Brewer lucky he didn't have to flip coin for family
By Mike Klis
9 News
February 5, 2016
Aaron Brewer inherited many positive leadership characteristics from his family.
The Denver Broncos’ fourth-year long snapper is smart like his mom, Viki, a pharmacist. He’s
hardworking like his dad, Dave, a high school teacher for 35 years. He was physically talented enough to
have been a water polo player like his oldest brother Vince, but instead became a football long snapper
like his next oldest brother Nathan.
What mom, dad and the bros failed to teach Aaron was how to handle a coin flip.
“I called the coin flip one time and we wound up kicking off twice,” Brewer said, smiling at himself.
He was a sophomore playing in a junior varsity for Troy High School in Fullerton, Calif.
“The coach told me something like, “We’re going to do this, and we’re going to kick off,” Brewer said
this week during a Broncos’ Super Bowl media session. “I misunderstood. And the ref was asking, “Are
you sure.’
“And I went, “YES!’’
He pointed his index finger for emphasis. Oops. Even though Troy kicked off to start both halves (he was
supposed to ‘defer,’ which would have meant getting the ball to start the second half, and not state,
‘kick off,’ which meant his preference was to kick off giving the other team the option in the second
half) the JV Warriors defeated Westminster.
Brewer was a little rawer in football than most of his classmates. Mom and dad, who were about 10
years ahead of the times, didn’t let their sons play football until high school.
He became a long snapper for the same reason a lot of little brothers wind up at positions – because
their older brother played it.
“My coaches said, “You’re Nathan Brewer’s brother, you’re going to be a long snapper, too,’’ Brewer
said. “My other brother was a real good water polo player, which is big in Southern California. It was 5050 if I was going to play football or water polo.’’
By his senior year at Troy, Brewer was an all-conference linebacker and considered the No. 3 long
snapper in the country by chrissailerkicking.com. He played all 50 games at San Diego State and wound
up beating out veteran Lonie Paxton for the Broncos’ long snapper position as an undrafted rookie in
2012.
Brewer signed a four-year, $4 million contract extension with the Broncos prior to this season and in a
scary moment, was named special teams captain when his team played the Chargers at San Diego back
in early December.
That meant walking out to midfield for the pregame coin toss.
“It was a big joke that I was going to make us kick off twice,” Brewer said. “I was going to screw it up.
But I wound up not talking so that was perfect.’’
Mom, dad and Brewer’s two older brothers are here to watch their own snap in Super Bowl 50.
Denver Broncos long-snapper Aaron Brewer likes flying
under the radar
By Troy Renck
Denver Post
January 31, 2016
Aaron Brewer sits in third stall on the left side of the Broncos' locker room, a few feet from a tree of
beef jerky, a glass Gatorade cooler and Peyton Manning. Brewer goes unnoticed.
"Unless you hear the hair dryer in the bathroom," punter Britton Colquitt said, "then you know he's
here."
Brewer wears long, golden locks. He looks like he just finished a jam session with the Eagles, circa 1977.
Chill only begins to describe the vibe he puts off. In a sport in which players gravitate to the spotlight,
Brewer lives comfortably — slick, black San Diego State sweat jacket, no shirt on this day — in the
shadows.
He is the Broncos' long-snapper.
No one knows who he is — even some teammates answer with "Who?" when asked. Nothing better
describes his excellence. In four years, Brewer hasn't made a single bad snap on a punt or a field goal.
Anonymity is his celebrity.
"People that don't know football don't really know what I do. I usually just say I am a center — but that I
am not the real big fat guy. I am the skinny guy," said Brewer, a wiry 6-foot-5, 230 pounds. "Nobody
knows I play football. I like it like that."
Wearing No. 46, Brewer can be found at practice hanging out with kicker Brandon McManus and
Colquitt, who doubles as the holder. Brewer rarely makes a sound, let alone the box score. Yet just days
after Manning accepted a $4 million pay cut last March, the Broncos signed Brewer to a four-year deal
for the same amount. In Super Bowl 50, a game that could be decided by field position or a gamewinning kick, Brewer delivers snaps with the consistency of a conveyor belt.
"It starts with the long-snapper. Aaron is so good, I have never seen laces in my two years here,"
McManus said. "A lot of my accomplishments I can credit to Aaron for putting my mind at ease."
Brewer's life turned when he began looking at the world upside down. He followed in his brother
Nathan's footsteps. One day at Troy High School in Fullerton, Calif., the coaches lined up a dozen kids for
a snap off. Nathan won. When Brewer went out for football his freshman year, the coaches figured longsnapping was an inherited gene.
Brewer dabbled at defensive end, earning all-conference honors, and kept firing footballs between his
legs. But who makes a living as a long-snapper? Turns out a kid from nearby San Pedro.
Christian Yount received a full ride to UCLA. A family friend saw the story and sent it to Brewer. He
contacted Yount's coach. The two worked together for two years, culminating with a call from that
Brewer still marvels at eight years later.
"I got a scholarship to San Diego State. All I could think was, 'Dang, I get to go to college for free,' "
Brewer said.
Brewer excelled, turning a niche skill into a science. On punts, he grabs the laces. On field goals, he grabs
he back of the ball, a grip that creates the ideal number of rotations and velocity.
Had he been a pitcher, scouts would have clamored to see him. As a long-snapper, nobody remembered
his name. Check that. Running back Ronnie Hillman knew him. They played together for the Aztecs.
"On senior day, he got to line up on kick coverage," Hillman said. "First time down, he made the tackle.
