Get Me My Tin Foil Hat

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

We're internet sensations guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on WSJS. You are on a Thursday Drive. It is WSJS, new stonk sports for the Triad. Where we are jam-packed wall-to-wall with football on today's show. After our first losing week with the picks, Graham's gambling back in 10 minutes. A very special surprise guest will be here at 4.30.

Make sure you're around for that. We've got Lions Packers on WSJS tonight, but those are not the NFL teams we'll be starting with today. Through three weeks, there are already some suggesting that the Carolina Panthers are having fires remorse with their pick of Bryce Young number one. And it's not just fans either. In fact, Ben Zolack, who's really smart from the ringer, and Bill Simmons, they're already saying if Carolina could do it over again, they'd take CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson over Bryce based on what we've already seen. Now, given all that went into drafting Bryce, that's ridiculous. It's ridiculous, obviously, to think they're having regrets this early on. However, they should be having those regrets about another guy they signed this offseason, and that's running back Miles Sanders.

Just look at the way they're using him, or look how little they're using him. He got nine carries last week. The week before that, 14.

14. Those types of that type of usage would have been small, would have been unusually small for the Philadelphia Eagles last year. A team that was a Super Bowl contender, made it to the Super Bowl, and yet he's not getting those carries for the Panthers in this offense. For a team that's not even close to being a Super Bowl contender, that kind of tells you how they feel about Miles Sanders. Meanwhile, as Miles Sanders isn't getting the ball, Andy Dalton's throwing it 58 times.

Here was Frank Reich earlier this week on that imbalance offensively. At the end of the day, we're committed to running the football. You say, well, then why don't you call more runs? Well, because I'm first committed to winning the game, and so we're going to call whatever we think we need to call to win that particular game. In the perfect world, you're a 60-40 pass run or 55-45, but game by game you just never know how it's going to work out.

Yeah, how's that going? Our commitment is to running the ball except if it's contrary to us winning the game. That's our first commitment too. They're doing neither. Ah, we're not running the ball, but we're going to try to win games. Okay, well, you're not committing to winning and you're not running the ball either.

Could you at least do one? Remember, Carolina was the only team to pay a running back this offseason. If you look, and obviously this was a big storyline when it came to the situation with Jonathan Taylor with Indianapolis, it was a problem with Saquon Barkley for a little bit.

You had Josh Jacobs having issues. Running backs, they have problems with the way they're being viewed and that shows with running backs not getting paid in free agency. Only three free agent running backs got deals for more than $8 million total. Carolina paid Miles Sanders $25 million over four years. That's $7 million more than the running back that comes next closest.

Send me that cash out, fam. He got the biggest contract of any running back this offseason and they're not giving him the ball. And the part that makes it particularly damning, Carolina might have had a better option already in the building that they let Walk and Deontay form it. Deontay was good last year and he's making a tenth of what Miles Sanders is making in Charlotte.

One year, $2 million deal with the Chicago Bears. And the thing that bothers me the most, there's some overlap between what Miles Sanders brings you and what Chuba Hubbard brings you. Neither guy is a third down back. So Carolina doesn't have a good third down option right now.

That's what made them effective last year when they were physical with Steve Wilks and they had that identity. You had Deontay Foreman who could be the short yardage bruiser back. And you had Chuba Hubbard who could be a little bit more all purpose.

Now you have Miles and Chuba and it doesn't seem to be a good marriage right now. But going back to Bryce Young, who a lot of people are talking about, oh, the regrets Carolina's surely having. Look at CJ Stroud. He hasn't thrown a pick yet.

280 yards, two touchdowns in the win against Jacksonville. We've seen two starts for Bryce. The analytics love what he's done through the first two weeks.

The nerds, they love it. He hasn't been very bad in either game. He hasn't been great yet. But you got to remember, Carolina does not trade up to the number one pick if they didn't trade DJ Moore and Christian McCaffrey. The McCaffrey piece is often overlooked, but some of what they got in exchange for McCaffrey was also given up in order to move up to that pick.

So you lose those two guys and obviously there's going to be an effect from that. He doesn't have the most support. He doesn't have the type of support you'd want to have for a rookie quarterback. And everyone in football can see that. Even Cam Newton, who knows a thing or two about Carolina not supporting a quarterback very well.

Here's what he had to say on KJ Wright's podcast this week. I see the receiver skill set. Yes. You see the Thielen, you see Clark, you see the tight end there. But from top to bottom for him, it's not set up for him to be successful, especially now his rookie year, in my honest opinion. And like I said, everything that Carolina is and building, will they get to that point? Yes.

But right now, yes. And throwing him into the wolves and expecting instant success, that's not the quarterback position, unfortunately. That's a very subtle, maybe unsubtle way of saying his offensive line's not good.

Because he made sure to point out, I'm not talking about Thielen. I'm not talking about that tight end they got. I'm talking about the offensive line. And I also might be talking about their running back too, and the fact they don't have a running back that they trust right now. It's too soon to say the Panthers are having buyer's remorse for Bryce.

I don't think it is too soon to say they're having buyer's remorse when it comes to giving Miles Sanders all that money. On Twitter, at WSJS Radio, you can chime in. You can also chime in on our YouTube channel, as our former producer of this show, Robert Wallace, seems to be doing. What's Robert saying in this chat right now, W.D.? Well, he was putting in bold letters, we want Josh. We want Josh.

And then he said, tell them why they're wrong, Josh. I also see, who's the guest? Yeah. Here's the hint. Here are the hints I'll tell you. And if somebody can figure it out by giving you a call, W.D.

at 336-777-1600, we'll give them a pair of tickets to the fair. Look at that. Okay? Got stuff. If you can guess and figure it out, all I'll say is North Carolina Sports Hall of Famer, who might be a Hall of Famer very soon in another Hall of Fame, who's from Gibsonville. That's all you got right now.

