Former Rogers QB Brewer Preparing For BCS Title Game

FILE PHOTO 
Johnny Brewer, a former quarterback for Rogers, has moved from offensive coordinator at Harrison to a graduate assistant at Auburn.
FILE PHOTO Johnny Brewer, a former quarterback for Rogers, has moved from offensive coordinator at Harrison to a graduate assistant at Auburn.

— Johnny Brewer was up early Sunday morning, and the former Rogers High quarterback and Mounties freshman coach was watching game film after getting very little sleep.

A little more than a year after calling plays from the press box as the offensive coordinator at Harrison, Brewer is at the pinnacle of college football as a graduate assistant at Auburn.

This week, Brewer is already preparing for the BCS National Championship Game as Auburn will play Florida State for the national title.

Auburn has had a remarkable turnaround in Gus Malzahn’s first season as head coach and Brewer has watched the Tigers pull off stunning victories over Georgia and Alabama before Saturday’s win over Missouri in the SEC Championship Game.

“When I took this job, I thought how neat it would be to someday get to the national championship game,” Brewer said. “I never thought it would happen this quick. But our guys believe, they practice hard. Our players deserve this because they work their butts off. Our guys have got better each week.”

Shortly after arriving at Auburn, Brewer quickly found out that coaching at the college level was a completely different deal.

“There is a lot of pressure because everything happens so quick,” Brewer said. “We operate at such a fast pace, you have to be organized. It starts Sunday after the game, and from then on it is 7 a.m. to midnight every day getting ready. There is a lot of time spent watching film.”

Brewer finished his playing career at Rogers with 4,437 yards passing for then-Mounties coach Ronnie Peacock. An injury the fifth game of his senior season in 2004 ended his Rogers playing career.

He completed his high school career by helping the West defeat the East 28-13 in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star football game.

Brewer, who was also a standout baseball player at Rogers, started volunteering for Peacock at Rogers before he ever started classes at Arkansas and eventually landed a full-time coaching position under Mounties coach Shawn Flannigan before leaving for Harrison before the 2012 season.

“This is an opportunity of a lifetime to learn Gus’ system,” Peacock said. “Johnny’s stock has gome way up. What I remember most about Johnny as a player was that he was a student of the game. He was really excited to learn about the passing game when he was at Rogers.”

Last Dec. 29, Brewer, who had just returned from his honeymoon, was getting ready for offseason practice when he received a call from newly named Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee. Lashlee wanted to know if Brewer was interested in being a graduate assistant.

A couple weeks later, Brewer was in Alabama. Brewer was familiar with both Malzahn and Lashlee as he had worked summer camps at Tulsa and then Arkansas State over the past several years.

“We decided this is the right thing to do at this time in our lives,” Brewer said. “I really got to know those guys, and I told them that I was interested in coaching in college. I’m thankful that they have given me this opportunity.”

Brewer works with Tigers offensive line coach J.B. Grimes and is in the press box during games.

“I’m on a direct line with J.B. Grimes,” Brewer said. “I’m in charge of what the opponent is doing. We are scouting the defense. We just try to give them as much information on how they are playing certain plays.”

Brewer also spends time on the defensive side of the football while helping prepare the high-powered Auburn offense.

“I am also in charge of the scout team defense,” Brewer said. “We run no huddle, so we have a no huddle defense. We practice like we play. I have to have the defense ready to go and get the exact looks. Then I work with the offensive line during the practice portion.”

And all that worked started all over again early Sunday morning.

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