Virginia Tech fifth-year senior QB Michael Brewer looks to improve in 2nd, final year in ACC

Michael Brewer needed to take his mind off football.

He transferred to Virginia Tech two months before starting at quarterback last season, forcing him to spend four to six hours a day during the summer digesting his new playbook.

His only reprieve came during Fourth of July weekend, fishing under 90-degree skies in Islamorada, Fla.

Brewer’s tosses were his fishing line into the Atlantic Ocean. The highlight reel catch came in the form of a 150-pound tarpon jumping six feet out of the water.

“Michael didn’t think one thing about football,” Brewer’s father, Robert, said. “He didn’t run into anybody that knew who he was or asked about football.

“We never even talked about it.”

The silence sealed off fresh memories from a 7-6 Virginia Tech season that Brewer called a “constant struggle,” equipped with just a two-month crash course in the playbook before training camp.

The time for excuses is over, Brewer said, and he’s overcome the adversity of abandoning his family’s deep Texas football roots because of an injury in his third season at Texas Tech. A season of experience and commitment to offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler’s intensive teaching methods, including take-home tests, have Brewer primed for a rebound season.

“I feel like I did a pretty good job of not really listening to the outside world,” Brewer said. “I’ve seen it so many times and been taught the right way to handle all that.

“It can’t do anything for you.”

Brewer has no choice but to listen to Loeffler, who’s working with a returning quarterback for the first time in his three seasons on the job. He demands every member of his offense understand the inner workings of everyone else’s jobs — linemen knowing receivers’ routes, receivers knowing linemen’s schemes, and so on.

Loeffler’s method of quality control is administering pen and paper tests.

Brewer’s responsible for drawing out entire offensive formations — 200 of them — and by mislabeling 18 of them on his first assessment, he wasn’t approaching his coach’s standard.

“I got it pretty good from coach Loeffler that day,” Brewer said.

The quarterback struggled to embrace his coach’s criticisms and understand the minutia of each play like Loeffler did. Robert Brewer, a former college quarterback himself, told his son to “get to another level.”

Improvement on pen and paper tests translated to better communication on the field. Third-year tight end Bucky Hodges said Brewer’s improved on discretely tipping his receivers on the route he wants at the line of scrimmage.

It’s a sign of Brewer’s enhanced confidence under center, something that fluctuated trying to orchestrate an offense last season whose top three receivers were underclassmen.

“My expectation for him this season is to be one of the top quarterbacks in the (Atlantic Coast Conference),” receiver Isaiah Ford said. “He’s put in an extreme amount of work.”

Brewer is trying to live up to a name that success has always followed in football. His father, grandfather, uncle and great uncle were all quarterbacks at University of Texas.

Winning four state championships at Lake Travis (Texas) High School, Brewer appeared on the same track. But injuries complicated his situation at Texas Tech, and the strenuous process of transferring “made Michael a man,” his father said.

Brewer was overwhelmed by his “whole new world:” Moving away and into his own apartment, teaching himself the long verbiage of Virginia Tech’s pro-style offense and seeking out a new kayak spot.

“Sometimes making you better doesn’t involve a pat on the shoulder,” Robert Brewer said.

Ahead of his final season, Brewer’s no longer jaded through the lens of year-to-year championships he experienced in high school. He’s no longer staring at the lowlights of his once-sidelined football career.

The ledger has evened out over the course of his college career, most recently in highlight-reel wins against Virginia and Ohio State last season while also losing five games by one possession.

“When things are going good, keep it even keel,” Brewer said. “When things aren’t going well, keep it even keel.

“I don’t feel any pressure going into my last season, I’m excited.”