The McShay Show - The Manning Passing Academy: MVPs, 2027 QB Lessons, Camp Surprises, and More

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

Welcome back to The McShay Show! Todd’s back from his trip to the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux, Louisiana, and he’s sharing his big-picture takeaways from the weekend. The guys talk camp MVPs, biggest surprises, breakouts, and more. (00:00) Welcome to The McShay Show! (03:50) Recapping the Manning Passing Academy (08:20) Who was the MVP? (17:05) Evaluating Julian Sayin's development (21:48) Which players surprised you the most? (30:05) Takeaways from Arch Manning's performance (34:52) Is John Mateer too jacked?! (39:33) Under the radar QB's (45:48) Takeaways from the 2026 MPA The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines. Host: Todd McShay Guest: Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel Comer Social: Abou Kamara Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you've been following along, we're two parts into a seven-part series called Building the Board, the 2027 quarterback class. Well, consider this a bonus episode. It's a review of the Manning Passing Academy, and I got news for you just 304 days until the NFL draft. Medge, you good? I'm good, man. Roll that thing, tuck. What a weekend, man. You have fun?

Yeah, yeah. Good. Manning Passing Academy? Flying in New Orleans? drive over to Tibido, Louisiana, through the sugar fields. You know? Nice. All the country's sugar is made in that area, at least a good portion.

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Love it. Other than the flight back, it sounds like it would have scared the hell out of me. Yeah, I had to text you and Marissa who are like the... Had to. You didn't have to. You wanted to. If you don't follow this show, Marissa, Steve and I travel everywhere, the Senior Bowl of the Combine. the NFL draft, which we do out in L.A. And I have been traveling. My parents worked for Delta Airlines, right?

I've been traveling since, I don't know, like maybe one years old. Flying is not, it's like, you know, getting in a car from me. Steve and Marissa, it's kind of a different adventure. Let's just put it that way. So they get very nervous. We were going to Chicago last year for our live show.

We had an aborted landing. Wild. And there's still, It's like, it was like my Wheels touched, McShay. Wheels touched. Usually that doesn't happen. So I, so I'm not, I'm not a raw dog guy like Mench.

He's a raw dog guy, as people like to say. No phone, no, no devices, no work. Flight attendants come up and now, would you like a drink? Would you like a snack? No, thank you. Mench is like this. I watch the flight, the flight tracker. That's all.

A flight tracker. Right. So I sent a screenshot to Marissa and Steve of the flight tracker. I noticed, and I didn't even, I flew with my 11-year-old son, Tate, and he came down for the weekend at an awesome time, once in a lifetime experience, right? So cool. He still did this moment, doesn't know what happened. In the middle of the flight, literally halfway through the flight, not even halfway, maybe a third of the way through the flight from New Orleans to Boston,

direct flight, all of a sudden, like, I feel the plane. It's like, like, we must have descended, I don't know, like 10,000 feet in less than, less than a lot of time. And then we take a sharp left. Then we take a sharp left turn. So I'm just playing it cool. My mom was a flight attendant. My dad, like, I've been around a lot. I know a lot of the stories. So I don't say, but eventually when everything kind of levels off and we circle around, I hit the flight tracker just to see what happened. And I've never seen a flight tracker like this before. Like, sometimes you get around the airport and you have to, And maybe there's like a delay in landing or maybe a lightning storm or something. And so you circle around.

Not midway through the flight. That's the first for me. The flight tracker literally is like a straight line from New Orleans to Boston. And all of a sudden in like the Atlanta area, it's like, whoop circle and then right back up. So that was an experience. So I texted mention. No, thank you.

He was nervous from the ground. Yes. So yeah. So it was an awesome weekend. The Manning Passing Academy is a. special deal. We were there for three days, had an awesome time. But I, there's, I don't want to oversell it. And today we're going to do basically just do a review of what we saw there. There's just a lot to gleam from it. There's a lot to discuss. Like, during the day,

it's two sets of, it's a camp, 1500 high school, basically high school students, some eighth graders. And what happens is you've got college coaches from around the country, mostly like quarterback coaches, quarterback gurus, different guys. And then also mixed in as the coaching staff are some of the 40 plus, mostly of the top quarterbacks in the country that I help Archie with, Archie Manning, with putting that list together every year. I have for a long time. And so he and there's a group of us that help and give suggestions. And then he invites all these quarterbacks to come. Some couldn't come. Every year it's the same deal. Different reasons. Like Dante Moore was, I believe, in Asia with one of his coaches or something.

Lenora Sellers, I think, with a new, new offensive coordinator and Kendall Bryles probably need to be locked in like Mendoza was with Signetti last year. Sam Levitt was still kind of coming back from an injury. Didn't want to go down there and do all that. The Cal freshman sensation was not able to come. DJ Lagway. I thought he was going to be there. I didn't get any reasoning on why, but he wasn't there, Eamaliava. So there are a handful of guys that weren't there, but the vast majority of guys in a loaded quarterback class and even some younger quarterbacks who won't be in this year's draft class were there as camp counselors during the day. So they're going through two sessions of practices.

You know, you go from one drill to the next to the next and you have an opportunity with these awesome college players with Eli and Peyton walking around. from different stations and you just get to learn and drill in all these all these things right and I'm walking around with my little son who's an aspiring quarterback and he's just like you know they're taking it in and like so it was it was just cool to do that but then at night there's these seven on sevens and then after the seven and sevens the quarterbacks throw the first night was that eli and Peyton they have passing drills and and they all the quarterbacks the college quarterbacks the prospects we're talking about get together and they throw and they go from station to station with

Eli and Peyton. And then the next night was the Friday night light. So the nighttime is when you get the opportunity to really see these guys throw the ball. But during the day, you're watching them interact and coach and go through all that stuff. And you're talking to a lot of people. There were more, I told you last year there were two GMs there. To my knowledge, there were five this year. Interesting.

