- 7 months ago
The Heisman trophy winner Gino Torretta joins the show to discuss Tua's benching and why he expects big things from Quinn Ewers. Plus, he previews the Canes vs Texas A&M matchup.
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00:00Gino Toretta, the Heisman Trophy winner, joins us on Thursdays courtesy of the local 519 Plumbers Union.
00:07In football and in life, it's about being on the right team.
00:12Join the winning team at local 519 Plumbers Union, a proven path to a strong career.
00:18Visit Plumbers519.com.
00:22Hello, Gino.
00:24Hawk, new studio for you, or are you actually in the studio?
00:27No, I'm actually home today.
00:30I've been in the studio.
00:32You've been working on your backdrop a little bit.
00:34You know, I give you props.
00:35I think so.
00:36I think you're having a memory issue.
00:39Oh, no, no, no.
00:40When I had been home a couple times, I was broadcasting from my son's room, but he's home for the holidays, so I'm back where I was.
00:47You were in front of the window.
00:48I mean, come on, man.
00:50No, no, no.
00:51In front of the window is when I'm in the studio.
00:53When I'm in the window, I'm in the studio.
00:55I know.
00:56I'm a little disappointed you're not in the studio.
00:58I know.
00:58I'm a little disappointed myself I'm not at the studio.
01:01You use that fake backdrop.
01:03You've got the orange bowl backdrop.
01:04I do.
01:05You never know where you are.
01:06I still can't figure out that green screen thing.
01:09I have one of those things that's like a big tent that goes back, but it's like, you know, when they, what was it, the movies in Airplane, when they pull the cord of the life raft, and it just crushes you on the plane?
01:25I mean, that's what I feel like when I try to open up the green screen thing, and I can't get it back down into that circle.
01:31It looks fine.
01:33It looks fine.
01:34Your backdrop looks fine.
01:36What do you think about this before we get to the Hurricanes and the college football playoffs?
01:40The Dolphins are benching Tua.
01:43They're skipping their hand-chosen backup, Zach Wilson, to go with Quinn Ewers.
01:48But Mike McDaniel's reason, when asked why, he says, Quinn gives us the best chance to win Sunday.
01:58Yet Quinn Ewers has been third string for every game but one this season.
02:03And Zach Wilson is saying now yesterday, yeah, I'm a little confused as to why I just got bypassed for the starting job when I've been the backup all season.
02:12It seems like a logical decision to want to see what the youngster has.
02:18I get that.
02:18But it seems illogical to try to sell it as Quinn Ewers gives us the best chance to win.
02:26Well, I don't know how you sell it.
02:28I would say this.
02:29And you know I've watched some ball on Sundays, not a ton.
02:34I've seen Zach Wilson in New York, and I'm fairly certain the Dolphins coaches have seen him for, what, the past four months in Miami.
02:45You know what you have.
02:47And I would say he was, quote, unquote, listed as the backup.
02:52But if something happened to Tua and there had to be a replacement based on what they just did, Ewers has been the backup.
03:01And he's been learning the offense.
03:03But I'm sure the offensive coaches were like, okay, his abilities give us the best chance to win.
03:10We're not sure how much of the offense he has digested to be able to operate it.
03:17And if we don't have to put him in the backup role, we're just going to leave him as third.
03:20But I guarantee you, based on what they just did, if Tua got hurt and if it was for more than, you know, half or a game,
03:28that you would see the exact same thing happening.
03:32And that's based on, listen, I haven't seen the guy practice.
03:36But, you know, I mean, coaches, they put in the guy that think they can give him the best chance to win.
03:43And sometimes it's, you know, was Wilson a backup because they signed him for a lot of money?
03:50I mean, let's be honest.
03:51Doesn't that tell you something, though, about their decision to sign Zach Wilson as their backup for $6 million?
04:00Yeah, but I'm fairly certain what it tells me is that we probably can't air it.
04:05We could probably air it to the people listening on the internet.
