00:00And when we talk about quarterbacks, obviously a lot of people feel that's where the next Browns franchise quarterback will
00:06come from.
00:06So we are joined by Sam Macho, ESPN analyst, former NFL linebacker, author, member of the 2010 Good Works team.
00:14Sam's also an All-State Werfel Trophy recipient and continues to use his platform to inspire positive impact through community
00:20service.
00:21Sam, it is a pleasure to have you on the Wise Heart Right. We make it right. Call Kyle, right.
00:25Hotline. How are you doing today?
00:26Hi, Sam.
00:28Doing great. Thank you all for having me.
00:30Well, we appreciate it. First of all, I want to get a check-in on the Buckeyes with you before
00:35we get moving on anything else.
00:36Just your thoughts of Ohio State, where they are right now, especially for a team that has played some softer
00:44games against the Mid-American Conference.
00:46Sorry to all of our friends that listen to us about the Mid-American Conference here in Northeast Ohio.
00:49But a really tough game against Texas and then an impressive win for Jeremiah Smith and the Buckeyes on Sunday.
00:58Your thoughts on Ohio State?
01:01I think they've been impressive.
01:02I know that they were number one going into the season.
01:04And the hard part about that is they lost so much talent, right?
01:08Especially, I mean, we've talked about it, but Arville Reese and Sonny Stiles and Caleb Allen, these guys are starting
01:15in the NFL right now.
01:16And so it's not just the talent, but it's also the voices, it's the leadership, it's the communication that's lost.
01:23And so the Texas game, I mean, they got up to a phenomenal start and then Texas was able to
01:28storm back.
01:29So that was a tough game.
01:33But I'm just more interested to see, okay, when things go south, who's going to be the voice?
01:38Because last year, I believe it was probably Caleb Downs for the most part of the season.
01:41As far as like the glue, you know, or Sonny or Arvell, that's going to be the difficult thing for
01:47this year's team.
01:48Jeremiah Smith is outstanding.
01:50He's one of the favorite.
01:51Right now, he is a favorite for the Heisman Trophy.
01:54Julian's saying, playing really well.
01:55But the question is, not just defense, but leadership.
02:01That's what I'm excited to see this team respond to.
02:04Hey, Sam, you might be stunned to know that here in Cleveland, we pay attention to college quarterbacks.
02:09And there's a college quarterback at your alma mater who has been in the sights here in Cleveland for some
02:17time.
02:18How NFL ready is Arch Manning?
02:21It's a great question.
02:23I mean, so if you're Cleveland, and obviously Taylin Green's on that roster, and Deshaun Watson's playing well, back-to
02:29-back wins.
02:29Shador Sanders as well.
02:30So really, not a better question, but it'll be interesting to see if Deshaun keeps on playing well and looking
02:36like his normal self, what will Cleveland fans think?
02:38My brother played for the Browns, so I've been to Beret a couple times.
02:41Sometimes I'm not a Cleveland Browns, you know, I play for other teams, so I'm not a, like, I don't
02:45know what it's like in Cleveland.
02:47But, I mean, if you keep on playing well, it'll be interesting to see kind of where the Browns go.
02:52But there's a bunch of really good quarterbacks.
02:53Arch Manning being one of them.
02:56Darian Mensah out of Miami being another really good quarterback.
03:00And a lot of names, a name that people aren't talking about as much, Drew Messamaker, who was at North
03:05Texas last season.
03:06Now he's at Oklahoma State, just beat Oregon two weeks ago.
03:11So whether it's Arch or someone else, there's a bunch of quarterbacks I think that can help that roster.
03:16But, I mean, I'll say but, all I'll say is if you look at, I mean, right now, two wins
03:20in a row is not too bad.
03:23That's true, but I can't imagine, and obviously we've been talking about Deshaun like crazy, with their two wins, I
03:31would assume they're drafting somebody because of their position next year.
03:35Do you think Arch has a chance to be a big-time NFL quarterback?
03:39He has the name, but does he have the game?
03:41I think he does.
03:43I think Arch does have the opportunity or the chance to be a big-time NFL quarterback.
03:46A couple reasons.
03:47Number one, I got a chance to not only watch him play, I think I actually called his first game,
03:54funny enough, a couple years ago.
03:56The first time he played, is that accurate?
03:59I'm not sure if that's accurate.
04:00No, that's wrong.
04:00Never mind.
04:01Maybe that's not right.
04:01But I was quitting.
04:02You celebrate me.
04:04I called him his first game.
04:06But you have a chance to chat with him a couple different times.
04:09And you see the growth at big-time moments.
04:11Ohio State, right?
04:12Remember the Ohio State game, of course, you know, third quarter, fourth down, a couple big-time fourth down.
