How did it happen? How did a sore-backed, undersized, non-bookish walk-on find himself on the field at Bowers Stadium, battling the Sam Houston State Bearkats?
It was Dec. 16, 2011, and Jabin Sambrano had just hauled in a 30-yard touchdown pass in the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals.
Brett Brauer was on the synthetic turf, looking at the ball. He bent and tucked his right hand underneath, on the laces. The left hand on top, he extended both arms as far as he could to the 3-yard line. Then he took one final pre-snap look. As usual, Sam Gratton and Brody McKnight were upside down.
Brauer, a 2007 honorable mention all-Class AA football player for Missoula Big Sky, snapped the ball for the Montana Grizzlies. Gratton caught it, spun it. McKnight booted the PAT through the uprights.
That’s the short version of how it happened.
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The long version involves academic comebacks, weightlifting injuries, a Grizzly grandfather and Guy Bingham. Brett Brauer, a shade over 6 feet tall and 260 pounds, is the short-snapper for the Griz. He learned the skill from his dad, who learned it from Bingham, a Grizzly standout from 1976-79.
Not big or athletic enough to play much on either side of the trench – for comparison, guard William Poehl tops out a 6-8, 340 pounds – Brauer runs on the field for field goals and PAT kicks, and then anonymously – if all goes well – trots back off.
“He’s found a way to make a contribution,” John Brauer, Brett’s dad, said. “He was a pretty good high school player, but in all honesty undersized for an offensive lineman at his level.”
Matt Johnson, the head coach at Big Sky High, concurs.
“For AA football even, he was probably undersized,” said Johnson, who was an assistant when Brauer played. “But he came to practice every day and worked his butt off. Brett did a great job for us. When we made it to the playoffs he started at center and he worked hard.”
Undersized. Worked hard. These are hardly the tangibles that appeal to the Grizzlies, one of the prouder programs in the FCS. As it was, Montana State-Northern of the NAIA Frontier Conference recruited Brauer the best. That’s how he wound up in Havre in 2008, sore back and all.
“Bad power clean,” he said of his injury. “I made it up there and checked in the dorm, and I was kind of limping along. I ended up just coming home and rolling to the U.”
At UM he began hanging with some football players, which led him to try winter conditioning in 2009, which led assistant coach Tom Hauck to tell him he might want to think about walking on.
So Brett Brauer walked on. But there was a problem: He didn’t have the grades to play for the Griz.
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“In grade school we were told he had a slight disability,” said John Brauer, who like his wife Kathy is a UM graduate. “He’s always struggled with school work. I think he kind of disconnected – I’m not going to say he always applied himself to the fullest.
“He didn’t come out of high school with a very good GPA and he didn’t come out with the credits.”
So Brett Brauer more or less red-shirted twice for the Griz, once for grades and once because he wasn’t going to crack an offensive line that included center Alex Verlanic.
But he played on the scout team and, whenever he had the chance, short-snapped. When Verlanic graduated after the 2010 season, UM needed someone to hike for field goals (the long-snapping duties, oddly enough, belong to former Big Sky teammate Jordan Tripp).
By then Brauer was ahead in school.
“That’s one of the things we’re most proud of as parents,” his dad said. “For whatever reason, he really turned it up a level.”
Brauer had two reasons, neither of whom is with us: His high school coach and a World War II hero named Fred Brauer.
“I had a lot of motivators,” he says. “I had Gary Ekegren as a coach. He taught me more about life than he did about football.
“It’s been a long road. I guess what possessed me was my grandpa played here in the late 30s, and he’s been kind of my motivation. I had some other offers at the NAIA level, and decided I wanted to see if I could do what my grandpa did. I was just determined.”
Ekegren, a Griz alum, coached Big Sky for 20 seasons before passing away in early 2011. Fred Brauer played for the Grizzlies from 1939-41 before entering the armed forces and earning the Distinguished Flying Cross in the European Theatre. He died in 2007.
