Mitch Calvert
Help wanted: Starting quarterback.
Dan Brunetta may not have jumped at the job opportunity at the end of last football season, but the Fort High junior has embraced his new role ever since taking the reins of the Muskie squad this fall.
“It’s kinda new to me, but I think I’m getting the hang of it and I’m liking it a lot,” Brunetta said of being the team’s starting pivot.
“Just be cool out there and stay calm, and I think that’s the key,” he added.
Brunetta’s path to the quarterbacking duties certainly was an unconventional one—and he wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit in the early going.
“Last year, they sent Dan over to do some work with the quarterbacks, but he just didn’t seem like he wanted to do it at the time so I kind of sent him away,” Muskie quarterbacks’ coach Andrew George recalled.
“We were looking to start from scratch at quarterback at the end of last season because we felt we could use Blake Wepruk [last year’s starter] at other positions, and he showed that [this past] Friday with two touchdown catches.
“[Even] at spring camp, Dan was still unsure,” George admitted. “I told him it’s a big commitment, but promised to make him good and bring my past experience to him.
“We worked on basic stuff that week and he decided he liked it and started bugging me more than I bugged him to work on things as the summer went along, and that’s what you like to see from a new guy and now it’s working well,” George added.
Brunetta has taken to the job ever since—and has shown a surprising level of confidence for a rookie.
“He just makes plays. They aren’t always pretty, kind of Brett Favre-eske and exactly what I told him not to do,” George laughed. “But he gets the job done and that’s better than being a robot out there.
“He just has to continue to progress every week because teams will start to key in on our passing game,” George warned.
So what gives Brunetta such a calming demeanour behind centre taking snaps in his first season on the job? A little musical inspiration, perhaps.
“I told [Andrew] George that I listen to rock music to get pumped up for a game, but as quarterback I think I’ll listen to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Bron-Y-Ur Stomp’ to calm myself down before a start,” he noted.
“There are a couple plays I still need to work on and perfect, but I don’t think we’ll go to those in the first game or so here so I’m excited and ready to go,” Brunetta enthused.
