Couch Q&A: MSU QBs coach Brad Salem talks Brian Lewerke's progress and keeping his QB safe
Graham Couch
EAST LANSING – I misread Brian Lewerke as he spoke after Michigan State’s win at Minnesota last week.
“I think when I was given the chances to throw, I did a decent job,” the Spartans’ quarterback said from the podium in Minneapolis.
It struck me as perhaps subtle frustration with how often he was allowed to let it fly against the Gophers. There were, after all, two third-and-6 or longer plays in which MSU ran the ball and failed to get the first down.
Apparently, that’s not at all what he was getting at. He’s harder to read than some other quarterbacks I’ve covered, Connor Cook especially. I’ll have to get to know Lewerke better.
Lewerke interests me on several fronts. He handles himself like a pro, but there’s an edge to him. He’s also a 20-year-old kid — a few days shy of his 21st birthday — encountering newfound celebrity on campus. He is the most important person on MSU’s football team. An injury to him wrecks this reclamation season.
I sat down with MSU quarterbacks coach Brad Salem this week — ahead of the Spartans’ home game against Indiana — to discuss all things Lewerke, including his sophomore quarterback’s progress and keeping him healthy. Here’s that conversation.
Couch: How much of the playbook is at Brian’s disposal?
Salem: I feel like Brian has a very good handle on what we’re doing offensively. The whole playbook is available to him.
Q: When he sees something from the defense at the line of scrimmage, as a senior, will there be more that he’s able or allowed to check into?
A: I would say that it’s not that it’s not available to him. It’s do (young QBs) see it. And he sees many things. He’s done a very good job at the line of scrimmage of getting out of certain plays, checking when needed.
Q: He’s thrown a couple interceptions or dangerous passes when he didn’t see the safety or a defender coming over. Where is he in his development with that?
A: He’s grown every week. We talk about in our (QBs meeting) room, we talk about, ‘What are you looking at specifically? Who can take a route away from you?’ Those are things you train throughout your career as a quarterback. You see that growth each week. There are still things he has to protect and things he does very well with his eyes.
Q: Against Michigan, he dove into the end zone and got a little banged up. Obviously, you want the touchdown there. But what’s the balance in trying to keep him healthy long-term?
A: As coaches, you’re always concerned with keeping your quarterback safe, meaning in a sense of how many runs do you purposely run as an offense, putting him in those situations. He’s (also) sort of created or extended plays. He has quick bodiedness that he can get out of trouble. Like that play, the thing you like is the competitive nature that took place in that play where he just went and showed his acceleration at the end of the play.
Q: But if you’re up four touchdowns, you’re hoping he slides at the 3-yard line?
A: You’re hoping so
Q: A couple plays earlier in that Michigan game, he had two guys on his heels in the pocket, you could tell he could feel the pressure. His first few steps out of trouble really showed his quickness …
A: Those are the things we noticed in recruiting him and really in his first year when he redshirted, as you talk about quick and sudden movements in the pocket. Because some things are very subtle, that people may not see, where you’re just stepping out of the way or avoiding a rush in a certain direction. He’s very quick-bodied and then obviously has good speed and the ability to run away from people, which helps.
Q: You saw all this in high school?
A: Then it became real at practice. All of sudden he got out of trouble. Sometimes it’s hard at practice, because you’re not live. So they’ll say they got him (down) and he’ll come back and say, no they didn’t get him. It’s not until you really go live reps, that you see what is the true ability, the escapability of a quarterback.
Q: I keep writing that he’s a rare true dual-threat QB. Am I right on that, this this is a rare skill set?
A: That is the combination you’re hoping for. He definitely is a pocket passer. He’s a very gifted passer as far as accuracy and knowing where to go with the ball. Obviously the attributes of speed and athletic ability are going to help to enhance that.
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Q: How much are you waiting for a dry week to see what he can really do, how much he’s progressed?
A: You get into the weather games now (this time of year), so you’ve got to deal with it from an offensive aspect, what you’re doing offensively and what situations you put him into. You’d love every day (to be dry). (Quarterbacks), we’re always, ‘What’s the wind? What’s the temperature?’”
Q: What’s something people don’t know about him?
A: When you see him day to day, his calmness. He does not let things rattle him. He’s very calm and confident. I feel like he makes the people around him better.
Q: That’s innate. You can’t teach that, right?
A: He has a quietness about him, and a very coachable personality. You can see that in our quarterback room, just the way they get along and in the locker room with his teammates.
Q: I asked him a few weeks ago whether he’d been recognized on campus. He said he only had once. He’s obviously experiencing some sudden celebrity now. Have you talked to him about that?
A: You go through that process. And Connor (Cook) did the same thing. It’s something that you deal with. Just talking with him this summer, ‘Hey, you need to prepare yourself.’ You don’t have to talk to him about how to carry himself, but it’s just the things that’ll start happening. People will recognize you. He’s handled it very well. He still is who he is.”
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.