[Music] I've been involved with the Heisman Trophy in some way shape or form for the last 20 years and by far the most common claim I hear about the award is that it doesn't always go to the best player well let's set aside for a moment the fact that the nature of any award is that it's subjective whether it's the Academy Awards or the gramys or the Emmys it's someone's opinion and in the case of the Heisman it's the opinion of 929 voters from all around the country and they're people just like you and I with uh different tastes for what they consider to be outstanding but they also love college football and they take their voting responsibilities seriously but think back to the last football game you watched for most of the game you probably followed the ball even if you didn't want to you had to because the camera always follows the ball so it stands to reason that the players who touch the ball the most are usually the ones who get the most opportunities to show their abilities to the people who give out these Awards and that's why quarterbacks win the Heisman A lot they touch the ball more than any other player followed by running back and then wide receivers and this takes nothing away from all the other positions just the nature of how we observe the game so what can we do about this how can we get other players besides quarterbacks and running backs and receivers more attention when it comes to the Heisman one possibility is to use analytics to help gauge how good these players are another way is to create new stat categories think of the term yards after contact it's commonplace now but it wasn't created until 1977 during Earl Campbell's Heisman Trophy campaign it was an ingenious way to differentiate Campbell from all the other Heisman candidates that year so while it's up to others to figure these issues out one thing we've decided to do on this podcast is to try to feature the best players of the country on either side of the ball regardless of position and that's why the first current player we're having on the official Heisman Trophy podcast is cornerback kayn king of Penn State and it is not for us to say whether he is or isn't a Heisman Trophy candidate that's up to the voters but if voters want to do their due diligence they really should be listening welcome to the official Heisman Trophy podcast [Music] hello with a kickoff a strong leg in over Sanders takes it one y g The End Zone up level 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 4 [Music] 4 and the winner is here's your host Chris Houston welcome back to another episode of the official Heisman Trophy podcast I am Chris Houston I'm really excited about today's show because it's the first full weekend of college football coming up and I don't know about you but I'm going to have a great time watching all those games from Thursday through Sunday and leading off our show today is a player you probably should know about one of the best players in the country arguably the best quarterback in the country to some folks and that would be Penn State NY lion Junior quarterback kin King and later on in the program we're going to cat catch up with Mercy Street a great charity that the Heisman Trophy trust is involved with and since it is the beginning of the Season we're going to go back in Heisman history and look at some of the first games that Heisman winners had in their Heisman winning seasons I think you'll enjoy it but before we get to Kin King let's do a quick checkup on what's going on in the Heisman world after week zero in college football it's the Heisman Roundup week zero defending Heisman winner Caleb Williams kicked off his pursuit of a second trophy by Leading us to a 5628 win over San Jose State he passed for 278 yards and threw four touchdown passes one on a broken play where he recovered a fumble from a botched backfield exchange and got off a 76 yd scoring bomb hero play Hero Play 4 [Applause] six USC true freshman receiver Zachariah Branch made a bit of a statement as well totaling 232 allpurpose yards in his debut including a 25 yard scoring catch and this electrifying 96y kickoff return touchdown Zachariah Branch freshman to the house 96 yds new Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman who transferred from Wake Forest had four touchdown passes of his own and a fighting Irish 42-3 win over Navy in Dublin Ireland he went 19 of 23 for 251 yards passing and his first TD pass in an Irish uniform was a Nifty 35 yard strike to freshman Jaden Greenhouse play action now on first down taking another shot over the middle of the field it's caught touchdown another Dame Jaden greous The Freshman perfectly there for Hartman and Vandy returning quarterback AJ Swan threw three touchdown passes in a 3528 win for the commodor against Hawaii which by the way is under second-year head coach Timmy changen who was a Heisman candidate for the Warriors in the early 2000s Swan's final TD pass was a 32-yard fourth quarter strike that gave Vanderbilt a 21-point lead which served as the cushion in what turned out to be a seven-point game we could have a free play for Vandy and a free place a touchdown as it's caught by London humpr all right so let's switch gears and find out what our Heisman winners in the pros are up to starting with Bryce young the Carolina Panther had his best outing of the three-game preseason schedule on Friday the 2021 heisen winner threw his first touchdown pass the 16 yder and led another scoring drive there are no NFL games next week so young will make his regular season debut on September 10th at Atlanta Joe burrow is still recovering from a July C strain that has kept him out of most of training camp but the Bengals faithful are still crossing their fingers about week one but he's not the only Heisman winner without a stat line in August Devonte Smith didn't make a catch in the preseason Derk Henry didn't have a carry Lamar Jackson didn't attempt