Yeah. Ryan Poles was back because his son is there. He's got his quarterback. He's all right with Caleb. Yeah. Les Sneed was there. They obviously have their quarterback, but he's friends with the Manning family,

and he comes down every year. Moji was there. That's surprisingly. Never met him in person. He's like 6'5 or 6'4. I had no idea. All right. Like that.

Chris Greer was there, who's now with the Detroit Lions, longtime Miami Dolphins. So he's not a general manager now, but he was the GM of the Dolphins for a long time. He was there when we hung up for a little while. He's a great guy. So, yeah, there were a bunch of NFL people there. There were a couple scouts there kind of working the camp.

A lot of coaches, some insider people. Like Pete Thammel was there this year for the first full time that he's been. And there's just a lot of information and a lot of sharing, you know. And so there's even this stuff I'm not seeing with my eyes, I'm hearing with my ears. So there's a lot of input, you know, coming into the system, which is always cool to gather information and kind of prep us in a different way as we get ready to continue our series on Thursday with Julian Sane and C.J. Carr, that'll be part three of our building. I'm excited. Building the board, the 2027 quarterback class. And now I've got even more ammunition when it comes to that. But today's a good day to take a break. Talk about the Manning Passing Academy. And we'll get right back to our. our seven-part series. All right, well, don't bury the headline.

Like, who was Camp MVP? Who was walking home with the T-shirt, the trophy that they hand out at all these camps? I know they don't actually do that. But the Todd McShay, Camp Manning Passing Academy MVP, 2026 is... C.J. Carr, Notre Dame. Is it close?

Wasn't even close. Julian Sayan was there, and Arch Manning was there, and there were a lot of other guys that were, exceptional. And I say that his performance in throwing the football was, like, that's the jumping off point. Man, like, I know he's Lloyd Carr's grandson and he's been around the game his whole life. And we've watched his tape and we're going to dive in even more for Thursday and get into all the nitty gritty, right? The areas he can improve what his strengths are, all of it.

And he, like, when you think about like Brady and Breeze, and you think about like the modern day, even like Mendoza last year, you're talking about like repetitive, like repeatable form mechanics. It's like, I don't want to say robotic because he's not a robotic player, but like when it comes to footwork, timing, ball out, just standing there, watching him even like warming up. Like hands here, bang.

here. So, and yeah, it's not pads. There's no defense and all that. I get it. I'm not going to oversell it. But he, you always look for what's different, whether it's the senior bowl combine, but more so like All-Star Games or just on tape. He, the, the, how easy his stroke is, how mechanical.

And I don't mean that in like a robotic way. I mean it like, he just what, what's supposed to be hit is hit. When the ball is supposed to be out, it's out. And then you watch him. And then I watched him. I think we have a clip here of him coaching. And like, listen, I'll be the first to admit. Like I was blown away by a couple, like Nussmeyer was awesome last year at camp.

And Clubnick. Club Nick. Club Nick was great with the young men and was so engaged. They all were really good. Like the commitment of time and what they have to do, like all these young men. the fact that they're giving their time and giving back is an awesome thing. But to watch C.J. Carr, coaching the seven-on-sevons, right, specifically, and coaching up his quarterbacks and what the reeds are and, like, the safety and, like, this high.

And then going on the defensive side. And this is where I'm like, oh, yeah, he was around Gramps, you know? Yeah. He grew up. Because I went to Lloyd Carr's football camp in Michigan when I was in high school. You can just see it pass down. He's now in the back of the defense, right, talking to the safeties and the DBs, is they're getting ready for, is they're getting ready for the next snap and seven and sevens?

And he's talking about leverage points at the corners. He's getting everyone lined up. He's kind of predicting based off a formation where it was wild. It was wild to see what's between his ears in terms of the game of football. and then to watch him throw the football and everything he did. I mean, whether it was the one-on-ones, whether it was the Eli and Peyton stuff. And you can always like Peyton was it going to him. All right, we're going to let's run this play action thing.

CJ, come here. You show him, you know? And so that's like an indicator when Eli and Peyton know who the guy is, that tells you something. And then the next night Friday night like he's hitting every single thing. And he didn't wind up winning the whole thing, which doesn't really matter because there's like different way. Like you can hit the 4.1 and get the most points. But like in terms of just hitting targets and being on, car jumped out to me in every way, shape,

and form. I view him a little differently just seeing the way he carries himself and seeing the way he understands the game and then seeing how mechanically like refined he is. I now have a little bit of a different. lens in which I'm viewing C.J. Carr. Oh, and then talking to people and then talking to like everyone around. It's the first name that came up. Was always car. Because I was asking question and absorb, questions and absorb. Yeah, like Jake Delome is there, right? He was one of the first four people. It was Peyton and Eli and Delome and, um, and Brandon Stokely were the first four 30 years ago

at the Manning Passing Academy when they first started it 30 years ago. Payton had gone had gone, to Bobby Bowden's camp and came back and was like, Dad, yeah, it was a good camp. And I respect Bobby a lot. We should have a camp just for quarterbacks. And so the next year they did it. And they had four college players who were counselors. And it was those four. And so Delome came back at the 30 year anniversary.

And he coaches, I think, high school. He was awesome. He loves our show, by the way. That's cool. He loves you. That's awesome. And he definitely, he checked in last year's Manning Passing Academy summary. And I'm sure he will hear.

