It’s more than the rocket right arm, and it’s more than the joy everyone can see plastered across his face in the huddle with his teammates. It’s more than how poised and prepared he is, and it’s more than his toughness and his fearlessness and his football IQ.
It’s who Carson Wentz, the young man, is.
“I received a phone call from a friend of mine that said there was a young man in the hospital that had a very serious accident in front of his hometown, his home high school, and was in a Fargo hospital in intensive care,” Randy Hedberg, the quarterbacks coach at North Dakota State, told The Post.
“Well, unbeknownst to me, and to anybody, [Wentz] went to the hospital and saw that young man. Didn’t even mention it to anybody. And, I never asked him to do it, I just asked him if he knew the young man. And he went and did it on his own, without any fanfare.
“Then I got a call later, after he was there, and the person told me that he came by and just raised that kid’s spirits something big. And that’s the type of guy he is. I mean, he’s just a fellow that cares, and he stays driven and just cares about people.”
The boy had been a junior at Century High School in Bismarck, N.D., where Wentz went to school before North Dakota State. He had been in a car accident, and thankfully recovered.
“I’ll never forget that,” Hedberg said.
Philadelphia has been waiting for its franchise quarterback since the end of the Donovan McNabb Era, and Wentz has showed up as The Natural. There will be growing pains, probably as early as Sunday against the Steelers, but neither the NFL game nor the rabid town will be too big for him.
“He’s highly competitive, but he’s also very confident in his abilities,” Hedberg said. “He’s not blown away by the noise, the outside noise. Those things won’t bother him.”
Hedberg laughed when informed Wentz’s girlfriend revealed that he studied game tape once on a dinner date.
“That wouldn’t surprise me,” Hedberg said. “He’s a football junkie.”
And Philadelphia has hopped on the Wentz Wagon. Wentzadelphia. Philadelphia, Wentzelvania.
“They got guys selling WENTZ gray and green T-shirts over here out in the street. I have a green one, I have a gray one, I bought a pink one for my mom,” Dennis McLaughlin said.
They’re going like cheesesteaks.
“I think the fans are like, ‘We think we got a winner here,’ ” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin is a bartender at Chickie’s & Pete’s, a Wentz bomb from the Linc. He is 39, an Eagles fan his entire life. The franchise quarterback brings hope to him, and the entire fan base.
“We were kind of hoping for that in the past with Kevin Kolb, but then they realized that he kind of had happy feet in the pocket, and once the pressure got on, he would kind of leave the pocket,” McLaughlin said. “But it seems like so far Wentz, actually the one thing is he takes a hit. So he’s actually waiting for the guy to open up and he knows he’s gonna get hit, but he’s still taking it.
“That’s kind of like that Philly blue-collar attitude, you know? Like he has kind of has that, you know? He has that toughness, like I’m gonna get right up and I’m gonna go to the next play.”
Whatever it is, this new Red Rifle, No. 11, has it.
“He was chosen as a captain before he even started a game at NDSU,” Hedberg said. “That tells you a little bit about what his teammates feel about him. They respect the heck out of him, no question about it.”
Even when he was sidelined with a broken right wrist for most of last season, Wentz remained the leader.
“A great mentor for our young quarterbacks,” Hedberg said. “He came to every meeting, he came to every practice. He was there on the sideline for the quarterbacks during the game. It was like having another coach, it really was.”
That was the Carson Wentz his high school coach remembers.
“No. 1, he’s very confident in everything he does, and then No. 2, is the ability to keep his poise no matter what the situation is. He’s just kind of a guy that you kind of gravitate to because he does things the right way,” his coach, Ron Wingenbach, said by phone.
His teammates enjoyed playing with Wentz.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s football or pingpong, I think he would just generally enjoy the competition and the camaraderie that it would bring,” Wingenbach said.
One play stands out for Wingenbach: “There was a game against one of our inner-city rivals, and it was kind of a snowy night, slick field, and he was gonna throw the ball and just tucked it away and must have ran for about 40, 45 yards. He took his shots along the way, and it was just an outstanding run. Kind of turned the momentum our way in that game, which we eventually won.”
One play stands out for Hedberg: “We’re playing in the national playoffs in 2014, his junior year, we’re playing South Dakota State, in the Fargo Dome. And we’re in a two-minute drill. We have to score a touchdown to win the game. We’re down inside the 10-yard line, the clock’s running, and he is so cool and poised, makes a little fake to the running back, stands up and throws a strike to our freshman receiver. The only place he could throw it for a completion to win the game.”
The Eagles were the right landing spot for Wentz. He is a good fit for the system and for head coach Doug Pederson, a former NFL quarterback, and offensive coordinator Frank Reich, the former Bills backup to Jim Kelly. Pro Football Focus currently rates Wentz as the best quarterback in the league.
“The thing that gets kind of overlooked a little bit in quarterback play, is a young man that’ll stand in there, in the pocket, and stare down a defensive player that’s barreling in on him and still make an accurate throw and take a shot in the chest,” Hedberg said. “And I think that goes a long way in getting respect within your own team, and especially with the offensive linemen. He’s a tough kid and very confident in his abilities.”
They are swelling with pride from Bismarck to Fargo and all across North Dakota. Hedberg was asked if he had a message for Philadelphia.
“I think the message that I would send is you’ve got a great person,” Helberg said, “you got a great athlete, and you got an even better quarterback.”