336-777-1600. Will Dalton, the executive producer of the show, and W.D., would you like a taste of one of our bets that we're going to hand out in a minute? Like an early, quick taste here? Oh, I'd love it. I'd love a sample. We love that.

A sample. It's a good word. I'm a Costco guy. Oh, we know. We know. I'm focused on Lions-Packers tonight.

Send me that cash out, family. Typical of a Thursday night, this game's not going to meet the stakes. And there are real stakes. When you look at the biggest games of the weekend, Bill's Dolphins, that's one of them, and this game right here. There's no doubt this is a very important game.

Neither Chicago nor Minnesota are winning the NFC North, which means either Green Bay or Detroit is going to win this division. And obviously, head-to-head meetings matter a lot with that. The injury report on both sides is staggering.

This is crazy. You have seven players, seven starters that are ruled out for tonight's game. Ten more are questionable for tonight.

That's a symptom of it being a short week, sure. But it's also telling me picking a winner next to impossible, trying to figure out who's going to win a game like this when it's hard to even figure out who's going to be on the field. It is a good bet, however, that it's going to be a gross, low-scoring game as a result. So the under is the play that we're looking at. 45.5, that is the over-under. We're going under that.

This is crazy. Both sides, Detroit and Green Bay, have two starting offensive linemen that are out of this game and another that's questionable to play, including for Green Bay, former Wake Forest Demon Deacon Zach Thom. That's crazy that these teams are going to be missing at least two starting offensive linemen, maybe three. I think it's the type of game where defenses take advantage of that.

It's also a short week. It's a division game, a lot of familiarity both sides. I think you're looking at a first one to 20 wins, a 20 to 13, a 20 to 17 type of game. That's why, again, we're going to go with the under. That's a pick that we've got in Graham's gambling this week. I'll lean Packers, I guess, since they're at home, but the under is what we like.

That's how we're getting this thing started. Last week, it was unacceptable, W.D. We were 1-6. That was our first losing week of the season and it hit us hard.

How are we going to bounce back? Well, we got one pick already delivered, six more on the way next instead of just talking. Why don't you listen?

That's why you have people call in. Listen for a minute. Oh, welcome back to the happy circle. The Drive with Josh Graham. Finally, we had a losing week. It was inevitable. We just didn't think it'd hit us as hard as it did. 1-6 last week, which means we have a losing record on the year. How's that possible? We go through four weeks without a losing week and then we have one losing week and now we're under 500 by a game? Unacceptable.

15 and 16. That's where we sit. We're going to try and bounce back.

You might think, oh, well, we'll just take our lumps here, maybe try to be modest and, you know, let's try to recalibrate, maybe tone it back a little bit. Nope. Seven last week, seven more this week in Graham's gambling. Let's start with the college games. Indiana is getting 14 from Maryland. That's too many. Sure, Indiana went to double overtime at home with Akron last week.

That's not very good. But their defense is. Same defense that held Ohio State to 23 points earlier this year.

That game might have been in Columbus, too. And they're going up against an immature team that might not be the best coached. With respect to Mike Locksley, sure, they're 4-0, but look at how they won some of those games in Maryland. They spotted Charlotte 14 points. They spotted a bad Virginia team 14 points.

Found a way to win those games, but that's not something you can do reliably all the time. And I suspect they could take this game for granted given what Indiana did against Akron last week, barely sneaking by. You're at home, you're unbeaten, and next week you got a game with Ohio State down the pike. It just seems like to me this is going to be a battle in College Park, so I'll take the Hoosiers plus 14. The last two weeks we handed out Boston College.

This is our team, WD. They came up big against FSU, nearly won that game, and then last week they gave up 42 and a half. 42 and a half to Louisville, not great.

Not great. BC is laying points. They're not getting points, they're laying points, which means that there's only one team in the ACC I think they're laying points against, and that's my wife's alma mater, Virginia, who last week had that battle with NC State. BC's laying three and a half, and you know exactly what we're doing here.

It's in Chestnut Hill. BC is not a good team, but they're not awful like Virginia is, and BC knows which quarterback to start. Castellanos is a legit player it looks like. They start him over Emmett Moorhead who started the year. Virginia apparently is going back to Tony Musket even though we all want to see Anthony Calandria out there. I think Virginia pays for it. Give me BC laying the three and a half points up in Chestnut Hill. Boston College. Hold your nose on that one.

That one's stinky. Next up, Kansas and Texas. The last time KU went up to Austin, it was a shootout in overtime where a tight end caught his first collegiate pass to win that game and a week later was appearing in local Applebee's commercials. That was a high-scoring game, but Texas has gotten a lot better since then.

Texas is in the top five. Kansas is unbeaten at 4-0, but that didn't matter last year when Texas was winning the game by close to 50 points. I'm not saying Kansas is going to win the game. I'm not even saying Kansas is going to keep it within 16 or 17 points, but they're going to score with Coach Kleiman. They're going to hit the 62 and hit the over in this game combined. Texas might score 50 of those points.

Who knows? We'll see, but Kansas is going to score enough because they're a good football team to hit that over, especially considering Texas might be looking ahead to next week where the Red River shootout against Oklahoma will take place. One more college game. We're going to the SEC. LSU laying two and a half in Oxford at Ole Miss. Ever since getting worked in the opener against FSU, LSU started to look the part. Now there were some scary moments against Arkansas last week, but I think that Arkansas team's pretty good. Ole Miss meanwhile is a fraud. Yeah, they were ranked at the top 15 last week, but this Ole Miss team, they don't have a good win this year. Oh, they beat Tulane on the road though, Josh. Yeah, Michael Pratt didn't play in that game. They handed it to Georgia Tech.