So a big thanks to Jake. But just listening to guys like that who are there and have no skin in the game and are just kind of going around and walking and talking to people and observing. He was one of many I spoke to. It was like, you see CJ today? Like, that's different, you know? Did you get a sense that players were gravitating towards him, that the players had a sense that this was his time,

that this was the guy at the camp? Yes. Absolutely, yes. And I pause for a second because I'm thinking back. Like Nussmeyer was more like, like, swagger and, like, you know what I mean? Right. And the thing about him where he was like, C.J. Carr, it's not quiet confidence, but it's just like, doesn't, you know, doesn't need to be overly vocal with the other stuff. It's like football confidence.

Like there's nothing here that I don't know that I'm not like masterclass in and let's go, you know? So the answer is yes. He was absolutely the alpha dog, but not trying to be the alpha dog. Just what. Just what's because that's just who he is, you know? That's, yeah, that's great. That's the kind of stuff that you're, that's invaluable to see how that works. Logistically, if I'm listening to you right now, say 40 quarterbacks.

they're coaching the kids during the day. You get into these night sessions, a little seven on seven, some competition stuff. How much are you really seeing one of these guys throw? And I'm wondering and tell me if I'm wrong, and I mean no offense to some of these other quarterbacks. It might be younger and they might have to wait.

Are some of the quarterbacks given priority in terms of reps, or is it you only get to see them make 10 throws maybe in a session? How does that all work? it's not a thousand throws it's not a senior bowl i promise you so that's why i started this whole thing with that like let's not overstate there is no priority right there's no priority so everyone gets reps everyone gets reps a good amount but not senior bowl where for three straight days you're seeing them throw right on one's seven on sevens team it's it's not the same experience um But it's the first experience to see these guys.

A lot of them live, A. B, first time seeing them, you got to remember their season ended in December, January, you know. So you got all these months now where getting bigger, stronger, working on mechanics. Like this is our only sneak peek outside of like, we'll get ready for training kit, but like really the only sneak peek that you and I are going to get.

and a lot of people were going to get before they put on pads and go play for their university this fall. And so just to see who's making progress. And for a lot of them, I was like, oh, he looks different or, man, he's bulked up or, you know, like just, it's just an opportunity there. So it's not. I wasn't going to ask this. Yeah. Go ahead. But you make the point.

Julian saying the quarterback from Ohio State, I thought, I mean, there's some things I really love about his freshman tape. I thought he needed to get bigger and stronger. I was one of the things I felt about. I mean, did you see him make kind of that progress? He doesn't have a big frame. So I think he's got it's never, he's never going to be a big quarterback. But frame-wise, what did he look like?

You know what's interesting that's different from growing up? There's two things I've noticed about quarterbacks. Now that I've, like, I go to the M2QB, right? And that's, and a lot of guys in Massachusetts, New England area, that's like their spot where, like, down in Mobile, it's like QB country and like all throughout the country there there are different like places to go that help train quarterbacks right they're all the first thing is they're all teaching the same mechanics and I was talking and I'll get I'll get into the the brown quarterback we'll

talk to you more about him later on I make um but his dad Jimmy Murphy right James Murphy is his son Jimmy Murphy we actually played against him I don't know if you remember I played. I mean, this makes us. We were, we were freshmen and we weren't actually on the field, but he got knocked out in the Richmond, um, northeastern game. Um, and I, interestingly enough, he said that like the whole team flew back. He had to stay overnight in a Richmond hospital. He woke up in, and, uh, Jim Reed, our coach was there. And I was like, of course he was. Like, that's, that's the riddler. That's my guy. Um, but anyway, so we, he and I were talking. He and I were talking and he's like, he's like, you know, I, someone said something about

sidearm and he's like, yeah, like, my son is going in a fourth year starter at Brown. And I feel like, I feel like a jackass because I was telling him his whole life, like, get your arm up over the top. They all are doing the same thing. It's all low. And it's the right thing, right? And it doesn't matter if your arm slots a little lower because it's about your hip rotation, short stride, hip rotation, keeping balance, not totally, not dissimilar at all, really, from like a golf swing or from like a great, a great at bat, right? Yep.

And so with all these years, it started with like Tom House, but it's continued to develop all these quarterbacks now. You go and watch, it's like it's almost like this robotic thing. Like we're like into the future where it's like you get a 1,500 quarterbacks. are all warming up the same way. It's like, you know, like short stride, just rotating, ripping through, finishing with the same thing, arm here, you know? Yeah. And but the arm angles can be here.

It doesn't matter. It used to be. Come over to top. And so it's, that's interesting. The second part would let me to all this is the lower bodies of all of these quarterbacks are so different than what they used to be. And, like, Baker Mayfield was one of, I don't want to say the first, but like, they don't have to be ripped. Like, Brady wasn't ripped.

A lot of guys, like the upper bodies, it's about flexibility. This, it's like the golf swing. Everyone, you know, it's, picture it as a rope. This is like the conduit that you're like, you're, you're getting all your power from here in the core and lower. And the upper body needs to be flexible, right? Right. And so watching all the, the, feels weird saying this, but like studying the body types, like everyone is ripped in the lower, strong cord, ripped in the lower, and like not a lot of,

not everybody, because we'll get to, we'll get to John Mateer. Get to a couple, yeah. The lower bodies look a lot more lineback or fullback than they ever did. Let's put it that way, you know. So nobody's skipping leg day anymore. No one's skipping leg day anymore. Nobody. No, they're all just like ripped. you know it's pretty wide so is that what you saw was saying saying yes thank you for getting

specifically yeah saying specifically looks like thicker stronger lower body and a lot of these guys did that's the big difference like all of them looked cj car interestingly enough probably i would say i don't want to say like the lean is lower but even he like from afar i was like oh he's not is like he's not as thick as mature and and uh and saying and and and and trinidad and all that these other guys. But you get up close to him, like, oh, he is. It's just, it's not like, but he is. It's, you know. All right, we know you love Carr. Who is the dude that you got down there and just surprise you, you, you know, made you say, huh, didn't know, want to watch more of this kid. C.J. Bailey. Okay. Why? First of all, when, when guys are listed at 6,6, and, you know,

and you only watch him on tape, you're like, yeah, he's probably 6. four and five, eights or something. I'll be shocked if he's not right at six six or just like maybe a tick shy. He is physically. There's no, there's no measurements taken at the Manning Passing Academy. No, no, no, no. But the measurement is standing type event.