a pass but do you know who saw a ton of preseason action relatively speaking Baker Mayfield that's who as he was battling for the right to win Tom Brady's old starting jump and win it he did he finished his preseason action going 6 for six against Baltimore last weekend with a touchdown pass that made him 14 of 15 in two preseason games with two scores nice job Baker and good luck looking over the rest of our guys in the league jamus Winston is set to back up firste St Derek Carr in New Orleans while Marcus mariote is competing to be the number two in Philadelphia and that's your weekly Roundup now on with the show hey college football fans your name doesn't need to be Nick Sabin or Marcus alen AR ree Davis to attend the Heisman Gala that's the annual celebration in New York to honor the Heisman Trophy winner the day after he's announced tickets to the gala are open to the public and will go on sale soon so be sure to keep checking at heisman. for information on how to secure your seat and witness Heisman history first up on this week's official Heisman Trophy podcast is kayn King cornerback Penn State Nittany Lions simply put kin is one of the best players in the country regardless of position he is rated by a Pro Football Focus as the number one corner in the country coming into this season he is a preseason All-American on all kinds of teams last year he had 30 tackles three interceptions 21 pass breakups which is among the nation's leaders and his nitty Lions take on West Virginia this Saturday so please be sure to keep an eye out for him kayln King thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy podcast how you doing I'm good appreciate you for having me man so how's your offseason Ben and what did you do different this year to prepare for the coming season oh my offseason been Prett good you know I just been just focusing on the little things that I feel like I have to get better on coming from last season and one of the biggest things that I really like dove into more was film study and like route Concepts and Route recognition and things of those nature just just so I can set myself up to make uh more plays than just going out there naturally and just reacting given the high pressure situations that quarterbacks are often in h how do you mentally prepare yourself for games especially when you know you're going to go up against some top tier receivers uh I feel like it's not really really a mental preparation I feel like anytime I take the field my mentality is the same you know I try to I try to keep the next play my priority like rather that be like um if if I give up a a catch one play I try not to let that Linger on and and lead to more you feel me things that I don't want to happen like so I just keep a a short play mentality next play if something happens one play try to forget about it and focus on the next one when you're studying film what specific things are you looking for when you're looking at the opposing team's quarterback and receivers well in opposing receivers I just look at like their Tendencies how they are off the line if they're good versus press you know their top routes um the targets like I watch film and I I go through all their targets and like their key plays see if they're a willing blocker things of that nature but as far as quarterbacks I just feel like you know I go off like um which way he scrambles you know which side of the field he's he's uh he throws to more often what are his good routes what are his good passes what what does he throw to the most and things that that nature so yeah so think of a play where you got beat or you made a mistake how did you analyze it afterwards and what did you learned from it I mean anytime I have a play where I'm either beat or it's a bad play on my part I try not to worry about it in a moment you know I try to you know just keep playing that that situation or drive and then when I once I get back to the sideline we got our staff on the sideline coach Terry coach Bryce and Coach Ola you know they they're always there to talk me through what they' seen out there on what I did so anytime I'm out there man I just you know try to forget about it and wor about the next play really how do you adapt your strategy based on if you're going up against a really tall big receiver or against a Speedster uh like things things like that like it'll it'll change like my technique some like say if I'm going against like a I know a guy who can really blow the top off he's a very good ver vertical threat he has great speed I might play him a little like off like off I might back up like one yard you know just to give myself some space give myself some room because I know he can go and like for as far as like big receivers you know I feel like um they're not really as quick as me so I feel like I can I can I can do a good job sitting in there and playing them and matching them with like a little more closed space so yeah Switching gears a little bit who would you say is the greatest cornerback of all time who my God that's a that's a that's a in my opinion like me personally I I feel like there's no great like I don't I feel like there's no best quarterback of all time because like it's you could say Deion Sanders but then again you could say darl Rivas because darl revas was like the best manto man Corner I've ever seen with my two eyes it's like I I really don't know and I and I also grew up watching Charles Woodson a lot so man those three guys are really like my top three and if I had to choose between all three of them I don't think I would be able to so I can't well that's a great that's a great top three I think for anybody's list uh what do you like the most about playing college football the the the fun the atmosphere especially being at Penn State like I feel like we have the best fan base SL game game atmosphere in the nation so you know just just taking a field every day