Congratulations. Alabama's not great. South Florida showed that a couple of weeks ago, yet you still lose that game by two touchdowns. I think LSU is going to win this game even though it's in Oxford. I'm going to go see the Tigers next month. Excited to watch them. They've been following this team pretty closely. I think they're really good. Ed Orgeron, we're going to channel our inner Eddy O and say, go Tigers and lay the two and a half.

No idea you still had that in your computer somewhere. Very impressive work. Getting to the NFL tonight. Lions, Packers, low under 45 and a half points.

It's a short week. It's Thursday night football. It's a division game. Both these teams are incredibly banged up.

So expect a gross low scoring game under 45 and a half. The biggest game in the NFL weekend though is Bill's Dolphins without a doubt. WD, the Dolphins dropped 70. They looked unbeatable and they're getting points this week. They're getting points going to Buffalo. So surely you're going to take Miami, right?

Wrong. If you know how this works, Buffalo is the play. And this stat, I think brings that home. WD, you want to take a guess how many teams in the NFL have scored 60 plus in the last 53 years, since 1970? 60 plus. It's got to be less than 10, right? Six. So there you go. Six teams.

I want to make sure I get this right. Six teams. Make it seven. Seven teams since 1970. The following week, those seven teams are one in six straight up. The next game that they play, 0-7 against the spread, and they lose by an average of 12 and a half points in those losses. You take the Buffalo Bills to beat the Miami Dolphins. That's just how this works.

To close things out. Panthers. This is scaring me because this line got up to five. Yeah, I guess three and a half. I'm thinking Carolina. Now it's four, four and a half.

Some places it's five now. I don't know why, but we're going to take the Panthers anyway. Plus five because it's Kirk Cousins, man. It's going to be a close game. We know how this works too. Kirk Cousins, close game.

That's who he is. And I think Carolina is going to win the game. But even if they don't, I'm getting more than a field goal here.

I think it's going to be a really exciting game Sunday afternoon in the Adam Phelan revenge game. So in review, Indiana plus two touchdowns in College Park. Our guys from Chestnut Hill laying three and a half against Virginia.

Go Boston College, go. Texas, Kansas over 61. LSU minus two and a half at Ole Miss. And in the NFL low tonight on WSJS. Lions Packers under 45 and a half. The Dolphins not getting the pick. The Bills minus two and a half against Miami and the Panthers plus five.

You might hate those picks. But that's how we're bouncing back. Your attention, please. This is The Drive with Josh Cramb. Trip Durham, executive director of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, is in studio with us.

I haven't already messed it up, have I? No, no, that's me. I was looking at the camera going, that's me, just in case people were trying to figure out who's the guy to your right. Oh, got you.

YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter. You can watch our video stream with Trip Durham in studio. It's proof that he's here.

Sometimes in radio it can sound like somebody's there and they're not there. It is in today's technology, right? It's proof. Yes. It's proof he's here. Would you like to share which Hall of Famer is going to be joining the show in 15 minutes?

Do you want me to do that? You've been teasing it so well since you came on at three o'clock. Okay. I think it was a badly kept secret from the moment I said Gibsonville because people started flooding WD with cult.

They did. However, WD, he's mispronouncing it. There's no Z in Gibsonville. Gibsonville. Thank you very much.

Okay, that is important. Who is it? North Carolina Sports Hall of Famer, Class of 22, Tori Holt. Okay, Tori Holt is going to be joining us in 15 minutes.

Fired up. So this does sound like you're in Winston-Salem right now. Do you know what county Winston-Salem is in? Forsyth. There are 100 counties in this state and that's what we're trying to do is to get more out of what people think is the Hall of Fame just being wake.

So there are 99 other counties and we're trying to get out. But since you're correcting me about how to say Gibsonville. Forsyth? It's Forsyth.

With an F at the end? No, no, no. It's not Forsyth. It's Forsyth. Forsyth.

It's Forsyth. Like fur. Like hunter fur. Like fur that a cat has. Wow, look at the time.

I can't imagine it evaporated that fast, right? But you know, we were just talking a second ago about the Ryder Cup that starts tomorrow. It had me thinking about this event that you're having with Wake legend who was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame this year, Curtis Strange. Yes.

Yeah, so and speaking of NC State and Tori Holt, Debbie Antonelli going to be part of this as well. What is this event again? Two weeks from now in Donald Ross's house. So the house that Donald Ross spent the last 23 years of his life in. Whoa! That he built on the number three green at Pinehurst number two.

Only about 40 people have the chance to buy and get in. Curtis Strange, Debbie Antonelli, Fireside Chat. But the cool thing, other than the heavy hors d'oeuvres and the really good bar by which people can partake in. Yeah. We're going to be able to walk through the courtyard, step out onto the number three green and you can putt around with Curtis Strange. Two time open champion.

So you get to hear from Debbie Antonelli and Curtis Strange. Yes. You get to putt perhaps on what hole was it again? Number three.

Number three at Pinehurst. There's no perhaps. You get to do it. You get to do that.

No perhaps. And there are hors d'oeuvres, there's drinks. Where can people go if they want to register to become one of those four teams? N-C-S-H-O-F dot org. That is short for North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame dot org. N-C-S-H-O-F dot O-R-G. And after a click under news and events, you'll see the big Curtis Strange logo. You cannot miss it. And we'd love for folks to be there.