Standing next to him, you know. Right. And then watching them all stand in a line as Peyton or Eli are talking to him or what. And being like, oh, that guy's an inch plus taller than everybody else. you know. And so what does that mean? Absolutely nothing. But the first takeaway is, oh, wow, you know, like off the bus type stuff. So he's six, just about six six, like truly close to six, 200. He's about 220. He's not as thick as some of the other guys. And then you start watching him throw. He, to me, looks thicker and is bulked up from a year ago. The mechanics still aren't

perfect, but they look a lot better than what I've seen. And I'm not going to pretend like I've sat down and done a deep dive like I have with Dante or Arch or Carr or Sayan or Sorosby or Sellers. But I've watched enough of him to know what I was watching down in Tibido was different mechanically than what I had seen. And then you watch him roll out, right? Like a lot of the stuff that Peyton was doing, Peyton State, Eli's station was more like short, like three step, five step precision, right? Yeah. Peyton stuff, ironically, was more play action, moving in the pocket, rolling right, rolling left, all that stuff.

And so just watching him and the way the ball jumps off his hand. I love it. And he's going to be 2028 class, right? Right. Is what it's looking like. But I'm fired up. And I don't know what NC State looks like this year. and it doesn't appear that they're going to, you know,

that they're making any legitimate run of the national championship. But I'd be scared to play him. I'd tell you that much, like, I'd be scared to play that. He's dangerous. I love that. Yeah. Awesome dude too. Oh, really?

Yeah. Yeah. We should say North Carolina State, by the way. We should just mention that. Any other guys, there were kind of those freaks that, you know, might be on the Bruce Feldman list or the mixed-J list. Maybe we'll come up with a freak. list for McShea for quarterbacks.

Any other players that really jumped out in that regard? There were two, man. There were two that, like, they're both raw. They're both not, like, the polished, finished version yet. But I'm excited to watch Camaro Taylor, the Mississippi State quarterback. And then he's 6-4-2-30,

rifle arm. That's big, man. And just like, excuse me, every once in a while, I just have this flashback of like playing high school safety, right? And I'm just looking at this guy walking towards me at one point, going like coming off the field going past me. And I'm like, I can't even imagine having to like open field, you know, you cover up his four receivers out there. he takes off running and now you got this poor safety who's six foot 200 and he's got a full head of steam and you got to bow your neck and he's a truck he's an absolute truck and he runs well and he's got to he can just rip the football the other guy I would argue similar build the other guy's six five 231 so an inch taller are basically same weight Malik Washington from Maryland He had a sensational freshman year, right? Talking to Thammel and some other people,

it's like, with all due to respect to Scott Van Peltin and all my Terp friends, Todd Klein's a Maryland Terp, there's a high anticipation that he could be, as someone said to me, upwards of maybe $7 million NIL quarterback a year from now, going somewhere else. Yeah. Yeah.

So Washington, And so Washington alumnists, I think it's time to decide if we're ready to pony up. Because if he builds off of what he did last year, just watching him physically. Nobody had his arm. Nobody. Huh. And he's that big and he's mobile. When he at one point during the Friday night lights, the best part of the whole deal is on Friday night.

You've got all like all the campers go through their two practice. Then they have seven on sevens and then like the like the light I told you last year. It's like it was literally like fielded dreams. Like the first time I saw it last year. I was like goosebumps like almost like I don't want to get overly but I was like a little emotional like this is the purest thing and there were no cameras there. There was nothing going on. This was this year was a little different. Um, because it was the 30th anniversary. And so NFL films was there doing a special on it. So we had to kind of I wasn't like standing next to Cooper. I was on the sideline. So still had awesome vantage point of everything. But there were a little bit more restrictions this year because trying to get the video to produce this, I'm sure, unbelievable special.

And even Thammel was down there because it's one place where you can get all the generations of Mannings together in one place and interview them from Archie, Hall of Fame to Peyton and Eli Cooper, Arch. So there was a little bit more national media buzz so it didn't feel quite as as just like, hey, we're in a cornfield, and all of a sudden you pop up some lights in the field, and here we are. But the outside of it just being this special venue and you look around,

you're like, I'm watching like 40 of the best college quarterbacks. A bunch of these guys are going to be NFL guys. And they're just out having fun thrown, hitting targets and competing, right? But Cooper Manning MC is the thing. And he's like legit funny, not like, not like, oh, he's football funny. Like, he's like, could be a stand-up comedian, you know? And just watching him, like, get into every single player

and take shots and mispronounce names and schools and all of it on purpose to get the laugh. And he tests the boundaries like a good comedian, too. Like, there are a couple things where I'm like, who, and you got all the parents of the campers and the people from the town on one side of the stands at Nickel State. and all the campers on the other side. But I say all this, because Cooper, when one deep ball,

like they finish the first part of the Friday night lights, it's called Air It Out. They go through like, you know, a quicksland or like a curl route, then an out route and then an in-cutting route, and then they do posts in nine routes. Malik Washington threw this ball. It was probably 50-something yards in the air, but he was like

and a deep punt you know like the ball came out and it wasn't like it was too high on her it was just like the trajectory was so different because he's able to with the arm the energy and you're watching it

that was the first time because I'm kind of videotaping some of the stuff that you see on here and all of a sudden up my neck was like whoa you know it was my first wow moment of the week there was watching Malik throw a deep ball. He's just, he's got a different level of talent. All right.

