Aaron Gabriel in today, Desmond Johnson in the control room taking your calls again at 777-1600. But Cam, as he said, it's not about throwing the ball 70 yards down the field. It's about being more efficient.

And this could be a better Cam. I expect him to take more layups. When the Panthers were 6-2, his completion percentage was close to 70%. It was.696. 69%. A nice completion percentage for Cam Newton.

That's 10 points better than what his career average is at 59%. And the weapons that surround Cam are conducive to a West Coast dink-and-dunk type of offense. Move the ball down the field and matriculate it down the field Hank Stram style. 5 yards a clip. 10 yards a clip. Not needing as many deep balls in order to be successful.

Norv Turner coordinating it. That's an upgrade from 2015 where you had Mike Shula calling the plays. And these weapons that Cam has right now, it supports what I just mentioned with things being more underneath.

But they are also the most talented crop of weapons Cam has had. McCaffrey, 107 catches on 124 targets. Greg Olsen appears to be moving great in Spartanburg.

He's back. There isn't a tight end in the NFL, I don't think, right now, now that Rob Grinkowski is retired, that is more reliable in facing a zone defense, finding a hole, finding a seam than Greg Olsen is. Then you got DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel who are both great in space, yards after catch guys. And Jarius Wright's even a security blanket type receiver. So the weapons, it's conducive to a more efficient Cam that doesn't have to be down the field passing.

You've got a great offensive coordinator. And evidence last year, even with the bum shoulder, Carolina 6-2, Cam Newton nearly 70% completion, it was working. If Cam's healthy, this more efficient Cam can be great. It could be MVP good. And the Carolina Panthers could be a contender.

Yes, Dave? So let me ask you this question, because this is one of the things that as a Cam Newton defender over the past seven years, certain things get thrown at you all the time. And one of the things being me, and one of those things was that Cam had relied on his athleticism up to this point where he doesn't throw receivers open.

He has to see them open and then he had enough strength to get the ball there fast enough. That's been true. And that has been true.

Now, I started seeing it last year. And I'm starting just from hearing him and hearing coaches around there. And the footage is leaking out from training camp where Norv Turner's offense has always been more of a, he's a timing guy, three step, five step, seven step, throw it. It doesn't matter if the receiver's open or not. It's the receiver's job to get open, not your job to get him open. You're supposed to throw it to a spot.

Very matchups base where you try to get the one on one with somebody, back shoulder it or have somebody who can get a jump ball. Right. And now he's got those receivers, like you said, that can do that type of thing and they have the speed to separate. How dangerous do you think this team could be if Cam can master the mental part of trusting those receivers and allowing them to go get the ball as opposed to waiting for them to get open like he has in the past? Cam's shoulder is the difference between the Panthers being not just a playoff team, but a team that gets a first round bye in the postseason versus being a top 10 pick in next year's draft.

That's the difference. If Cam's shoulder's right, they're going to be a contender for that division. And the winner of this division is going to be one of the top two teams in the NFC. So we could even be talking about a home field advantage type situation.

But there's plenty of time to explore the chances of teams in the NFC winning their division, winning the conference. I'm fascinated with this change in maturity, this change in accessibility from Cam this offseason. I think he's become more likable to people and he's let more people win. And when that happens, when you let more people in on talk shows like James Corden, have cameras around for all or nothing dispelling a lot of the things people took shots at him about. Oh, he's not a great leader. You can't have that takeaway. It's impossible when watching all or nothing.

The YouTube channel. Maybe you understand why Cam wears the outfits that he does. You get to see how much his teammates love him. People said that he's not tough. He's not willing to do what it takes for his team, because on the biggest stage, he didn't dive on that football. And people haven't forgotten about that.

But we've seen it twice now. Cam play in what is seen to be insignificant games while having a shoulder injury. Playing until coaches had to take him out for the final two games last season and playing the final four games of 2016. Fans respond to that. I think Cam is becoming a little bit more likable, a little bit less polarizing.

And I think it has a lot to do with access and how accessible Cam has made himself to us and how much easier it is for us to understand him. You are listening to the Sports Hub broadcast live in the law offices of Timothy D. Wellborn Studios. The drive that is to learn more about Tim Wellborn and the ways that can help you visit them. Tim Wellborn dot com. You'll know when you need us.

Do we like Brooks Koepcke? That's next on the drive. This is the Sports Hub at AM 600, AM 920.

Now back to the drive with Josh Graham. Wyndham Championship tournament director Mark Brazel will join us in 15 minutes. We'll be broadcasting live from the Wyndham first and second round Thursday and Friday inside Margaritaville underneath a tiki hut. Can't wait for that.

So if you're going to the tournament, be sure to drop by and say hello. I'm there. I'm feeling very conflicted right now in multiple ways.

I had the Bojangles pimento cheese chicken biscuit. I have some thoughts on that. We'll get to that in a second. But I'm also very conflicted on Brooks Koepcke, who won again yesterday. Did somebody tell him that wasn't a major? Because he said a few weeks ago that. When I'm on television, when you see when you see golf on television, that's when I'll play.

I don't practice during the week for non majors. It seems like Aaron, you just heard this for the first time. Have you not heard what Brooks Koepcke had to say just a few weeks ago that has led the golf world into frenzy?

I mean, yeah, I just first time I heard it, it sounds kind of disrespectful of the game overall. Well, judge for yourself. See if I'm paraphrasing it incorrectly.