Yeah. It's a really cool website. You could see all the inductees and such. I think the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame is a thing that people just assume that it exists, but might not know a lot about it. How long has it been around?

Intuitive you are. 1963, which means May of 24 will be our 60th induction class. Wow. And we have a very big announcement coming next week about that thing. It'll be May 10th. Are we going to learn what the class is next week?

No, but we're going to learn where it is next week. And it's not going to be in Raleigh for the first time in quite a while. Raleigh is an amazing host. But as I mentioned, we're trying to get out to the other counties and we have a partner that is willing to work with us.

And that announcement comes next week. What would you like to see the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame become? I'd like for us to become statewide. Not that it hasn't been, but the challenge that this Hall of Fame has had over the last 59 years before I took the seat 54 weeks ago is that it has not had full-time executive director leadership.

And so part-timers, volunteers doing all that they can to keep the Hall of Fame as our jewel up and running, but they have never worked with it from an external standpoint, meaning the marketing, the branding, the taking different events from town to town. So I would like for it to be a household name before it's all said and done. We've got the CAD together. So if we think about it from an architectural standpoint, the CAD drawings are in. We know the framework.

Now we just need to start putting stuff in the house. Learn more about it again, the website? N-C-S-H-O-F dot O-R-G. You're really good with putting the ball on the tee and allowing me to smack it. I appreciate it. Well, I could just read it myself.

I like you reading it because your voice is very good at reading things. Because if you're a Duke fan, you might especially recognize Tripp's voice because he's the PA voice of Wallace Wade Stadium and Cameron Indoor Stadium. Yeah, that's been a dream for me. This is my 15th year in football. It'll start my 14th year in basketball. And I'm an ACC guy.

I grew up in Burlington, which is in Alamance County, and that's how you pronounce it. So growing up in the shadow of the ACC and being a part of it and now being at Duke for so long and this football program being what it is this year in basketball, of course, always being what it is. It's a thrill. What people don't know is you and Jeffrey Griffin are great rivals. Jeffrey Griffin, who is a long time Wake Forest PA guy, he's our morning ghost. So I didn't tell him you were coming in here today.

So hopefully it doesn't cause issues. No, the booby traps that he laid on the floor. I think we're good. No, Jeffrey's good people. That guy's a talent when it comes to public address, without question.

Okay. So we got some breaking news into our studio. Legit breaking news. Ken Jeong is going to be the guest picker for college game day, Duke, Notre Dame, Saturday. I told you yesterday that it wasn't going to be K. It wasn't going to be Coach K because a feeling I had from a lot of people at Duke was Duke's had their fair share of basketball college game days. Let's make sure the focus is solely on football. It isn't to say that a lot of people would be bothered by it if it were to happen, but enough people might have been thinking, really, we're going to bring Coach K out for this.

Let's try to make this Duke football's day. So think about the stamp. The guest picker is always in the final 15 minutes. So that's like the K block or the Z block at that point. They're actually going to have a flyover as well that they're coordinating for game day. Wow. That's pretty cool.

They started the layout, the setup today. It's pretty cool. John Feinstein's trying to call you right now. That's a flex.

It's pretty good flex. That's happened to me a few times. The best example I've ever seen, me hanging out with somebody, was in High Point, Bob Ryan was, we were having lunch, of course, does stuff with the National Sports Media Association, the great Bob Ryan, and his phone rings and it's Larry Bird calling.

Ignores it. I thought you were going to go B. and Nick Cannon there. Oh yeah, B. and Nick Cannon.

That's a good example too. Larry Bird. I'll call Larry in a bit.

Okay, cool. But getting back to Ken Jeong, he's going to be the guest picker. We've got a flyover now over the setup too and it looks like it's not going to be next to the stadium.

No. They're going to be like near the chapel. They're going to be in front of the chapel in the quad and the name of the quad escapes me, but that's going to be an amazing backdrop. Duke has never hosted or game day has never been at Durham. They've never been outside of Cameron. Yeah, there you go. So to be able to have the chapel as the backdrop and given connections that Reece Davis has with his son playing baseball at Duke at one point, his energy is going to be up.

Obviously, I think the crowd's energy is going to be good and take this for note. This is the second time this month game day has been in the state of North Carolina. So North Carolina two, every other state one, take North Carolina in the points because right now we are dominating game day as a state. Lee Corso put on the Tar Heel head, the Tar Heels won just like last year. There used to be a run where Corso, if a game involved North Carolina, he'd never put on the head and when he did bad things would happen like NC State.

This is right after Tory Holt left. 2003, they're playing Miami and Corso puts on the NC State head. This is Phil Rivers last year and Miami runs back the opening kick. Some guy named Devin Hester ran back the opening kick and Miami blew out NC State that day. There's like a long run like LSU played North Carolina and Atlanta to open up one of those Butch Davis seasons. He puts on the LSU Tiger head. I think App State ended that run last year when he put on the Yosef head and they had the Hail Mary at the end that won it and then North Carolina was the pick and they won the game.

We'll see. Corso already said last week that he's going to pick the Blue Devil no matter what. Do you want Corso to put the mascot head on of the home team?

Is it like the S.I. Jinks in which if it goes on the cover bad things are going to happen? I think you want it to happen just so you have the image.

That's fair. You have the photo of Lee Corso wearing it. My question is though, it's just going to be like the regular Blue Devil mascot head, right?

We've seen other examples where he puts on like a hat or might have the devil horns or something like that and a trident. I can't tell you. See, I thought Tripp Durham would be... Saturday at about 1153. We'll find out. How big is Saturday for Duke? I think it's huge.

I think you cannot... It's like the basketball tournament in March. You can't buy that type of publicity.