and just seeing all those fans is repping repping to school and just just being here every day like that's that's really the most fun about college football really the atmosphere and like when the when the lights are on how how much of a great program pin State can be what's it like coming down the field during a white out be best feeling I ever seen I ever had in my life like I remember my freshman year when I came out for the white out it was like man that was the that was my first time ever you feel me witnessing it because I never I've never even been to a white out before I came here so my freshman year was the first time I actually was at a white out and it was it was crazy man I never forget that what's it like playing with your twin brother Kobe not only on the same team but on the same side of the ball yeah man it's it's a blessing because like you know me and Kobe we've been playing together our whole life really but so like as far as that aspect like it's the same but like now it's just almost like more people are watching it's at a broader Spectrum more eyes are on you and like it's more as Stak so yeah who's been a significant influence in your life outside of football and and describe to me uh how they influenced you outside of football my dad man my dad is like really the whole reason I I'm I take football this serious because like he used to he used to instill it in me and Kobe when we was younger like uh we used to wake up 6: a we we like six five six seven years old we used to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and run three miles with with him he that that's when I knew like he used to do the workouts with us so like and this you be every day like almost every day like he used to bang on our doors like it came to a point like he he made like a custom beat on the door and I knew every time I heard that beat on the door I knew what time it was so yeah my dad definitely man he's the he's the biggest reason why I'm at where I'm at today so definitely my father was that a process that was hard to go through at the time but later on you're like gosh I'm glad he did that glad glad he pushed me time I hated it like I hated it I hated it every time I heard the banging I just I knew it was time to work out and I hated it man I didn't't want to get up some days I wanted to stay in the bed but like now that I look back at it man like he only did that for the better of us so yeah at what point did you decide obviously you were uh you played three Sports in in high school and uh did did you think I'm going to be a cornerback or was it one of those things where it's like hey this is where I'm best suited so this is where I'm going to focus yeah oh like I'll say when I first started playing like when I was like fresh into football I didn't really play quarterback but I'll say around like um I say around sixth grade that's when I no fifth grade is when I started playing cornerback like that's when I started playing both sides of the ball I used to play running back and cornerback and I was I was actually better at running back for like a little period of time and then once I got to high school that's when I really like really made the transition to cornerback because I wasn't really the biggest I was like coming to high school I was probably like 5'9 160 so I was like nah running back might not be the best option for me so you know I went to cornerback and then ever since then man I just I fell in love with the position like I told you my dad he always used to show me videos about um like Charles Woodson and and um chant Bailey and Deion Sanders and just all the great that he used to watch growing up so like man I already had the cornerback like mentality in me once once I made the transition so like at that point it was just me just putting everything I had into it and just taking as far as I could I hear you want to be a sports analyst what who's the sports analyst who uh who you admire or who you who you watch a lot I watch a lot of Stephen A Smith and Shannon sharp Stephen A Smith like I feel like he's the best in in the business man like from from podcast to radio talk to to TV shows to TV series like he he does it all man like I feel like after my sports career is over like I want to start getting into things of that nature like I like first tap with Shannon sharp and Skip Bist like I like those like heated debates about sports so I feel like I can I can be one of those guys so yeah if you're talking to friends do you do you have like a quick take ready to go all the all the time man all the time my my my most my most used quick take is LeBron being the best player in to ever touch a basketball so you know I argue with people about that since I was a little kid but they don't never they don't never agree with me but I don't see how you can't agree with me but that's it's the LeBron it's the LeBron versus Jordan debate that's always going on right is that the the debate everyone's getting into yep okay here's a chance for a quick take oh sorry go ahead oh I was about to say sometimes like they start comparing LeBron to KD and it's like n that's like that's disrespectful like can't do that but yeah well here's a chance for a quick take what who's the toughest receiver or the or the most difficult receiver you played that you've had to cover uh the most I say the toughest receiver I ever had to cover it was too okay so I'mma give you my high school in high school then I'm GNA give you in college okay is that cool okay sure so in high school uh I had to guard Antonio Gates Jr and you know me and him like he's from Detroit as well he grew we grew up together we played on the same Little League team so ever since we was like nine 10 I've been I've been guarding him since we was like little so like when we got to high school it was like I already knew like what time it was like we've been I've been competing with him since I've been