SAN DIEGO, Calif. (WDRB) — You’ve memorized the legendary games and trophies Jeff Brohm won as the quarterback at Trinity High School and the University of Louisville.
You’ve seen the “Let’s Play Football,” viral video clip from Brohm’s violent adventure in the XFL. That will be in the book.
You might remember Brohm played minor league baseball with Hall of Famer Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez in the Cleveland Indians’ farm system.
So, on the eve of the University of Louisville’s Holiday Bowl encounter with USC Wednesday at 8 p.m. (EST) here at Petco Park (televised by WDRB), what part of the Brohm Story can I share that you haven’t heard (or don’t remember)?
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm was the third-string quarterback for the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. Photo Jennifer Brohm Twitter.
This should work: Playing a bowl game in San Diego is a Jeff Brohm Homecoming.
“The weather and the living were tremendous,” Brohm said. “I thought I’d won the lottery … I’m a third-team quarterback, not getting hit at all but collecting a paycheck, enjoying life and we kind of kept winning and winning.”
Playing for Bobby Ross was where his NFL career began as an undrafted free agent with the San Diego Chargers as teammates with linebacker Junior Seau and halfback Natrone Means. It’s the team that took Brohm to the Super Bowl.
It’s the place where Brohm played his practice role so well it foretold the Chargers would be beaten decisively by the San Francisco 49ers' dynasty in Super Bowl XXIX.
I’ll go back and borrow from the pre-Super Bowl column I wrote in The Courier-Journal several days before that game in Miami:
Jeff Brohm was young — Steve Young.
As the Chargers’ third-team quarterback, it was Brohm’s assignment to simulate the dazzling run/throw antics of Young, the dynamic 49ers’ quarterback who was busting out of Joe Montana’s shadow and taking his first firm steps toward the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Brohm even volunteered to throw a few passes left-handed, the way Young drilled his spirals.
You think Brohm has not forgotten Louisville’s season-ending losses to Kentucky and Florida State?
Jeff Brohm, 52, has not fully processed Super Bowl XXIX.
Ask him.
“We had about three days of practice and I was looking better than I ever had,” Brohm said.
“I mean, I was throwing a bunch of touchdowns and we were really effective on the scout team.
“I’m thinking, ‘Maybe, it’s just me improving. I don’t know.’ ”
Actually, he knew. There were gaps in the Chargers’ defense. Ugly gaps, especially in the secondary.
“It was just the brand of offense the 49ers ran, the West Coast offense, kind of in its heyday,” Brohm said.
“Sure enough, we went out there and it was Steve Young’s best performance.”
Six TD passs (a Super Bowl record), three to Jerry Rice, a pair to Ricky Watters, one to William Floyd. The 49ers won from Biscayne Bay to the Golden Gate Bridge, 49-26.
Five quarterbacks got in the game — three for San Francisco, two for San Diego. Brohm was the exception.
Young got another Super Bowl ring. Brohm got an an AFC championship ring— and another solid learning experience on his journey to becoming the coach who has Louisville (10-3) positioned to win 11 games in a season when most wiseguys predicted six or seven but certainly no more than eight.
I re-read the column I wrote about Brohm prior to that Super Bowl in January 1995. This was the paragraph that still reads like a coach in the making:
“All I’ve tried to do this season is learn as much about the game as possible, study film, watch the way the really great quarterbacks go about their business and keep myself mentally in the game.
“I’m not used to not playing. It’s different. This is the NFL. You have to wait for the opportunity and be ready when it comes, because it will come around.”
It did not come that year, Brohm’s rookie season after leaving U of L. He threw his final pass in a game on Aug. 25, an exhibition.
He left the Chargers for the 49ers the next season — and then made stops with Tampa, Denver and Cleveland before transitioning to the XFL and, eventually, coaching.
I asked him if that year with the Chargers, when he was buried on the bench behind Stan Humphries and Gale Gilbert, was the experience that pushed him toward coaching.
“No, not at all,” he said.
“I really had no idea of the coaching profession or even what went into coaching at a high level. As I got done playing in the NFL, I had three NFL teams want me to coach and get involved with it.
“I took that as an insult, like I couldn’t play. I didn’t buy into that for awhile. I was like, ‘Heck,no, I can still play this game. You guys are blind or something.’
“But you know, sure enough, luckily I got into it after that.”
Into it in a big way, as one of the top college coaches in the nation this season. On Wednesday, he has a chance to beat Lincoln Riley, a $10 million coach who was considered one of the rising stars in the profession until USC dropped a 7-5 dud this season.
Now Jeff Brohm is back in San Diego, crushing the transfer portal, determined to lead the University of Louisville to its 11th win against Southern Cal, one of the brand names in college football.
“Just a great experience to be in,” Brohm said.
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