04:17There were some, you know, big-time throws.
04:20So if you get those kind of throws more consistently, then all of a sudden you're like, oh, man, that's
04:24an NFL caliber.
04:25There were times last year you saw some throws that's like, whoa, no one else can do that, or very
04:28few other people can do that.
04:30So you want to do that more consistently.
04:32Matt Brown was my coach in college.
04:33He would always say, when I was at Texas, he would say, consistently good to be great.
04:38And I think that's the thing that people want to see more of, the consistently good for March.
04:43You see some flashes, make it more consistent.
04:46What are your thoughts on Julian saying so far?
04:48Because Julian's in a weird spot.
04:51I think, I don't know if it's here.
04:53There might be a little difference between Columbus and Cleveland on this.
04:55But, like, if you're in Columbus, you're saying, man, look at the numbers he's putting up.
05:00Yes, he has the best wide receiver in the country.
05:02And, you know, he's been consistent over the last couple years.
05:05What kind of, how does he project as an NFL quarterback?
05:08And, you know, where would he be selected in the draft, too?
05:12And, you know, it's fair to keep him among the top quarterbacks in college football right now.
05:17Although, I think he gets judged harsher here in Ohio than maybe he does nationally.
05:22You tell me.
05:24Yeah, I would say, I mean, it's, I mean, partly because of having Jeremiah Smith, you know, it's like, it's
05:29easy to say, okay, well, shoot, I could throw to Jeremiah Smith, right?
05:32But at the same time, I can't.
05:34You know what I mean?
05:35And so I think that is, I think there's, you know, you look at, you know, the guys like Mensa
05:40as far as the best quarterback in college football right now.
05:44And then you look at the talent of arts, people get excited about C.J. Carr.
05:47And Julie and Sam will be in that conversation as well.
05:50But it'd be interesting to see how he does without Jeremiah Smith.
05:55Sam Otto joining us.
05:57And, Sam, it's good to have you with us.
05:59We appreciate it.
06:00When you look at the big programs in college football right now, is there one that you think might be
06:09on the move, really rising like crazy?
06:12You know, I mean, we're locked into Ohio State here.
06:15And I watch Texas, and I think, boy, Sark's doing a good job there.
06:20Is there a school that you think, hey, keep an eye on these guys because they could sneak up on
06:25everybody?
06:27UCLA's a team that's playing really, really well right now.
06:30They have a new coach who came from James Madison, Bob Chesney, and then a running back by the name
06:35of Wayne Knight, who's putting up numbers similar to Florida.
06:38Florida's running back, Jaden Ball.
06:39Also, UCLA and Florida are two teams.
06:41Florida just beat, just had a big win last week versus Ole Miss.
06:44So those are probably two teams, I would say, that are rising quickly.
06:49They put up a lot of points on Ole Miss.
06:51That was impressive.
06:53Oh, yeah, absolutely.
06:54But, yeah, they've been averaging, before last week's game, we're averaging 54 points a game.
06:58Florida, speaking of that, so Danny Werfel, right?
07:02He's a college football hall of famer, you know, all these kind of things.
07:06And he's a guy who's actually named, the All-State Werfel Trophy is named after him.
07:10And the young people are like, hold on, Danny Werfel, I don't, maybe they know, maybe they don't.
07:13But it's cool because, yes, he gets excited about Florida.
07:16I played at Texas, so Texas plays Florida.
07:18But it's cool because we get a chance to highlight the work that some of these young men are doing,
07:24young men and women, are doing in college football.
07:26So, like, even this year, there's a young woman named Gianna Bennett from Northwestern College in Iowa who's a kicker,
07:33who's a part of the All-State AFCA Good Works team.
07:36The first female student college student athlete ever to be a part of this team in the 35 years that
07:42it's been around.
07:43And she's raising money for stillbirth awareness, right?
07:48Like, she's using her time, her talent, her money.
07:51Troy Mikowski from John Carroll, John Carroll University, senior offensive lineman.
07:57He's John Carroll's third nominee in the last three years.
08:00He's a part of something called the Jesuit Day of Service core team member.
08:03He's organized with his time and NIL money, all this stuff, 400 student volunteers to go and serve in Cleveland,
08:10go and serve.
08:11He's from Powell, Ohio.
08:13He's a triplet.
08:14I think about guys like Marcus Ratcliffe, who's a safety at A&M, who for every turnover that A&M
08:21forces, and he had a pick last week versus LSU, he donates $312.
08:25The nonprofit's called Mission 312, but $312 to go to World War II veterans to be able to go back
08:32to go and visit Normandy.