04:08And I think that they just confirmed maybe what the Jets and the Jets staff and personnel department confirmed by, you know,
04:20hey, we took this guy with the what pick in the draft.
04:24And, you know, it's pretty hard to play yourself out of the league getting drafted that high that quickly.
04:33I would just say that because you know as well as I do, there's 32 teams that are making a decision on a pick.
04:40And I'm sure some of them are thinking, man, this guy was drafted this high.
04:44We had him ranked real high.
04:46We can get him and we can transform him.
04:49And then, you know, somebody else gets him and it's like, well, maybe we can't transform him.
04:54You watched Quinn Ewers in college.
04:56Do you think he's talented enough to lead an NFL team?
04:59I think he's very talented.
05:01You know, he got hurt last year.
05:04He had like a rib injury or something like that, which I think affected him.
05:08But, I mean, he had elite, elite arm talent.
05:12I saw him, I think, two years before.
05:14I think it was Arch's redshirt year at the end of the year.
05:18And I thought he legit had a chance to go pro at that point in time.
05:24He stayed for another year to try to get a national championship.
05:27And, you know, that didn't happen and he ended up getting hurt.
05:33I thought he was a lot, would have been a lot higher pick than where he got picked.
05:37I thought the Dolphins, when they picked him, I thought they got the steal in the draft.
05:41And we're going to see in the next month, we're going to see how he does.
05:45You know, the question is, is he's playing within an offense that doesn't have all of their weapons.
05:51Um, but, uh, it, it should be interesting to, uh, to see it.
05:56Cause I, I do think he's, he's talented and I would guess based on the text you've been getting from Omar and others that watch them daily, you know, he, he's, he probably gave him the best chance arm talent wise of, of all the guys on their roster.
06:12Hey, uh, we're going to get the U.M. Texas A&M real quick.
06:15Cause I know, uh, Solana wants to talk about them.
06:17So do I, uh, but someone put on the YouTube chat Colts brought in a 44 year old QB that hasn't played since 2020.
06:25This is normal.
06:26What do you make of Phillip rivers suiting up and playing and, and I guess being somewhat effective in his debut, uh, last Sunday, uh, what do you make of him doing this after not having played for four or five seasons?
06:39Well, I think it goes to what, what I say, Peyton Manning wasn't Peyton Manning as a rookie through 35 or 40 interceptions.
06:47And the more he learned that offense, the more efficient he could become or became, and he became a hall of famer.
06:55And I would say that Phillip rivers knows the scheme.
06:59He knows the offense.
07:00He knows the terminology.
07:02They're not having to teach him the game.
07:04And Oh, by the way, he's got a ton of experience.
07:06Now he knows what he can or can't do physically.
07:11I've watched some of his throws and I'm like, he was throwing the ball in anticipation so early.
07:17And that's, that's basically saying, Hey, I don't have the, you know, I'm 44 years old.
07:21I mean, it's just age is what it is.
07:24But that shows that the, when the coaches, when it comes down to it, the mental stuff is, is, you know, more, really more important than, than the physical stuff.
07:34Because if you're, if you're that smart and you have that kind of experience, you could kind of play your way around some limited physical limitations.
07:43Um, now, is he going to be able to stay healthy?
07:46I mean, heck, I can remember Testaverde when he was with the Panthers, they wouldn't even let him practice.
07:50They were afraid, they were literally afraid he would get hurt by taking reps in practice.
07:56And I'd have to assume, I mean, Hawk, I helped out a go over this year.
08:00You know, I'd go out there and, you know, the kids want to, want to see me throw it.
08:04And then they start challenging me.
08:05And then I think I, you know, my mind thinks I'm still a 20 year old kid and I could, you know, sling one down the sideline.
08:13And it's like, Ooh, you get reminded real quick.
08:17Yeah.
08:17You get reminded real quick.
08:18And, and the ones when you don't get reminded real quick, you get reminded real quick the next day where you're like, why does my, why does my butt hurt?
