Last month, Daii’yaHnna Fleming posted a video of her move-in day at Southern University in Louisiana. As a bleary-eyed rising freshman, she lugged a half-dozen candy-hued suitcases on her trip from Las Vegas to Baton Rouge. After arriving, she began to settle into her new life on campus, stocking up on school supplies and setting up a side business doing makeup from her dorm room.
Then the trouble began. The ample walking across campus aggravated her health issues, and Fleming didn’t feel safe commuting to her job near campus. One night, she decided to join friends for an off-campus party. “I had never really been to a party, and I really just did not like it at all,” Fleming, 17, said. “I got really fed up with everything.”
On the way back to her dorm, Fleming texted her mother and told her she was coming home for good. She had been in college for two weeks.
In a TikTok video about her decision to switch to her university’s online program, Fleming panned over her dorm room. “I’m not gonna force myself to be uncomfortable and unsafe, ’cause randos think I should be,” she wrote in the caption, adding, “I don’t care about the college experience. I just want my degree.”
In the thousands of comments underneath her post, as well as under similar viral videos of other students moving out or dropping out and sharing it online, a firestorm of debate has been playing out: Are Generation Z students too unwilling to face discomfort, to the point of missing out on a formative experience? Or are older generations valorizing struggle?
Though leaving campus early is nothing new — and the rate of college dropouts has declined slightly in recent years — social media has put a magnifying glass on students’ struggles and prompted a wider discussion about generational differences. As they face shrinking federal financial aid and a tough job market with no guarantees, some say they are reconsidering whether college is worth the staggering tuition fees. Others say they are switching to online school or becoming commuter students.
Many of the videos, like Fleming’s, focus on the mental health impacts, saying they feel anxious and overwhelmed. One student mentioned a towed car and more homework than they expected. Another expressed concern about wasting tuition money on an experience they disliked that affected their mental health.
The debate touched a nerve.
In response videos, millennials and Gen Xers have been pleading with students to hold on and tough it out.
“Everything worth having is not easy,” said Ebony Simpson, a mother of a college sophomore who posted one of those videos.
She said that students needed to put themselves out there. “It’s for you to sit up and say, ‘Oh, they’re having a cookout, let me go,’” Simpson said.
Her daughter, Adrianna Bankston, said she struggled as a freshman last year at a Georgia university. The idea of leaving “was a thought that we all had when we first got here,” Bankston, 19, said. She didn’t leave her room much during that first week, she said. But she had a realization: “I need a friend group. I need to go out and do stuff.”
She pushed herself to meet people at parties and campus events, and she’s learned a lot. “I did have fun,” she said. “I found out not everybody is your cup of tea.” She said she now had a busy social life and great people around her.
Rates of college dropouts have declined: According to a report from the Education Data Initiative, 22.9% of all students who entered college as freshmen in fall 2024 did not return in fall 2025, down from a prepandemic average of around 24%.
Yet the videos highlight real issues for those working to fight college attrition. “Kids are not weak,” said Sarah Manville, an assistant dean and adviser at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “They’re extremely resilient — but there’s something about this phenomenon that they cannot persist through.”
Feeling homesick in the first few weeks is normal, but Manville said she noticed some younger students were reluctant to seek help. “My concern is students are not giving themselves enough of a chance to be successful,” she said, “and that’s where I think that fear-based decision making comes in.”
Michael Williams, a New York City-based college access and success professional, said, “I’ve noticed a definite dip this year and last year, compared to prior years, in how socially adjusted and how much, like, social emotional competency this set has compared to the prior classes.”
Students also face grim job prospects, amid worries of artificial intelligence encroaching on entry-level jobs, and steep tuition. “The barriers to entry just keep compounding in this particular moment,” Williams said.
The costs of dropping out or moving home will vary from school to school, but student loans are generally easier to cancel in the first two weeks.
Fleming said she had not yet paid the fee for room and board for this year. Another student who posted a video on TikTok said in a comment that she had received a refund from her university after leaving.
Back home in Las Vegas, Fleming said she felt good about her decision: “If I would have stayed longer, it would have made everything harder.”
She’s doing well in online business management classes and has dreams of law school. But she hasn’t discounted the idea of returning to Southern: She’d like to spend more time with her suite mate, who’s now a close friend, and other classmates she met from her stint in Baton Rouge. But if she returns, perhaps next year, she plans to live off campus.
First, at the start of his second term, President Donald Trump promised a DOGE dividend, a pledge to take the money that Elon Musk’s team would cut from the federal budget and send it to the American people.
Then Trump moved on to a “tariff refund,” a plan to use the money the government was collecting in import taxes to fund payments for the public.
Those ideas never panned out. Nevertheless, Trump is again talking up the possibility that the federal government will send Americans thousands of dollars in cash. At the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, the president pledged that every American adult would receive $5,000 if Republicans retain control of Congress in November.
Trump did not offer many details about the proposal, but there’s reason to think that Republicans in Congress, like they did with his two previous promises of quick cash, could shrug off the president’s suggestion.
That’s in no small part because the $5,000-per-American promise would be enormously expensive to fulfill, with a price tag over $1 trillion. Its actual cost, though, would depend on what, if any, eligibility requirements Congress would ultimately impose on the plan. Trump did not mention a proposal to finance the $5,000 payments, which beyond their fiscal cost could also prove inflationary.
The conceit of Trump’s other pitches was that the money to pay for them was already available, from Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency or tariff revenue. On both of those fronts, though, the envisioned funding sources proved illusory: Musk’s team did not save the government much money, and the Supreme Court struck down many of Trump’s initial tariffs.
Republicans did succeed in providing Americans with substantial cash payments when they cut taxes last year. Under the design of the tax law, many Americans first experienced the policy change in the spring, when they received larger-than-usual tax refunds. Trump and Republicans have spent much of the year promoting those refunds, hoping that the larger lump-sum payments would be politically resonant before the midterms.
But even after Trump delivered those tax refunds, his approval poll ratings are still sagging.
Those tax cuts were also very expensive, though Republicans did cover some of the fiscal cost by reducing federal spending on healthcare and food assistance for poor Americans.
It had been six days since Dillon Minacci waited at school for his parents to finally pick him up. National Park rangers told the Minaccis to stay inside their Queen Village home — which sits on the grounds of the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church — as a precaution following the terrorist attacks that morning in New York.