The value that will come with marketing and exposure will be huge. So you have that in the morning. You've got obviously the ABC game that night. That's a big deal for this program. Think about it too. Mike Elko and I think I have the numbers right of the 16 games he's coached. He's won 12 of them. That's a pretty big metric, right?

It is. I just hope at some point they make sure to mention, even though I understand why you want to have him there or whatever, he's still coached some of the guys. I hope David Cutcliffe gets some shine some way somehow because none of this is possible without him.

We all stand on other people's shoulders. And Mike Elko the same way in that program right now. We'll see if he gets the love and the mention. Again, two weeks from the day. Two weeks from today. Two weeks from today I will be in Pinehurst ready to watch Curtis Strange and Debbie Antonelli in their fireside chat.

N-C-S-H-O-F dot O-R-G if you want to be a part of it. Putting at Pinehurst. Right. With Curtis Strange, by the way. Two-time Open champion. Wake Forest legend. Back to back, yes.

You'll be putting on the same green that somebody's going to be putting on next year to potentially win a U.S. Open. That's a great way to look at it. That's what I'm saying. That a boy. So it's pretty cool.

Tripp Durham. It's good to have you in here, but a great reason why we have you in here is because you have a really wide Rolodex. Yeah, I'm the opening act, right? I'm just the setup guy. I'm the undercard. That's it.

You're the setup guy. You're David Robertson getting set for Mariano Rivera. And Mariano Rivera here is former High Point Rocker David Robertson, by the way.

Just going to throw that out there. Tory Holt, the legend from NC State, is going to join us and we'll talk about Gibsonville. Gibsonville. Nailed it that time.

Second time, a charm in that sense. As Tripp Durham continues with us as well. Keep it tuned on a Thursday drive. North Carolina Sports Hall of Famer. NC State great. The pride of Gibsonville. Gibsonville. Gibsonville. Gibsonville. Tory Holt joining us now. Tripp Durham in studio with us as well.

The executive director of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Tripp, you don't live that far from Gibsonville. I don't. And Tory can tell you Pete's Grill. That's the place to go get lunch, right? That's it. That's the spot. Pete's Grill, Jack's Barbecue. Those are the spots.

Absolutely. You know who else really loved Pete's? Debbie Owed always. I'd saw her at Pete's one time.

She's always. And she's also the pride of Gibsonville as well. Yeah, there's Joshie. Joshie's wanting to put a Z in it, Tory, instead of an S. Gibsonville.

Yeah, Gibsonville. G.I.B. is what we call it. G.I.B.

Okay. Well, when people ask you where you're from, did you always say the G.I.B. or are you saying like, oh, I'm from a city that's close to Durham near Burlington? No, I would say from Gibsonville, G.I.B., which is close to is right between Greensboro and right between Greensboro and Burlington. It's a little small town right off 85. This is what I used to say, small town right off 85.

And if you blink, you'll miss it. See, I'm the person that is insecure about like not I wanted people to know where I was from and they want to know Youngsville, North Carolina, outside of the city of Wake Forest. So I'd always say, oh, it's near the city of Wake Forest. It's near Raleigh. So no, I'm going to be like you and wear it, wear it like a like a gold star and say Youngsville, North Carolina.

Absolutely. I couldn't be more proud. I could be more proud of being from Gibsonville. I learned a lot.

It's made me the man that I am today. And I think back one of the things when I think back to Gibsonville, I think back to pulling all of that tobacco, man, that I pulled when I was a young kid, man. So shout out to Gibsonville.

What up? Do the kids still do that? Is like, is are the next wave of Tory Holt still pulling tobacco in Gibsonville? I don't know.

I doubt it. But they but they may, you know, they think folks are saying that the young folks are different nowadays. So but I still think there's some hard working young folks out there, some hard working families out there that are that are pushing their kids to to get out of the fields and and a hard way to learn and learn the hard way how to make a living. That's what that's what I learned. And while I was out there in those fields, you know, I was I would say to myself, OK, I'm going to get through the day, going to get through the next day and get through the week.

But Lord help me, I will not be doing this for the rest of my life. You were right with us here. Obviously, you were a freak athlete, but were you also like an ACC fan growing up?

Did you watch games? Yes. Yes. That was right. And, you know, because ACC back when I was growing up, it used to be on Raycom Sports.

Oh, yeah. And, you know, and it was Lynn Byers and it was James Wirth. It was Michael Jordan. It was you know, it was it was it was all of those guys and girls that played in the ACC. And and and all I just remember saying to myself, you know, if I get a chance to go to college, I want to go to an ACC school. Didn't know which one it would be, but I knew I wanted to be in the conference because it was the most decorated conference. It certainly in our area was one of the more decorated conferences in all of sports.

So with the talent, the tradition, the rivalries, I knew I wanted to be part of the ACC. Did you ever make it up I-85 to watch an ACC tournament in Greensboro? I did not. I did not. We always watched it at home or we watched it in school. We never did. We never did. We attended.

I don't, you know, it never really came up when I was growing up at home. Like, hey, you guys want to go check out a tournament? It was it was more so, look, if it's on TV, you're going to sit down, you're going to watch it as a family. You watch it with your siblings or you watch it in high or you watch it in school during lunchtime, which is the best. That was always the best. But I never got an opportunity to go to any of the ACC tournaments.

Always watched it on TV. Tori Holtz with us here on WSJS. You're in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. And I'll tell you something that's pretty annoying for me.

And I can only imagine how annoying it is for you. How many great wide receivers were in the era that you played? And what happens is there's like this like jammed group of you guys trying to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You were a finalist the last few years. What would it mean to you? You're going to get in one day. What would it mean to you to get into that hall?

