Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer in-studio to speculate on the best-case scenario for former UT grad and Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh Dobbs.
Leahy: A UT grad, Clint Brewer, our all-star panelist in-studio with us, recovering journalist, all-around good guy. That would be you. Are you going to the ball game tonight?
Brewer: I’m not. I’m not.
Leahy: I’m going to admit to a personal failing. Are you ready?
Brewer: Which one?
Leahy: (Laughs) That’s very good. (Brewer laughs)
Brewer: I got caffeine before I got in here today.
Leahy:Â You are truly a wordsmith. I’ve lived in Tennessee since 1991 …
Brewer: You’ve never been to a UT game.
Leahy: You know it. I’ve never been to a UT game.
Brewer: Mike, it’s terrible.
Leahy: I know. I’ve been to a couple of Vandy games. I’ve been to a couple of Titans games, been to the Nashville Sounds …
Brewer: You need to go to an actual SEC football game.
Leahy: (Laughs) Boom shaka-laka. Yes, I do need to do that. And so tonight, the big game. They play Vol State. Vol State has a pretty good football team, but they’re not SEC-level, they’re mid-American. The Vols is probably favorite, right?
Brewer: I would think so.
Leahy: How many Vols football games a year do you go to?
Brewer: I don’t go to a lot. With kids’ sports schedules and business and everything, it’s hard to do. I went to the Ole Miss game last year.
Leahy: Oh, were you one of the people throwing golf balls at Lane Kiffin?
Brewer: I was not. If I’d had a golf ball it might have been launched, but I did not throw anything. I don’t know. Who brings a golf ball, just like, randomly brings a …?
Leahy: Somebody that wants to throw it at Lane Kiffin, I guess. I don’t know.
Brewer: But yeah, it’s a great experience.
Leahy: Well, I will do it, I should do it, I might even try and do it this year. But I wanted to talk a little bit, I wanted to say something good about a University of Tennessee football, at least a recent, former UT football player who – I’ve been watching his career, and this might be his moment: Joshua Dobbs.
Brewer: Yeah! What a great guy. He was just a fantastic Vol. He exemplified everything that’s great about college football.
Leahy: Well, the story on him is, so, he’s drafted in 2017. He graduated from UT. He was like the most valuable player in the Music City Bowl.
Brewer: He was a backup at Pittsburgh forever.
Leahy: And really he’s not gotten much of, I don’t know, I think he’s thrown like 11 passes in his entire career. Backup for two years in Pittsburgh, 2017-2018. Then in 2019, goes to Jacksonville. They cut him. He spends two years in Pittsburgh. First year he’s a backup. I think he may have been number three.
Last year he had an injury. He was out. He signs a contract. I love this story, right? Of course, Jim Haslam – owns the Cleveland Browns, the Pilot Flying J, the big Haslam family-about-Knoxville. And so they sign him to a one-year contract for a million bucks.
Now, I’d sign a one-year contract for a million bucks. But as quarterbacks go, that is paltry, right? But what is so delicious about this story is you have Josh Dobbs, Mr. All American. I mean, that guy is very articulate, a great teammate, just an all-around great guy.
Brewer: A leader. On the field.
Leahy: A leader: An absolute leader. And his teammates love him. You hear him in the post-game conferences. He’s had a terrific pre-season, just some great plays. He’s been the best quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in pre-season, no question.
Brewer: No question.
Leahy: And of course, Cleveland Browns, they signed this controversial Deshaun Watson, who had all these allegations of inappropriate conduct, shall we say, with women.
Brewer: Putting it mildly.
Leahy: Putting it mildly. Anyway, they finally cut a deal. All but one of the civil suits have been dropped. The NFL has agreed to suspend him, he’s gonna pay $5 million [in fines], for 11 games. So there we have the Cleveland Browns, and they’ve got as their number-two quarterback, now their number-one, Jacoby Brissett. He’s like 31 years old, who’s been in the league for like eight years, and was a starter in Indianapolis for a couple of years. He’s basically a backup. I mean, fine enough fellow and a fine enough player, but then you have Josh Dobbs. That guy has totally lit up the field. His play has been electric.
Brewer: It always was at UT.
Leahy: You have this two-point conversion. Did you see that in the last game? And they catch him behind the line. They catch him way behind the line of scrimmage. He twists and turns, and he runs like crazy. And to make the conversion, he literally vaults through the air like Superman.
Brewer: Yes, it’s great. It’s no surprise to UT fans. He did it for four years.
Leahy: The other thing about Josh Dobbs, I’m going to say, is, so they do the post-game press conference, right? And usually if you do the post-game press conference with a quarterback, they’re kind of monosyllabic, or they got an attitude a little bit. This guy talks like he’s like, he’s like a head coach. He’s a smart guy.
Brewer: He’s literally a rocket scientist.
Leahy: He literally is.
Brewer: Literally a rocket scientist.
Leahy: He had a 4.0 average in aeronautical engineering.
Brewer: All his internships were at NASA and aerospace companies. He’ll have a nice career after he leaves the NFL.
Leahy: But see, here’s what I think is going to happen. First, I got a scenario for you.
Brewer: He’s going to run for attorney general in the state of Tennessee.
Leahy: (Laughs) No. So here’s what I think he’s going to do. So they’re going to start Jacoby Brissett in the first game against the Panthers of Carolina, where their former quarterback, Baker Mayfield, got an attitude about the Browns.
A lot of smack talk back and forth, so we’ll see how that happens. Here’s what I think is likely to happen. Or here’s a scenario that would be delightful if it were to develop. Let me put it that way. So Jacoby Brissett starts the first game and does not so well. They bring in Josh Dobbs to start, and he does great.
Brewer: I would hope so.
Leahy: And so then, after 10 games of Josh Dobbs starting, they bring in Deshaun Watson. His suspension is over. Josh Dobbs is doing so well, Deshaun Watson has a tough time getting his job back. Wouldn’t that be fun? It’s a scenario.
Brewer: Then Cleveland has a tough time signing Josh Dobbs back. They’ll have to extend it in the middle of the year.
Listen to the interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Josh Dobbs” by Josh Dobbs.Â