This was Brooks Koepcke. I just practiced before the majors regular tournaments. I don't practice when you see me on TV.

That's when I played off. I appreciate the honesty. It is disrespectful. That's arrogant.

It is arrogant. He's exactly what he looks like. He is a medium shirt.

Guns out, bro-ish. That's what he looks like. Then it turns out he is smug and he's arrogant. Confidence and arrogance. They are cousins. They are neighbors.

You could easily confuse the two. This guy, we're talking about the same guy who has the smoking hot girlfriend that just wanted to kiss him before the round. And he said, nah, I got to shake this guy's hand. I forgot about that. Same dude. Same guy.

Shmedium T-shirts. But I appreciate the sincerity in this business. All that you all that we can ask for is that somebody communicates who they are.

I covet genuineness. I hate everything. I would hate to be around Brooks Koepcke. That's a guy I know I would not be friends with. I dislike that guy. But I appreciate that he would say something that blatantly disrespectful because of how strongly he felt about it. You know, Cam Newton, there's people that dislike what he has to say. I appreciate genuineness.

I appreciate genuineness more than I care about the substance of your character. Yes. Well, wait a minute. Hold on, man. Josh, look, this is this is a little bit beyond just being confident in your abilities.

Like what if trying to think of a player, what if what if Russell Westbrook came out and was like, you know what? When you see me play basketball on TNT or whatever on Thursday nights, it's the only time I play basketball. I don't practice.

I don't know. I mean, if he's out here saying stuff like that, you see me on TV. That's when I play golf. It's a different sport, though. Golf. Like in golf, you can pull that off. And if you win that way, there are just athletes who play the majors.

And then maybe some of the other events on tour don't play all of them, like the Wyndham Championship or like the Wells Fargo. It happens. You just don't say it publicly. It's just been non-spoken.

So I appreciate the guy who says the thing that other people are thinking and other people act upon and act similarly, but just is willing to communicate that and not give a bleep that the blowback is. Have you seen me on TV? That's when I play golf.

It gets better. This guy yesterday, he won the tournament, a non-major. So as he said, there probably wasn't doing much practicing throughout the week.

He still won. And yesterday they saw where his parking spot was at the course. He didn't arrive until 45 minutes before his tee time, 45 minutes before his tee time. He shows up and he waxes people. Have you seen me on TV?

That's when I played off. Yes, Aaron. I like this guy.

How did this change in like four minutes? Is he like golf's Allen Iverson now? We're talking about practice. He just might be. He's the guy in golf right now. The guy. That's who he is.

He's ranked number one in the world right now, isn't he? Yeah. Smoking everybody.

I don't know. I mean, normally, you know, I'm normally here for the smoke. I love arrogant players.

You could see why I'm conflicted here. Yeah, because I mean, you started this off saying you basically wanted to punch this guy in the face, but now you grudgingly given respect. He's the guy you walk into in the bar who has the Shmedium shirt that you just slightly nudge because his arms are so big it takes up half the walkway and then gets really mad at you. As Aziz Ansari said in his stand up special, you're pushing on me, bro.

Hey, bro, what's your problem? The only thing missing on Brooks Koepka is some Chinese proverb tattooed on his arm and a backwards cap. That's all that's missed. That's his weekend. That's that's what he does on the weekend. Do we have anybody on the phone line here?

Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one, six hundred. OK, because I want to get to this Bojangles experience I had today. Pimento cheese chicken biscuit. It's available across the state of North Carolina now.

Originally, it was just in Wilmington. But no, baby. Yeah, you already know. So I went to the Bojangles. I ordered the biscuit.

I got a combo. I swear on everything I own. I pull up to the window. Lady gives me the bag and says, you're brave. What she said, you're brave. That is never a good look now from a drive through window when the people that work there handing you.

That's not a good look. It's a lot. It was a lot, but it's good. It's tasty. It just might be, Des and Aaron, the most southern fast food item of all time. It's Bojangles chicken inside a biscuit. With pimento cheese slathered on top of the chicken. Can you find anything more southern than that?

Sounds like a heavyweight contender to me. I don't think if you tried, if we tried, we could put together a more southern sounding dish than what Bojangles has assembled here. It has to be fast food. We're talking just fast food, right? It'd have to be like, I don't know, like chitlins in a bowl or something.

What? Ham hocks. If there's another fast food restaurant that wants to come for Bojangles stuff here and get this title, who has the inventory to do it? Popeyes. Okay, what would Popeyes do though? I don't have enough, I don't have enough Popeyes or fast food experience.

Well, thank you for coming to the microphone with that. Honestly, they're not a southern restaurant, but the one restaurant that I would say would probably try to step up to the challenge to do it would be Burger King. Because Burger King throws out the most random stuff on their menu. Or KFC. Yeah, well, I saw there's still a chicken biscuit now. The KFC Cheetos chicken sandwich. It was the worst fast food item I ever had. KFC's not a sponsor, right? No. Okay, good to know.

Yeah, go for it. Yeah, it was awful. Who even decided, who decided to basically put Cheetos on top of a piece of chicken that was already extra crunchy to begin with and put it in a sandwich? I felt like it lied to me. I felt like it lied to me because I'm a big fan of hot stuff and buffalo chicken and buffalo sauce. I open up the KFC Cheetos chicken sandwich and I see, like, sauce that is orange that resembles buffalo sauce. Turns out that's just the Cheetos cheese sauce. Oh, no.

And also there's a lot of mayonnaise for some reason. Oh, no. Oh, gosh. Not awesome.