Could the old church where Betsy Ross was once married be next? So Dillon was one of the last kids to leave St. Mary School in the shadow of Independence Hall. No one knew what to think that day, Paula Minacci said of Sept. 11, 2001. And everyone seemed to struggle to find normalcy in the days that followed.
Finally, the Phillies were back at Veterans Stadium. Their game against the Braves on Sept. 17 was the first major league game after the season was paused. Jim Minacci told his son they were going. Then he went to the church basement — where he still works with his wife as the sextons — and grabbed a big American flag on a wooden pole.
“It was embarrassing, right?” said Dillon, who was then in the fourth grade and just old enough to roll his eyes at his parents. “I was like, ‘What are you doing? Why are you bringing a flag to the park? What are we doing?’”
Paula Minacci dropped them off at the stadium and then waited to make sure they’d let them in with the big flag. The Vet was filled that night with American flags. People waved them in the stands and the players had them stitched on their uniforms. Phillies manager Larry Bowa cried during the anthem and Harry Kalas opened the telecast with an emotional monologue about how sports can be a diversion and a unifier.
No one questioned Minacci’s flag.
Jim Minacci carries his large American flag as he walks around Veterans Stadium on Sept. 23, 2001.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
He sat with the pole for a few innings in the upper deck before telling his son he wanted to take a lap around the stadium, which had a rung in front of the seating bowl. His son was embarrassed, but he told his dad he’d come with him. And then the cheers started. The fans chanted U-S-A and shouted for Minacci as he marched around a half-filled stadium with the flag over his shoulder like a patriot. Embarrassed? Not anymore, his son said.
“For us, we were like, ‘Hell yeah. This is awesome,’” Dillon, 35, said. “We got back to our seats and he said, ‘We’re going again.’ OK. I didn’t expect this to be happening. Let’s go.”
The Minaccis attended every game the rest of the season as the late-30s dad became Flag Man, a symbol of patriotism when everyone seemed to rally around the flag. They started their night marching around the upper deck before heading to the lower bowl where the chants were just as loud.
A cast of kids would leave their seats every night to walk behind Flag Man, whom Pat Burrell called “the pied piper” when Minacci was featured in the team’s highlight video.
Phillies general manager Ed Wade presented Flag Man with a custom jersey and a security guard started letting the Minaccis in without tickets. Flag Man’s hands were so sore from carrying the wooden pole that he started to wear fingerless gloves. He loved it.
Jim Minacci, aka Flag Man, is trailed by a line of kids as he walks around the upper deck over the outfield at Veterans Stadium on Sept. 23, 2001.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The Vet already had the Wolf Pack and other fan groups that injected character to a concrete goliath. Flag Man fit right in. Minacci became part of the scene.
All these years later, the 64-year-old Minacci is still not sure why he brought the flag that first night. He remembers watching the news and seeing people at Ground Zero, volunteering to dig through the rubble of the World Trade Center. Minacci wanted to be in Manhattan but had two jobs in Philly and a son. So he grabbed his flag and went to the game.
“I probably brought the flag so it could represent all those people doing all that good work,” he said. “People were doing extraordinary things against the backdrop of this terrible disaster that in our lifetime was unprecedented. I felt a real sense of wanting to go to the game to enjoy myself and be free of all the struggle and strife but also be part of a community and be with my son in a moment that meant something.”
“It was just being present and showing support for these people who were doing extraordinary things.”
Flag Man grew up near Binghamton, N.Y., in a small town he said had more cows than people. His father Paul was a Yankees fan but he often took his family in the early 1970s to Philly — where he graduated from Penn — to see games at the Vet when tickets were easy to get.
Minacci chased down players for autographs and can still remember how it felt to sit in the stands with his dad. He moved to Philly in the 1980s and soon found himself sitting in the same seats with his son.
Jim Minacci looks back on his Flag Man days as “a unifying visual. Something everyone could agree to. Back then, it was an agreeable moment.”Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“I just always loved baseball and doing it with my dad just like he did it with his dad,” Dillon said. “Baseball is so unique in that you don’t really have to pay attention to it. That’s kind of the beauty of it. It’s an atmosphere that’s open to whatever you make it. Other sports, you’re kind of locked in on the time limit or the net you have to hit it into. Baseball is very much, ‘Are you paying attention or not? Can I take advantage of that?’ For a father and son, you get to spend time whether you’re talking or not.”
The Vet was their place before 9/11 so it was where the Minaccis needed to be after that dark Tuesday. The Minaccis — just like the rest of the 27,910 fans — longed for an escape. They didn’t know their night would be the dawn of Flag Man.
“We got home and he said, ‘We have to go again tomorrow,’” Dillon said. “I was like, ‘I’ll go to baseball every night of the week if that’s what this is.’ I was totally in. If you get a couple drinks in me, then I pull down the old video yearbook. Damn, that was cool. I can’t believe I was a part of that and my dad had the idea to do that.”
He took a trip with his parents last month to a minor-league game in upstate New York and told his dad how impactful those nights at the Vet were. His parents were always “locally minded,” Dillon said, as their work at Old Swedes made them a fabric of the neighborhood. Flag Man was an extension of that. His dad always seemed to bring people together. Everyone just got to see it this time.
“I know my son is a better person today for it. His awareness of being a part of a community,” Minacci said. “As a father, as a human being, that’s the reward.”
Dillon now lives in Austin, Texas, and will often ask another Philly transplant if they remember Flag Man. Of course, they remember that guy who used to carry a flag around the Vet. That’s my dad, the proud son tells them. No way, he hears. Flag Man is a memory.
Jim Minacci and his wife Paula at Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church, where they work and live as sextons/caretakers.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“There’s the baseball game, the baseball team, the baseball staff, and then the crowd who fills the stadium,” Minacci said. “We got to be a part of that community.”
Minacci brought his flag back to the Vet in 2002 and 2003 as he continued to march before the Vet closed. Citizens Bank Park opened in April 2004 and Minacci was there with his flag for the first game. The guy at the gate apologized. Minacci couldn’t bring the long wooden pole into the new park. Flag Man was finished.
“I think what bummed him out the most was him not being able to end it in a way that he wanted to,” Dillon said. “He wanted the chance to say ‘Thank you.’ It really meant a lot to him and it meant a lot to me. We met a lot of people at the ballpark and became a part of the Phillies community. So it goes.”