Oh, man, it'd be it'd be it'd be the the the icing on the cake. It'd be the cap to my sports career. You know, growing up again in Gibsonville and playing with the playing at Gibsonville Elementary Parks and Recreation and then going on and going to McLeansville Middle School and playing basketball, going to Eastern Guilford High School and playing football.

And then from there to Hargrave Military Academy. With so many great teammates and so many great coaches and then going off to NC State from Hargrave Military Academy on NC State for four years under coach Michael Cane's tutelage and his his leadership there. And then leaving there and going and being drafted six overall to the St. Louis Rams and head coach Dick Vermeil and his staff, Charlie Armey and Al Son is my receiver coach believing in me, standing up on the table to bring me in and going there and having a, you know, playing 11 years in the National Football League, being part of the all decade team, being part of the Super Bowl team, Pro Bowls, et cetera, and good coaches and good and good teammates. This will be for me to be able to cross the finish line and be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a testament to all those guys and appreciation that I have for all of them for helping me get to that level to be even considered and then to be voted in would be just be fantastic for Gibsonville, for the state of North Carolina, for the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, for all the folks that I've come across and I played with and competed against, man, I will be I'll be certainly humbled and appreciative to one day grace the halls. Would you be able to keep it, it's a trip, would you be able to keep it together on the podium if you find yourself in Canton that day?

No, I'm fine. There's certainly a tier or two or three or four or five that's that will be that will be coming out of these eyes because of just the just the the jubilation and the appreciation that I have for the game of football that I have for sports, period, having an opportunity to compete, to express myself athletically and now being considered one of the best guys that ever played the game. You know, it's over it's been over 20 plus thousand men that's played in the National Football League and there's only 370 plus guys that are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