Eight decades after his grandfather played, Brett Brauer is on the field, his wrists wrapped in tape, the initials “F.B.” written in magic marker.
***
Bingham played 14 years in the NFL, but his three seasons in Atlanta from 1989-91 stand out. He held out back-to-back seasons, which led head coach Jerry Glanville to bring in a tight end that could long-snap.
“They signed a guy, I can’t remember his name now, and the same year he broke his wrist and so they brought me back,” Bingham remembered. “Then after I went to the Redskins, I played against the Falcons (in 1993). And that same guy snapped it over the punter’s head.
“I was running off the field and I wanted to tell Jerry, ‘Hey, if you’d have kept me you would have won this game.’ But I wasn’t quick enough to think of it at the time.”
The takeaway is that Bingham’s skill is invaluable.
“It’s the reason I got drafted, and got my foot in the door to play professional football for sure,” said Bingham, who lives in Missoula. “And at the end it got me a couple extra years with the Redskins. I had a hurt foot and couldn’t really play, but I could still snap. So they kept me around.”
The skill has kept Brett Brauer around. John Brauer, then a player for Missoula Sentinel, learned the tricks of the trade from Bingham at a Grizzly football camp in either 1976 or ’77. Eventually he passed them on to his son.
“I told Brett when he started playing, ‘You know, snapping was really good to me as a high school athlete,” said John, who had a scholarship to play at Jamestown (N.D.) College. “ ‘It’s a pretty tough skill, but if we get out and practice, I think you can get it down.’
“From the first snap, I knew he had it. He had the head for it. There are a lot of kids that get out and do and for whatever reason, they check out at the wrong time.”
***
Brett Brauer remembers his first day as a Griz. Talked into walking on by the defensive line coach, he went to the equipment window at the Adams Center.
“They handed me those big ol’ Nike box offensive lineman cleats,” Brauer said. “That was kind of a ‘bring me back to earth’ moment. I’ve been hanging around the O-line ever since.”
Last December Brauer found himself playing center in the fourth quarter of Montana’s blowout playoff win over Northern Iowa. He’s been on the Washington-Grizzly Stadium turf at the same time as his sister, Tarah, a former UM dance squad performer. He made the trip to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the 2009 FCS title game.
It’s all pretty heady stuff for his dad.
“I know he’s my son, so I guess temper this,” John begins. “But he is a really great kid. He just has a great work ethic, and I think that’s what has paid off for him here. He’s not good at taking no for an answer.”
The rub is that the Grizzlies have had their share of upheaval, from the loss of a quarterback and running back to rape charges, to the firing of head coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O’Day in March, to a 4-5 record heading into Saturday’s game at Weber State.
Brett Brauer powers on.
“I think we’re going to win out,” he says, “and make sure we get the Griz a winning season. I think the guys are going to rally and do that. I mean, we hear we’re young, but a lot of these games we’ve kind of hurt ourselves.
“I think we’re going to clean those up and finish the season as best we can, you know?”
So says the future UM grad (communications, in May, with a near 3.0 GPA) who turned things around – and upside down – to become perhaps the unlikeliest Griz of all.
“Coming out of high school, I bet if you asked most people if he’d play football for the University of Montana, they’d have said, ‘Eh, I don’t think so,’ ” Johnson said. “That’s a huge accomplishment. But sometimes that’s what it is more about at that level: Can you make it through the grind, day-in and day-out.
“The people that can go the distance – sometimes doing that trumps the other things.”
Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 523-5247, at [email protected] or @Fritz_Neighbor.
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n accordance with the Halloween spirit, the Grizzlies’ play was downright spooky last week, at least for Idaho State, as they put up 70 points, 605 yards of offense and nearly set a school record for first downs with 33.
The blowout victory enabled many younger players to showcase their talents, and none stood out more than true freshman running back Joey Counts, who caught two touchdown passes and racked up almost 100 yards of total offense against the Bengals.
Counts was ecstatic to see some quality snaps and also gave credit where credit was due.
