00:00And ladies and gentlemen, Stump Mitchell, one of the finest quotes that we ever had
00:03as one of the Browns assistant coaches. He's former Browns running backs coach from 2019 to
00:092023. He's currently the running backs coach for West Georgia, which I believe, wasn't that Isaiah
00:14Crowell tone who went to West Georgia, if I'm not mistaken? I may very well be mistaken. Let's
00:18bring in Stump Mitchell. He might know what's going on. Coach, thanks for joining us this morning.
00:22Thanks for having me. And right now, I'm actually back at my alma mater, the Citadel.
00:29See, this is weird because I thought I was saying to tone, Citadel, Citadel, Citadel. And
00:34then it says on the one bio here, it says West Georgia. So I apologize. I should have went
00:40with the original thought over here, Stump. I apologize to you.
00:43Well, you don't have to, because when I look at Wikipedia, sometimes I'm not sure where I'm at.
00:53Coach, first off, I think I'll get to the quarterback thing here in a second. It was
00:58a bit of a controversy. I think it was Saturday's practice. And I actually got to see Coach Mitchell
01:03on Saturday's practice. But the Quinchon Judkins, it was, they weren't wearing pads. I think they
01:09might've had shells on, but they weren't wearing pads. And yeah, Quinchon Judkins had a block on
01:15Mike Hall, de-cleated him. Some people were critical of Quinchon Judkins in that practice. I mean,
01:21you're a guy who's actually, you've been in the NFL as coach at a high level. What did you think
01:27of
01:27the, of the hit from Quinchon Judkins on Mike Hall? I would have been critical of Quinchon myself. I
01:33would, I would have been pissed because Brown's got to take care of Browns. It's not a live
01:39situation. His technique and all of that was great, but the defensive guys, they were not
01:45anticipating that. Uh, so I would have been, I would have been critical also of, of Quinchon on
01:52that. See, how do you, cause again, it was like, I agree with you in the practice. What about in
02:01a
02:01game? Is there just a difference in that? And you're supposed to know the difference as a
02:04professional football player? Absolutely. Okay. I mean, that's, that's why they have all those,
02:09uh, sleds, different machines, different bags for you to learn, uh, and to explode on those things
02:17because it, it, it doesn't hurt anybody. And, but that was not a good shot. That was, that was not
02:23technique, same foot, same shoulder. All of that is good, but you got to know, uh, you're, you're, uh,
02:30playing against your own guy and they're not anticipating that. If, if, if, if the, if the third of
02:35the practice was, uh, uh, or the tempo of the practice was full go, then everything is, everything
02:41is, it is what it is, but I don't think the tempo or the practice was full go. You know,
02:48stop. You
02:49had been here multiple coaches, expansive career with all sorts of different philosophies. So kind
02:57of let us in that room on when like a new coach, Todd Munkin comes in, knows that, Hey, he
03:03respected
03:04the previous coach. He said nice things about Stefanski, but now it's time to put his identity
03:07on this stuff. How does that trickle down to the position coaches? And when you talk about things
03:12like, Hey, how physical are, are we going to be, you know, how, how much are we going to go
03:17over
03:18installs, installs, installs with a very young team? Like, how does that work? I think for the most part,
03:24that's the same. Uh, I think they started back training camp, going back to, uh, install ones
03:32offensively, defensively and special teams by us, because those guys have never did it
03:37as a team. Uh, it, it didn't matter where we were or where I was. We always went back
03:43when training camp started, we always went back to the top. And, uh, I'm almost sure that's
03:48what coach Munkin, uh, did this training camp because he don't want to leave no stones
03:53unturned. He don't want any questions. That's that's a player have. That's not going to be
04:00answered or have been answered several times. So they have an understanding exactly of, uh,
04:05of what he wants and what they expect as a staff and also as an organization.
04:13Stunt Mitchell joining us right now on the hotline. So Quichon Junkins comes off
04:17this really, really nasty injury last year. What are you looking for as a coach? What should we be
04:25looking for when we're out of camp? Uh, in terms of trying to figure out, are we getting the guy
04:30that was just as explosive last year that had, you know, the offensive line not had its issues,
04:36might even had an even better rookie year? Well, I thought when I was around Cleveland had one of the
04:42better, uh, medical staffs, both at the facility and the doctors that they, uh, sent those guys to
04:50who were not second opinion doctors, uh, in the NFL. And so I, I, they never sent anyone on the
04:59field
04:59if they weren't capable of, uh, of performing. Uh, and from, from, from what, from what I've seen
05:06with Quichon, not just from, from the lick that he gave the other guy, I think he's, he's healthy
05:11enough to play. Stunt Mitchell joining us here on the wise heart, right? We make a right call
05:16I want to ask another thing. Just like, you know, how some of these coaches, how they work
05:21and obviously coming from Baltimore, you know, Todd Munkin ran a very different type of a system
05:27and their running game was obviously so potent because they had a quarterback that could certainly
05:33occupy the minds and the eyes of a lot of the defensive players. What do you think we're in
05:37store for here in a first year with Munkin seeing the talent that they have rebuild offensive line,
05:43the quarterback stuff we'll get to in a second, but what kind of running attack do you think we
05:48will be able to see here? Well, the first thing, uh, Todd Munkin and his staff has done is identified
05:54the strengths and weaknesses of, of each player. And they, they, they understand that it's not
06:02how much they know is what their players can do. Uh, that those guys know a lot of football,
06:07uh, uh, that they will never get to and football that will probably never be a part of the Browns
06:14offense, but they also realize that they have to put a, uh, a product on field that's capable of
06:22winning. They're not looking to finish anywhere, uh, lower than first. That's their mentality.