08:26I remember throwing like batting practice.
08:28Like, you know, I'm like, why does my butt hurt?
08:31Just, just like simple lifting up your butt, like, you know, your leg, like a, for a pitcher.
08:35And it was just like, that stuff comes back.
08:38So I, I'd be curious to see how he felt the next day and, and how he's going to feel going forward.
08:44Cause I can only imagine that 44, it takes a little bit longer.
08:49I threw my back out doing the show, doing the show yesterday.
08:52I didn't even swivel in my chair.
08:53I was just sitting stoically.
08:55Isn't that the worst?
08:57Like, you don't even know.
08:58Like, I remember having a back thing, I'm throwing it out when I was a sophomore in college and I'm like, I didn't do anything.
09:04And you can't do anything to loosen it up.
09:07It didn't matter.
09:08Like I, I went to the store, bought the, what is it?
09:10The Dones back pills, that stuff doesn't work.
09:13I mean, like you can buy pain medication, you know, you can buy the, the Percocet, none of that stuff works.
09:20And then it's just amazingly disappears later on when it feels like it.
09:26All right, let's get to, uh, Canes, Texas A&M.
09:28How do they match up?
09:30How do they match up?
09:30Could you see Miami advancing to the next round?
09:33I could, they have to play their best 60 minutes of football.
09:37I think that, uh, Beck's got to play clean.
09:40He's got to play the best game he's played.
09:42This, this will be the best roster that UM has faced all year.
09:46Better Notre Dame, better in Florida.
09:49They got some big boys up front.
09:51But, and let's be honest, outside of their last game, which was a stinker on the road at Texas, this team was getting votes as the best team in the country.
10:01Like there was a debate.
10:02If they got through Texas, got to the SEC championship, one, there was a debate.
10:06They were going to be a one seed out of the SEC undefeated.
10:10Now they lose to Texas.
10:11Don't have to play in the SEC championship game.
10:14So they've got an extra week off like we do.
10:17Um, but it will be the best talent that, that UM has seen all year.
10:22The, the, my, my biggest concern read their quarterback is dynamic.
10:28He can run.
10:29He's accurate with the ball.
10:30We like to blitz.
10:32We like to play man coverage.
10:33When you play man coverage, quarterback runs can be just like a dagger in your heart.
10:38And, and I think that, you know, UM, I'm, I'm sure that, you know, the defensive coaches are kind of, you know, mixing something in where they got to spy a D end or, or, or something because, you know, that, that would, that's to me is what can really hurt you.
10:54Man coverage is, is a quarterback runner and, and, and they got a guy that's, I mean, he was, he would have been top probably three for the Heisman had they beaten Texas.
11:04He would have, you know, he might've had a shot to win because he went into that second last week.
11:08And he was one of the favorites.
11:09So yeah, that's, that's my biggest concern, but this is their biggest test of the year.
11:13And it's, and it's on the road.
11:15I was going to ask you, Gino, on the other side is Miami's offensive line, maybe the most critical unit going into this game, because we know how good that pass rush is on the other side.
11:27I know Ruben Bain is who everybody's focusing on, especially after the comments, one of the Texas A&M players made, but keeping Carson Beck upright, could, could that literally be the difference?
11:37Between the Canes winning this football game and not winning this football game?
11:41Oh, there's no question.
11:42I think keeping them upright, I think based on their personnel and their, I mean, they're loaded.
11:47Elko got the job because he's a defensive coach.
11:50They have the personnel up front.
11:52Let's be honest.
11:53We watched all those Miami games.
11:55I mean, Carson Beck, he can make a ham sandwich sitting back in that pocket.
11:59Sometimes I'm like, wow, he has all day to throw.
12:02So, and he's not going to have that, you know, he's going to have, he's going to have to make a lot quicker decisions.
12:09Guys are going to have to get open quicker.
12:11And, uh, there's no question.