Dillon (front) and Jim Minacci at the Rush concert earlier this month.Dillon Minacci
Minacci stood outside the stadium that day before deciding to go home. It was over. He’s another fan now when he goes to the ballpark except that he still wears his Flag Man jersey — with No. 47 as a nod to Larry Andersen — when he sits in the seats. Kids who used to trail him at the Vet will stop him and tell him about those days. Now those kids have kids of their own. Minacci helped people come together that September. It was a time and place he’ll never forget.
“It was a unifying visual,” Minacci said. “Something everyone could agree to. Back then, it was an agreeable moment. It would be hard to find that agreeable moment today. We’re all so segmented. It’s awful. It’s really hard.”
Until the 1750s, America was a community of loosely organized colonies where residents were content — if not happy — to be a part of the powerful British Empire.
But, after the colonists joined Britain to help the Crown win the French and Indian War, they started to wonder if it was worth it to remain the King’s subjects.
For one, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbidding Americans west of the Appalachian Mountains, angering the land-hungry colonists.
Gwenn Seemel depicts Patrick Henry in front of Carpenters Hall for the No. 1 in honor of the First Continental Congress.Gwenn Seemel courtesy of Colibrí Workshop
Then came the beginnings of taxation without representation. In 1765, England enacted the Stamp Act, levying a tax on every piece of paper, pamphlet, or card bought and sold in America. Eventually, the colonists rebelled and Britain repealed the act five months after it started.
However, the seeds of rebellion were planted.
Uncomfortable with angry subjects, Britain stationed troops in New England. Those rising tensions led to the Boston Massacre in 1770. In 1773, King George III taxed tea imported to the colonies from London. (He was insistent on collecting the colonists’ money by any means necessary.)
When tea arrived from London in Boston Harbor in December of 1773, colonists dumped it into the Atlantic Ocean. In retaliation to the infamous Boston Tea Party, the Crown levied a series of Intolerable Acts.
“In the eyes of the colonists, the Intolerable Acts were severe,” explained Michael Norris, the executive director of Carpenters Hall.
An etching of what Carpenters Hall looked like in the 1700s.Courtesy of Carpenters Hall
The acts, Norris explained, disbanded the Massachusetts legislature, putting Britain in charge of the state’s government. Britain closed the Port of Boston and stationed British troops in Massachusetts, requiring residents to feed, clothe, and house them.
The colonists thought, “if Britain could do this in Massachusetts, what would that mean to the rest of the colonies?”
On Sept. 5, 1774, 56 delegates from 12 colonies — Georgia didn’t come — convened at the then-new Carpenters Hall for the First Continental Congress. Their goal: to work out a deal between the colonies and their Mother Country so life in the New World could continue, albeit a bit smoother.
That first meeting of the Continental Congress will be remembered Saturday at Carpenters Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the Philadelphia Historic District’s weekly “Firstival” celebration. Each Saturday this year, the district is throwing a day party honoring events that happened in Philadelphia that changed the world.
For eight weeks, through Oct. 25, delegates hashed out a plan for independence and to heal their disagreement with the Crown.
An etching of colonists and delegates gathering in front of Carpenters Hall.Courtesy of Carpenters Hall
They drafted a Declaration of Rights & Grievances in which they demanded England send its troops home and stated they wouldn’t stand for taxation without representation. (Historians refer to this declaration as a prelude to the Declaration of Independence.) Delegates also adopted the Articles of Association, in which they voted to stop all trade with England until the Intolerable Acts were repealed.
“They were trying to use their economic muscle to get England to the table,” Norris said.
The First Continental Congress created a unity among the colonies that hadn’t existed before, Norris said. “Up until then, they thought of themselves as British subjects, more connected to the Mother Country than their neighbors. The Congress changed this dynamic.”
This sentiment is best illustrated in Patrick Henry’s famous quote, during the opening sessions of that first Congress: “The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more,” Henry said. “I m not a Virginian, but an American.”
It is why the late historian David McCullough referred to Carpenters Hall as the “acorn of American democracy.” It is where, Norris said, “the seed of independence was built that ultimately grew into the United States of America.”
A reopening ceremony at Carpenters Hall on Monday, July 3, 2023. The building opened to the public for the first time since April 2022.Allie Ippolito / Staff Photographer
Delegates planned to reconvene in May of 1775 to address England’s response to their demands. But in April, the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired and the Continental Army — victorious in the Battles of Lexington and Concord — were in a full-fledged war.
Making nice with England was completely off the table.
This week’s Firstival is Saturday, Sept. 12, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at Carpenters Hall, 320 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Within weeks of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the U.S. government launched airstrikes and sent American troops to Afghanistan. In March 2003, spurred by claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. bombed and invaded the country.
In the two wars that followed, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans died, with civilians making up a significant number of the dead.
On the U.S. side, more than two million American military personnel served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and over 7,000 died in these conflicts. Hundreds of thousands more live with service-related disabilities, and according to Brown University research, more than 30,000 post-9/11 veterans have since died by suicide.
Over 117,000 Pennsylvanians served in the military since 9/11, according to 2023 state data, and 295 died in Iraq and Afghanistan. At least 50,000 hailed from New Jersey, including 163 who died.
Benjamin Napier (right) and Brian Napier crouch for a picture in front of the main gate at Fort Hood, an Army base in Texas, in 2005. The brothers enlisted two days after Sept. 11 and were deployed to Iraq in 2004.Courtesy of Benjamin Napier
“I think it’s important, regarding the veteran population, to understand the diversity of experience,” said West Chester University historian Robert Kodosky, who has interviewed hundreds of post-9/11 veterans. “Some struggle. Some don’t. Some look back on their experience with pride. Some don’t want to talk about it at all.”
As the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the stories of these four military veterans from the Philadelphia region offer a glimpse into the experiences of countless others whose lives have been shaped by the wars that followed.
‘I can’t believe I made it home’
Benjamin Napier was 25 and living in Drexel Hill when 9/11 happened. The following evening, Napier and his younger brother, Brian, were gathered with friends in Upper Darby to attend a candlelight vigil, and Napier remembers noticing that the normally steady flow of air traffic had completely ceased. The skies were empty. That’s when he shared his thoughts with Brian.
“And I kind of turned to him, and I was like, you know, I think I’m going to do it. I’m going to join. And he was like, if you do it, I’m going to do it,” Napier said.
