From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star Podcast

"Not Just a Game" host Jay Taft holds an interview with Hall of Fame coaches Joe and Janet Erb and runners Katie and Grace Erb and Kaylee Woolery, who were all in quarantine at the time. They expected to be out in time for Saturday's cross country sectional, which defending-state-champion Winnebago should win with ease, but they have been through a lot, and broke it all down for us.

Tony Cassioppi won two state titles when he was a wrestler for Hononegah, and now he's the Iowa Hawkeyes starting heavyweight, and he's gunning for the top there, too. Cassioppi was seeded third headed into last year's NCAA Championships before they were canceled due to COVID-19. Now, he's got a big exhibition match set for Nov. 1 as he readies for another big season with Iowa.

Nicole Briscoe, a former Roscoe resident and Hononegah High School graduate, talks about how COVID-19 has impacted her life, and and off the set of ESPN's SportsCenter. Briscoe has been a SportsCenter anchor since 2015.

Host Jay Taft brings in IHSA executive director Craig Anderson as well as Rochelle wrestler Ben Harvey and Winnebago basketball player Miyah Brown to talk about what they expect to happen when the winter seasons roll around. Teams are planning to start practice on Nov. 16.

Dan Arnold, the former Boylan student-athlete who has made it all the way to the NFL, is now the starting tight end for the Arizona Cardinals. Arnold, this week's podcast guest on "Not Just a Game," talks about what it took to get him to where he is today, and how the Boylan coaching staff helped him along the way.

Podcast host Jay Taft talks to former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew about James Robinson of Rockford, and his breakout stretch in the NFL as the Jaguars' starting halfback. Jones-Drew, now an analyst for NFL Network, talks about everything from Robinson's climb to No. 1 on the depth chart to whether or not he wants to see Robinson break Jones-Drew's single-season rushing record at Jacksonville.

"Not Just a Game" host Jay Taft talks to James Robinson's former high school coach (Bruce Bazsali), his former college coach (Brock Spack) and one of his former high school teammates at Rockford Lutheran, linebacker Matt Anderson, to find out what they think got him to where he is today. Robinson was named the Sunday starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars in his upcoming NFL debut.

This week's "Not Just a Game" podcast guest Mat Parker, who just finished up his ninth year as the Rockford Public Schools athletic director, talks about navigating the pandemic, what the fall seasons have looked like so far, and what we can expect in the near future.

Joe Danforth, NBA star Fred VanVleet's stepfather and a police officer in Rockford, talks about how the NBA's boycott of playoff games can help, as well as what it's like to be a Black policeman these days.

This week's guest on the rrstar.com weekly sports podcast "Not Just a Game" is AJ Wentland, a former Harlem star linebacker who has gone on to play professional football in two different countries. He recently bolted from Germany to Finland, where he is now finishing up the season and trying to leave his mark there.