growing up so like I knew he was a good player he knew I was a good player and it was just like every time we seen each other it was like we was competing going at it right and as far as College Marvin Harrison definitely is the best receiver I ever guarded just off the fact like he's a big body he's got good speed runs good routes you know and things like he has the total package so definitely those two guys are the toughest guys I ever seen now you're going into your junior year you had a fantastic sophomore year uh 30 tackles 21 pass breakups three interceptions and then you have this season to play but in 2024 the Big 10 will bring in Washington Oregon USC and UCLA assuming you're back for your senior season which of those four teams would you most like to play uh I haven't really thought about that now um but I'm not goingon to lie USC would be a good team to play just because like they from Cali like and I hope we play them like away because I always wanted to like play in Cali like play football in like the Coliseum and because that's that's a real like nice stadium so but I mean I ain't really thought of that so one of the things we're trying to do on the official Heisman Trophy podcast is just bring the best players of the country on the podcast regardless position everyone talks about the quarterbacks most of the time and we just want the best players coming on so that they can get a platform uh and so just thinking about Heisman who are some of the Heisman winners in the past that you have memories of Heisman winners in the past that I have memories of Charles Woodson can never forget him the only quarterback to win it I can never forget that um no Johnny Manzel was crazy he was he was one of the most electric guys I ever seen um Reggie Bush man when I when Reggie Bush was in college man I used to I used to go crazy man um uh who else I got didn't cam newon win the Heisman he did win the Heisman yep Cam newon that was another one and Devonte Smith I remember when Devonte Smith won the Heisman that year he went crazy probably the one of the best single season receiving Seasons that I seen so yeah okay let's say you're a Heisman Trophy voter and you're looking at all the players in the country and you're thinking I want to look at some cornerbacks and if you're watching a game and you're a voter what would you have him look for or have her look for uh in a cornerback what what should the voter be looking at from a quarterback to to try to try to gauge how good the player is so as far as cornerbacks I feel like the voter should you know look at the allaround game of the of the quarterback so for example like coverage is definitely would be one of the most important um I say tackling I say instincts just like just like everything that makes a player well-rounded like I feel like if if a corner was to win the Heisman it would have to be like the most well-rounded corner you know who does it all like does everything it doesn't lack in any certain area just like he's a very complete Corner that's that's I feel like those are the corners that I like that I gravitate to the most so yeah so for yourself what would be some areas where you would work on to become that complete corner do you think so some areas uh that I would work on to become a more complete corner I would say um just things such as like I was saying um route recognition and and uh formation recognition before the snap just putting myself in position to where I know what's coming before it actually happens which can allow me to make a little more plays and you know just things like that Kaylin King thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy podcast we wish you best of luck this season you got a big one against West Virginia coming up next Saturday uh all the best and for a for a healthy and productive season to you and to your team yes yes sir appreciate that a [Music] lot s d a t e o [Applause] this is Rie Griffin 1974 1975's hman Trophy winner and you're listening to the official Heisman podcast it's Wednesday and we're just about to head into the first full weekend of college football we did have seven games last weekend in what people were calling week zero we saw Caleb Williams and Sam Hartman get off to some good starts but by this time next week there'll be a bevy of candidates to talk about and the thing about week one is you can't put too much stock in it but you can't ignore it either in week one you can set the tone for the entire season sometimes what you do in week one carries over throughout the rest of the year other times it's just a warmup for better things to come later so in general you really want to get off to a good start if you can and to that end we decided to go back in Heisman history and look at examples of first games for players who would eventually become Heisman Trophy winners so I brought in my producer Paul Goldberg and we're going to go over some great games from Heisman history some opening statements if you will so that we can compare what happened in the first weekend of college football with some of these past performances so we're going to take turns going over some of the games that we thought stood out and we're going to kick it off by throwing it over to Paul thanks for coming on the show Paul hey thanks Chris thanks for having me on this uh podcast excited to make my debut here uh I figured I'd start with Tim TBO the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner everyone saw how good he was in cameos in 2006 of course Chris leak led the Florida Gators to a national championship that year and uh TBO took over the starting job in 200 7 and in his uh first career start he faced Western Kentucky and he threw for 300 yards three touchdown passes and he rushed for another touchdown uh TBO was out of that game late and as my Googling skills reminded me the game was cut short by lightning Midway through the fourth quarter but