WhoDat!656

Good story about Brees!

Many of you, my loyal readers, may know that I played alongside Drew Brees in high school at Austin-Westlake. We were state champions and I was an all-district defensive end; solely because I went to every one of Drew's film sessions and whiteboard meetings, even the ones that didn't involve my position group.

As a quiet observer, I began to understand the quarterback's read off of my outside hip and how to use that read against him. I began to understand why audibles were being called against our front when holes were consistently developing in certain gaps, and how to adjust my positioning and responsibility to allow the inside linebacker to come as a free hitter and explode their genius little idea. Basically, I learned how to dissect a rudimentary defense from someone who saw the field like a giant chess board. As I moved into the NFL media, learning advanced schemes and understanding the philosophical reasoning for disguised packages was a breeze given this foundation. He's the reason I am getting to do what I am doing today. I've never told Drew that, and I doubt he knows it.
Prior to our 1996 state championship season, Drew called a players-only meeting. He told the team of young, bored high school students that if we wanted to win a championship, we needed to make some promises to each other. There would be no drinking alcohol or being seen at parties where alcohol was served. There would be no missed practices (even if you were absent from school that day) unless you called your position coach with a damn good explanation. There would be no hanging out in the air-conditioned training room during practice if you were injured. You were still a part of the team and needed to be present at practice and install, supporting teammates. Finally, there would be no drinking soda. If anyone was seen participating in these acts, Drew said he would "handle punishment personally". This was a 17 year old.

Guess what? No one ever found out what he meant by that because nobody broke the rules. We went on to an undefeated 16-0 season, winning the Texas 5A state championship. What a quarterback. I sometimes wonder how much of this intangible value to a team you are born with, and how much is learned through years and years of "growing into" the position and developing confidence through each level of competition. I wonder if it's aggregate. Which brings us to the present.


'The NFL Beat': Brees, Tannehill, and More - Sports Blog - The Austin Chronicle

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