Michigan State University Athletics
Brian Lewerke: Piloting The Offense
10/3/2019 11:35:00 AM | Football
Redshirt senior quarterback Brian Lewerke understands and embraces the responsibility of everyone, on and off the field, looking to him to lead the Spartans to victory. He doesn't shy away from it. He steps on the field, under the lights and enjoys every second.
"I like having the football in my hand every play; it's nice being able to lead guys and kind of control the offense and the tempo of the offense," he said. "How good our offense does kind of depends on me, not in a selfish way, but quarterbacks have a lot of responsibility. My job is to get the ball to other guys. I just enjoy seeing other guys make plays and seeing my teammates succeed."
Not everyone has the ability to be a quarterback. It requires an IQ to see all angles of the game and make rash, yet correct decisions under immense amounts of pressure that sometimes equate to a 300-pound man tackling you.
"It's fun," the redshirt senior said. "You have to be free thinking and not focusing on one thing. You have to be able to see a lot of things at the same time and not get distracted in your head. Making sure you're always thinking about the film you watched the week before and trying to see the defense. Â In all, it's just making sure you're not freaking out and trying to stay cool."
Despite having so much present admiration for his position, growing up, Lewerke didn't initially want to be a quarterback. As a fourth grader throwing the ball around with his dad, Lewerke wanted to be on the receiving end of his current position's efforts.
"Well, I actually wanted to play receiver," Lewerke said. "I felt like I had pretty good hands, and it was fun watching receivers play. I think the first day I tried it out there were a ton of guys going out for receiver, but they only had two or three guys going out for quarterback. So, my dad was like, 'Maybe you should try out for quarterback, a spot's open, and I think you could be good at it.' So, I switched over after the first day and played that ever since."
During his little league days, Lewerke could only dream of where his career could lead him. Now, he's one of six players under Coach Mark Dantonio, and the second quarterback, to be named captain at least twice. Before his recent era of leadership, the three-time letterwinner looked up to upperclassmen quarterbacks like Damion Terry and Connor Cook.
Learning from the MSU quarterbacks before him was in an important part of his early success for the Spartans. This summer, Lewerke got to learn from some of the nation's best leaders and soldiers in the military.
"We visited the Navy SEALs, got to talk with them, went through their obstacle course, trained with them and they gave us a couple hints on leadership," Lewerke said. "We asked a ton of questions and they're probably some of the best leaders in the world, so they had a bunch of answers for us. We also went to talk with the Marine Corps … It was great experience, both physically and mentally I learned a ton."
In addition to lessons that Lewerke could take back to the team and apply to his own game, there were parts of the camp that allowed the captain to feel like Tom Cruise in Top Gun and Mission Impossible.
"The first day we went to a Navy ship in the middle of the ocean. We were on a plane, all the seats were facing the back, which was different, and we got to land on an aircraft carrier. With that, you're going 150 miles per hour and you're stopping in a matter of two seconds, lots of G-force which was fun. They're trying to land and they dropped the hook, and there's three ropes that they're trying to hit… We missed the first time, so we hit the pavement, bounced up and spun back around to make it the second time."
One of the common themes that he learned from these soldiers, in addition to lessons from Coach Dantonio, is sticking with it through the tough times. Coming back from a serious shoulder injury last season, Lewerke is thankful for one of the tribulations that's taught him so much about himself.
"I think my mental toughness has gotten a lot better, being able to stick it out when people are saying stuff about you," the redshirt senior said. "I think I've gotten better zoning that out and keeping my focus on the team to try and get wins for us."
Last year, the Spartans traveled to the home of the Arizona native to face Arizona State, and while the game didn't add a win to their season record, Lewerke was able to make an impact on the ones closest to home.
"When I committed here, I never thought I'd play college football in Arizona ever," Lewerke said. "Being able to go back, see all my friends and family, that maybe wouldn't be able to come to an away game, got to travel 20 minutes to go to the game. That was really cool."
In his final season as a Spartan, the Phoenix native is approaching a defining storyline in his life-like movie with MSU. Lewerke had the opportunity to be a part of history.
"That crazy how it works," he said. "We got to help Coach D become the winningest MSU coach; me coming from Arizona, being the quarterback, being a senior, a captain, it's kind of like a movie, I guess. It's pretty cool. I was honored to help get that done for him."
As one of MSU's all-time leaders in total offense and the 10th quarterback in program history to hit 5,000 passing yards, Lewerke knows that doing what they've already done this season is imperative for potential wins the rest of the season.
However, for Lewerke, it's beyond being a part of history; with his time at MSU winding down he wants it to be remembered that he always loved playing with his guys in the Green and White.