But do you know what is awesome? Speaking of buffalo sauce? The Gram Slam pizza. Pie Guy's Pizza and More. Pay them a visit in Clemens, get the Gram Slam or try the Moravian Sugar Cane Pie. It is something I haven't, I've gone through withdrawal in the last week.

I haven't had it, but it's only been on the menu a few weeks. Pie Guy's and More, Pie Guy's Pizza and More. Find them in Clemens off the Louisville Clemens Road, Kinnaman Village Commons in Clemens or online at pieguys.com. Just how did the Wyndham Championship land Jordan Spieth in the 11th hour? The tournament director of the Wyndham Championship, Mark Brazel, will fill us in on that next. The tournament director of the Wyndham Championship, Mark Brazel, now joining us. Mark is on Twitter at WyndhamTD. We'll be broadcasting live from the Wyndham Thursday and Friday inside Margaritaville.

Certainly look forward to that. But Mark, give me a sense for what the last couple of days have been like. Mark Brazel now with us on the show. Give me a sense, Mark, for the buzz around the event the last couple of days as we have hit Wyndham Championship week.

Yeah, things are going well. We've got a BB&T Monday Pro going on right now. I mean, everybody's really excited about the field. I mean, obviously, Webb Simpson had a great week last week, finished second in the World Golf Championship. We've got Jordan Spieth coming back first time since 2013. We've got Branch Nedeker, defending champion and two-time champion. So we are really excited. We've got some great young players, too.

Some of them, Colin Moore-Cowher, who just won the Barracuda in Reno yesterday, plus Matt Wolf, who won the 3M Open, and Victor Hovland and Doc Redmond, who's from Raleigh. So we're excited about the tournament. It's coming up on Thursday. We've got a couple more days. We've got a practice round tomorrow and a program on Wednesday.

And we kick it off on Thursday. Take me behind the scenes, though, at what it looks like when you're trying to secure names and secure a field for this tournament on Friday afternoon. What details can you tell me about landing Jordan Spieth and what seemed like to be the 11th hour Friday afternoon? You know, I think Jordan typically commits to tournaments a little bit later. So I think he just kind of wanted to get through his first two rounds in Memphis at the FedEx St. Jude and just see how he's feeling and see if he feels like he needs to make a bigger run. And so he just decided, you know what? I'm going to play six in a row, and I'm going to do all I can to get in that top 30 because that's where he wants to be. He wants to be playing for $15 million in about four weeks.

Ed Hardin was with us from the Greensboro News & Record on Friday when the news broke that Spieth would be a part of the field. He said, that's so great for the reason you brought up that he was here before 2013. But he also mentioned that he had a relationship with you and told you time and time again that, hey, man, I promise I'm going to come back to the Wyndham. I promise. What can you tell us about that?

No, he's always told me that, and it just needed to be the right situation. We get it. I mean, our date is good. I would say it's not great. We're trying to make it great, and we'll hopefully be successful in that in the next couple of years. But this year it's really challenging because there's a British Open followed by a World Golf Championship, and then us, and then three straight playoff events. That's a pretty packed line of events. And quite a few of them decided to take a week off, which I totally get because that's a lot of golf, a lot of major championship golf those two weeks, one in Northern Ireland and then also in Memphis. But we're still excited about the field. We've got some great players, and there's still some guys that can make some noise in the Wyndham Awards.

Top 10, Paul Casey's number eight. Webb Simpson can jump all the way up to number five if he wins and collect another million dollars. So there's still a bunch on the line here at the Wyndham Championship. You mentioned how packed this month is on the golf calendar. Next year the Wyndham Championship will follow a week of men's golf competition at the Olympics in Tokyo.

But as we discussed before, Mark, having the last regular season event with the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 and a three-event playoff to follow, when do you think you really start to see the effects of the calendar and how it's going to help this event? Well, it starts next year because you've got to remember the Olympics. So before the Olympics, there will be two weeks before the Olympics there's a British Open. And then there's the tournament in Minneapolis. And then the Olympics. So let's just think about the Olympics for a second. It's four American golfers.

That's it. Last time we had this in 2016, Ricky Fowler, who was on the Olympic team, he actually came and played it. So I don't think we'll get one or two of them that played in the Olympics. And for the most part, it's a week off for the American players that don't play in the Olympics.

So I think that really helps us out in a big way. Guys can rest and then they can come over and play in the Wyndham Championship to kind of see what happens with the Wyndham Awards Top 10. I think next year changes dramatically. I have been very, very cautious about this year because I knew it was six weeks in a row. And it's just a lot of big events right there. But I really believe starting next year, in 2020, when most of the American golfers and a bunch of foreigners will actually have a week off. So I'm looking forward to 2020 Wyndham Championship. Considering the schedule, is this still about the field you expected to have, Mark?

You know, I did. I mean, I'm pretty close to the action. I kind of know that these guys, for the most part, aren't going to play six in a row. And when you know that, then you've got to realize that we're going to probably have... We might get some of the guys to play. Like, I love that Paul Casey's playing. I'm not sure what he's doing in the playoffs. He may take a week off.

I'm not positive. But I know he's playing here because he loves it here. He loves this golf course. And, you know, we're happy to have him. And then for Webb to make a big climb yesterday, I think he jumped, I don't know, seven to ten spots to number 13. And again, like I said, he's playing as well as anybody in the world right now, as evidenced by what he did at FedEx St. Jude.

