QB Michael Brewer Breaks Down an Offseason Filled with Tests, Work Outs and Even a Little Fishing

For just about 48 hours or so this summer, Michael Brewer didn't spend any time thinking about football.

The Hokies' senior quarterback and his dad journeyed down to the Florida Keys for a fishing trip in tropical Islamorada, FL, reeling in a mammoth 150-pound tarpon over the course of an hour in a struggle that he calls "man vs. fish."

Islamorada slammer #mahimustache

A photo posted by Michael Brewer (@michaelbrewer16) on Jul 5, 2015 at 1:17pm PDT

But since taking that trip, Brewer has been back down to business.

"I went to Florida for two days for that little July 4 weekend came back the third day and went back to work," Brewer said during a lengthy interview session at the ACC Kickoff. "That was it, that was my vacation for the summer, and I'm fine with that, that's the way I want it to be. I want to be able to put in everything I got because it's the last go-round for me, and I think we've got the chance to be a really good football team so I want to maximize the possibilities."

It's an ethos he's hoping extends to the rest of the team, and he says he's doing his best to instill that kind of work ethics by showing a relentless commitment to refining his knowledge of Scot Loeffler's labyrinthine offense.

"This whole offseason has just been all business," Brewer said. "Any time I get any free time, I'm up in the indoor (facility) or in the film room, working on something with somebody."

Brewer says the process started immediately after spring practice finished up. Loeffler earned a reputation as a stern taskmaster with a love of tests for his quarterbacks this spring, and that seems to have carried over to the summer.

"Loeffler wasn't just giving us tests, he gave the whole offense a test too when we got back from spring break," Brewer said. "It was on everything. Stuff that like a lineman or a running back don't need to know, just to see how invested people were."

Brewer admits that the offensive coordinator can be a bit "technical" and is not above taking off marks for things like grammar and spelling. Even still, Brewer says he was encouraged about how the offense responded to that particular challenge.

"It was really encouraging to see guys make A's and B's, even 100's on these tests," Brewer said. "That just kind of shows you the mindset of this team."

Among those scoring perfect marks was the starting quarterback himself.

"I got a 100, but I should get a 100," Brewer said. "That's part of my role is to know everything with the defense and the offense, so I knew I was going to get a 100 but it was encouraging to see everybody else buy in and do really well on it."

Yet work on paper can only carry the offense so far.

Even with training camp still months away, the players have been getting work in by gathering individually to run drills and play seven-on-seven. Brewer says the convenience of the new indoor facility has made a huge difference in that process.

"We've been in it for a while now, over a month and it's been awesome," Brewer said. "If it rains, heck, we'll go in the indoor and get some work in. I've gotten a lot of work in up there at night when I'm not doing anything, I'll call up some of the guys, like 'let's go toss it some.'"

But Brewer says the amenities of the facility are only part of the equation in inspiring that kind of offseason work.

"We've had a lot of guys showing up, and when we don't, we address it," Brewer said. "If you're not showing up, we're going to address it, because we're not messing around with only being three quarters of the way bought in, we want everybody to be all in. Some of the leaders, we get together and make sure we're going in the right direction."

With the coaches using the offseason to work on the scheme or recruit high school prospects, Brewer notes that the players have taken a role in providing leadership. Specifically, he says he's ganged up with Kendall Fuller, Luther Maddy, Isaiah Ford, J.C. Coleman, Chuck Clark and Ronny Vandyke to make an informal council of some of the team's top leaders to keep everything running smoothly.

"We basically just got a group together and said we need to meet before any big event, before summer, before camp, before fall, and if there's an issue, we all take care of it," Brewer said. "If you want to be in it, you've got to be doing things the right way and you're welcome to come join us and help make decisions. That's been one thing we put together this offseason that we felt like could help the team."

While many of the members of that leadership group are seniors, Ford and Clark stick out as younger guys that have quickly earned a spot, despite only being a sophomore and junior respectively.

"Those are two guys that are constantly doing things the right way," Brewer said. "They're on time to practice, workouts, they're on time to meetings, they don't miss meetings. Obviously they've been productive on the football field. And they're guys that just set the tone in workouts.

"Isaiah, we're out there running 200's and he's finishing first every single rep, every single time. Chuck, he's out there, pushing sleds and cars, he's finishing first every time. These guys are getting a lot of extra work in, they're relentless in their work ethic, we feel like they're leaders on the football team."

Brewer also came away from the summer impressed with the dedication of his offensive linemen. While the guys in the trenches can't do the same sort of seven-on-seven work, he says that hasn't stopped them from getting involved.

"They're always in there doing drills," Brewer said. "Some of the leaders of the offensive line, Jonathan McLaughlin, they'll show up when we're doing seven-on-seven, just doing drills the whole time and when we're done we'll do some plays on air and stuff like that. That's all player-driven, none of the coaches are making them do that."

One surprise addition to the Hokies involved in the players-only workouts: suspended running back Shai McKenzie.

"He's been able to some of that stuff with us," Brewer said. "He looks good. He got hurt a little earlier than Marshawn (Williams) did, so he's maybe a couple weeks ahead of where Marshawn was a while back ago."
Brewer says McKenzie's fellow RB is also coming along in his rehab process.

"I was up there the other day when he was getting some extra rehab and running around, that was pretty exciting, I told him he looks good, I'm excited to see him coming into camp," Brewer said.

Yet it's not just the veterans taking part in the workouts. Now that 2015 QB signee Dwayne Lawson is on campus, he's been taking some time to work with Brewer and the receivers.

"I'll give him a script and tell him to stand behind me and watch and follow along," Brewer said. "He's going through the learning process, just trying to figure out how to help him how to learn. So I want him to be able to learn it as a quick as he can and give him a good chance to be successful here, he's just got to figure it out as he goes."

Like any true freshman, Brewer says Lawson's transition has been a little bumpy so far, but his potential is immediately evident when he steps on the turf.

"Kid's got a lot of talent," Brewer said. "He's got a good arm, athletic, just like any freshman, you've got to get in there and learn it.

"It's not easy to learn, it wasn't easy for me to learn coming from three years already playing, so it's not going to be easy from him coming from just out of high school. I just tell him he's got to stay consistent with it and not get frustrated. There'll be times when he gets frustrated because he feels like he knows it, and he goes out there and it doesn't look like he knows it. So it takes time and it takes repetition."

But will he be ready to come in and replace Brenden Motley as the team's "wildcat" quarterback? That remains to be seen.

"Motley, he's healthy, he's coming back, so I'm sure he'll still have his little package," Brewer said. "I'm not sure what they're going to do with Dwayne and Motley but somebody will have a package, I'm sure."

Motley and Lawson may not be the only players on the team pushing for playing time under center.

At one point during the interview session, Kendall Fuller butted in to ask Brewer if he likes throwing him against him each day. Brewer says he's not a huge fan, but that led to a more intriguing question.

"If Kendall Fuller played quarterback, could you pick him off?" Fuller asked.

Brewer assured him the answer was "100 percent yes," and that Fuller "couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."

Fuller says "you'll have to see my Pop Warner film" before making that claim, prompting Brewer to sigh and say "this is how it goes constantly, every day. This is the rivalry going on."

With that kind of relationship, those late-night, voluntary practice sessions must not be so grueling after all.