and I know you know this Chris before lightning stopped the game a certain Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton made his college debut in that game taking over for tibo early in the fourth quarter he snuck in a few completions and he ran a touchdown in from four yards out so kind of a little nugget there for you definitely a great little bit of Heisman trivia to have two future Heisman winners on the same team in the same game and of course that game was important for Tim tbo's Heisman campaign because it really did set the tone for what he would do the rest of the season if you recall he had 29 passing touchdowns 22 rushing touchdowns on his way to becoming the first player to win the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore but it's appropriate that you brought up Tim tbo's starting debut because the player that I'm going to talk about was kind of the Tim TBO of his day I'm talking about Terry Baker of Oregon State the 1962 Heisman Trophy winner the first Heisman Trophy winner from the West Coast in that first game of the 1962 season he threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 65 yards and three touchdowns so that's six total touchdowns at the time that was a Heisman record Baker was a phenomenal athlete and really the Forerunner of a lot of these great spread quarterbacks of this era he was such a great athlete that he was also a starter on the Beavers final four basketball team under Ralph Miller the following spring I think anytime you talk about Terry Baker you have to talk about the fact that he's the only player to win a Heisman Trophy and play in the final four it's almost obligatory I am relieved Chris that you mentioned Terry Baker and the final four because there's of course a 10 push-up penalty for failing to mention that in any Heisman conversation so that was a close call uh I'm going to counter now with Ricky Williams the 1998 Heisman Trophy winner um he was a known commodity in 1998 he came uh in fifth in the Heisman voting in 1997 which was the year Charles Woodson won out of Michigan so in 1998 um there were some big expectations that he was facing and I think he really met those um in the first game he ran for 215 yards on just a blistering 36 carries something you rarely see nowadays he broke his own School record with six touchdowns against New Mexico state now also notable from that game it was future National Championship winning coach ma Brown's debut in the burnt orange leading the Longhorns yes indeed and of course Ricky Williams went on to rush for over 2,000 yards I think he had 27 touchdowns that year broke the NCA career rushing yardage mark it did only stand for a year because Ron Dayne broke it the next season but still a great opening uh game for uh for Ricky Williams in the 1998 season I'm going to see you a great performance by Ricky and I'm going to match it with Marcus Allen 1981 USC he opened the season with 210 rushing yards on just 22 carries and four touchdowns against Tennessee in a 43-7 USC Victory this game was notable because uh Allen only had like one or two carries in the second half before sitting out and afterwards John Robinson the coach of USC said that if he had played Marcus the entire game he might have rushed for 500 yards so uh and this this was kind of a a notable uh outing because he went on to uh rush for over 2,000 yards 2342 to be exact uh and he was the first Collegiate player to rush for 2,000 yards and he had eight 200 yard plus rushing games that season so uh this was another example of getting off to a great start and it leading to a Heisman Trophy at the end that's a shame he didn't get 500 I think that could be a uh little known little known rule we can insert in the ncaa's uh anyone who rushes for 500 yards or 500 yards receiving maybe automatic Heisman or at least halfway there we'll get right on it I'm going to go with 1958 Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins for my next selection this was a standout Army team that he capped in that season they opened the season ranked eth and they were facing a really good South Carolina team that was ranked 18th um but no matter for Dawkins he kicked off that Heisman season with 113 rushing yards on just nine carries he scored four touchdowns against what would be a seven and three game team so a solid opponent right there Dawkins of course LED that team to an eight 80 in1 season they finished third in the rankings was a fantastic season for Army and Dawkins of course went on to a brilliant career in the service he rose all the way to Brigadier General and had just has had a really impressive life of course and who knows if he doesn't have that great opening game maybe he ended up a colonel instead of a brigadier general regardless definitely an illustrious player in the anals of Heisman history I I'm going to also go back in time time and back through the decades and land in 1940 with Tom Harmon in Michigan the Wolverines went out to uh the Bay Area in California to play California at Memorial Stadium and it was a 41 nothing win for the Wolverines Harmon who was really just an amazing do-it-all player had two rushing touchdowns a kickoff return touchdown a punt return touchdowns four extra points and a TD pass uh he of course is the father of actor Mark and former US quarterback so uh he was really a Do-it all player a remarkable athlete for his time and one of the things that sticks out about this game for me is this 85 yard touchdown run he had where he weaved his way across the field and crisscrossed the field a couple times and at the very end just as he's about to score a fan appears out of from out of nowhere and he's clearly drunk he had come in from the stands or maybe tightwad Hill and he tries to tackle Harmon just before he gets to the goal line but har kept his wits and just casually Sid stepped him and waltzed into the end zone definitely a really strange thing to