And, you know, those are two players that you've got to look for right now. It's Wyndham Championship week in the Triad, and we're talking to Wyndham Championship tournament director Mark Brazel in the Sports Hub. Asking you about a guy that everybody's talking about in golf right now, Brooks Koepka. What's impressed you about the run he's been on lately? Well, one of the things that really impresses me is that he doesn't practice much. I mean, he's pretty good for somebody who doesn't practice much. And he is, he's just kind of built for the majors. I mean, we used to say that about Tiger, but Tiger used to practice a lot. He would practice as much as anybody, and he loved just winning tournaments. And I think when Brooks was just focused on, you know, he loves winning tournaments, I think that he kind of prepared for the FedEx St. Jude similar to a major, so he just carried that on for two weeks.

But there's nothing that fazes him, and there's not a, he doesn't really have a weak part of his game. He's a super nice guy. I've got to spend a little time with him in Memphis, and he really is a great guy down to earth.

But he is sitting on top of the world in golf right now, that's for sure. Mark, we'll see you later in the week, broadcasting Thursday and Friday for Margaritaville. The first loaded LandShark is on us. Hey, that's all good, and I hope everybody will come out to North Carolina's party and be here. It's going to be a great time. Can't wait. Thanks, Mark.

Thanks. That's Mark Brazel, Wyndham Championship on Twitter, at WyndhamTD. Carlton writes in on Twitter, I don't understand how you can like Tiger but dislike Brooks. He's a more honest person who succeeds at the same level without the respect and attention from the media. Well, Tiger was a phenomenon. Brooks Koepka, we've seen this before. Now, maybe not saying what he said, maybe not like Mark referred to, somebody who's had this level of dominance playing in the majors, being built for the majors and not practicing as much. But we saw Jordan Spieth have a very similar run a few years ago. Brooks Koepka right now was Jordan Spieth two years ago. And Jordan Spieth two years ago was Rory McIlroy for a two year stretch a few years before that. Nobody's had the level of sustained success that Tiger Woods enjoyed. Now, there are a lot of other things that factor into Tiger being a phenom, and it's not fair to put him in the equation trying to figure out how somebody compares to Tiger Woods.

But I don't care who you are. When you have a sustained run of excellence, we'll put up with anything you have to say. Winning makes everything sound great.

Winning will validate anything that you believe in. Geno Auriemma has been called smug, but Geno Auriemma is the greatest winner in women's college basketball. And that's saying a lot considering all the other great coaches in that sport. Nick Saban. Coach K. When you win, people will put up with more. You get a little bit more. Equity.

To say how you feel. And Brooks at Koepcke has more of it than anybody else I think in golf right now. On Twitter at sports of triad three three six seven seven seven one six hundred if you want in on the show. Again, we're going to be broadcasting Thursday and Friday from Margaritaville. Dez isn't going to be there. He'll be back in the studio.

But Aaron. Aaron's going to be attending. So be sure to drop by and say hello if you're going to be out in that area. The drive is brought to you in part by our friends at Twin Peaks restaurant.

Pay them a visit. Haines Mall Boulevard in Winston-Salem at your local sports lodge. Whether it's the Wyndham Championship, Major League Baseball or preseason football getting ready to start.

Your place to be is Twin Peaks Haines Mall Boulevard in Winston-Salem. I saw this. Clay Travis mentioned this today. This is the final week. Where we will not have any college football or NFL games until February the 8th. One more week. And for us.

We're already set. Essentially, we've got the Wyndham. Curtis Strange will be a guest with us tomorrow. Former Wake Forest demon Deacon. Terrific golf analyst.

So that's something you can expect. And again, Thursday and Friday we'll be broadcasting from Sedgefield Country Club. Very excited about that. Coming up. The next face of college football who won't play a snap this year.

Keep it on the drive. At Panthers training camp in Spartanburg, there is a name over the last week I've been hearing probably more than any other player not named Cam Newton. Of course, Cam's going to suck all the oxygen out of the room. But other than Cam, one guy's name keeps getting brought up time and time again.

And he could be set up for a big year. But before we get to that, I had the Bojangles chicken biscuit with pimento cheese today. Which had me thinking about weird food combinations. Weird food dishes that you make that you like. Either when you were a kid, like I used to eat mustard sandwiches. But then I turned 7 or 8 years old. Grew out of that. I still put Lay's potato chips in my Subway sandwiches when I eat them because I like the added crunchiness to it.

3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 1, 600. Johnny in Gibsonville has a weird food dish that he eats. Johnny, what do you got? Oh man, deer meat and couscous. Wow, what's it taste like? Heaven. Thank you.

Thank you, Johnny. If you're wondering how deer meat and couscous. Couscous, I mean.

That was a bad word to misspeak on. That would be a totally different dish, wouldn't it? Tastes like heaven, though. That might taste like something else. It might even be a little bit better than heaven. Certainly better.

Who knows? Have you ever had venison before? What? Have you ever had venison before? Deer meat. Have you ever had deer meat before? Yeah, I have deer meat. Have you had it cooked?

Because I do. I know we did this last week, but I do have a dorm story now that I just thought of because of deer meat. Okay, so last week we were talking about the fact that the Carolina Panthers were in dorm rooms. They are in dorm rooms for the next few weeks. Had us thinking about dorm stories.