So when you think about and you put that in perspective it's pretty darn good. That is a very uh a very small group and you have to be that's how exceptional you have to be to be done as a Pro Football Hall of Fame and I'm right on the cusp of it but yeah I'll be sharing some tears of joy. You know, my mother passed away in 96 of Kansas so I'll be thinking of her and you know my grandmother who's still alive and my pops still alive and my brother and sister my family members that will be in attendance my wife and my kids it'll just be just be I'll just be overwhelmed with emotion and joy to be standing up there knowing that I'm representing the small town of Gibsonville, North Carolina representing my family my teammates my universities those things so I'm sure I will be overwhelmed with emotion and I'm gonna let it out. Tory, next time I see you I'll save you a plate of Peet's. Thanks for making the time for us. Come on man, thanks for thanks for having me and a trip yes keep up the good work that you're doing man with the with the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame bring in more attention to it I love the fact that you know the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame for our listeners that are listening it represents all of 100 counties in the state of North Carolina and I know it's I know the Hall of Fame is in Raleigh it's considered Wake County and everyone but it's 100 counties that are being represented there are 100 counties that are being lifted up so continue to show us show the Hall of Fame support we got a great group of Hall of Fame inductees that are now in the hall that's represented those 100 counties that I'm talking about and I just want to make sure that I share that because I'm so proud to be representing Guilford County and which is part of one part of the 100 counties that are make up North Carolina so trip keep up the good work man and I'm happy to be working alongside of you bro let's go baby what kind of like this let's go the drive with Josh Graham Ben McAdoo gave us legit content on Thursdays when he was the Panthers OC that's true well played these new coordinators aren't nearly as interesting as he is but sometimes the coordinators and the quarterback as well say things that are so useless that it's actually interesting huh let's start with Bryce Young there's this conspiracy theory that's out there the conspiracy theory being because it was a short week for the Panthers last week they manufactured an injury for Bryce so that way he could start he could just take a breather take a step back the Panthers aren't benching him they don't want that out in the public that they're benching Bryce because of performance they just want him to take a breather and then he can start back at home against the Vikings an easier matchup not a quick turnaround from a recovery standpoint or from a preparation standpoint they want to put Bryce in the best position possible that's the conspiracy theory I've dismissed that for a week but after hearing Bryce when asked about why he didn't have a limp what exactly the injury he was dealing with was with his ankle the degree to the injury after hearing Bryce's answer I think I'm ready to receive my my my tin hat you know it's just you know it's a part of the game you know you know it's a part of it and you know for me it's just just listening to the to the training staff you know they obviously they they know all the you know I'm I try to do everything I can to know the football side and I'm just in the same way that they know you know they they know the body they know the medical side of it so that was just you know that was just the decision that was that was that was that was you know that was made I trust them I know it was the right thing so you know I I kind of I don't really know all the specifics you know I know that I know what what you know I know what happened but I know again what it as far as um you know the decision was exactly what it what it should have been my guy what that's a lot of words and nothing my guy well I think there is something when you're answering that question and that takes 30 seconds to say and it's not just yeah man it hurt a lot I couldn't play instead it's no well I trust the doctors and you know I don't completely understand all the details but no I mean I get what happened and you see what had happened was that's that's a lot that's a lot and I've always defaulted on athletes know their body athletes know their body and if Bryce felt good enough to play Bryce would have played unless it was a coordinated plan that they were going to sit Bryce after the Seattle game because of the quick turnaround and getting set for next week like he never had a boot on he didn't look like he was limping in these videos that were out there well and to this point I listened to this and Joe Person asked him you know like so what what play exactly did you get hurt he said he didn't know he did not he got hurt he did not want to talk about it I don't know what play I don't know when it happened what that's first time I ever heard an athlete say I don't know when I got hurt yeah your guess is as good as mine he clearly did not want to talk about it I'm not a conspiracy theory guy but that one checks out now let's get to useless coordinator sound let's get a Jiro Evero out of the way boy he's useless Panthers DC he might be a really good coach but Dion Jones he had a pick last week Kamu Grugier Hill really struggled so he was asked about Kamu and whether or not there was going to be a different starter at linebacker and true to form a Jiro Evero not giving you any of the information a lot of people struggled the coaches struggled we all got to be better and we're evaluating everything and we're trying to do the best we can but Kamu is really important to us he's played a lot of good football for us and we know that moving forward we're going to need him so we're not going to talk about that right now we're not talking about that David zip David we're not talking about that look at me we're not talking about that it's like a son walking in on his dad like with another woman we're not talking about this with mom okay look at me you're not gonna find out who our starting linebacker is who our starting will is gonna be on sunday getting back to Bryce though Thomas Brown oh you know I'll give Thomas Brown credit at least he's trying to be interesting giving you all that warrior talk a week ago like here's Thomas Brown being asked about Bryce and having a take for you I would say honestly yesterday probably felt like and I told Mrs. Mourning in the office of unit meeting that was probably his best day this fall when it comes to not just the the execution he's been really good when it comes to understanding the offense and being a fast processor but the energy the enthusiasm stepping into a huddle calling him play with conviction coaching this guys up from receiver standpoint O-line up front just kind of being the the maestro if you will when it comes to offensive was the best job was the best job we did in my opinion so far this year uh yesterday so try to continue to build upon that and be better today the best Bryce Young's look which adds to the conspiracy Bryce looked the best that he's looked coming back from an ankle injury allegedly hmm what's funny is the panther still haven't said that he's starting Sunday what are we doing you you trained it up to take this guy number one he had a full practice yesterday and now Thomas Brown saying it's the best that Bryce has looked since he's been there and not well you'll have to find out on tomorrow's show whether or not Frank Reich will reveal who his starting quarterback is that would be the hilarious thing Agero Evero interviewed for head coaching jobs you know if Agero Evero was asked tomorrow as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers in that circumstance who's your starting quarterback is it going to be Andy Dalton or Bryce Young he'd be like we are not talking about that right now no you're asking me about we're not going to talk about that right now no we're not kidding get out of here go in the porta john don't lock the door get out it's almost comical it's like god my god we all know what's gonna happen yeah well like it's not it's not this just Bryce is sealed breaking breaking Bryce Bryce is gonna start whoa on Sunday feel pretty confident yeah about that Brooke Pryor of ESPN joins us now triad girl from Winston-Salem back on here in the triad on WSJS when you were growing up in the Winston-Salem Midway parts what were some of the spots you used to hang out at oh gosh well when I went to Salem Academy we sometimes hung out in the graveyard there god's acre you know as high school students do but I remember walking down the train tracks to the Starbucks in downtown Winston-Salem that was in like the lobby of the Marriott or the Sheraton whatever it was so you know some very prolific areas that we hung out the loop was a big one so you know I don't I don't know if any of those things are still there but that's where that's where I went I know that the graveyard god's acre for sure is still there no doubt blue definitely still around as well Brooke Pryor is with us here let's get to the most important question Taylor Swift was in Kansas City to visit Travis Kelsey this past Sunday Taylor lives in New York City the Chiefs are playing the Jets on Sunday night football will Taylor be in the building I think so that seems to be what some of the reports are saying that she will be there I don't look I'm still on the fence of is it real or not I feel like this very much started out as a joke is like a haha wouldn't this be funny if and now it's like I feel like I feel like when they both started playing chicken like oh let's see if we can get the other one to like acknowledge it or come to a game or whatever and another just like really going for it but I mean like I having been around Travis Kelsey and talking to people that like he knows and he grew up with his family and things like that I mean