happen that kind of thing actually occasionally happened in that era and uh you can see a video of it at heisman. comom there are no reports of drunken fans making their way into the field for my next game but that goes to Lamar Jackson the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner uh who opened with a huge huge performance uh his sophomore season he had 286 yards passing on 17 of 23 Aerials six touchdowns through the air he also ran for 119 yards scored twice more on the ground in a 70 to 14 win over Charlotte um now no one's claiming that Charlotte was a number one Alabama team so maybe you take that with a slight grain of salt but eight touchdowns his eye popping that caught everybody's attention really sparked his Heisman season that year and uh sent him on his way I couldn't score eight touchdowns in paper football so I I I think it's impressive against anybody no matter how you slice my record seven against paper football very impressive so uh I will take your Lamar Jackson and raise you with atony Dorset 1976 opening game against Notre Dame while it wasn't Charlotte it was Notre Dame and they were number 11 and it was in Southbend 22 carries 181 rushing yards one touchdown 31-10 Victory it really put Pittsburgh uh on the map as far as being a serious Contender for the national title and they did go on to win the national title that year and of course uh Dorset went on a rush for 1976 yards and when the Heisman become the nca's career rushing leader uh and remarkably he had 754 career yards against Notre Dame and this sort of proved at the time the old ad which is that you've either got a play for Notre Dame or beat Notre Dame D the Heisman and Dorset uh took the ladder route and uh that's why you know part in part why he won the Heisman in such a big landslide that year all right finally my my next winner um doesn't fall into either of those categories he breaks maybe he's the exception to that Notre Dame rule this was of course 1955 winner Howard Hopalong Cassidy who opened his Heisman winning season uh against Nebraska and had a fantastic game he ran for 170 yards scored three touchdowns and really kicked off what would be a great season for him and a really good Ohio State team that finished fifth overall they finished seven- two and in addition to his strong start he finished uh finished really well he ran for 124 yards against Indiana and then the uh the Buckeyes beat two ranked teams at the end of the year Iowa and Michigan he ran for another combined 300 plus yards scored four touchdowns and really put together a fine season and that was the third of many Buckeye Heisman uh at the time and I will take your Hopalong Cassidy and give you RG3 Robert Griffin III from Baylor 2011 I think a lot of people listening might even remember this game 21 of 27 359 yards five touchdowns and a 50 to 48 win over number 14 TCU and this was a big game for Baylor because the Bears hadn't really been that competitive nationally in the decade prior probably the two decades prior so this sort of signaled that the Bears were a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12 and also that uh RG3 was going to be a a legitimate Contender on the Heisman race one of the things I really remember about that game is a 15 yard reception that uh Griffin made on a trick play late in the game for a first down with two guys draped all over him really impressive play and really showed what a great athlete what a great team player he was all right now that we've talked a little bit about uh some great Heisman openings let's just touch upon a few Heisman openings that didn't go so great Ohio State's Vic janowitz for example in 1950 he was 0 for four passing and then he had 19 yards on seven carries and a loss to number 10 Southern Methodist so obviously that didn't slow down his Heisman campaign because he went on to win it uh but I think it's interesting to not to note that you don't always have to uh come out in a big way if you want to win the Heisman yeah I think 1979 winner Charles White kind of exemplifies um that exception to the role as well um and of course Charles passed away in January um but he had a brilliant Heisman year despite a rough start he got knocked out out excuse me he got knocked out early in the season opener against Texas Tech shoulder injury got him after only 39 yards and he missed the second game entirely but by week three he was back at it with 153 yards against Minnesota week four some rush for 185 yards against LSU and he was off and U really overcame the slow start yeah and I think the the lesson here is is we can't make too much or too little of these opening games it's good to to look at some opening games and say hey this player looks like a Heisman candidate and there's going to be lots of players having big games early on and people are going to be talking about him but only a few are going to maintain that consistency throughout the season While others are going to taper off a bit that all said most of the players who end up winning the Heisman had pretty good first games and so these opening statements sort of give us a few tantalizing clues about certain players who might potentially win the Heisman and we don't fully understand what it all means until they actually do it take an even deeper dive into Heisman lore by going to heisman. comom home to All Things Heisman including news bios and the latest on all the winners plus updates on the Heisman Trophy trust and it's charitable Mission it's the A to Z for everything Heisman from Alan amichi to Danny worle we really need a Heisman winner whose name begins with Z one of the things we're excited about most on this podcast is the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the Heisman charitable Mission the Heisman Trophy trust has donated over $2 million to a variety of sports programs that offer Educational Services to disadvantaged and special needs youth