What do you got? So me and three friends were living in an apartment at UNCG sophomore year. And a buddy of ours from here in Kernersville had killed a deer, but he didn't have any place to store the meat. So he decided he was going to bring it all over to our freezer. And we were going to have deer week where each day we were going to eat some kind of concoction made out of the deer meat that he brought over. So the first night we had like deer stew, the crock pot with some bullseye barbecue sauce that cooked all day. The meat's real tender. Everything was good. The second day I think it was like Hamburger Helper stroganoff or something that we use like deer meat in. By the third day, the deer meat, no matter what we did to cut, I think we had like deer steaks or something. It started tasting like, I can't describe the taste, but like we had to stop at day three. Heaven? No, it wasn't heaven.

It was more like a, I don't know. That must be the couscous that's added to it. It just, I don't know, not rancid, just like it had this really strong aftertaste to it after eating deer for three straight days. Are there any weird dishes you guys eat that you'd be willing to admit?

3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 1, 600. We'll get crazy in just a bit. No, I don't think I eat anything. I mean, I ate hot dogs the other night and my girl thought I was sick or something. What did you put on the hot dog? Ketchup, mustard, but like a nice fancy mustard.

Good to know. Like a grape opponent. If it was just ketchup, I'd judge you. But ketchup and mustard, that's the baseline. You need at least two condiments on it unless you go completely plain.

Some people just like plain. Well, that's strange. That's not strange. A hot dog with nothing on it? Yeah. It sounds like a good way to choke to death.

If it's just ketchup on top, that's weird. 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 1, 600. The player I keep hearing about from Spartanburg is Curtis Samuel. He's been the early story from Panthers camp other than Cam Newton. Peter King had the exclusive one-on-one with Cam.

He's going to be with us in about one hour on the show. Somehow, Curtis Samuel has gotten faster. Year 3, it's a big year for wide receivers. It's usually when we learn what you are in this league. Are you going to be a number 1 or number 2 starter? Or are you going to be somebody who works out of the spot time?

Or are you going to be somebody who just doesn't make the cut altogether? That's what we're going to learn about Curtis Samuel. But apparently, he's been great at camp. He caught that pass deep down the field from camp 35 yards away. And he's been making one-handed catches, one-on-one with Dante Jackson catches over his head.

He's been great. Greg Olsen was talking to Luke Keakley and JJ Jansen in a clip. And Greg Olsen just, I think, put it about as well as you can describing what Curtis Samuel looks like. How does Curtis look? He looks fast. Curtis, everything about Curtis just looks fast. Like when he walks, he looks fast.

He walks up the stairs, he looks fast. How does he look when he runs? Slightly faster than mostly everybody else. Excellent analysis.

I can see why Monday Night Football was looking at Greg Olsen. Does somebody looks fast? Is it possible to look fast? Like what does fast look like? He looks fast.

If I may speak frankly, usually it's of a darker complexion. Ah, thank you. Thank you for that. Is that why everybody was going crazy about this sprinter in Texas who was breaking all the 100 meter dash records? I saw that kid. A lot of people were freaking out. He was breaking records and that's significant.

But I think the reason it became a national story was because he was not of a darker complexion. He looks fast. He was deceptively fast then at that point I'm sure. Remember they were calling McCaffrey that when he first came in. Yeah, Christopher McCaffrey, unlike what Greg Olsen said here. He looks fast.

Apparently did not look fast coming out of college. Quick. Joey in Thomasville, give me the weird food that you like eating Joey.

Joey, go ahead. Well, yeah, I got a couple of things. One, just to let you know, there's a local place here in High Point that's been serving that pimento cheese and chicken sandwich. And it is freaking delicious. And it is great.

I get it every time I go. But, similar to you, Josh, I put cheese nips on just about every kind of sandwich I have. If I have a ham and cheese, a roast beef and cheese, a bologna and cheese, whatever. I put cheese nips and I arrange them just so. I got to have four squares, four rows. It's perfect. Now give it that crunch, that cheese, I love it. Wait, hold one second.

Joey, I've got important questions here. How many cheese nips are we talking? You're saying four rows of four? 16 cheese nips? Yeah, so you've got 16 cheese nips. If it's perfectly on a slice of bread, it's perfect. This is a lot of research and a lot of sandwich making, I'm telling you. It's a perfect 16 cheese nips per sandwich. All right, thank you, Joey.

I appreciate the honesty. 16 cheese nips on a piece of bread. It's an exact science for Joey. Cheese nips? I've had cheese nips in mac and cheese. I don't want to completely knock it because I haven't tried it. I've had it in mac and cheese before, like baked mac and cheese with cheese nips. We've gone to a joint before where it served that for lunch one time and that's great. Gives a little crunch.

Yes, Aaron. When he mentioned the whole four and four thing, I was remembered, sometimes I like a banana sandwich. Just like slice some banana up, lay it on the bread, another slice of bread, banana sandwich. I don't think that's that strange.

Me neither. That's not just banana. But I can't think of a more southern dish, though, than chicken biscuit with pimento cheese slathered inside. Not at a fast food joint.

No, that's so that's Bojangles. And I had it and I go to the drive through and the lady just says, you're brave. Yeah, this is the only word she had for me. She handed me the sandwich and said, you're brave. That would have made me start sweating immediately.

Like, what am I about to embark on here? I think she thought that it was hot. But I love hot food. That's not what we're talking about with pimento cheese. There are some people would find it spicy. I'm not one of those people.

I have a different palette for that. What is pimento cheese? It's cream cheese, pimentos and like like sun-dried tomatoes. Aaron, get on that. Yeah, because I always thought it was super spicy, too.

