Will Brinson is Easton-bound and down for the Gatorade Replay of America's most important high school rivalry.Peyton Manning was kind enough to spend time this past weekend playing the role of "Honorary Coach" for Easton High School during the Gatorade Replay game in Pennsylvania. And he was even kinder to take time out of his always busy schedule to answer a few questions that FanHouse had to ask. Namely: What's it like to "coach" 30-something-year-old high school students, what does he think of the Colts drafint Donald Brown, are there any games he'd like to replay, and will David Cutcliffe ever win an ACC Championship at Duke? The full interview is after the jump.
Will Brinson: "Talk about what this game means to the whole community, and what you've seen while you've been here and kind of reliving the Glory Days."
Peyton Manning: "Oh it's great. It's an exciting atmosphere, and it tells you how special these two communities are and how important high school football is to them. It's being around the guys -- I graduated in 1993 as well, so I can relate to these guys, and know how much they love football and know how excited they are about the opportunity. I just finished talking to the team, and I just told them how lucky they are to be chosen for this game, I commended them for how hard they trained these past three months and truly go out and leave it on the line. There is no tomorrow as far as football after this game and might as well go out and have a lot of fun."
Brinson: "You've won a Super Bowl and you're at the top of your career, is there any game -- and I went to high school in Tennessee so I followed your games -- either there or back in high school you want to go back and replay?"
Manning: "Well, you know, sure, there are always games you want to play over again and throws you want to make over again. Which is why today is so unique, because Gatorade provided an opportunity to replay a game, and uh, I've always tried to play every game like it is my last. You know never what tomorrow will bring, and today definitely proves the case, that these guys have been allowed to b lay it on the line. But also to have a lot of fun to be reunited with the guys that they knew when they were 16 or 17 years old, trying to become men, and lifting weights and doing extra sprints together. I just had my high school reuinion a few weeks ago,and that's all we talked about was our high school football games -- it's still one of the greatest institutions around. And I still get to play, but if you'd called my buddies and said we get to play our rival high school, these guys would all jump at it, so it's just a unique situation and I hope they cherise it forever.
Brinson: "On this season, you guys didn't go defense in the first round -- I'm sure you watched the draft -- and you've got Jim Caldwell coming on so any thoughts on those changes?
Manning: "Certainly gonna have some changes; new coach, no Marvin Harrison. The draft -- it's kind of hard to give you an answer -- I can tell you in two years kind of how we did. But obviously they felt like they were addressing some needs and I think Brown will fit in well with Joseph Addai, because you see more teams going to a two-back system [I point out that I'm "a Panthers guy]...Exactly, same way. And we definitely tried to address the defensive line position in the second round with this kid out of Southern Cal. Hopefully these guys will be excited, they've got mini-camp next weekend and we'll get him acclimated to Colts football and get 'em ready to go."
Brinson: "Alright, cool -- one more for you: you think David Cutcliffe ever wins an ACC Championship at Duke?"
Manning: "I sure hope so. I pull hard for him. He's turned the environment around at Duke, I will say that, and that's a big step to take there and I think they have a chance."