12:13And then you bring in, you know, the run game, they got to keep them off balance.
12:16I mean, we got to play our best 60 minutes of football.
12:19I don't, I don't think there's any ifs, ands, or buts about it is we got to play our best 60 minutes of football, Texas A&M.
12:25Listen, the first game that I ever went to Kyle field and broadcasted there, I remember going up in the booth.
12:31And now that you ever play there, do you ever play at the college station?
12:34Never played there, but their press box at the time, it was on the other side of the stadium, but it was like eight, nine stories up.
12:41And, you know, it's old concrete building.
12:44And the engineer who was local, he just goes, Hey, um, I'm just going to give you like a word of advice and, you know, kind of caution.
12:52Like the third quarter, the stadium starts moving.
12:56And I'm like sitting there, I'm like, man, I'm from California.
12:59We've dealt with earthquakes.
13:00I'm like, we don't like buildings moving that are concrete.
13:03And especially when I'm like nine floors up an elevator shaft on the broadcast booth.
13:09And I'm telling you, this stadium starts swaying and it, it is eerie, man.
13:16And the whole building starts moving and it will be, it will be amped up because their crowd is, is as good as any in the country.
13:27And it's going to be, it's going to be very difficult, um, you know, deal with the fans outside of you.
13:33If you give them any kind of momentum, they're, they're going to be into it.
13:36I had asked someone earlier in the week, if this wasn't at, uh, college station, if this was on a neutral site, hurricanes will be favored.
13:44No, I'd probably say pick them.
13:48You know what I mean?
13:48I think it's probably, you know, I think they, once you get to the playoffs is similar to the NFL.
13:53What do they give them three points or for home field advantage?
13:56I I'd probably say a, a, a pick them.
13:58Um, it depends on where that neutral site is.
14:02You know, I think like, listen, sec neutral site BS, a neutral site is a sugar bowl.
14:08Cause that's 90% sec fans.
14:11You know, if you neutral sided them to, to Jerry's world, that's not a neutral site either.
14:15If you neutral sided them, I don't know, to the orange bowl, which isn't a neutral site of the ones that are left.
14:23I think you'd have to go out to the Rose bowl and say, that's our, that's a neutral site game for, uh, for Texas A&M.
14:31Gino Toretta, the Heisman trophy winner.
14:33You were there for, uh, Fernando Mendoza.
14:34I'm guessing.
14:35I was, I was great.
14:37Uh, great to see him and his family.
14:38I saw him play at Cal his freshman year against USC, um, where he lit up USC.
14:45They lost 50, 49.
14:46And I did the Miami game where Cam Ward was a magician and, and pulled that one out, but he had another great game.
14:52And, uh, great kid, great family, obviously tough circumstances with the health of his mom.
14:58But, uh, a lot of, a lot of people that, that, you know, I didn't know knew him.
15:02They were, they were in, uh, in New York for the weekend supporting him.
15:06But, uh, yeah, wishing him nothing but the best.
15:09A great, he's a, he's a great addition to the, uh, to the Heisman family.
15:13It's all good with college football with him.
15:15I have been tweeted and chatted and texted by myriad Dolphins fans.
15:21Trade everything you have to get up high enough to get Fernando Mendoza.
15:26Would you agree with that?
15:28Well, I don't think he's getting out of the first pick.
15:31Well, I don't think they can.
15:32I literally don't think they can do it because I don't think they have the assets.
15:35And I don't think that there's enough draft capital because people need to, if you have
15:39the overall one, two, three, you kind of want to get better right now.
15:43So I don't think you're looking at draft picks way down in the future, but if you could,
15:48if there was an opportunity to get a franchise changer.
15:51Yes.
15:52Yes.
15:52I think he's, he's, he's one of the most accurate throwers of the ball that I've seen.
15:57He has steadily improved since his freshman year at Cal.
16:00Um, he's tough as hell.
16:02I mean, he was getting lit up in the big 10 championship game.