"My class that I came in with, I love all those guys," the team captain said. "Even the guys that have left, I still kept relationships with a few of them. I wouldn't trade it for any other class or any other place to play football."
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"I like having the football in my hand every play; it's nice being able to lead guys and kind of control the offense and the tempo of the offense," he said. "How good our offense does kind of depends on me, not in a selfish way, but quarterbacks have a lot of responsibility. My job is to get the ball to other guys. I just enjoy seeing other guys make plays and seeing my teammates succeed."
Not everyone has the ability to be a quarterback. It requires an IQ to see all angles of the game and make rash, yet correct decisions under immense amounts of pressure that sometimes equate to a 300-pound man tackling you.
"It's fun," the redshirt senior said. "You have to be free thinking and not focusing on one thing. You have to be able to see a lot of things at the same time and not get distracted in your head. Making sure you're always thinking about the film you watched the week before and trying to see the defense. Â In all, it's just making sure you're not freaking out and trying to stay cool."
Despite having so much present admiration for his position, growing up, Lewerke didn't initially want to be a quarterback. As a fourth grader throwing the ball around with his dad, Lewerke wanted to be on the receiving end of his current position's efforts.
"Well, I actually wanted to play receiver," Lewerke said. "I felt like I had pretty good hands, and it was fun watching receivers play. I think the first day I tried it out there were a ton of guys going out for receiver, but they only had two or three guys going out for quarterback. So, my dad was like, 'Maybe you should try out for quarterback, a spot's open, and I think you could be good at it.' So, I switched over after the first day and played that ever since."
During his little league days, Lewerke could only dream of where his career could lead him. Now, he's one of six players under Coach Mark Dantonio, and the second quarterback, to be named captain at least twice. Before his recent era of leadership, the three-time letterwinner looked up to upperclassmen quarterbacks like Damion Terry and Connor Cook.
Learning from the MSU quarterbacks before him was in an important part of his early success for the Spartans. This summer, Lewerke got to learn from some of the nation's best leaders and soldiers in the military.
"We visited the Navy SEALs, got to talk with them, went through their obstacle course, trained with them and they gave us a couple hints on leadership," Lewerke said. "We asked a ton of questions and they're probably some of the best leaders in the world, so they had a bunch of answers for us. We also went to talk with the Marine Corps … It was great experience, both physically and mentally I learned a ton."
In addition to lessons that Lewerke could take back to the team and apply to his own game, there were parts of the camp that allowed the captain to feel like Tom Cruise in Top Gun and Mission Impossible.
"The first day we went to a Navy ship in the middle of the ocean. We were on a plane, all the seats were facing the back, which was different, and we got to land on an aircraft carrier. With that, you're going 150 miles per hour and you're stopping in a matter of two seconds, lots of G-force which was fun. They're trying to land and they dropped the hook, and there's three ropes that they're trying to hit… We missed the first time, so we hit the pavement, bounced up and spun back around to make it the second time."
One of the common themes that he learned from these soldiers, in addition to lessons from Coach Dantonio, is sticking with it through the tough times. Coming back from a serious shoulder injury last season, Lewerke is thankful for one of the tribulations that's taught him so much about himself.
"I think my mental toughness has gotten a lot better, being able to stick it out when people are saying stuff about you," the redshirt senior said. "I think I've gotten better zoning that out and keeping my focus on the team to try and get wins for us."
Last year, the Spartans traveled to the home of the Arizona native to face Arizona State, and while the game didn't add a win to their season record, Lewerke was able to make an impact on the ones closest to home.
"When I committed here, I never thought I'd play college football in Arizona ever," Lewerke said. "Being able to go back, see all my friends and family, that maybe wouldn't be able to come to an away game, got to travel 20 minutes to go to the game. That was really cool."
In his final season as a Spartan, the Phoenix native is approaching a defining storyline in his life-like movie with MSU. Lewerke had the opportunity to be a part of history.
"That crazy how it works," he said. "We got to help Coach D become the winningest MSU coach; me coming from Arizona, being the quarterback, being a senior, a captain, it's kind of like a movie, I guess. It's pretty cool. I was honored to help get that done for him."
As one of MSU's all-time leaders in total offense and the 10th quarterback in program history to hit 5,000 passing yards, Lewerke knows that doing what they've already done this season is imperative for potential wins the rest of the season.
However, for Lewerke, it's beyond being a part of history; with his time at MSU winding down he wants it to be remembered that he always loved playing with his guys in the Green and White.
"My class that I came in with, I love all those guys," the team captain said. "Even the guys that have left, I still kept relationships with a few of them. I wouldn't trade it for any other class or any other place to play football."
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