06:29That's the coach's mentality. And I know that's those players on defense mentality as well. I would
06:36think offensively though there, there's a lot of new guys there. I don't particularly know. Uh,
06:43I know Deshaun, uh, was one of the hardest workers I've ever been around. And unfortunately,
06:48uh, the offensive line, uh, was not up to par. Uh, and he got hurt a couple of times.
06:55What are the qualities that you look forward to look for in a starting quarterback for an NFL season
07:00and picking one? First of all, when, when you get a guy that have already led the league
07:07and passing it and taking them to, uh, the playoffs and Deshaun, you looking for him to
07:14continue and be the leader that he was someplace else. Uh, so you want to do things that,
07:21that he did. And, and one thing I think they needed to do was simply get out of his way.
07:26You know, uh, I thought Kevin needed to be the best person that he was by calling the
07:31offense that he knew and let Deshaun adapt to him other than it being the other way around.
07:37I mean, there's pretty much every quarterback Kevin coach in, uh, Cleveland had a 300 yard
07:44game and Deshaun has not had one 300 yard game and he passed the hell out of the ball when
07:49he
07:49was in Houston. So that wasn't all on, on Deshaun that that didn't happen. Uh, I don't,
07:54I don't think that'll happen on a coach market. So, I mean, as of right now, do you think that
08:01you, can you positively say you would have a leader as the, uh, starting quarterback between
08:07him and Shador? Do you, do you have an opinion on that yet? Well, what I, what I do know
08:12about
08:13Shador is that he was at Jackson state with Travis Hunter and they were supposedly had the
08:23best, uh, recruits at HBCU and they didn't win the black college national championship two years
08:33in a row. Uh, so there were some deficiencies in his game. What I can tell you is that I
08:43know he's
08:44gotten a hell of a lot better, uh, under Todd Munkin because Todd is a no nonsense guy. I know,
08:51uh,
08:52Deshaun is going to be better than he's been because Todd is a no nonsense guy. That's just
08:57the way it is. I mean, he coached you hard, but he coached you fair. Uh, both of those guys
09:02will have, uh, their, their, their best careers, uh, under, under Todd. So Shador, he can't even
09:11imagine the, the player that he is going to be, uh, under the tutelage of coach Munkin and his
09:18quarterback coaching, offense coordinator. You know, the, the reports from camp is just how
09:24uneven the offensive play has been. The defense has been dominating. Is it just flat out far too
09:29early to make any grand assessments about an offense when they just totally rebuilt the
09:35offensive line, a new head coach and, you know, quarterbacks that, you know, quite frankly, have
09:42just not been that good. I mean, Shador is very early on in his career, obviously. And, and Deshaun
09:46coming off the injuries and trying to shake the rust off. Is this just far too early?
09:51No, I don't think it's too early. I think you, you should expect the, uh, defense to be ahead
09:57for the most part. They, they have all the coaches that they had, you know, unfortunately
10:02coach Schwartz is not there, but for the most part, they have the same defensive coaches that
10:09they've had the past at least two years. So they should be ahead. The system is the same.
10:14Coach Lynch is still there. I mean, they, they, they have talent and they have the same
10:21coaches. So they have some continuity, uh, the offense, offense, the whole line for the
10:27most part are new guys. I think there's only one who really had a relationship or maybe
10:32two with coach Warhop and, and, and Baltimore. So it's going to take a little bit of time,
10:37but they have time. Uh, they'll, they'll get it right. And I look, I look forward to,
10:42to the Browns having one hell of a season. Coach Stump Mitchell joining us here on the
10:46Wiseheart, right? We make it right. Call Kyle, right? Hotline coach. They, uh, they moved
10:50on from miles Garrett over the off season, just a couple of months ago, traded him for
10:54Jared verse and another first round pick, et cetera, et cetera. Uh, in miles is time.