while the Heisman original charitable Focus was in its backyard of New York City its reach is now expanded out to other communities we kick off our first segment highlighting Mercy Street a dallas-based organization that works with thousands of underserved families via its Sports and mentoring based programs we chatted with Mercy Street's president and CEO Carlton Obie to find out more Carlton thanks for joining us on the official Heisman Trophy podcast oh it's my pleasure to be here with you guys well first I'd like to congratulate you and mercy Street on the 20-y year anniversary you're celebrating this year I understand your tenure with the organization goes back quite a bit yes I've been with the organization this is the start of my 14th year and I'm really excited to be a part of what God has been doing in the Western South Dallas communities for over 20 years and so it's my joy to do so I'm from the community and live in the community and now work in the community and uh it's just a great deal that I get a chance to do that every day it certainly is now the Heisman Trophy trust has a long history of working with organizations and Foundations such as yours that work with young people in need how far back does your relationship with the Heisman go it goes back 10 years okay and uh what is that relationship been like well um it it it started uh really through a Heisman Trophy winner um Mr Danny warle um has an organization called Desire Street Ministries and they support organizations like ours in the city Ministries uh in an effort to keep them in Ministry and not burn out and so that's kind of how we got connected and uh since then it's been ongoing support uh of our activities and our programs and uh it just helps a lot to be able to have uh an organization with the name Heisman Trophy everybody recognizes it it helps us with donors helps us in the community it's a great deal for us it's a win-win that's awesome can you tell us a bit about Mercy streets overall mission I understand it works with some 2500 families annually and a huge portion are through Sports League like baseball soccer basketball flag football and soon lacrosse absolutely absolutely well we believe in relationships and uh we believe that young people in our community need relationships in order for them to have Direction um and so what we try to do is Foster mutually transforming relationships with in City youth uh from our areas which happen to be two of the most undeserved areas in all of Dallas and we're trying to Foster them relationships with adults who can help grow from where they are to wherever the Lord wants them to be and uh we've seen these relationships be longterm uh with an average of four years uh these relationships Express themselves in things like coaching through our Sports Department uh coach will stay engaged with a group of kids and grow grow up with them through the ranks uh We've also seen it work uh through one-on-one Mentor relationships where sometimes a mentor will start in the fourth grade with a kid and often walk them all through graduation and then um we also have um a leadership development program which is really a opportunity for young people to learn soft skill development Workforce Readiness time management uh they're exposed to an abundance of things outside the community sites uh organizations historical landmarks uh but they also interface with corporate CEOs and seite uh uh officers uh in order for them to learn from those guys and what they've experienced over time um the biggest thing they do is they they just have camaraderie and friendship and fellowship with like-minded young people and they walk together uh and then when kids graduate from our program we keep up with them through an alumni association which hopes to get them back involved in the work that we're doing or it helps them uh if they have a bump in the road to get back on track we're really excited about that that's just wonderful now where do most youth come to you from is it three your sports programs mostly yeah we have about 1,600 youth that we serve through our Sports programs and then another 200 through our mentoring program and so on um but you know kids can find us uh well now being 20 years um parents are starting to just know who we are in the community because we've been there so long same building same location same are areas we're now in our second generation of people in other words uh some people have grown up through our program and started families and they bring their kids back to our program um we we're on the website um we have a relationship with the local school districts so kids people can find us through uh the counselors and teachers and school officials um but they also just walk over to our building so I think we've established pretty well who we are we've been we've been longterm in the community and so yeah it's it's been a great deal do you have any stories or individual stories that are that really make you the most proud about your work with uh with Mercy Street wow I was trying to think about one in particular because there there are several of them one is um I remember a a single mom um named Ladonna Johnson Miss Johnson came to us um gosh I want to say almost about 15 or 16 years ago she had four children and um three boys and a young and a young lady and you know the the great thing about it is they all know the Lord at this point they all graduated from high school and from college and uh now working in the community and doing different things uh she also went back to school and did some initiatives as well just to show them that she could do it so they better do it and so you know things like that Miss Miss Johnson is a testimony of the a great people we get a chance to work with and serve and and how God uses uh relationships through mentoring and our organization to kind of uh do his work and and we see the final products and