Kind of the elephant in the room. You mentioned, you talked about the mannings just now, the generations. I saw a clip on X that I just kind of surprised me, man. Where some campers were it sounds like they're booing, Arch? What was, what was the, what was going on with Arch? I mean, it's just like what this kid has to deal with, right? Yeah, yeah. Or an example.

Yes. There were a couple brief times where there were like maybe 10 or 15 punk campers. And I mean it's not like an old man who just and these are the same. They clearly like the most beloved player there was Trinidad Champlis, which was really cool to see. Like I think people just appreciate and maybe there maybe it was just a group of Ole Miss fans, right? And they just were decided that they were going to dig into the fellow SEC quarterback. Maybe it was some NEPO stuff. I don't know. But yeah, there were a couple times where they just decided to,

we're going to take this opportunity as a camper at the Manning Passing Academy where we have been hosted for a very reasonable price compared to other camps that you go to. I get to work with Eli. I get to work with 80 of the top college quarterbacks. I have an opportunity that most kids would die for. And there's 1,400 that are allowed in. And they have to turn away probably over 1,000 other, it's first come first serve.

It is not there to funnel players to Ole Miss or to Tennessee, which is where Archie and Eli and Payton respectively went to school. It is there just to serve young men because they decided they thought that they could do a good job, maybe not better than everyone, but a really good job of showing quarterbacks how Eli and Peyton prepared and what led to some of their success and some of the drills that they did. they're giving back, right? And so to watch, I don't know, 15 or so kids that are there being offered this opportunity, and that's their response.

It's kind of like, yeah, that's on them. It was not acknowledged. It was not like, Cooper's, that's his dad. Yeah. You know, picture you with your son or me with my son. And like all of a sudden he's like, and we're hosting something and like giving back to the community. So I don't want to even like give it a lot. of whatever.

A lot of the area. Yeah. Arch, like, it's a different, it's a different experience for Arch there, right? Because he's like hosting with his family. And I think out of respect, he didn't even, the Thursday night deal, he, he didn't even it's like he gets to work with his uncles basically whenever he wants to. So let everybody else get the opportunity to go. So the only time I saw him throw in, we didn't stay for Saturday night.

We came back on Saturday. The first time I saw him throw, arch throw was at that Friday night lights. And it's just throwing some different drills. He, like the first real throw was kind of an outbreaker and he kind of airmailed it a little bit. It was literally his first throw, right? He hadn't thrown the night before.

And so he missed high. I don't want to say airman. He missed high. And so they're like, boo. You know, just like, kept out of here, you know? And he looked great the rest of the time. He also went through off-season foot surgery.

I don't think we've covered that. I didn't know that. bulked up to 236 pounds was kind of, you know, obviously couldn't like run and work out and do all that stuff. I was trying to see if you wanted to carry that weight, decided it was like he didn't feel right. He's dropped back down to like 226 somewhere in that range. Looks great. Like looks physically great. Humble like all the stuff I've told you about just like good dude.

Everyone flocks to him. But does a really good job of not. making the camp about him to the point where I I stopped down and I made it a teaching moment for my own son you know but yeah hey this this thing's about the mannings and they could make it about the mannings but they make it about everybody else including arch and I told him I said I want you I want you to watch arch the way he carries himself and how he doesn't make this about him and he's not you know, he's not acting the clown or he's not like playing it up. He's just, he's trying to blend in, do his job, and, and then kind of get out of the way

so that everyone else that's there can get, A, the work they need to get done, but B, shine the light on them. I get enough light on me, you know, in Austin and everywhere else I go. So I thought that that was a really cool thing to watch for March this week. Talk to me about show favorite. Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer because I really don't understand. You mentioned the freaks and you didn't bring up Mateer. I saw a picture of Mateer working out. And there it is.

My lord. My lord. How is that not one of your freaks, man? Even Peyton's like, what? And Cooper came on. He's like, he's like, it's pitch blackout and he's still got his shades on. Honestly, this dude's just a character. He's just a character.

I'm here for it. And like, and not in a, not a clown show character. No, no, no, no. He is who he is. And it's kind of like Nagy was telling me about it. Like, it's just like grinder, hard worker does all the right things, but also rolls in and like rip t-shirts. And like, he's just, he's not conforming to anything. Now, and like, yeah, that picture's awesome.

It's awesome. the shades on ripped, cut off, you know, the sleeveless shirt. I got it, so I'm going to show it. I mean,

I'm not going to lie, though. Like, I've got a weird thing with, like, don't get, I just told you, like,

get your lower body, get your upper body flexible. That's what I was going to ask you. You're worried about it. A little bit. I wasn't watching him throw. A little bit. Like,

that dude's yoked. Yes. And so was, so was Brady. Quinn. So is Tim Tebow. So is Will Levis. So it's interesting to watch. I'll say this from Mateer, the first night, the first time I got to see him throw, very first throw, rolls out to his right and just he airmailed it. Yeah. I said that about our arch missed high. He airmailed one. And I was like, oh, gosh, no. You got to remember, like, who he, what he, what he was.

was at Washington State just ripping the ball all over the field what he was against Michigan and early in the Auburn game and I forget who they opened up with same stuff yeah he's going to make a mature mistake have a mature moment but he's going to drill the

ball into spots he is fearless all those things right and then the thumb injury happens and then he comes back against Texas and he was never the same he looked a lot better I thought in the postseason game the the playoff game against Alabama,

but still wasn't the same exact guy as he was pre-injury. So I see that first throw, and I'm like, oh, man, you know, because he is a show favorite. And our guy, our guy Connor brought him to our, you know, brought the piece of paper across the desk, like you've got to watch the midnight snack, you know, in the pack. Connor refuses to sell stock. That was his latest comment.