They enlisted in the Army on Sept. 13. Both were stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, and deployed to Iraq in 2004.
After riding in a convoy for three days from Kuwait to Baghdad, Napier, whose specialty was setting up computer and telephone networks, was sent to Abu Ghraib Prison.
The prison was not yet known for the horrific mistreatment of prisoners by Americans. But the squalid, cinderblock-walled compound, which had been a site of mass killings and torture under the Saddam Hussein regime, felt like “pure evil” to Napier.
“The place just had a vibe to it,” Napier said. “And we’re thinking, we don’t have running water. We don’t have toilets. I’m sleeping on a cot. And you’re just thinking to yourself, what in the world is going on over there.”
Soon, Iraqi insurgents began launching ferocious mortar attacks on the prison, Napier said.
Only when the U.S. soldiers got access to a TV did they learn that Abu Ghraib had become infamous. Widely shared photos of tortured Iraqis, flanked by smiling American soldiers, had became a rallying cry for war opponents.
The news also made the prison a target, and for the rest of Napier’s deployment, he said he witnessed sniper fire, shelling that killed and wounded prisoners, and the intervention of U.S. Apache helicopters that saved the prison from a hostile Iraqi takeover.
“I can’t believe I made it home,” Napier said.
It took him three years of intensive therapy to process his trauma, as well as extensive support from his wife and family, he said. Brian survived an improvised explosive device blast that left him disabled from the military due to post-traumatic stress disorder. The brothers now live in Delaware County and remain close.
Napier said despite all that he and Brian went through, he’s still glad they enlisted.
“A lot of the veterans that I talk to have that same sort of feeling. You raise your hand for something bigger than you. You’re kind of doing something for the greater good. And I think we still kind of feel that way,” Napier said.
Keshina Bouie (left) on board a C-130 aircraft, preparing to fly from Kuwait to Iraq in 2007. At right is her future husband, Anthony.Courtesy of Keshina Bouie
‘I wanted to do something positive’
Keshina Bouie, 43, remembers being sent home from South Philadelphia High School on Sept. 11. Ironically, she said, her junior ROTC class is what got canceled.
Bouie’s parents had been in the Air Force, but Bouie hadn’t planned to follow their path. However with no college scholarships lined up, she enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard to pay for school.
“At that point in my life, I wanted to do something positive. And I wanted to get a degree and break generational cycles, and I was determined to be successful,” Bouie said.
Bouie earned her degree at Cheyney University in 2007. One day before her college graduation ceremony, she received deployment orders to Iraq.
Bouie was stationed at Balad Air Base, about 40 miles north of Baghdad. There, she guarded a secret Special Forces base that was embedded within the military installation. Exploding mortars and the rush of incoming wounded soldiers became part of her routine.
“When I was in Iraq, I just wanted to focus on doing my job and getting home safe,” Bouie said.
While on deployment, Bouie met Anthony, a soldier who grew up just blocks away from her Point Breeze home.
A romance blossomed in the spare hours, though they remained separated by their jobs. When they returned home, they got married. They’ve since had two children.
The Bouie family (from left to right): daughter Savannah Bouie, mother Keshina Bouie, father Anthony Bouie Sr., and son Anthony Bouie Jr., at William Penn Charter School on Sept. 3. Army veteran Keshina Bouie grew up in Philadelphia and was in high school ROTC on Sept. 11, 2001. She joined the Army, which helped her reach personal educational goals and give her children a good life, and played a big role in her being who she is today.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Bouie stayed in the Guard for 16 years, earned a master’s degree from La Salle University, and worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Defense Logistics Agency. Her military service, she said, ultimately helped her provide a better life for her son and daughter.
She said there are things she’s not proud of about her country, but she’s always proud of the people she served with in Iraq and glad she enlisted.
“It was literally the best decision I made in my life. And I know not everyone can say that.”
‘What are we protecting?’
Michael Miller, 52, grew up in City of Chester with seven brothers and one sister.
“We grew up pretty poor. But being a child, you don’t know that you’re poor. We had fun. We did all the things that kids do,” Miller said.
Already a father at 19, Miller joined the Marine Corps in 1994 to provide for his family. He returned home after eight years, but missed military life. He joined the Army National Guard in 2007 and deployed to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in 2010.
“For the first six months, it was like being on a weird vacation,” Miller said. “But let me tell you something: When the snow melted off those mountains, things totally changed.”
Three of his comrades died in an IED blast that summer, and of the 370 people serving with him, about 300 returned home with Combat Action Badges, a designation given to soldiers involved in ground combat.
Miller’s main job entailed driving a large truck known as a wrecker and using it to retrieve destroyed Army vehicles and cargo.
But it was while on a mission delivering supplies that an IED detonated under his truck, launching it into the air “like it was a piece of paper.”
Marine veteran Michael Miller holds an American flag given to him for his military service in Afghanistan as he poses for a portrait at his home in Chester on Aug. 31. Miller deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and survived an IED blast that caused a traumatic brain injury. After returning home, he was diagnosed with PTSD and an anxiety disorder. Miller has turned to poetry, writing, and podcasting to help cope with his experiences and the loss of three comrades who died by suicide after returning home.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
A doctor told Miller he had a concussion, he said, and he finished his deployment. It was only when he returned home that the extent of his traumatic brain injury and PTSD became clear. Panic attacks made him a “frequent flyer” at local emergency rooms.
“I used to go to sleep fully dressed, because I wanted to make everything convenient for the paramedics, because I was sure I was dying,” Miller said.
Miller joined Warrior Writers, a group of veterans who process their experiences through writing.
“Honestly? I do poetry. I learned to express myself,” Miller said.
What he struggles with now, Miller said, is that despite his efforts, three people he served with have since died by suicide. That’s left him feeling that the war wasn’t worth fighting.
“Because, honestly, what are we protecting when the wealth gap gets so much larger? What are we protecting, when we have so many homeless? It’s a bunch of stuff that in the grand scheme of things wasn’t worth the blood that was left there.”
‘Shona ba shona’
Milan Moncilovich, 62, said he learned about the Sept. 11 attacks while on duty at Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia. By then, the pharmacist and hospital administrator was also a seasoned officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves.
“My first thought was, this is the beginning of something that’s going to be big, and that’s going to take a while, and most likely I am going to be part of this, and be deployed at some point,” Moncilovich said.