11:00You know, there's been criticism. I've even thrown it out there. You know, the lack of vocal
11:04leadership. Uh, am I far off on that? Because, you know, I, I don't like, I like being in
11:10the building, but I like going in the locker room. Uh, tell me if I'm far off on that, or
11:13if there is something to that, because Jared verse already seems to be a very vocal leader
11:18for this football team. Well, I think each person leads however they lead. I mean, uh,
11:25I can tell you what, when I watch, uh, Joe Flacco, uh, when he, he was performing, Joe was not
11:33a
11:34rah-rah guy, but I can tell you, and I can assure you, uh, Deshaun and those other quarterbacks
11:41watch everything that he did because he threw the ball with perfection, uh, with timing, with
11:47his foot, with his steps and everything. And they were learning from him. So miles gave you enough
11:54action during the course of a, of a season to see, Hey man, I want to do some of these
12:01things that he,
12:01that he's putting down. Uh, so, you know, when you, when you get a situation where a guy is no
12:07longer there, uh, people tend to say stuff that, you know, make them look good, I guess. I don't
12:14know. But if it was a problem, why didn't they address it with him? How hard is it to get
12:22a team
12:22ready when you totally remake an offensive line? And, and I want to get to the running game as part
12:27of
12:27that. Like what, what is going to be the challenge in trying to do that? Again, we come back to
12:34the
12:34new head coach thing, but having that offensive line and knowing that these guys have never played
12:38an NFL game together. And then the fact that there are five in five out in that regard.
12:45Yeah, but they, they will have more time together than the last two offensive lines,
12:52because the last two offensive lines there, they had a different offensive line coach. Uh, so it was,
13:00it, it has not been fair to the offensive line coaches that have been there and that were fired
13:04to be perfectly honest, because those guys, those five offensive linemen that they had,
13:09they spent very little time practicing because they were all recovering from some type of injury.
13:14So the offensive line coaches that, that, uh, had to try to get those guys ready for a game were
13:22had a
13:23much more difficult task than, uh, coach Warhop and, and his, his, his assistants, because at least
13:30these guys are working, uh, the process, they are working the techniques and they understand what's
13:36going on. Uh, coach, this one's near and dear to our heart because Nick Chubb was we're, we're homers
13:43here when it comes to him, but we thought he was as good as anybody in the league. And he
13:47was for a
13:48while, regardless of who was blocking in front of him and regardless who was, you know, back there
13:52playing quarterback. Uh, unfortunately his, his career gets kind of cut short because the injury
13:57wasn't the same player afterwards, but just, can you speak to what echelon of running backs you
14:03thought he belonged in when he was truly at his peak? Well, Nick Chubb's getting hurt had nothing to
14:09do with Nick Chubb's. I mean, it had everything to do with, uh, the philosophy. It had everything to
14:15do with, uh, how things were done there in Cleveland. Uh, it's all about mindset. One thing
14:21coach home always said, and that was my first head, uh, first head NFL coach, Mike Holm. He told
14:29the assistant coaches that he never wanted the players to be caught off guard because they have
14:35to be mentally sharp and ready. Uh, they had to understand if they were playing or if they were
14:40not playing and why they were not playing. And some of the things that, uh, occurred, uh, during,
14:48during my time in Cleveland, that was not the case. I mean, Donovan people Jones, who was a six
14:53round draft pick played his ass off the year before, uh, they brought in, uh, the wide receiver from
15:02the jets that they traded for. So Donovan being the main blocker, uh, and, and having more re receptions
15:15and yardage than Elijah Moore, uh, you know, it was, it put him in a bad, bad space. And unfortunately,
15:24uh, it was a guy that he was supposed to be blocking. Uh, he didn't. And it forced
15:32Nick to make a cut to his right. And, and unfortunately make a, uh, put a, put a, a hit
15:40on in that, you know, that, uh, wasn't so nice for us. It wasn't a bad lick at all. It
15:45wasn't
15:45a bad play at all. Uh, but Nick unfortunately got hurt from it. Coach, uh, you're not just
15:52coaching at the Citadel. You're not just joining us on the show. You also have your own podcast
15:56Stump Top Podcast, which is every Tuesday at 8 PM, if I'm not mistaken. Tell people where
16:01they can find it coach. Yeah, that's good. Uh, Stump Mitchell, uh, talk podcast. Uh,
16:08but the biggest thing about, about my show is, you know, we, we try to interview some high
16:13school kids. We tried to, uh, interview, uh, some coaches, people that have played the game.
16:19Uh, and, and that's the main thing about it. You know, I'm still involved with the game. Uh,
16:24I didn't like the way, uh, I left the game. It wasn't my, my doing, but you know, it is
16:31what
16:31it is. God sent me someplace else. There were things that happened in my family that I needed
16:36the year off to be perfectly honest. And then last year I was at West Georgia and was able
16:41to help those guys make a turnaround. We went eight and four. And, uh, this year I'm at the
16:46Citadel and I'm looking to help coach Drayton, uh, who's a Citadel grad and coaching the league
16:51and his staff, uh, helping us turn this thing around, find it wherever podcasts are at.
16:58He's one of the best. He is coach Stump Mitchell, former Browns running back coach on the wise
17:03heart, right? We make a right call call right hotline coach. Thank you very much for joining
17:06us this morning. Thank you. I appreciate it.
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