Brian Brohm Combine Interview

Brian Brohm Combine Interview

Brian Brohm was considered the best quarterback in the 2008 draft class and a possible top pick once upon a time. But a mediocre season plus Matt aRyan of Boston College hasn't helped his draft stock. He spoke to the media recently at the NFL Combine.

"That's a tough question. If you're going to ask me, I'm going say it's me. There are a lot of opinions out there. I can't worry about the other guys."


On what he learned from playing that extra year?

"Dealing with adversity. I went through a lot of struggling times, dealing with a coaching change. I learned how to operate in a new system and learn a new system quickly and be pretty successful and comfortable in that system. Just dealing with those struggles that I hadn't had to deal with before. I've been on successful teams my whole career. I never had to go through a tough season like that, so just going through those struggles is something that, at one point in time, whether you like it or not, it's going to happen in the NFL. You're going to have a struggling season. Just being able to deal with that and know how to deal with it in the correct way will help me out in the future."


On his brother:

"My older brother, Jeff, he's been great to me. He's a guy who played in the league for seven years, was teaching me the NFL thing since I was 8, 9 years old, was my position coach in college. So he's had a huge influence on me. It's just great to have that kind of experience in your own family."


On if any truths his brother told him came true at the Combine:

"Not really. He's always … since I've been young, he's been trying to groom me to be an NFL quarterback, go through those types of drills and NFL-type reads. We've been discussing this stuff since I was in high school. It's a huge advantage for me. And it was a huge advantage for me going through college."


On if Jeff gave him any workout tips:

"There's not any special tips that anybody can give you. You just have to go out there and be loose and throw the ball like you've been doing it your whole life. The only tip is to not get too uptight and not put too much stock in it. Just go out there and throw the play."


On Bobby Petrino:

"Coach Petrino played a huge part in my development. He's a tremendous X's and O's coach, a hard-nosed, tough coach. We ran an NFL-style offense and geared things for the quarterback to be successful. He did a large part of coaching of the quarterbacks, so he really helped me out a lot to become a better player and get me to the next level."

On his reaction when Petrino went to Atlanta:

"When he went to Atlanta? It was obviously a difficult situation. Maybe his style of coaching isn't necessarily a perfect fit for the NFL and more of a better fit for college. He wanted to give that a shot. You could tell that he really did want to give it a shot and go to the NFL and see what he could do. I guess obviously after the first 13 games, he had a change of heart."


(From one of his receivers) On how he likes his receivers:

"That No. 85 guy, I'm not so sure about him. He's my go-to-guy. He's a fast receiver. He's got great speed, great hands. Always know where he's going to be, which is great for a receiver. Did a great job for us."


On if he leads by example:

"I'll say I'm more of a lead-by-example type guy. I'm a guy who likes to grind, who likes to get in the weight room, likes to get on the field and work hard. I think it wears off on the other guys, when they see a quarterback working harder than everybody else, they're going to go out there and work hard as well. You don't want to see anyone getting special treatment, taking it easy when you're the quarterback. I just go out there and work hard, put it all on the line. Hopefully guys are going to follow."


On if he needs to be more vocal in the NFL:

"It's something, as a quarterback, you do have to be vocal. You're expected to be the leader. No matter if the situation is you're a young guy or not. You're expected to be the leader. You're the quarterback, and that's your role. You're definitely going to have to speak up."


On quarterbacks dropping in the draft:

"There's nothing really to be worried about. I'm just going to go out there and perform. Wherever that puts me in the draft, that puts me. So I'm not going to worry about it. I'm not going to get stressed out about it. I'm just going to go out there and show what I've got."


On considering baseball:

"No, it wasn't really a strong consideration. I was a 49th-round draft pick. I loved the game of baseball. I loved playing baseball. Even they kind of knew that 'he's probably going to play football.' I really didn't consider it much. I maybe kind of thought about maybe trying to play both. I figured I might as well play football and just put all my efforts into that."


On if he was a pitcher:

"I played outfield. I was a pretty good hitter."


On if he misses basketball:

"Do I miss basketball? Yeah, I love playing basketball. Unfortunately, I was a forward on the high school basketball team, so that doesn't translate as well when you're 6-2 and 7/8, at the college level."


On big brother as a coach:

"He's so much older than me. He's 13 years old than me. It's always been that kind of situation where he's been coaching me up. He's been coaching me through grade school, giving me techniques, tips. So he's always kind of had that mentor role. He was not the type of brother that you rolled around with, fighting. He was more of a mentor guy I looked up to, a guy that I wanted to be when I was growing up. It was great to have him around."


On Matt Ryan:

"I've never seen, probably, a full game of Matt Ryan. From what I've seen, I think he's a great quarterback. It looks like he has a lot of poise, a lot of skill. It looks like he has great leadership qualities and his team follows him. So he seems like a good quarterback. I just talked to him briefly, and he seems like a good guy."


On if he gauges himself against him:

"It's hard for me to gauge, because I haven't really watched any film on him. I haven't really studied him that much. So it's kind of hard to put it in perspective, to be a scout and gauge it, because I really haven't seen enough."