I'm never selling stock. I'm a tear. I love that. Because he knows my thing with bulked up quarterbacks. And so he's like, yeah, look at the picture. Are you worried? I'm like, yep, a little bit. But like love him.

He's like, yeah, I don't sell stock. So that's kind of. And the thumb's a non-issue at this point, right? The injury to the throwing thumb injury. No, that was my point. It was the first throw. I'm like, oh, is it still a deal? You know?

I was worried about the bulked up. I was worried. And then for the rest of the time, he looked he looked really good i mean he okay you know he's not perfect um but he i i didn't notice anything where i was like uh he's not he's still not back or anything like that so i'm i'm pumped to see him this year um he's definitely got again not like a loud brat like that picture looks like he's trying to be like jim mcmahon sorry showing my age or like he's trying to be something and he's like that's so good that's so mcman right there right but that's not who he is he's

kind of a quiet confidence go about his business and all that. But yeah, I'm fired up to see what he does this year, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't like a little bit worried about. Like that's not the upper body of, you know, of name your quarterback from Mahomes to Allen to Lamar to none of them look like that. So it'll be interesting to say. It's true. Look, what kind of jumps out to me,

we talk about the Mateers, we talk about the mannings and the cars and the same. And 40 quarterbacks. You know, man. Say in looks good. Say in looked good. I don't. We'll get into it more later this week. Okay.

All right. Go ahead. In our next show, we'll get into him. And I have lost to San San San, too. What I think is interesting about this is that that many quarterbacks, the Manning's, and with your help, and I'll give you some credit here, you've got some town. They're going to find you. Give me a guy that kind of was under the radar that maybe people aren't talking about, not one of these big names that you just kind of jumped out to you and thought this guy can play. in. I'd be remiss if I didn't quickly mention Marcel Reed looked better than I expected.

Okay. That's good. Because the tape of him as a passer. Now, as a competitor, as a runner, and all that stuff, awesome. Leader, human being, like five stars, right? As a passer, especially watching those receivers, you know, it was, it left a lot to be desired. It's a little bit of a roller coaster, to be It wasn't Bryce Underwood, but it wasn't that far off in terms of guys where you're like, it has to be better than this as a passer, right? And then he came out and all of a sudden, like, I see like hitting shot, driving the ball down, accurate, good trajectory. And at one point I was like, oh, that's Marcel.

Okay. Looks a little thicker. A little more like confidence in his, confident in his stroke. I'm excited to see what that translates to for Texas A&M. That's great. Off the radar, though. I just wanted to mention that because I've done some. Like, I mean, my whole thing in the fall was if they're going to get got,

it's because Marcel in the passing game, right? Right. Which I think is fair. That wasn't unfair. It was fair. It was fair. But then it's also, if I'm going to be fair, I need to come back and mention, I'm very intrigued by what I saw because he clearly is working his tail off to improve in that area.

Two other guys. Honestly, I didn't know anything about coming in. Two guys really jumped out. Jerry Kaminsky from North Dakota State, six foot two, 210 pounds. Man, you love your North Dakota State quarterbacks, man. Yeah, this is by accident, though. I hear you.

But I just thought like the Friday night lights throughout all the drill. He just like consistently, I would put him in like, if you were just grading the Manning Passing Academy, which would be a dumb exercise. But like I'd put him in the top five of, like all the stuff that I saw.

So that's notable. It's very notable. Like I just thought he was really consistent throwing the ball. Yeah, I just, I like the way he played. I think that's a name to just kind of keep keeping the back of our minds. And then the other guy, and I mentioned him before, James Murphy from Brown. Big, tall, Ivy League quarterback. I actually, Pete Thamble introduced me to.

him. Pete's a Massachusetts guy. We're both mass holes, right? He grew up in Redding, which is like a stone's throw from where you and I grew up, basically. It's our backyard, yeah. And over, I'm Swampscott. Like, we're all North Shore. And so I was like, yeah, I'd love to meet him, you know, it's pretty cool, right? Because you don't hear of a lot of, like, guys from the North Shore going on to do really good things. And then I got talking to him. What an Unbelievable story, man. He was really tall but lanky, didn't get recruited heavily out of high school.

Obviously super smart. Dad, as I mentioned, dad played at Northeastern, played in the NFL for a couple years, bounced around. I think it was mostly the New England Patriots, then played, I think in NFL Europe, met him,

was on the same flight coming back, just really good guy. Salt to the Earth, like just good human beings, right? Sun, Ivy League, he's super smart, but you could tell talking to him. I talked to him for probably, I don't know, 20 minutes, super smart, down to earth. Like he works with the M2QB guys, you know, with Mike and Alex and those guys that I've gotten to know. And just like really humble, good dude.

His story's cool. And he threw the ball really well, like consistent, you know. He's filled out. He's a four-year starter now at Brown. It's this weird loophole, right? Not a loophole, but it's just there, he has four years of eligibility in the Ivy League, and it runs up after this year. So he's going to be a fourth year starter, or fourth year, I think it was a four year starter

in high school. I forget what it was. This is fourth year. It's either three or four year starter at Brown, and they're expected to have a really good season. He put up some big numbers last year. It's like the best situation for a quarterback in the world because after this year, he can't play at Brown again, but he has this extra year of eligibility.