In 2010, the Navy sent him to Afghanistan to train Afghan medical personnel. He recalled seeing a stunning sunrise as his plane performed a tactical landing in Kandahar to avoid rocket attacks.
“To me it was like a personal, spiritual kind of sign that said, ‘Hey, anything that’s going to come in the future, just take this in, take this beauty in, and remember where your inner soul is,’” Moncilovich said.
In the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Moncilovich and other American medical professionals worked closely with Afghan doctors and nurses, he said. As they got to know one another, their motto became “shona ba shona,” a Dari phrase that meant “shoulder to shoulder” or “together.”
In this advisory role, Moncilovich’s team supervised treatment of Afghan soldiers and civilians who had been struck by IEDs or gunfire.
“I can close my eyes at any time, and I can see those soldiers in that trauma bay and on those tables,” he said. “It’s not ever going to go away. I won’t say I’m OK with it. It’s just going to be there.”
Moncilovich said he saw the positive side of the U.S. missions there, such as the construction of schools and medical facilities.
The U.S. exit from Afghanistan in August 2021 angered him, he said.
“Just to see 13 more American lives lost, it really, really upset me. That’s probably the only thing that really probably brought my rage up pretty high. Especially seeing everything we left behind,” he said.
Moncilovich, who now works for Shriners Children’s hospital in North Philadelphia, said he would jump at a chance to return and get closure.
“I know that it’s completely changed now, and I understand a little more how the Vietnam vets feel now. Time will kind of change things. I know how angry they were. But now, I know what our mission was, but at the end of the day, things kind of went back to the way they were.”
Democratic leaders in New Jersey learned Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell was under investigation for alleged inappropriate behavior with women at the same time the public did — from a news report just before Labor Day weekend.
And still it took nearly a week before Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill finallytook questions from reporters Wednesday on what has reportedly been a monthslong investigation by an outside law firm.
But even then she refused to confirm an investigation into her lieutenant governor or even refer to him by name. It was unlikely to relieve the growing concerns of many in her party.
New Jersey Democratic Party leaders, frustrated by her decision to hide the matter from them, had privately urged Sherrill to share what she could ahead of Wednesday’s event, rather than let Republicans calling for Caldwell’s resignation dominate the headlines.
After this pressure, her team announced the governor would take questions from the media during a visit to a Woodbridge pizza shop Wednesday evening, her first public event since the news broke Friday.
But she offered no new details in her answers.
“I’m not going to confirm or deny whether there is an ongoing investigation, but what I can commit to people is that any complaints are taken very seriously and certainly anyone who has a complaint lodged against them, their rights are protected and they will have a full hearing,” Sherrill told more than 15 members of the media gathered outside Pino’s Pizzeria & Restaurant in Woodbridge.
She declined to answer when the complaint against Caldwell was filed or whether she had curtailed any of his responsibilities, including whether he would act on her behalf when she traveled out of state.
A Democratic operative who requested anonymity to speak freely about private conversations with legislators said Sherrill has put her allies in a tough position where they feel obligated to weigh in but do not know enough to make a public statement.
“Legislators are pissed off about this,” the operative said earlier Wednesday. “They feel left in the dark, and they feel like they’re put in a weird place.”
The operative said it feels as if Sherrill and Caldwell, who are both Trenton newcomers, have been on their own “island.”
Sherrill on Tuesday released her first comment on the matter, which did not acknowledge the existence of the investigation or name her lieutenant governor. In vague terms, she said she demands members of her administration “hold themselves to the highest standards and put their obligations to public service first.”
‘The sooner, the better’
New Jersey political operatives questioned why Sherrill did not address the investigation earlier, or by addressing it head-on with a news conference, as she did earlier in the summer when her administration discovered that thousands of noncitizens had been registered to vote during her predecessor’s administration.The governor has touted herself as prioritizing transparency and accountability.
“If I were the press secretary in that administration, I would have urged a Friday statement, the sooner the better,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, who worked as former Gov. Jim McGreevey’s press secretary.
“By not doing that, you really do raise suspicions … whereas if you can tamp that down and say, ‘Here’s what we know, here’s what we’re waiting for, here’s what you’re going to know,’ that can put everything into perspective.”
Former State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat from Bergen County, said Wednesday that she has faith in Sherrill’s nascent administration, but that it was time for the governor to personally address the investigation — the details of which have been leaked in media reports.
“I think that has been too long for what obviously began in May and has not yet come to fruition. What is taking so long?” said Weinberg, who served as Senate majority leader and made combating sexual harassment and violence a cornerstone of her long legislative career.
“When you have an unwillingness to talk, the rumor mill fills in the gaps. That’s not good for transparency,” she said.
Sherrill spokesperson Sean Higgins declined to comment on the criticism from other Democrats outside the pizza event Wednesday evening.
BINJE.com reported Wednesday that Caldwell denied allegations of misconduct toward women in a May 28 letter to Christina Fullam, the state’s chief ethics officer. He said it was “personally painful for someone to attempt to damage my reputation and slander my character with false and misleading accusations” and suggested race was involved.
“While I am troubled by this accusation, as the first single Black man to serve at this level in government, I suspect that there will be other false accusations or rumors in the future,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, in this current political environment, false accusations, especially against people of color, seem to be commonplace.”
Sherrill has garnered national attention for her decisive win last year and outspoken criticism of President DonaldTrump. She has also been supporting Democrats in other states ahead of this year’s midterms, making appearances for candidates in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, which has fueled speculation about national ambitions.
But the investigation into Caldwell and widespread media coverage could complicate her rise.
“This isn’t going away until [Sherrill and her team provide] answers,” said a Sherrill adviser, who was not authorized to speak about the matter and did so on condition of anonymity. “If they do not handle this now, it will metastasize and burst those bubbles of being on the national stage.”
Some party operatives have even begun mulling who might replace Caldwell, the adviser said.
Acting governor when Sherrill travels out of state
Caldwell served as acting governor while Sherrill was out of state on more than half a dozen days in July and August, with no opportunities for the media to ask him questions. His public schedule included appearances at a United Airlines event in Newark, a tennis event in Paterson, and a Puerto Rican Festival in Vineland.
But the role of acting governor is not just attending community events and photo ops. The position takes on all the responsibilities of governor, and choosing Caldwell as her running mate was a personal judgment call for Sherrill.