I haven't had it since I was a kid. The Wyndham Championship is later this week. We'll be broadcasting from there on Thursday and Friday.

The field, it's better this year than it was in years past. But Mark Brazel, the tournament director at the Wyndham was with us earlier, said next year is when you're really going to see the effect of the new calendar. Just too many events in one period of time where guys are playing six consecutive weekends that you just understand them wanting to take a week off before the three event playoff begins.

Next year, it'll be after the Olympics where you have four Americans playing. So next year, you probably get the biggest of big names, but adding Jordan Spieth was massive. It was a nice consolation prize to Koepcke or Phil Mickelson. You weren't going to get Tiger, who played in 2015, the only time he's played this tournament.

But Jordan Spieth was Brooks Koepcke just a few years ago. He's kind of flown under the radar a little bit, but now he's the biggest name. He's top billing at this event.

Players, they're still figuring out the new calendar. Greensboro does everything right. Great course, great patrons, great city. It's very well ran by Mark and the folks over there do a wonderful job. So we're looking forward to being over there.

But the field is better and should improve in future years. Aaron, tell us exactly what is in pimento cheese. In the cuisine of the southern United States, pimento cheese is a basic recipe that has a few ingredients. Sharp cheddar cheese or processed cheese, mayonnaise or salad dressing. And you guessed it, pimentos blended to either a smooth or chunky paste. That's it.

Thank you so much. Back to Curtis Samuel. He could be the Panthers' number one wide receiver.

There's a real chance of that. Devin Funches isn't around anymore. Now, he's not going to get the most targets. That'll be either McCaffrey or Greg Olsen if Olsen's healthy. But at wide receiver, I think it's 1A, 1B type of situation right now with DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel.

Then you have Jerrius Wright and Chris Hogan playing in the slot. It's the best crop of weapons, the best crop of talent Cam Newton has had surrounding him. And if you're a Panther fan, all you're hoping is Cam Newton's healthy. If he's healthy, you're a playoff team that might even be good enough to get home field advantage in the NFC.

That kind of good. Because I believe the NFC South to be that strong of a division. If Cam's shoulder isn't right, you might be picking top ten in the draft. Which makes Cam's shoulder the most interesting question, I think, in the NFL going into the year. Now, Todd Gurley's status is going to draw a lot of interest because the Rams were in the Super Bowl.

But the most consequential question in the NFL just might be, what is the state of Cam's shoulder? We've got let's get crazy takes to do here. It's the radio equivalent of the no-judgment zone. It's the radio equivalent of the office space jump to conclusion map. Take a small bit of information and then just run with it.

When they give you an inch, you go a mile, 100 miles, 500 miles by Vanessa Carlton. Take it to the distance. Take it to the next level. Jump to conclusion. We get reckless with speculation for a 15-minute stretch each week where we just throw red hot opinions that are unsubstantiated at the moment.

And it's become a very popular segment in doing so. If you want in on it, 336-777-1600 is the phone number. David Glenn will be on the show after that. We get crazy next. He looks fast.

Come on! You're on the drive with Josh Graham. The Sports Hub at AM600, AM920. The first time since Cam Newton met reporters after the Saints game last year, we saw him answering questions about his shoulder this past weekend. It was Peter King, recent NSMA Hall of Fame inductee, asking the questions. And Cam, it was very refreshing to hear how he acknowledged his football mortality.

And he seems, based on all accounts, to be interacting with fans differently. It might be a brand new Cam Newton, not just on the field physically, but off the field as well. Peter King now joining us, and you can find the story in the interview with Cam Newton.

Football morning in America. Before we get to the interview, Peter, this is the first time we've chatted since you were inducted into the NSMA Hall of Fame in our backyard in Winston-Salem. What did that night mean to you? Oh, you know, there aren't many times in my life where I have really kind of tried to sit back and kind of digest, you know, what I've done in my life. And because every day you wake up, there's a new story, and that's what I really like to do. And I'm reminded of all those players who often say, essentially, that, oh, well, I don't really want to think about that right now. Maybe I'll think about it at the end of my career.

And I always think they're full of crap. And, you know, I did give my life and this business quite a bit of thought that weekend because the honor was so, it was really overwhelming. Especially to go in with who I went in with, Tony Kornheiser and Bob Lee and Doc Emmerich.

I mean, three of the three people, you know, three of the people I've got the most respect for in this business, really. So, yeah, it was a great weekend. And I have to say that, you know, Winston-Salem does such a fantastic job.

You know, Winston-Salem is not on my NFL itinerary very often, and so it was cool to go there and to see that city and to see the, you know, the growth of that place and, you know, the cool little brew pubs and, you know, the minor league ballgame that we went to. It was, I mean, I had a great, great weekend. I really enjoyed myself.

And so anyway, yeah, it was a fun thing to do. You were in Spartanburg, South Carolina, talking to Cam Newton, and you started your column today by saying you were very impressed with Cam, very impressed. What impressed you more, the Cam you saw on the field or the one you spoke with off of it?

Probably the one I spoke with afterwards because I thought he had a really good perspective on his life, on his arm, on his shoulder. And, you know, look, he is very, very clear in this. He doesn't know if he's going to get his fastball back. He doesn't know if it's going to be the same thing. I don't see any reason why over time he won't because he didn't have the shoulder overhauled and surgically repaired. He had it cleaned out.

