The Fentonian · Unedited
Sixty seconds in the north hallway
We stood outside the 300 wing for two lunch periods with a recorder and asked people the same three questions. This is what we got, in the order we got it, including the answers that were not helpful.
Recorded August 19–20 by Michael Pearce Jr. and Rowan Beattie ·
Lightly trimmed for length, not for content
The three questions: 1. What do you expect from football this year? 2. Has the way people treat Nick Mansour changed? 3. Anything else you want to say?
Students
Devon Ashcraft
Senior · offensive line, second team
"Metro title. I'm not saying that to be nice, I actually think it. We got the
whole line back except center. Nobody talks about the line."
On question two, he said "no" and then stood there for a while and said, "I mean.
Kinda. People say hi to him now who didn't."
Marisol Nunez
Junior
"Honestly I don't watch football. I go to the games because everyone goes to the
games. [on Mansour] He was in my World History last year and he never talked and now
there's like a poster of him at the Wing & Grill. So that's insane."
There is in fact a poster of him at the Wing & Grill. It has been there since
November. He has not been in the Wing & Grill since November.
Cade Rumsey
Sophomore
"He's going D-1. Hundred percent. My cousin knows a guy."
Asked which school, he said "one of the big ones." Asked which guy, he said
"my cousin knows him, not me."
Priya Anand
Senior · drum major
"I want people to understand that he still comes to jazz. Like, people at this
school talk about him like he moved away. He's in the band room every third hour. He was there
yesterday. He fixed the sustain pedal."
She was the only person in two lunch periods to mention that he still plays.
Jordy Feltner
Senior
"I'll be honest with you, I think it's a little much. Like I'm happy for him. But
we lost in the second round. We didn't win anything. And it's been nine months of everybody acting
like we won a state championship."
Asked if he'd say that on Tiger Television, he said no.
Ella Brightbill
Freshman
"I don't know anybody yet."
This was her third day.
Sylvia Stack
Senior
"I think they're going to be really good. [on question two] Um. Yeah,
obviously. People are weird about him now in a way that I think he hates. He's the same. Everyone
else changed."
She asked us not to use her last name. We told her the paper prints last names.
She said "then don't use any of it," and then, after a pause, "no, it's fine, whatever, it's fine."
Brendan Matthews
Senior · slot receiver
"We're gonna hang forty on Clio. Put that in the paper. Forty. [Told the paper
may not print a specific point prediction.] Why is this a newspaper then."
He then asked whether the recorder could pick up sounds from a distance and,
when told it could, walked several feet away and made one.
Tony Acho
Senior · cornerback
"Everybody's going to write about Nick and Kev and Chase. Which, fine. But there's
like forty guys on that team who are just going to practice every day for no reason at all. Not for
no reason. You know what I mean. For the team."
Longest single answer we got. He apologized for it afterward, unnecessarily.
Unidentified senior
Would not give name
"You should ask Ben about it. That's the story. Nobody's asking Ben."
We had already asked Ben. See below.
Football
Ben Haijcar
Senior · free safety / QB2
"I'm good at safety. That's the thing nobody wants to hear because it's boring.
I'm actually good at safety. I had four picks last year. Nick had zero thrown to him all season and
I had four caught. Put that in there, that's funny."
He asked twice whether we were going to print the part about it being his only
senior year. He said it to Hudson last week, not to us. We told him we didn't have that quote. He
said "okay, good," and then "actually, whatever, it's true."
Kobe Lookebill
Senior · left tackle
"Six a.m. all summer. That's all I'm going to say about him. People want the
arm-talent whatever. I want people to know he was there at six every single day and he lifts like a
band kid and he still didn't miss one."
Asked to clarify "lifts like a band kid," he said, "he knows what I mean."
Zach West
Junior · receiver
"He told me in June I was going to have a big year. Like just said it, in the
parking lot, and then got in his car. I don't know if he was being nice."
Told that Mansour named him on Tiger Television as the biggest difference in the
offense, West said "he said that?" and then did not say anything else.
Chase Lynch
Senior · edge
"Eastern's been to two practices. Ferris sent something. It's cool. It's not as
cool as people think, it's mostly emails."
On question two: "People think me and him are in the same situation. We're
completely not. They've watched me play in person. Nobody's watched him play in person except
like — us."
Adults
Mrs. Grady
English
"I'm going to give you a boring answer on purpose. I hope they have fun. They're
seventeen. I have watched this building decide a seventeen-year-old is a symbol before and it did
not go well for the seventeen-year-old."
Asked who she meant, she said "that's not for the paper" in a tone that closed
the subject.
Mr. Gilbert
Mathematics
"I'll be watching. I go to the games. [on Mansour] Look, I'm not going to
pretend I saw it. Nobody saw it. Anybody who tells you they saw it is lying to you."
This is the most honest thing anyone said all week and he did not mean it
generously.
Mr. Perkins
Band director
"You're asking me about football. In the band room. During my prep."
He answered anyway: "They'll be fine. Football teams are always fine. Ask me
about the show, the show is going to be hard."
Denise Lofton
Food service
"Which one is he? [shown a photo] Oh, the quiet one. He says thank you.
Every day. Most of 'em don't."
She then said the same thing about Peyton Coffman, unprompted.
Principal Bakker
Principal
"It's a great year to be a Tiger. We've got outstanding kids in this building —
athletically, academically, artistically. And listen, Friday nights in this town are special. I hope
to see everybody out there."
We asked three questions. This answered none of them and he was very pleasant
about it.
And one from Nick
Nick Mansour
Senior · quarterback · caught by the 300 stairwell
"I don't want to do another one of these, man. I did the TV one. [Told it's one
question.] Fine. One."
"[On whether people treat him differently:] Yeah.
But not the way people think. It's not like everybody's nice to me now. It's that everyone has an
opinion about me now. There's a difference. Some of them are good opinions."
He was late to fourth hour. Mr. Gilbert marked it.
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