So he has an opportunity to hit the transfer portal with his whole team and his head coach and everyone promoting like, let's go win an Ivy League championship and then let's help you get to another place to go get that extra year of eligibility. You can't play here, but we want you to go on and have success.

So like doing all the right things, you know, sticking with your program, opportunity to leave after this past year. I'm going to see it through it brown, but then I get another chance. So I'm intrigued to see what happens to him and just hearing he and Pete talk about the portal and some of the logistics and to make sure that he's getting his name out there. And just knowing he's a Redding guy from our area and then watching him throw when he's out there competing with all these guys and he's really like he's showing well. So that's a name to keep again, I know that we're not going to cover the Ivy League out this year.

but where does he wind up in the portal and could it be this redding kid who goes to Brown and now all of a sudden is in the SEC or the ACC, the big tent, you know what I mean? So that's a name that's totally off the radar and it's not going to play a major role for the next six months. But when we get to the 2028 draft,

it's someone to keep an eye out for, you know? Gotcha. All right, ma'am. This is your second year going down there. I know you like to kind of evaluate how you look at things. Give me something, maybe micro, something macro that last year affected the way you

approach this and what you take away from it. And I'll be honest, and you know there's going to be some scumbags out there, your scumbags out there, who are going to say, oh, you love this guy last year, and you love that guy last year. Kind of addressed maybe your second year, you've gone through this a little

bit and how that maybe benefited you. Well, I knew last year I went down blindfold. that like right and archie's the best and i have access to everything and he like couldn't be like talked about a host and and the manning family uh but i didn't really know where i was going or anything like i put much more of an emphasis this year on all right these are long days like they start at nine in the morning and it's 104 degrees i don't i have no dude i looked at the weather and like you could say whatever you want i'm a weather guy and if you're a weather guy you know it's not the

humidity, you know it's the due point. And if the dew point's over 65, you're going to feel it. It was like 94 with the dew point of 76 at 11 o'clock in the morning. I was watching it. It's insane. To be out there that long in those temperatures, I mean, I have, I don't, they must have a medical staff there and a training staff that's keeping an eye on all these kids. So I purposely didn't go on Friday to the first, the first session, which, like, the college quarterbacks aren't doing anything. They're just working their station with high school kids. I don't need to evaluate like high school quarterbacks at a camp. And I blame Tate for that, right?

I was like, you know, I just don't want to keep an 11-year-old boy on that heat all day long. Right, yeah, I ain't going. Like, you know, but we were there from like from noon until 11 o'clock at night. You know, it's not like we had, we were like missing out on anything or like, you know, ducking out. Yeah, he wasn't a day off. And literally between every drill, he wanted to get in 40 throws. So I probably threw more passes this weekend with Tate than I did, like, at four years at Richmond or in high school. You know, like, so.

I throw with my lower body now. So. Shut up. So it was, it was still, like, you had to, like, I would, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, prepping thamomone when he went down. I'm like, the sunscreen and the hydration. Like, I know it sounds stupid and we're just like standing around watching, but like it's actually no joke.

Logistically, yeah, it's the thing. Yeah. So I think just being prepared for like when the times, when the times were where I could actually get an eye on these guys, who to talk to, knowing, knowing, like, being at that first meeting and not like sitting next to Chris Greer talking, like just knowing where to be. I felt like I was scrambling and chasing the first year. This year was like, I need to be here and I'm going to sit in this spot or I'm going to go to this drill.

It just, I felt it was a lot easier from a logistic standpoint this year. And knowing that I had to go to Big Mike Smokehouse barbecue in Tibido rather than racing back to New Orleans to try to eat. Big Mike wasn't there this year. little Ron was, little Ronald, who's not little. I just assumed that was Big Mike. He showed me in the back where all the meat. It's one of the best burgers I've had in my life. Really? You go to a barbecue place and you get a burger.

Little Ron told me. Nine inch handmade patties on the grill. They season it as they turn it. I'm telling you. I didn't even need condiments, man. And Thamble's telling me to go back to New Orleans to Caliph Port, which is like world renown, I guess, for their burger. Like literally is one competition, like one of the best burgers in the world.

We never got there because I got stuck on big mics, smokehouse in Tibido. So I just love the small area, you know, hole in the walls. Not that there's a hole in the wall. It's just a big barbecue factory. It's awesome. But yeah. So just learning.

learning the ins and outs. What about big picture? Anything about when now that your home, how do you process this information, how do you appropriately, which I don't, you know, I'm not going to say that you did not do that last year,

but is there anything like big picture of, this is what I keep an eye. Maybe it's something of noticing the underclassman and maybe starting a file on what you saw from those guys this year comparing it to next year, something like that. Was there anything, anything you could maybe point to there?

Yeah, maybe like the first year going down there, just like all in on like oh man i just love the way clubnick carried himself and nuss meyers and alpha dog and all the in retrospect like it's just these are these are side notes it's all it is and i'm interested to see does anything i saw what matters obviously is the tape and it's always been the baseline um right but but these are these are footnotes to the tape and so we'll we'll see but but they but certainly if car goes on has the season i i expect him to it's not a result of what he did at the manning passing academy obviously and i didn't think that last year

but i now have some background as to yeah this is the same guy who's who's deciphering coverages in point three seconds and and relaying and communicating it to all these high school kids and getting everyone lined up his brain works differently than not all but but some yeah and so i've got that in my back pocket and the things that i'll continue to to share throughout this. They're not anything that changes any kind of evaluation, but they're nice little footnotes and, you know, accoutrements to what we're doing. Stop.