“I’m really grateful to the coaches for giving me the opportunity to get the ball in my hands and the line did a great job setting everything up for me,” Counts said. “With the line playing as well as they did, opening up the holes, it made it easy for me.”
Counts may be a new face in Missoula, but he is certainly at home in the backfield.
Last year as a high school senior, the Mesa, Ariz., native set the state 5A single-game record with 411 rushing yards and coupled that with five touchdowns.
Although he is very proud of that achievement, the humble Counts again said he has to give some love to his big uglies up front.
“We had put in a new, three-back formation that week, and those guys were opening up some gaping holes for me,” Counts said. “They made it pretty easy for me to read the blocks and it was just a fun game to be a part of.”
Counts redshirted to start this season, but injuries led to him having to burn that extra year of eligibility, which he was more than happy to do.
“My goal was to play as a true freshman and I knew we already had seven or eight backs, so I knew I was going to have to work hard,” he said. “I was fine when they wanted to redshirt me, but when Dan (Moore) got hurt they called my number and I was ready to jump up and play.”
Counts is averaging six yards a carry this season in three games.
Q. It was a very dominating performance for you guys last week. Why do you think it was clicking so well?
A. We were really playing with passion and emotion and were really just having fun out there. Our offense was clicking and the line did a great job opening up holes for the backs.
Q. How much of a morale booster was that for you guys after having some really tough losses this year?
A. We’ve worked very hard this whole season and I think it’s finally paid off for us. We put in a ton of work in film and at practice week in and week out so it was great to have it show up on the scoreboard.
Q. I’ve heard that after your performance last week some people are calling you “Touchdown Counts” now. How do you like that nickname?
A. (laughs) You know, I don’t really know about that yet. I just go out there and work hard for the guys next to me and I think the results will just play out themselves.
Q. From what you’ve seen, what can we expect to see out of Weber State defensively?
A. Their defense is pretty physical, so we’ve got to take that physicality to them like we’ve been talking about all week. And if we play with discipline we should be able to come out on top.
Q. Your bio describes you as a “strong and speedy running back.” What do you think is your greatest strength as a ball carrier?
A. Personally, I don’t really like to think I have one particular strength. I like to try to be well-rounded. I just like to get the ball downfield and do whatever the situation calls for, no matter what it takes.
Q. You helped lead Desert Ridge High School in 2010 to the state finals, which was further than it had ever been. What was that like, especially getting to play at the University of Phoenix stadium?
A. It was special, just like the whole year was special. We always emphasized being a family and brotherhood, so it was more about the journey and the guy next to you, especially throughout the playoffs. So, again, the results will play themselves out if you play with passion and love for your brothers.
Q. You and two of your teammates, Parker Rasmussen and Jordan Becerra, were dubbed the “Big Three” at Desert Ridge. What was your relationship like with them and do you still keep in contact with them?
A. Jordan plays at Harvard now and Parker is at Arizona State and I still text them every Saturday. I just tell them “good luck and be safe out there.” Those guys were all my brothers back home so I try to talk to them every chance I get. Another teammate of mine, Alex Barrett, is at San Diego State, and I talk to him a lot too. We’ve really had a tight-knit group there and we’re all still close.
Q. Being your first year in Montana and coming from Arizona, how prepared are you for the winter up here?
A. I guess we’ll find out (laughs). I’m used to not even wearing a sweatshirt in Arizona during the winter. I’m just going to have to throw on some extra layers and as long as I can stay warm on the sideline, I think I should be fine.
Q. Who is someone you would say has influenced your life the most?
A. My biggest inspiration was our team manager in high school, Jerry O’Toole, who was a student with special needs. It really hits you deep in the heart and makes you thank God for all you have. They did a huge story on him down there and he is just an amazing person to meet. Until you do meet him, you can’t really know exactly what I mean but he’s just a happy, great kid and words can’t really describe how he inspired me.
Q. If you had to pick an actor to portray your life story, who do you think could do the best job?
A. That’s a tough one. I’d have to say The Rock because he’s just an emotional guy and he gets you going no matter what movie it is.