things like that children come to you and they're as young as four years old and they work with you all the way through high school and you guys focus on mentoring what is the process when someone comes to you and says hey I'd like to get my child involved with Mercy Street yeah we we we have a process for both mentors and mentees from the parent standpoint they fill out an application we have a small orientation we kind of talk through expectations uh and then we kind of sit with them and we kind of have an interview we're really trying to assess um the kind of student kind of family they are and their unique needs at the same time we're working with volunteers to try to interview them spend time with them do background checks reference checks and we're really trying to hear and listen for commonalities and things that will make a great pair and uh so far has worked really well to kind of connect students and mentors together that way listening learning uh and trying to create long-term relationships what's it like to see the impact that your organization has had on so many kids you know uh I I often get in tears uh I I'm often humbled feeling unworthy uh I don't know how I ended up in this particular place to lead a multi-million dollar organization and to to be uh a person who gets a chance to speak into to uh so many people lives but for some reason God chose me to be a part of what he's doing and so I just I just thank him every day um it starts with me at home with my wife and six kids and then getting a chance to see how he uses uh me and our staff which we have a great staff a phenomenal staff I often get a lot of credit for the work that's being done but I stand on the shoulders of a lot of young men and women who have dedicate their lives to the uh the work and uh it's just awesome to see how God has just taken us and from we are to where we were to where we are right now it's just great and what are your plans and hopes for Mercy Street going forward yeah so currently we serve in the west and south Dallas area um we will always be where there's fatherlessness where there's hurt where there's single parents where there's grandparents trying to raise kids where there's poverty uh we will always be in the midst of the hurt the darkness uh of our city and so um we believe over the next three to five years that we will go from uh continue to serve West Dallas and and expand in in South Dallas and there's an area of our city that that the city is really alerted as a place of need which is a southern Dallas area the whole city is turning towards that we feel like we can be a part of what the city is doing and what God is doing there and then from there you know we just will be praying but we hope to be able to you know whether we we take our our show s to speak on the road and and become a National Organization um we we you know we we can be prepared for that but but really we we just really want to serve wherever the Lord has us and I believe that's going to be in the inner city where there's hurt where there's need whether it's fatherlessness whether it's single parents whether it's poverty we will always be in the midst of those who are considered the last the lost and Lease we'll be standing proud shining lights in the midst of Darkness Carlton what's the best way for someone listening to this program or in the Dallas area or elsewhere who wants to get involved or help out or or or Come Along on your journey and and helping uh uh underserve youth in the Dallas area we can simply uh go to our they can simply go to our website uh Merchant Street dallas.org it has all the information that is needed to get uh connected with us we also have um 21495 1042 is our office number um we check that on a regular basis and get back with people it's an honor to do so we take it very seriously to walk people through a process where they can become engaged with us so those are the two major Avenues we also have Facebook and Twitter and all those kind of things just look up mer Street Dallas but uh yeah those are the most efficient ways well the Heisman Trophy trust is very proud to uh to take part in your efforts U there's a lot of people listening right now who who probably came to talk about the Heisman Trophy but now they're finding out that the Heisman is involved in these types of Endeavors what what kind of message do you have for for people who come to this program thinking about the Heisman Trophy but are now finding out that the Heisman is more than just a trophy yeah and and I would say um I'm thankful that the hosman trophy uh family chooses to use their platforms to do more than just highlight an individual for their achievements in sports they are making a difference around this country uh in communities large and small with people who are known and unknown and it is a great privilege to be in partnership with them Carlton hey thanks so much for joining us uh we really enjoyed uh hanging out and talking with you and hopefully uh everything continues to go go well for Mercy Street and we can check back in the future and talk some more about about what you guys are up to and and uh what new developments are happening in your area uh that are exciting and and and hopefully helping people improve their lives thank you so much I appreciate it it's been my honor to do so today the official Heisman Trophy podcast streams every Wednesday during the college football season and is hosted co-produced edited and engineered by Chris Houston Paul Goldberg is the executive producer and editor special shout out to Isaac lenon and big thanks to the Heisman Trophy Trust and its executive director Rob whan and associate director Tim Henny the official Heisman tropy podcast can be found on Spotify Apple music and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts you can also find clips of our show on Facebook Instagram Twitter and YouTube just go to @ Heisman Trophy