I just say stuff to piss you off, man. I know you do. And that's, listen, that's great and all. You know what I've been dying to ask you and I really want to know is who did Tate like? Was Tate a CJ car guy? Was he an arch guy? Was he, you know, someone completely, hey, man, you got to keep

keep an eye on this quarterback. His favorite human being there was, was Cooper. I left, I left, I had to go back to the car and, and could jot down notes

with all the tapes that I was doing to me because it was getting to be old. And I'm like, listen, but I'm going to go back for the car, turn on the AC. We've got 30 minutes until 6 o'clock when the,

I want to be on the field at 6 o'clock, seven on seven start at 615. Come back to the car with me, throwing your, you know, AirPods, whatever you want. Or you want to hang here. He had met a couple of the, you know, coaches, sons and stuff. He's like, right, can I stay here?

I'm like, yeah. He's like, yeah, I'll be here. I'm like, right, let's meet here at 6 o'clock. Four minutes later, I get a, he texts me a picture of, of Cooper, just had him in a headlock, you know? And he hung out with him for a little while. How cool is that? But player-wise, mature and saying. I think because we sat in the very first coaches meeting,

We're sitting in the big auditorium, and it's up front. It's Archie and Eli and Peyton, and they're showing video, and then going through all the logistics of everything, introducing everyone. And we sat right next to Mateer, and then some of the players were coming in because their flights landed. And so Sayin came up, and we were sitting on the, I always sit in the, on the stairs to the side to not take up seats for the coaches and the players. and Sayan came up and there were no seats left

and he sat like right behind Tate. Oh, that's cool. Tate has Kuyans, man. I didn't have them as a kid. And he does, he, he took his phone and he must have got 15 different selfies with all the top players, but he really liked Meteer and he really liked Sane.

But all of them were awesome with him. From C.J. Bailey to Arch, all of them. They were just, They were really, really cool, you know. And I stayed out of the way. This wasn't about like my dad does this. It was just like, hey, can I, you know, I love the way you play.

I watch you. Can I take a picture or something? So it was cool to watch that, you know. I'm glad he had a good time. I'm glad you were able to give him that experience. And I think that's really cool. The one last thing I want to get from you is obviously NFL Films is down there, family's down there.

But look, everyone, everyone knows this is a potentially monster quarter. class, maybe the best quarterback class of all time. Could you feel it? Was there an energy down there? There was maybe a little bit different from last year of there are a lot of players. And there were, again, Nolan or sellers. I mean, there's guys down there that just weren't down there. No Dante Moore, I get it.

But these are quarterbacks. They understand what the, what the landscape is right now. Was there an energy attached to that or no? There was. I'd be lying to say, I think part of it, it felt less, boutique it felt more you know

four seasons like you know if you will like a nice boutique hotel versus it felt a little bit more there were camera crews there and there were a couple but it didn't take I don't want to say it took away

um so part of it was you had you know you've got cameras all around and the the big stick mics with the so it felt a little bit different in that regard and security, like they're like, you know, Manning family security. And they were having to like, hey, we got to make sure because they got camera angles and

it's important because they're documenting. It's like, yes, whether you buy into it or not. It's the first family in football, man. Like this is like from Archie to Eli and Peyton to now Arch. So it's pretty cool to document all that. But it wasn't just that. It was just watching them work. And again, there's 40 of them, and a lot of those guys won't go play in the NFL.

A lot of them are just good college quarterbacks, right? But there was definitely an energy to it where it's like it was a higher level. It was a higher level showing. It just as an evaluator, top to bottom, it was like, oh, this product is a lot better than the product I watched last year. And last year's product was really good and it was a lot of fun. These guys are better, period. They just are. It's exciting, man.

Ready for next year? You're going to go again next year? Yeah, I'm bringing you. All right. Sounds good. You didn't get, Tate had a great weekend, but he didn't get, you didn't get Wally Pipped or anything,

so let's go. I don't know, man. It's a little matter of time with Tate. Yeah, I like you hosting this show. It was a little different, right? It's better. I don't know about that, but yeah. Yeah, I think so.

You want to, you want to, You want to say goodbye to everyone? No, I haven't worked at my rap yet. I have no idea. I just panicked because you said that you gave me the rap. My favorite of all time was a draft night when I said I'm going to the bathroom and you just started yelling at Tucker as if Tucker was in the room and people could see him on air. You're like, we're going to throw up the...

I literally said, I was like, everyone understands. Everyone understands we're going to do that, right? All you had to do is talk about a player that you've done like seven hours. tape on. You're like, I don't have the GM series. I don't have the 20 years or whatever of TV experience. You were like,

you call me up one day. You're like, hey, you want to do a pod? And a year later, I'm on Netflix trying to figure it out. And my expectations were high and you have exceeded them. Thanks,

man. Leaps in bounds, my brother. No, this is fun. So we dive back into it Thursday, right? We're going to tape at the Wednesday.

Thursday morning. I'm so excited about, about CJ Carr, Julian saying that's going to be a fun one, right? We've already gone to Arch versus Dante. We got to Sellers v. Sorsby. A lot of love for sellers, a lot of intrigue with the Sorsby. Arch is arch. Dante's kind of the guy.

Everyone's chasing right now, right? Where are CJ Car? I'm telling you, you, I keep waiting these guys to disappoint me when I throw on the tape. We're six in. And I have not seen. anything that's made me feel like, uh, no,

these guys don't belong in the conversation. So consider this a bonus in the seven part series of, of, um, building the board, 2027 quarterback class, but we're diving right back in part four on Thursday. We appreciate everyone who's watching on Netflix,

Spotify, listening on YouTube, wherever else you get your podcast. We'll be back Thursday, as I mentioned, and mensch five stars as a host today, man, five, five stars.

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