08:34And so it's almost like you think about whether it's, like, players at these big premier programs, A&M, maybe
08:40smaller schools like John Carroll, they're getting recognized.
08:42And the cool thing is, like, and I've just shared a couple names, but for anyone who wants, all the
08:46fans who want to learn more about some of these players, maybe some future stars, right?
08:50Like, there's some, there's a quarterback named Noah Fafita, who's at Arizona quarterback, University of Arizona, a really good player.
08:55You remember Ted Aroa McMillan, the receiver from, plays for the Panthers now, top five pick.
09:00That was his receiver.
09:02Anyways, Noah Fafita's on this Allstate ASA Good Works team using his NIL money to go and give back.
09:07And so people who want to learn more, I would tell them, go to ESPN.com slash Allstate.
09:12You can learn more about these student-athletes, whether it's Gianna Bennett or Noah Fafita, the quarterback, or, you know,
09:18Leonard Moore, a dominant cornerback at Notre Dame.
09:21And you can go and you can actually vote on who could be the recipient of the Allstate Warful Trophy
09:26and also who could be the Allstate AFCA Good Works team captain.
09:30And so ASPN.com slash Allstate by November 3rd, and then by, on December, they'll find out who the recipient
09:37is.
09:38Yeah, so that's pretty cool.
09:39Again, a reminder, we got a kid from right here in our backyard who's also at Columbus down in Paul,
09:43too, right, in Troy.
09:46Yeah.
09:46Yeah, and so, I mean, it gives fans from around here an opportunity to push a local guy through.
09:50I just think it's interesting that you're able to do this award, and it doesn't matter what division you're in.
09:55I think that's, that might be one of the coolest parts of the award.
09:59Yeah, because a lot of awards, it's like a Heisman Trophy, you know, it's usually big school, quarterback, whatever, or,
10:04you know, you know, all these things, All-American.
10:06But this award actually recognizes players from all divisions.
10:10So there are 162 nominees, and then there are 11, there's 11 team members that are from Division I, but
10:18there are 11 other team members that are from, honorees that are from FCS, Division II, Division III, NAIA.
10:24And so, Troy, like, if anyone is listening, they're like, man, I want Troy to be the All-State AFCA
10:29Good Works team captain.
10:30He's the guy from John Carroll, from Powell.
10:32Like, man, he's, you know, he does work in Cleveland.
10:35Man, you can go, and you can go and vote for him to be the All-State AFCA Good Works
10:40team captain.
10:41No, it's not just the superstar.
10:42Gianna Bennett, we talked about it, Northwestern College in Iowa.
10:46There's a player named JJ goes to Slippery Rock, you know, so it's like you can actually go and make
10:52an impact, and it's ESPN.com slash All-State, and you can actually learn more.
10:55Maybe there's other players from your community.
10:57You're like, oh, man, I didn't know about this young man or this young woman, and you can actually vote.
11:02And then the cool thing is they'll announce it at the ESPN College Football Award Show.
11:06So, like, Troy is going to be announced as far as one of the team members, but if he's the
11:11winner, it's like, boom, he gets the chance to, excuse me, recipient of the All-State Warfield Trophy.
11:16And then I'll get a chance to be with Troy, which I'm really pumped about, in January, because all these
11:21team members of the All-State AFCA Good Works team, they actually get a chance to go to the Sugar
11:26Bowl and get honored at the Sugar Bowl.
11:28But also the day before, they go and they serve in the community.
11:32They do community service.
11:33So, I'm pumped to meet Troy from John Carroll.
11:35It's the third year in a row that John Carroll has an honoree, so it's pretty impressive.
11:39Yeah, you're meeting all the future general managers of the NFL.
11:42That's the key from John Carroll.
11:44Sam, thank you very much.
11:45Thanks, Sam.
11:46Please give Emmanuel our love, too.
11:48Thank you, man.
11:48Appreciate it.
11:49I will.
11:50And maybe future quarterbacks, too.
11:52Noah Fafita, right?
11:55You know, you never know.
11:56So, they're awesome humans, but also really good football players, too, whether it's Troy or whether it's Noah Fafita,
12:02Collin Simmons at Texas, Leonard Moore.
12:04These are going to be top-round picks.
12:05So, you get talent all across the board.
12:07Thank you, guys.
12:08Outstanding.
12:08Thank you, Sam.
12:09Appreciate it.
12:09Again, Sam Macho, nice enough to join us.
12:12ESPN analyst, former NFL linebacker, and now working with the Good Hands, the Good Works team through All-State for
12:21the Werfel Trophy.
12:22So, pretty cool.
12:22Very nice.
12:23All right, let's take a quick timeout.
12:25We'll come right back.
12:25Baskin and Phelps, 92.3.
12:26The Fan.
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