To understand just how much the Brohm family name means to folks in Louisville, Ky., you didn't need to look any further than the Lambeau Field parking lot during the recent organized team activities.

There, parked amid the catering staff cars and security staff motorcycles was a mammoth satellite truck from Fox41, the Louisville Fox TV affiliate.

While there weren't any Kansas stations in town to follow Jordy Nelson, or Alabama stations to report on Patrick Lee's development, Fox41 sports director Tom Lane traveled to Green Bay to chronicle the exploits of quarterback Brian Brohm, Louisville's favorite son, who was participating in the first open-to-the-media day of the Packers' organized team activity practices.
 


Brohm, who like Nelson and Lee is a second-round pick, isn't expected to have an immediate impact in 2008 the way the others could. Instead, he figures to be no more than new starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers' backup. Still, Lane filed a 2-minute, 58-second package -- an eternity in TV newscast time -- on Brohm for that night's newscast, and another lengthy piece for the following night's show.

"I've always had a strong tie to the city of Louisville -- played high-school ball there, grew up there -- so I think people will follow (what I do)," Brohm said of the hometown attention. "There's a lot of Packers fans in Louisville as well. They're all over the place."

There's more now, though, after the Packers took Brohm 56th overall in last month's NFL draft. That's what happens when your father, Oliver, and brothers, Jeff and Greg, all played at the University of Louisville; when you led your high school, Louisville Trinity, to back-to-back-to-back state football titles in 2001, '02 and '03; and when you were on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high-school junior as part of the vanishing breed of three-sport prep athletes.

Being a backup will be an adjustment for Brohm. Whereas seventh-round pick Matt Flynn spent the bulk of his career at LSU as a backup before leading the Tigers to the BCS Championship last season, Brohm has never truly been a No. 2. Even as a freshman at Louisville, where his father and two brothers played before him, Brohm was more of a starter-in-waiting than a backup.

Playing for the Packers also marks the first time since Pop Warner that Brohm hasn't been coached by either his dad, Oscar (his high-school coach) or his older brother, Jeff (a former NFL backup who serves as Louisville's quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator).

Between the early OTA practices, Brohm answered a series of questions for the Milwaukee Talks that follows. Enjoy.

OnMilwaukee.com: What was it like growing up in your family, with football being so integral to your youth?

Brian Brohm: You know, it was a lot of fun, but you also have a lot of coaches. My brothers are so much older than me, they're kind of mentor-type figures, guys who've been teaching me for a long time, as well as my dad, who's a football coach. So, I've had three coaches for quite awhile now.

OMC: Was your dad harder on you in high school than other kids? Or if you had been playing for someone other than your dad?

BB: No, I don't think so. I don't think he was harder on me than anybody else. It was a good process to have a dad that coached football and played college football, a brother who's been in the NFL and also coached. Just to have them around, it really helped develop my game pretty fast.

OMC: Did you consider going to school anywhere but Louisville, given your "legacy" status there?

BB: Yeah, I looked at some other places. I looked at Notre Dame and Tennessee, but when it came down to it, I wanted to stay home and go to the school that I grew up a big fan of, and that was Louisville.

OMC: Did you feel extra pressure from Day 1 there, given your family's history at the school?

BB: Yeah, I knew that was going to be there when I chose to go there. The expectations, people knew who I was, they knew our family, they were expecting big things just because I had the last name "Brohm." I knew that going in and was expecting it, so I was prepared for it.

OMC: Did learning to play amid that scrutiny help you throughout your career in any way? Or will it help in the NFL?

BB: I think it's helped. It's made me more focused, wanting to prove to everybody that I am as good as they tried to put those expectations up there. I've always tried to reach those expectations, so I think it did help me out in reaching those goals I wanted to accomplish.

OMC: What was it like having Jeff in the NFL while you were growing up?

BB: As a kid, it was awesome to have a brother that's in the NFL when you're 8, 9, 10, 11 years old. Being able to go to NFL games and (in) NFL locker rooms, meeting guys like Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Brent Jones, as a kid, that's pretty cool. Being able to learn those (quarterback) techniques (like) dropping back when you're in seventh grade from your brothers is also a big plus. But pressure-wise, there's definitely a lot more pressure within the city. Everyone knew who I was coming up, even when I was getting into high school. So my brothers were huge at my high school, they won state championships, so I had the pressure there to live up to that. We won three state titles, so I feel like I lived up to that one and at U of L it was the same thing.

OMC: So there was a lot of pressure when you were 14, 15 years old?

BB: It was always fun. I always realized there was that pressure out there and there was that kind of attention that another quarterback wouldn't typically receive in the town. I knew that was out there, and I knew that when I made my decision to come to Louisville, that it would be that way there but not somewhere else. I fully accepted it and knew it was going to be there.

 Page 1 of 2 (view all on one page)

Next >>

Post a comment / write a review.