Tag Archives: NFL quarterback

Mark Brunell’s Loyalty to Jacksonville

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Aired on WUFT on August 9, 2002

Jacksonville-Jaguars-Mark-Brunell
Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell has done more than lead his relatively new NFL franchise team to the playoffs for four straight seasons.  Brunell is busy establishing a reputation on and off the field.  In 1995 he began a bible study with a few other NFL teammates.  That bible study has grown into Southpoint Community Church in Jacksonville with a congregation of nearly 15-hundred people.   Brunell also started his own foundation to help sick children in the Jacksonville area.  Despite big money offers from other NFL teams, the father of four remains loyal to Jacksonville.

Peyton Manning Reflects On His Decision to Delay NFL Dreams and Play College Football One More Year

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Tennessee's Peyton Manning
Tennessee’s Peyton Manning

Before the Denver Broncos, and before the Indianapolis Colts, Quarterback Peyton Manning was known as “Tennessee’s Golden Boy.”  In 1997 many sportswriters predicted Manning would have made millions if he had left the University of Tennessee and gone into the NFL draft.  But Manning had other plans.  He wanted one more year of college football.  Ironically, he never beat Florida while in college, never won a national championship and he didn’t win the Heisman Trophy.  But he continues to be thought of as one of the best college and professional football players in sports history.  Just before the 1997 football season Manning talked with Donna Green-Townsend about his decision to play one more year of college football.  He also weighed in on the decision of other college players to leave school early without earning their degrees to follow their pro dreams like Ike Hilliard and Reidel Anthony at the University of Florida. (From my audio archives:  Original unedited interview in May of 1997)