16:05I mean, he had scabs like all over the back of his hands from that, the awful turf and
16:09stuff they have to play on now.
16:11I mean, that kid was getting drilled and he, he made some throws in that big 10 championship
16:17game where I'm like, wow, did he really just do that?
16:21Did he fit that into that window?
16:23And, uh, Ohio state is the most talented team left in this playoff.
16:27I mean, they, they're top to bottom.
16:29You know, Indiana's top heavy.
16:31They have great, great players, but the, not the depth and, and for him to, to pull it
16:37out was, was outstanding, but yeah, they had an opportunity.
16:40I now see Hawk.
16:42You and I are old enough to remember Dick had given up the entire draft for, for Ricky Williams
16:47and you'd probably, it doesn't, it doesn't work out.
16:51Like, you know, I mean, you know, it's like, it sounds great and it's a great hometown
16:55story, but you know, I mean, but a couple of first round picks, if you can, if you can
17:01do that and maybe a play, maybe a disgruntled quote unquote player that's currently on the
17:07roster.
17:08I I'm not saying that might be the entire roster because I, because I think everybody's happy
17:12to be in South Florida, not paying state income tax on those salaries.
17:15But, uh, I'm just saying, if you have a disgruntled scar or two and maybe a first round pick.
17:20Yeah.
17:21Heck yeah.
17:21I would do it.
17:22I just don't think a first round pick and a star would do it.
17:25I think it would be.
17:26Well, I mean, a one, a three and a star star, you know, I mean, there, there's gotta be some
17:31disgruntled stars.
17:32I go Ditka Saints.
17:34One, two, three, four, five, seven.
17:35You go the whole, you go the whole draft.
17:37I don't know.
17:37I'm asking you.
17:38I didn't watch him enough this season to really, uh, determine your resume to be the
17:44GM.
17:47Although, I mean, Ditka took a swing at it.
17:50Didn't Jimmy do it too in Dallas with Herschel Walker?
17:53No, Jimmy did the opposite.
17:55He said, you really like Herschel Walker.
17:58You're going to have him.
17:59And he got like eight picks, right?
18:02He got eight picks out of him.
18:03And now they weren't all weren't first, you know, cause I think, I don't know how Minnesota
18:08had that many picks, but, uh, and he used, he would take the two fifth or sixth round
18:13picks, trade those two to get up in the fourth round.
18:17But Jimmy used, he used those picks to build the nucleus.
18:21So the Cowboys and what, what became, you know, Aikman and, and those guys would run.
18:26So, you know, yeah, I, I would, I would do what I can.
18:29I don't, I don't know how far, um, he meant Fernando's going to fall.
18:35I don't think he's going to fall.
18:37I mean, the kid is, I mean, he's straight laced, good kid.
18:40He's, he's as well-prepared as anybody going into games.
18:45Um, it's just like he, he, he's got nothing else on his mind, but, but football and, and
18:52now it's hard to do.
18:53He's already graduated three years at Cal and, you know, probably have a master's degree
18:57and a double master's and all this other stuff.
18:59But he, he is, he is all ball and all preparation.
19:03Gino Toretta, the Heisman trophy winner.
19:05You can hear him with us every week, courtesy of the local 519 plumbers union with all the
19:10changes in how America does business.
19:12You can count on one thing, the union trained plumbers of local 519 join a winning team today
19:18with local 519 plumbers union, a proven path to a strong career.
19:23Visit plumbers519.com.
19:26Hopefully we get to talk to you next week about the hurricane's next opponent.
19:31Yeah.
19:31What are we doing?
19:32Are we moving up or are we moving back?
19:34No, we'd be moving up.
19:36All right.
19:36All right.
19:37Are you on vacation?
19:38We're off Thursday and Friday next week.
19:39Oh, okay.
19:40All right.
19:41Must be nice.
19:42Schedule those days off.
19:44Yeah, you're working hard this week, I'm sure.
19:46See ya.
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