There was a lot of impingement in there. So I think it's just a matter of getting the shoulders strong. But his mechanics are more precise, and I just think he appreciates his lot in life right now. And, you know, the quotes he gave me, I just don't see Cam Newton three years ago saying things like that. Is it possible, Peter, considering the weapons that surround Cam and who the coordinator is, that if he is healthy, this new, efficient Cam Newton could even be better than the one that won an MVP in 2015? Well, if you think about this, as I wrote in my column, you know, basically Cam Newton can move the chains better now even with an arm that might be 75 percent as strong as it was three and four years ago. He can move the chains better than he ever has in his career because, I mean, last year, Christian McCaffrey had 123 balls thrown to him and he caught 107 of them. That does wonders for one's completion percentage.

I don't know what 107 divided by 123 is, but it's pretty good. And so I think that's part of it, but I think the other part really is that, you know, I think much like what happened to Peyton Manning late in his career, he realizes that if we get the W, who really cares if I throw for 409 or 190? It doesn't matter. Nobody's going to think about that.

And I shouldn't be thinking about that either. But for some quarterbacks, it's very hard, not because they're stat nerds, but because they're just used to dominating games. And who knows, maybe this year the most explosive, greatest weapon on the Carolina offense will be McCaffrey and not Newton.

I don't know. We'll see. What did you make of Cam bringing up specifically Brett Favre and Peyton Manning, among others, versus running quarterbacks like Randall Cunningham or Steve Young or even a Warren Moon? I think clearly, I mean, I thought that he brought up Manning because Manning's situation was, you know, that he had, you know, a neck injury that really affected the strength of his arm. Brett Favre never really had those kind of injuries. He just, at least any significant ones, you know, he threw the ball hard till the day he walked out of the game, really. Favre just had these, I mean, he played with some incredible things, you know, injuries. So, I think what he meant was, later in life, a lot of players in a lot of sports had to adjust their games.

And you know what? I am too. It's just amazing to look up, because I said, let's see, how old is Cam? I think he's like 30, and he is, he's 30 years old, he just turned 30. And he's talking like a graveyard, you know, and really he might be able to play another 10 years. Peter King's with us.

Follow him on Twitter, at Peter underscore King. You talked a lot about Cam, pretty much only about Cam and your story because you had other teams to address. But what is something else you either saw or were told at Panthers camp that piqued your interest?

Well, let's say there were two little things. Number one, it really strikes me that Curtis Samuel is going to be featured very, very heavily this year. And I think he could really emerge. I think a lot of people fall in love with D.J.

more rightfully so. He's a very, very good player. But, I think Curtis Samuel is going to have the better year.

That's number one. Number two, I think the Panthers are absolutely intrigued by what could happen by playing as much as, let's say, about 50% of a 3-4. And the reason I say that is that, you know, what you have here is you have the ability to have three, really three, three-four outside linebacker pass rushers. You know, you've got Bruce Irvin. You know, you've obviously got the first round kid from Florida State. And then, you know, don't forget Mario Addison. I mean, this guy, you know, he gets 8 or 10 sacks every year.

He's clockwork. So, imagine having three of those guys. And let's just say Brian Burns is the guy who's coming off the bench early.

I mean, that way you don't have to put a lot of pressure on Burns to come in right away and be a huge producer. But they are really, really excited about their pass rushers. The only thing I would say is, you know, usually you play the 3-4, the impact of those inside linebackers, and one of which is going to be Kuechly, sometimes gets a little bit deluded.

And I really hope that doesn't happen because I love watching Kuechly sniff out plays at the nerve center of that defense. As a regional chain in the Carolinas called Bojangles that has what I believe to be the most southern fast food item I've ever heard of. They have this thing called the pimento cheese chicken biscuit that they've put out there that a lot of people were talking about around here.

Does that sound tasty to Peter King? It's a divisive topic around here. Well, I'm not a big pimento guy. I never have been. But I do like Bojangles. And I've had their stuff before. And I hate to say it, but I was at Falcons camp today and I had a sandwich there that I couldn't eat.

And I felt bad about it because that was my Bojangles experience of the weekend and I just didn't get to it today. Well, I really enjoyed the interview you had with Cam and it was good to meet you when you were in Winston-Salem. Congrats again on being inducted into the Hall of Fame and I'm sure we'll be catching up sometime soon. Thanks for doing this, Peter. Hey, that's great. Thanks a lot. Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate it. You've got it. That's Peter King on Twitter at Peter underscore King. The story and football morning in America.

Cam Newton puts away Cape feeling like a rookie after surgery. Des, are you going to try this pimento cheese chicken biscuit? Are you intrigued enough to say I'm here for it? I wasn't aware that mayonnaise was in pimento cheese until Aaron read it out a little bit earlier. Sometimes you just eat it and don't worry about what's in it. Didn't your mom ever tell you that?

No. Hey, what's in that? Just eat it. It's good. Just eat it.

You're not from the south if your mom never told you that. Just eat it. It's good. Refresh my refresh my memory on pimento cheese. Creamy.

Get a little kick to it. Yeah. Pretty good. It sounds so thick like to digest. It is a little thick, but it was tasty. It was it was a bit much.

It just it didn't seem like it all belong there. But when you when you tasted it, it was good. It's crazy, too, because, you know, I've been telling you I've been on this kind of not intentionally, but this weird kind of diet type thing where I've cut out a lot of red meat. I've been eating more chicken and drinking way more water than I ever have. And I've lost like 15 pounds in about 30 or 40 days. So to for me to try to figure out if I want to eat something that kind of qualifies for my diet, but not really.

