Drew Brees memories: Purdue DC Brock Spack

It has been over 25 years since Purdue quarterback Drew Brees left campus as a Big Ten champ, but his impact resonates. The iconic Purdue quarterback will receive the ultimate football honor on August 8, when he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. To paint a picture of Brees as a person and player from his Boilermaker playing days, GoldandBlack.com reached out to people who played with, coached and watched Brees during an iconic career in West Lafayette (1997-2000) that culminated with a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl trip. They shared their memories. PURDUE DC BROCK SPACK There are several stories that I have circled. Two of them around spring football, when Drew was still a freshman in college. He’d never redshirted, so he played a little bit his freshman year. Back then, you play one snap, that’s it, you’re not redshirting anymore. But that spring, he took every snap — first-team, second-team and third-team snaps. We didn’t have another scholarship quarterback. David Edgerton ended up being his backup. We had two freshmen coming in later, I think Brandon Hance was one of them, but they weren’t there yet. He was technically still a freshman in the spring of 1998, but he was preparing for his sophomore season. He took every snap, and that was impressive. The other thing was, through his senior year, I spent a lot of time asking him questions after we scrimmaged against them. We ran a lot of fire-zone stuff on defense, and I wanted to know how we could disguise coverages better. He was really good at telling us what gave things away. After scrimmages, we’d sit down and debrief for 10 or 15 minutes, and he’d say things like, “Your safety’s eyes told me what coverage it was,” or “I could tell your linebacker was blitzing by his posture.” He really helped me as a coach understand how to disguise coverages and pressures. I figured if we could fool him, then we could fool people on Saturdays. That was really helpful. One of the most unbelievable stories was before the spring game during his senior year. We’re huddled up on defense getting ready to go out, and Coach Tiller calls everybody over and says, “By the way, Brees is live.” Everybody just went silent. Nobody wanted to touch him because everybody knew how important he was. Coach Tiller wanted it to be real football. So we looked at each other and basically said, “Just be careful. If he doesn’t see you coming, wrap him up gently.” The defenders were trying to tackle him softly, and Coach Tiller was furious because he knew exactly what was happening. When you first saw him throw a football you knew he was special. There were guys who had bigger arms — Kyle Orton probably had one of them — but Drew’s accuracy from day one stood out. His spiral was tight. He was meticulous about mechanics and detail. After every throw he’d check his posture, his body position, his follow-through. You saw him do the same thing in the NFL. I always tell people: Would you rather have a huge arm or an accurate thrower? I’ll take the accurate thrower, especially in a spread offense. If your quarterback can release the ball quickly and accurately, you’ve got a chance. If he can’t, you’re throwing interceptions. Before his iconic run as Illinois State coach, Brock Spack built some strong defenses at Purdue (Ron Chenoy/USA Today). More: Join the discussion on Knucklehead Central | Subscribe to GoldandBlack.com for 50% off | Subscribe to GoldandBlack.com’s YouTube channel MORE BREES MEMORIES