“It’s a big power to be governor — you have clemency powers,” noted one Democratic political insider who requested anonymity to speak freely, questioning why Caldwell was left to run the state while under investigation.
Assembly member Alex Sauickie, an Ocean County Republican, on Tuesday called on Sherrill to stop traveling out of state while Caldwell is the subject of investigation.
“This is no longer simply about the governor leaving New Jersey to campaign for politicians in other states or build her national political profile. This is now about who is actually in charge of our state when she leaves,” he said in a statement.
Some Democrats watching the controversy around Caldwell unfold have cited other issues that concern them with Sherrill’s administration, such as the New Jersey State Police’s aggressive response to protesters outside the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, and major companies leaving the state, the Sherrill adviser said. They pointed to this episode as another example of Sherrill and her team operating without communication or input from other elected officials.
Only acouple ofDemocratic legislators have publicly commented on the news.
Assembly member Katie Brennan (D., Hudson), who accused a senior campaign adviser to former Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of sexual assault in 2017, released a statement Tuesday calling the allegations serious. She used the opportunity to promote legislation that she said would “set clear standards” for how complaints are handled.
On Wednesday, State Sen. Britnee Timberlake (D., Essex) defended Sherrill’s handling of the investigation and criticized Republicans’ “selective outrage,” the New Jersey Globe reported.
Rasmussen noted that he has not seen anyone come to Caldwell’s defense in Trenton.
“Maybe he doesn’t have those people in Trenton. He was picked primarily because he was an outsider,” he said.
Another Democratic leader, who requested anonymity to speak freely and not alienate the administration, expressed disappointment that it took so long for Sherrill’s administration to acknowledge the investigation but said Caldwell deserves to have judgment wait until the investigation is complete.
“He’s played the role this administration has asked of him, advancing the governor’s agenda. He has been visible. I truly believe they have a good partnership. Everyone should have the presumption of innocence,” the leader said.
“But it’s fair to say all of us were pretty shocked when we saw the accounts. It is my hope the governor and the investigations will be completely transparent.”
Barb Hertline didn’t have any coaching experience in flag football prior to 2025.
Jim McHugh, the Camden Catholic High School athletic director, told her there was a grant available to start a girls’ flag football program at the school and asked Hertline if she would be willing to be the first head coach of the program.
“Without a doubt, I said yes because it was an opportunity for our girls,” said Hertline, the executive assistant & special projects manager at Camden Catholic. “I didn’t know anything about flag football or the rules or really anything that it would entail. I just knew I wanted to be a part of it to give these girls a chance to experience it.”
The decision gave Camden Catholic’s girls an opportunity to play the sport that was quickly gaining popularity in South Jersey.
“They wanted this opportunity and we were able to give that to them, and it has opened so many doors,” Hertline said.
In May, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association sanctioned girls’ flag football as a high school varsity sport with the first official season starting in the spring of 2027.
The sport initially began as a club activity at several South Jersey high schools in 2023. June Cioffi, director of athletics at Kingsway and president of the West Jersey Football League, said the first two years served as a “pilot stage” for coaches, athletic directors, and league officials.
“It was an easy sell, and everyone was on board,” Cioffi said.
The Eagles and New York Giants played a significant role in helping girls’ flag become sanctioned in New Jersey.
The Eagles launched a girls’ flag football league in 2022 with the intention of reducing barriers of entry. The league began with 16 teams, but has now expanded to 100 teams from Pennsylvania and 30 from South Jersey.
Kingsway celebrates after winning the Eagles’ New Jersey flag football championship in 2024.Charles Fox / Staff Photographer
“They were very helpful in offering all of that for those first couple years and to try to bring on new schools and make it more of an easy sell to the superintendents,” Cioffi said.
The Eagles offered each team funds to get programs started and provided uniforms, footballs, coaching seminars and equipment. Clinics were also hosted for players and coaches, and the Eagles partnered with Operation Warm, a non-profit organization that manufactures sports bras to provide gear for girls in sports. According to their website, by the age of 14, girls are dropping out of sports at two times the rate of boys because of a lack of access to basic gear.
“A barrier to participation was the lack of equipment and so working with Operation Warm, we can now give sports bras to every participant,” Eagles president Don Smolenski said.
The Eagles support was intended to represent who they are as an organization.
“We’ve opened up our facilities; fields and indoor practice facilities,” Smolenski said. “That’s us sort of embracing the community around us, and you see the impact when you see how excited the athletes are when they come to a practice or run onto the field for the very first time — it’s incredibly gratifying and motivates us to continue to explore how we can further support it.”
The Eagles hosted more than 100 girls’ flag football coaches and players from the tri-state area at training camp on Aug. 24. It was an experience, some coaches and players say, they never thought they would have.
“It’s really nice to know that a male-dominated sport is very supportive of women coming in and just kind of making it their own,” Kingsway Regional High School senior Jade Matthew said. “I feel like all the opportunities that we get, even something like this, and the fact that they host our championship and playoff games, it’s just nice to be a part of.”
Matthew and teammate Jayda Romagnoli grew up playing co-ed flag football with their siblings.
“It was a bit hard competing with boys even. … when I was little, normally the boy would never really pass to us, and we kind of always got ignored,” Matthew said. “But it’s nice to see that we’re kind of growing out of our little shy phase and actually embracing that this is ours and we can make it what we want.”
When they first heard girls’ flag was going to be a high school varsity sport, they thought it was going to be co-ed.
“They’re really taking this serious and they were actually growing it,” Romagnoli said. “I want to go to college for it, so it’s nice to hear that more people are going to start getting the love for this sport that I had before.”
Interest in flag football has “exploded”, Cioffi said, with more college programs including flag as a varsity sport at all levels.
Several South Jersey high school coaches said the Eagles’ backing their teams helped speed up the process to sanction the sport.
“We want the sport of football to be embraced by everyone — men, women, boys, girls,” Smolenski said. “We don’t want it to just be thought of as, ‘Oh, that’s a boy sport, only boys can play,’ and flag football is a sport that can be played by everyone.”
Harper Carney of Williamstown celebrates a touchdown during the Eagles’ New Jersey flag football championship on May 18.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Last year, Hertline knew very little about flag football during her first season as coach at Camden Catholic, but the growth of the game is a testament to the increased opportunities and the determination of the girls.