Yeah, this is not diet. Yeah, I don't sound like something that should be taken when I was in Greenville, America. The place that was named what the college bar of the year, I think most recently it's called Sup Dogs. It's the name of the place. There's hot dogs, but they also have burgers and they have really cheap beer.

It's a college bar. They had a thing called the bacon cheese fried burger. We had a burger. Get this. Bacon cheese fries on top of that burger.

Not healthy. Overindulgent. And that might be to a degree what this is with Bojangles, but. I'm interested in what can you get more southern than that? Can you get more North Carolina southern than Bojangles biscuit with pimento cheese slathered on top? I mean, I think Bojangles is the premier fast food joint that the South has to offer. Or at least the Carolinas.

Cookout might be in the running. Chick-fil-A would fight you. Yeah, Biscuitville. But then again, now Chick-fil-A is across the country.

Right. We're talking southern. Southern.

Just exclusively southern. Cookout. They would come to this fight wielding corn dogs and chicken quesadillas. Just a tray. Just a mystery tray. You don't know what's in it.

You don't know. $4.99. We're coming to this fight with a mystery tray, mother bleepers. Got some barbecue. You don't know what's in this milkshake. Tray full of whoop-ass. $4.99.

I mean, that's probably the only thing I can think of. You get two sides with that two-knuckle sandwich. 336-777-1600. The weirdest thing that you eat that you're willing to admit you like.

336-777-1600. Brent says on Twitter, A surfer dog from Charlie's shop at Wrightsville Beach has mustard, cheese, and bacon bits. Well, that doesn't sound bad at all. That sounds delightful. That sounds really good, Brent.

Yeah, that sounds delightful. What are you talking about, Brent? My dad almost tricked me into eating fried chitlins one day. You just really like saying the word chitlins. It's dangerous.

I don't know why you keep saying it. It's the most southern thing I can think of. It's dangerous to say on the radio.

Is it? I mean, not if you're used to saying chitlins all the time. Why is chitlins dangerous to say on the radio? If you pronounce it like it is on the plastic bin that they come in. Chitterlings?

Chitterlings, then yeah. But that's not... At Sports Hub, try it on Twitter. The drive brought to you in part by your friends at Twin Peaks Restaurant. Haynesville Boulevard in Winston-Salem. You can find them at your local sports lodge. Twin Peaks eats drinks.

Scenic views. But no, I'm willing to admit I like eating the potato chips on my sub. And when it comes to hot dog condiments, I don't put a lot on it.

It's mustard and ketchup. That's usually what I go with. But I can add some cheese on top of that sometimes. Is it every time with a sub? Like, anytime you get a sub, you have to crush chips up in it? I always get the combo, yeah. Wherever I go, I get the combo, whether it's Lay's potato chips or Miss Vicky's. Isn't that what it's called? Yeah, the kettle joints. Yeah, the kettle joints with sour cream and onion.

That's usually what I do. Did you notice, Peter King, once again, there's Curtis Samuel. Curtis Samuel's name.

He's been most prevalent on the radar by people not named Cam Newton at training camp. Looking fast. Looking very fast. Greg Olsen? Greg Olsen told us, point blank, it's him, Luke Kuechly, J.J. Jansen.

This is from the Panthers' Twitter feed. He just said Curtis Samuel looks fast. How does Curtis look? He looks fast. Curtis, everything about Curtis just looks fast. Like, when he walks, he looks fast. He walks up the stairs, he looks fast. How does he look when he runs? Slightly faster than mostly everybody else. I don't think he's being racist there.

I don't think so, even though I'm getting that a lot right now. Where, if you ask the question, what does fast look like, if you followed the NBA or NFL draft the last five or six years, there is a theme with those who are seen to be fast and those who are seen to be deceptively fast. We've gotten to the bottom of here. But no, Curtis Samuel, usually it's year three that wide receivers tell you what they're going to be, show you what they're going to be. Are you going to be a number one, a number two? Are you going to be someone who has to play in the slot? Are you not going to pan out altogether?

It's year three that it happens, and right now Curtis Samuel showing coaches and even Peter King a lot of things in Spartanburg. Jeremy in Winston-Salem, what's the weird food that you eat, Jeremy? Yeah, so have you guys heard of head cheese? No. Explain.

Head cheese is just like this mass of all the weird parts like ear, tongue, hoof, all these things in this mass. It is incredible. Okay. So good. Do you pair it with anything?

No, just eat it on a piece of bread or like a cracker. Oh, it's great. Yeah.

Thank you, Jeremy. I don't think he mentioned the animal that he was referring to. It's from the pig.

Oh, thank you. He left that part out. Head cheese is what I heard.

Yeah, he left out what part they were using the extra parts for. Aaron is distraught and he's showing it visually even though it's an audio medium that we do here. What are you looking at, Aaron? A picture of head cheese. This looks like... Let me do the Google search. It looks like... You know how great it looks.

Let me get the Google search. It damages... There's no way to prepare for that. When I looked over the corner, I was like, oh my gosh, what is that? Oh, wow. Did you just put it on crackers or something? I don't understand. Throw it away. It looks like it already was thrown away. Oh, wow.

Kobe White, what do you think about head cheese? Wow, bro. Des, what do you got in Ticket to the House? I am so mad at this. There is a song that has broken a Billboard record that does not deserve to own this record. All right. I'm going to tell you the song and what it is and what record it broke. Des is going to be fired up next.