he's a very charismatic person I don't know Taylor Swift obviously I wish I did but I get the sense that she is also a very charismatic person and I I like the pairing I mean maybe this has turned into something more maybe it's on its way to turning into something more I'm here for it because you used to cover the Chiefs when Travis was first emerging do you get the sense that he was always going to be a guy when football ended was going to get into this realm some way somehow like the superstardom post football like route oh yes a hundred percent I mean this guy had his own dating show on Bravo while he was in the league like he he has always been someone that the sense I get is that he loves the spotlight he is he the thing that like I really appreciate Travis Kelsey that I feel like I can somewhat relate him on is he loves clothes and not just like wearing clothes like he has his own line he's always been into how he looks you know what shoes go with what outfit like what hat what haircut like he's very much particular about those things and he did a shoot I was it with Vogue or Vanity Fair one of those since he since the Chiefs won the Super Bowl hosted SNL and it was always like yeah this makes sense for this guy he has a huge personality he cares about so many things outside of football and so I think it's really cool that he's kind of been like the NF the ambassador for the NFL crossing over into like the pop entertainment world it's like oh yeah this is the perfect guy for this Brooke priors with us here from ESPN she covers the Steelers but we need to continue talking about Taylor Swift because you're a Swiftie like I am and my problem is I trust Travis Kelsey in this I don't know if I trust Taylor because this is the same person that you know right around the time one of those albums were dropping is showing up holding hands with Harry Styles at the park and went to like the zoo and that turned out not to be a real thing there of course was the Kanye Kim Kardashian thing with a song that came out like five or six years that didn't look great for Taylor I don't know if I believe Taylor in this it looks like a relationship it sounds like a relationship based on what Travis said on his podcast and being kind of guarded about it but I don't know if I trust Taylor yet that's my problem I don't know I don't know that we need to trust her right I mean she's she's an adult sure he's an adult I think that it's a mutually beneficial partnership whether it's romantic oh I just mean in terms of it's real like of course do whatever you want but like in terms of buying the realness of it that's that's my part I mean I think I think that she started out as like oh this is kind of fun he has a crush on me and now she's like yeah we'll see we'll see what happens we'll see where it goes but I I don't think they're gonna get married if they did I would I would feel similarly to the way that I initially felt about like Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra like what these are people from two different worlds why are they together like I I tweeted this last night and that's what I've been thinking about since like she showed up at the Chiefs game like it feels like my church friends and my school friends are hanging out together and like I went to high school an hour from where I lived up in Stokes County and my church friends and my school friends were two very different groups of people and now I just feel like oh my gosh like they they've met and they're hanging out and like this is cool because all my favorite people are here together but like now they're kind of having to learn how to like be around each other and exist in each other's worlds like it's so bizarre but it's also so fun somebody asked me what would it be like if they got married and I said imagine if Chris Humphries was really good at basketball like a hall of fame basketball player that's kind of although kind of but like it's I feel like there haven't been any relationships this high profile in any sport Hollywood crossover like I'm trying to think like Marilyn Monroe Joe DiMaggio in the 50s yes 60s yes yes if if Twitter and Instagram were around in the 50s and 60s this is absolutely what would be happening Brooke priors with us here can I ask you a football question I mean if we have to okay the Panthers are 0-3 people are kind of freaking out the Steelers got blasted at home by the 49ers in the opener and I know there were some overreactions to that how much stock should we be placing on games in September and is it different than say it was 10 years ago when there were four preseason games and 16 regular season games yeah look I think that I think that games in September are a bonus if you win them but I don't think that how you do in September dictates the rest of your season it's actually kind of strange that the Steelers at least for me covering this team that the Steelers are two and one because for the last two three seasons they've started out one and four they had the one season I think it was in 2020 when they started off on this unbeaten streak for a long time before they finally lost although at that point it kind of felt like they were obviously a mirage like they kept pulling out wins at the very end but the Steelers but I bring up the fact that the Steelers have started out one and four because then they've been in the playoff conversation by the end of the year and been right there either make the playoffs as a wild card or they just barely miss them and that's not necessarily the case for every team I think a lot depends on the foundation that that team has and a strong coach a strong culture a strong organization all of those things so the Panthers starting out oh and three I don't think that you know I think that Frank Wright is a good coach but it's his first year and there isn't maybe necessarily the same level of of buy-in and belief that you know the Steelers having Mike Tomlin there with the the Panthers and Frank Reich but I don't think it dunes a team I think it is it can only help I don't think it necessarily is an end-all be-all oh you're bad in September you're gonna lose it's gonna be an 0-17 season you're a triad girl you're also a North Carolina Tar Heel alum how bald in are you on the Tar Heels this year in football um well because I am a Carolina alum and I grew up watching Carolina football um I know to be skeptical until the season is over uh because I watch every single game holding my breath and it's not until the fourth quarter when the football team has like a three touchdown lead that I finally feel comfortable um and I it's fun but like I probably feel the way that you know the Panthers feel about Frank Reich like I have like it's like the Mike Tomlin Steelers belief is what I have in the basketball team like oh they'll find a way to win and the football team I'm like I just don't know yet I don't know that I have that level of confidence yet um like yes they have all the pieces I really like the the return they had last week obviously Drake May is fun um I would love it if UNC remembered a little bit more often that they did have an NFL quarterback playing there um but you know I I had fun watching UNC beat Pitt just beat the breaks off of Pitt from stadium swim on the rooftop at Circa in Vegas with a pitcher of drinks beside me and lots of Pitt fans around because obviously the Steelers are in town many Steelers fans are also Pitt fans and so that was a pleasant experience for me maybe not so much for all the Pitt fans that were there the defense is good brook you know what I will share this conversation I had with uh Mitch Trubisky who plays for the Steelers now obviously Mitch and I were in school together which is just wild the way that things work out uh after UNC beat South Carolina we're in the locker room that next week and we were just making some all talk and I was like hey how about that win like I thought Carolina looked pretty good I'm glad you know we I'm glad that UNC ended up winning that game he goes yeah that was that was a good one it got a little close for a little bit and he's walked by and then he stops and he turns around he goes defense looked pretty good too and I was like you know what yes they did and I feel like it's been a while since I have properly appreciated UNC's defense because for a while they looked a little bit like a Big 12 team so or what was left of the Big 12 so um I think that I'm cautiously optimistic um but you know we'll see I will be in town for the UNC Miami game in a couple weeks see you there uh and that is that is scary for me because the last game I went to in person was UNC Notre Dame and I had high hopes for that that were quickly quickly dashed speaking of cautiously optimistic are you more cautiously optimistic about the Tar Heels or the Golden Bachelor which starts tonight oh oh well one of them I have my hopes and dreams invested in the other one is just entertainment um I don't know which one I really it who's to say um the funny the funniest part is about the Golden Bachelor my husband who big bachelor fan um as we all know he was telling me he goes I just don't know if I'm ready for the Golden Bachelor because like is there even going to be any drama like why would we watch and I was like we watch because we want to see if there's drama are old people just as petty as 20-somethings I think yes I think they could be even more so because they have more life experience and so they really know how to push each other's buttons that's gonna be fun so um I think it's gonna be great I'm excited to watch people who are like mature adults devolve into immature baby adults it's kind of like sports you know that's what sports does to grown people who should know better it makes you act like children yes it sure does I I for one am very excited Brooke Pryor get back into the Steelers complex because I could see you're in a parking lot and uh do things that you do for ESPN but thank you for making the time for the triad as always and enjoy the Golden Bachelor tonight absolutely thanks for having me