Local high school athletes help NFL QB prepare for training camp

Brock Osweiler needed the work.

And you figure high school kids running pass routes and catching balls from a current — and former — NFL quarterback couldn’t have been a bad thing for them either.

So there was Osweiler, born in Coeur d’Alene and raised in Kalispell, Mont., back in the Lake City, throwing passes the past three mornings at Coeur d’Alene High, while some 15 prep receivers from Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint and Spokane ran routes and caught passes from Osweiler, getting ready for his first season with the Cleveland Browns, former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer, and three high school QBs.

“My wife and I and our baby, we come back to the Northwest every summer before training camp, and we stay here in Coeur d’Alene,” said Osweiler, who lived in Coeur d’Alene for about a year before his family moved to Kalispell, where he went on to star at Flathead High. “And obviously I need to get my work in before training camp, and I’ve just been very fortunate to have all the local high school kids, whether it be from Sandpoint or Coeur d’Alene or Spokane, you name it, come out to the field and help me prepare for training camp, and they’re preparing for their season.”

Area coaches put out the word there was a pro quarterback in town, looking for players to throw to, “so I thought it’d be a good idea to come out and catch some passes from a pro quarterback,” said Derek Gove, who will be a senior slot receiver at Coeur d’Alene High this fall.

Osweiler did much of the throwing, mixing in reps with the high school QBs, which included Coeur d’Alene senior Colson Yankoff, who has verbally committed to Washington, and threw what he could while still recovering from surgery for a torn meniscus in his left knee. Plummer jumped in and made some throws, but mainly gave pointers to the quarterbacks as well as the wide receivers, showing them how to run routes more efficiently.

“It was definitely a great experience for me. Great teaching points for sure,” said Julian Barajas, who will be a senior slot receiver at Sandpoint High this fall.

Barajas said the speed of the passes from Osweiler and Plummer were “a little faster than we’re used to.”

“Colson throws a pretty good ball, so I’m pretty used to it, I guess,” Gove said of the speed of the throws.

Plummer is a part-time Coeur d’Alene-area resident, and when Osweiler heard Plummer was in town, he asked Plummer to come watch him throw and offer him pointers. Osweiler, like Plummer, played at Arizona State — Osweiler from 2009-12, Plummer from 1993-96 — and for the Denver Broncos.

“I was watching him when he was a Sun Devil, and went to his pro day, and was real excited when he got drafted by the Broncos, and was kind of bummin’ for him when they brought in the legend, No. 18 (Peyton Manning), a great learning experience for him,” said Plummer, who played QB in Denver from 2003-06 before retiring after 10 seasons in the NFL. “And that’s what I kept telling him — your key is to be ready. Even though the ultimate warrior is in front of you, you’re never going to take a rep off. Always be ready.”

When Manning was benched during a mid-November game during the 2015 season, Osweiler stepped in and started the next seven games, going 5-2. But he was benched in the third quarter of season finale, Manning came back in and went on to quarterback the Broncos to the Super Bowl title, then retired.

“I would help keep his mind right, because as talented as he is, and as good a player as he is, to sit and know that ‘I’m never going to play until this old man retires,’ that’s tough,” Plummer said. “So mentally, it was hard for him. He got through it really well.”

After the 2015 season, as a free agent after his first four NFL seasons with the Broncos, Osweiler signed a four-year, $72 million contract with the Houston Texans. There, he went from the backup to the highly paid starter, and all the scrutiny that entails, especially when things don’t go well. After the season, he was traded to Cleveland, and is now preparing for his sixth season in the NFL.

“Last year was a whole new thing for him, being that high-paid player, with all the expectations,” Plummer said. “And I think he found himself now in the right spot.”

Plummer’s quarterback coach at ASU was Hue Jackson, who is now Osweiler’s head coach at Cleveland.

Jackson “is an amazing technician for quarterbacks,” Plummer said. “He changed my drop at ASU, helped me look like a real quarterback. So he’s in a good spot.”

The last three days at Coeur d’Alene High, while Plummer offered pointers to the high school receivers and quarterbacks, he also would throw out suggestions to Osweiler.

“He’s getting all the coaching you can look for from the Browns,” Plummer said. “From me, I’m just looking to see what he does, and if there’s something he can do to tighten it up a little bit, and if there’s a step he’s taking that if he eliminates it’ll help his efficiency, then I’ll suggest it. And it’s up to him if he wants to keep taking those reps, because sometimes to learn a brand new step is tough. But it’s the right time of year to try it. It’s hard to change someone’s mechanics, but any pro wants to keep getting better.”

And to think that, for a short time, the 6-foot-8 Osweiler was a Zag-to-be.

Osweiler is likely the only high school athlete to say no to Mark Few because he wanted to play for Dennis Erickson.

Before his sophomore year in high school, Osweiler verbally committed to play basketball at Gonzaga. But before he signed with Few and the Zags, he changed his mind and opted to play football at Arizona State, where Erickson was head coach.

Did Erickson out-recruit Few?

“There was no out-recruiting,” Osweiler, now 26, said with a laugh. “I absolutely love coach Few, and the Gonzaga family. In fact, I went to the national championship just because I had to support those guys, just because they’re such good people. At the end of the day, I just loved football too much to quit playing it. I loved basketball, but football was just something special to me, so fortunately coach Dennis Erickson and his staff offered me a scholarship and I was able to go play football for a great coach.”

On Friday, even after some unforgiving sprinklers chased them off the high school stadium field and onto the practice field, the current pro and former pro quarterback had some fun with each other as they worked on throws.

On one drill, Plummer asked Osweiler to put a little more air under a deep ball.

“Jeff Blake-type air,” Plummer said, referring to the former QB who played 14 NFL seasons on seven teams.

“Yeah, but he can throw it 75 (yards),” Osweiler said with a laugh, as he lofted a pretty deep ball with lots of air underneath it.

Later, Plummer seemed to enjoy a drill which called for the QB to fake a handoff, spin and roll to the right, and while on the run, hit a receiver streaking down the sideline.

“I’d come back just to make that throw … with Von Miller chasing me,” Plummer said, referring to the star Broncos’ pass rusher who came along after Plummer had retired.

“Yeah, but you can get away from him,” Osweiler replied.

So, while the high school kids got something out of catching passes from NFL quarterbacks, the current pro and the retired pro — two of only five Idaho-born quarterbacks to play in the NFL — enjoyed the experience as well.

“It’s awesome,” said Plummer, now 42. “I’m reminiscing when I’d come out here years ago, and do the same thing. I’d come up (from Boise, where he was born) in the summer and I was supposed to be working out, and instead I’d be out here, not working out in the weight room, but out throwing with the kids. And it’s fun, because the kids, they’re young, they’re excited … on Sundays, they can say, ‘man, I caught a ball from that dude, and he’s out making those throws on Sundays.’

“So it’s a lot of fun for them, it’s inspiring for them. And for us, too. As pros, it’s very uplifting to see these young kids working hard and loving the game. Because sometimes the pros can get so much (caught up in) business that it turns into a little less fun. But these kids are out here because it’s fun for them, so it’s always refreshing.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.