“Girls get such a bad reputation sometimes, with the ‘play like a girl,’” Hertline said. “Yeah, play like a girl because if you see the way our girls play, they are second to none against any boys’ team. They really raise the bar and because there has been so much excitement surrounding the announcement of all of this and the NFL is backing it, everyone wants to be a part of this.”
Dennis Mahoney has spent a decade in disaster relief, dispatching humanitarian aid in the wake of devastating hurricanes in the United States and Puerto Rico and poverty crises in 18 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Now the 34-year-old independent candidate is using that same determination to engage in an uphill battle as he seeks to represent Philadelphia’s 3rd Congressional District this November.
Mahoney, from South Philadelphia, is the lone opponent running against State Rep. Chris Rabb, a democratic socialist from Northwest Philly who won the crowded Democratic primary in May to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans.
“I think it’s going to be a hard fight and a hard run, but I feel so strongly that people in Philadelphia want something different,” Mahoney said of his independent campaign.
Mahoney will have his work cut out for him to persuade voters to back his grassroots candidacy.
The 3rd Congressional District is one of the most Democratic-leaning districts in the country, where Rabb won with almost 45% of the vote. Rabb saw national support from big-name progressives, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), and used his victory to support other like-minded candidates throughout the United States.
And the last time Pennsylvania elected an independent to Congress was in 1920, when Milton W. Shreve of Erie won as an Independent Republican.
But Mahoney and his allies view his candidacy as an opportunity to present an alternative option after more than half of 3rd District voters in the May primary cast their ballots for Rabb’s opponents. Mahoney’s platform focuses on addressing poverty, expanding access to affordable housing, and investing in education.
Rabb’s campaign did not comment on Mahoney’s candidacy Wednesday.
The race comes amid shifting political dynamics in the United States in response to growing frustration with the two-party system.
On one hand, progressive candidates — many of whom, like Rabb, are part of the Democratic Socialists of America — have been gaining momentum in elections nationwide.
Earlier this year, meanwhile, a Gallup poll showed a record high of 45% of U.S. adults identified as independents in 2025.
State Rep. Chris Rabb greets supporters after appearing with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (rear) Tuesday, July 28, 2026, on his “Made in PA: New Economic Patriotism Tour” at the City Institute Library on Rittenhouse Square.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Mahoney said he has belonged to both political parties in the past, but did not find a home in either.
The first-time politicalcandidateworked in humanitarian aid through his former Washington, D.C., church, the Christiannonprofit Food for the Hungry, and now his own firm, AOI Solutions. He said the experience provides lessons for overcoming partisan division in Congress.
“Let’s build bridges and partnerships and bring results. And that’s the same work that I did in the disaster relief field, where we would land in a spot where a disaster happened, and we’d work with anyone we could to really make the place come back to whole,” Mahoney said.
‘Anti-MAGA’ and ‘anti-DSA’
It’s those middle-of-the-road qualities that made Mahoney an appealing candidate to Craig Snyder, a registered Republican who led an effort to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid two years ago and is now leading the Philly-based Forward Party Victory Fund.
The super PAC plans to support Mahoney and other independent candidates across the country — including a pair of independent Senate candidates running in GOP-leaning states, Todd Achilles of Idaho and Brian Bengs of South Dakota — this fall via spending on digital ads and text messages. The PAC is also supporting U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, who switched from the GOP to run for reelection in California as an independent, and Kevin Block, an independent running for Rhode Island governor.
Snyder said the group is an independent offshoot of the Forward Party, founded in 2022 by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. He described the centrist candidates the PAC is backing as both “anti-MAGA” and “anti-DSA.”
He said a win in one of the group’s targeted races wouldbe “an earthquake in American politics.” But even if Mahoney is unsuccessful, Snyder said, it will be the start of elevating the independent movement in Philly politics.
“I think people don’t want to be told that they have to vote for somebody just because of the party label,” Snyder said. “I think that they want there to be alternatives, and so it’s our job to make that case.”
Dennis Mahoney (center) on the campaign trail as he prepares to run against State Rep. Chris Rabb in the general election in the 3rd Congressional District this November.Dennis Mahoney
Mahoney said, if elected, he would help form the first independent caucus in the U.S. House, contending he would become a coveted vote for both parties that would enable him to influence legislation and score committee assignments.
Butunder current House rules — which Kiley has proposed changing — Mahoney would not be able to hold a committee seat if he does not caucus with either party. Kiley, for instance, has continued caucusing with the GOP even after becoming an independent.
Mahoney pointed to the 19,000 signatures he received for his petition to join the ballot as a sign some voters are open to a choice in the deep-blue district.
He said he would like to debate Rabb.
“He talks a lot and engages a lot, and I think that that’s wonderful,” Mahoney said. “But I think at the end of the day, there’s people who are hurting in the district who need somebody who isn’t worried about being on, you know, MSNBC or TV, but who really is like, let’s just get into the community and drive results.”
Mahoney said he has been connecting with religious leaders, educational organizations, community groups, and youth organizers to hear feedback on what they want public service to look like in the 3rd District.
The independent will have scant resources to spread his name in just two months but said he is not concerned with raising big money for advertising. He had roughly $8,200 cash on hand in his most recent campaign finance report.
Rabb had a little more $21,000, but that was after the Democrat raised and spent more than $1.3 million for the primary campaign in which he out-raised his opponents.
Mahoney, meanwhile, has been trying to meet voters where they are — at running clubs and other fitness groups, for example.
“I think people find it refreshing to have somebody who wants to represent them out there running alongside them,” he said.
These are the most compelling conversations surrounding the Eagles’ coming season. Crazy, maybe, considering the success of each and their success in tandem, but here we are.
Hurts is under contract for three more seasons, but 2026 is his last season with substantial guaranteed money. Most teams with a $255 million franchise quarterback one season removed from winning a Super Bowl and its MVP award would have discussed an extension that would lock in that QB before the QB market inflates further, but the Eagles have not done that, according to a source. Why? Because Hurts regressed in 2025 and the Eagles are installing a new offense in 2026 and they want to see how he handles it.
Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni both have the equity that comes with a title and will be given a learning curve with a new offense. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Sirianni, of course, also is one season removed from winning a Super Bowl, a win that, according to an NFL source, earned him a four-year extension that pays him a $15 million salary through 2029. However, for the second time, Sirianni also lost the offensive coordinator that got him to the Super Bowl. Shane Steichen became the Colts’ head coach after 2022. Kellen Moore became the Saints’ head coach after 2024. Each time, Sirianni failed to replace them with a competent hire of his choosing, and owner Jeffrey Lurie and GM Howie Roseman got involved in pursuing the next coordinators. That’s why Moore got hired in 2024, and it’s why new coordinator Sean Mannion, a disciple of Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, is installing that new offense in 2026.
So, while they might be overblown, there are issues with both the quarterback and the coach. Any post-2026 divorce would mean that the Eagles would eat either salary-cap money or Sirianni’s paychecks, but Lurie has never been shy to move off a bad investment.
In the NFL, it’s always easier to replace a coach than a quarterback. After all, Doug Pederson and Sirianni won Super Bowls.
Ominous, no? Apparently, no.
Relax
An offseason of communications with various NFL sources indicated two things:
The Eagles do not consider 2026 to be a make-or-break season for either Hurts or Sirianni. That’s because …
Installing an offense that is so philosophically different than what’s come before it is not a 17-game undertaking. It’s a two-season project.
This makes perfect sense.
It is the proper way to view the matter.
I’ll admit, it’s not the way I viewed the matter this spring. I thought Hurts’ limitations as a passer and decision-maker should imperil his status past 2026. I thought Sirianni’s inability to mature and his lack of offensive innovation should imperil his status as well.
I came around.
Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman both understand that Sean Mannion’s (right) offensive installation will be a work in progress. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Several NFL insiders said that this season should not be crucial for either the coach or the QB. Why?
Because, as long as the 2026 season doesn’t deteriorate into disaster, and as long as there is promise in December that the Birds can win big as soon as next season, the Eagles will have a better foundation than ever. They could be building something that lasts for the next decade. Mannion likely won’t be here for that long, since top offensive coordinators usually get hired as head coaches as soon as they show any aptitude. But Hurts is only 28. Sirianni can become a legend in Philly. That’s what the Eagles‘ brain trust wants.
My guys
Lurie is proud of acquiring both Hurts and Sirianni while the rest of the league laughed. As such, he is as invested in them as he was invested in Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb.
Also, Lurie is 74. He’s groomed his son, Julian, to replace him at the top. What better gift to give your princeling than a stable kingdom? As such, stability through change takes time.
Lurie and Roseman realize there will be speed bumps. The offense won’t work smoothly immediately. Mannion will virtually have carte blanche in regard to concepts, Sirianni will have final say over who is asked to do what, and Hurts won’t be asked to do things he’s uncomfortable doing.
However, as long as Hurts shows improvement as the season progresses, his future in Philly will be secure.
And as long as Sirianni commits to the concepts Mannion installs, and displays a willingness to adhere to them when Mannion moves on, his future in Philly also will be locked down.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni with owner Jeffrey Lurie before a joint practice with the New England Patriots last month. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
I’ve known Lurie for 30 years, Roseman for 25. They don’t always tell whole truths, but they seemed particularly comfortable and, frankly, honest when, this offseason, they were asked about the futures of Hurts and Sirianni.
Asked last Wednesday on 94-WIP if this was a make-or-break season for Hurts, Roseman replied, “No, I don’t agree with that.”
Asked by reporters in April to review Sirianni’s five-year tenure, Lurie replied, “His performance has been nothing short of outstanding.”
All of this sounds pleasant now, before the first whistle blows. All of this could change drastically. The Eagles’ battered offensive line is being held together by athletic tape and stem cells. The team traded malcontent franchise receiver A.J. Brown, and his replacement, rookie Makai Lemon, doesn’t look ready for the NFL. There’s no proof that superstar running back Saquon Barkley, who carried the club in 2024 when he was 27, didn’t lose a step in 2025 when he was 28; now, he’s 29.
They host a desperate Commanders defense to start the season Sunday, travel to Chicago — where the Bears won a playoff game last season — for Game 3, then host Aaron Donald, Myles Garrett, and the fearsome Rams in Game 4.
There’s a very real chance that the Eagles’ new offense sputters in the first month of the season. There’s a very real chance that Lurie and Roseman become impatient and change their current long-range views regarding the head coach and the quarterback.
For now, though, they seem willing to give them every best chance.
The spotlight on Uar Bernard and Joshua Weru has mostly faded for now. They each had a decent preseason as football novices, but as Vic Fangio said in August, they’re both “light years away.”
And yet, here they still are.
After being waived in general manager Howie Roseman’s final roster cuts last week, Bernard and Weru cleared waivers and landed back on the team’s practice squad.
How did the two International Player Pathway program (IPP) players react to the news?
“When I came in and talked to Howie, Nick [Sirianni] and my coaches, they told me that I made the decision harder for them,” Weru said. “So the reviews had been positive. I’m just so happy to still be here.”
“It’s a great move for us because we never knew we could even make the practice squad,” said Bernard. “All glory to God, we made it. And from there, who knows what could happen if we keep working hard?”
Joshua Weru says his play in preseason made the Eagles’ decision harder to waive the novice football player during roster cutdown day.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
There was some concern that at least one of them would be claimed. Teams love project players and Bernard — a 6-foot-4, 306-pound super athlete from Nigeria whom the Eagles drafted in the seventh round — and Weru — who looked like he could be a legitimate rotational edge rusher — certainly fit that mold.
They backed it up with some glimpses in the preseason too, with Bernard recording two solo tackles and Weru posting five tackles and a sack. But landing back with the Eagles — a team that benefited from the IPP in a huge way when they developed All-Pro tackle Jordan Mailata — was their preferred outcome.
“Before I came here, I knew Philadelphia was like the biggest when it came to fans, like the most dedicated fans sports wise,” said Weru. ”I’ve seen that and I’ve heard from Eagles fans and I love it.”
It’s still going to be a steep climb for the pair. Defensive ends coach Jeremiah Washburn and defensive linecoach Clint Hurtt are being patient while teaching them the fundamentals of football, so don’t expect to see them making an impact any time soon (if ever).
Roseman emphasized that point last week, cautioning fans and pundits when comparing anyone to Mailata — who is widely considered the greatest player in the history of the IPP.
“I think if we’re just judging everyone through the lens of Jordan Mailata, it’s going to be hard to give these guys a fair chance,” said Roseman. “Still very excited about them, really glad that they did get through. Certainly wasn’t certain about that, but I’m glad they’re back here.”