That was cool."
Hillman drew the Broncos to Brewer. Denver attended Hillman's pro day in advance of the 2012 draft.
An Aztecs wide receivers coach told Brewer he should go. He scoffed. He was done with football,
finishing the final legs of his finance courses. Real life, he ultimately figured, could wait a few hours.
"The Broncos were the only ones to talk to me. Then they brought me to training camp," said Brewer,
who received a $4,000 bonus as an undrafted free agent. "It was crazy."
As Colquitt recalls, Brewer arrived with hair down his back. He met teammates and then the scissors.
Brewer has held the job for five years, through Matt Prater's dramatic game-winners to Connor Barth's
liners, to McManus' rocket shots. It is not a coincidence that Brewer is a common thread.
"A lot of (specialists) can be very mental. When you look at it, our jobs shouldn't be overly difficult. But
mess up and it's monumental," Colquitt said. "I am not jinxing this, because I tell him all the time. He's
never given me a bad snap. He's so calm and relaxed."
Joe DeCamillis is not. The Broncos' special-teams coach wonders why anyone is asking about the long
snapper. No one should be talking about him, and "we'd like to keep it that way."
Brewer doesn't mind. He likes life in the margins. It is as a long-snapper where he finds peace. David
Binn, a 17-year San Diego Charger, is his favorite player.
Who? Exactly.
"Binn is my guy. I try to model myself after him," Brewer said. "He was really under the radar. Real chill.
That's how I like it. In fact, I hope you erase this recording."
Lev: Troy grad plays key role in record
FG
By Michael Lev
Orange County Register
December 11, 2013
Aaron Brewer was somewhat reluctant to be interviewed for this story. Not because
he’s involved in any sort of controversy, but because he’s a long snapper.
When long snappers do their job right, no one notices them. The only time they
draw attention it’s of the unwanted variety – for screwing up.
But this was a special occasion, so Brewer agreed to talk. Two days earlier, the
Troy High graduate had played a critical role in a historic event: He snapped the
ball that Denver Broncos teammate Matt Prater booted over the crossbar and
through the uprights from 64 yards away – breaking an NFL record that had stood
for 42-plus years.
In typical fashion, Brewer downplayed his part in the momentous field goal, which
set off a raucous celebration at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
“It was pretty cool,” the second-year pro said by phone from the Broncos’ training
facility in Englewood, Colo., where they were preparing for Thursday night’s game
against the San Diego Chargers.
“Honestly, I didn’t know it was the record until he made it and everyone started
going crazy.”
Brewer didn’t realize a record was at stake because he’s all about putting his head
down – literally – and doing his job. One of the biggest keys to success for long
snappers is consistency – making every snap the same, or as close to it as possible.
Snappers have to ignore the elements and circumstances – in this case, frigid
weather (game-time temp: 18 degrees) and an opportunity to break a record set
by Tom Dempsey in 1970 and tied by three others. Brewer has the ideal mental
makeup for the position.
“The guy’s pulse rate doesn’t get above 30,” said Chris Rubio, lead instructor of
Rubio Long Snapping, who tutored Brewer, among several other pros. “That’s what
you want in a long snapper. That’s what makes him so good. He’s just so laidback.”
That demeanor was one of the traits which led Rubio to believe Brewer could have a
long, prosperous career as a long snapper.
Brewer began snapping for Troy as a freshman, the winner of a tryout to perform a
task that’s a lot more technical and challenging than it looks. Brewer subsequently
read a story about Tesoro High’s Christian Yount parlaying his snapping skills into a
scholarship at UCLA. (Yount now snaps for the Cleveland Browns.) The article
mentioned Rubio. The Brewers reached out to the long-snapping guru, who began
working with Aaron. Brewer possessed the requisite athleticism, size (he’s currently
listed at 6-5, 230) and aptitude to develop into a standout snapper.
“He listened very well,” Rubio said. “He wasn’t just hearing me, he was actually
listening. If I said, ‘Aaron, I need you to adjust your form a little this way,’ he
would always do it, and he never complained.”
Snapping is not a natural or comfortable activity. Your view of the world is upsidedown. But Brewer was used to overcoming adverse situations.
Brewer suffered from dyslexia as a youth. He went on to make the all-academic
team in the Mountain West Conference four years in a row at San Diego State,
where he majored in finance.
“He’s a fighter. He doesn’t quit,” said Aaron’s older brother Nate, the middle of the
three Brewer boys. “He’s really my idol, my hero. He’s a stud, man.”
Nate Brewer works with kids at Young Champions of America in Santa Ana. He
often cites his little brother, an undrafted free agent out of college, as a positive
example: “If you keep working toward your goals, you can make it. Sooner or later,
an opportunity will present itself.”
Nate and his brothers drew inspiration from their father, who recently retired after
teaching in Garden Grove for 30 years.
“My dad always told us: ‘Success is where opportunity meets preparation.’ Not luck,
success,” Nate Brewer said. “Aaron prepared his whole life for that one opportunity
to snap that field goal. He relied on that practice, that training.”
That was Nate’s perspective of the record-setting field goal. He watched it on TV
from Fullerton with older brother Vince and some friends. Like the 76,554 fans at
the game and most of the Broncos themselves, the group went berserk when Prater
made the kick on the final play of the first half.
“I don’t know if anyone was louder than we were,” Nate Brewer said. “They could
probably hear it in Denver.”
Not every Bronco immediately celebrated. Having been reminded of the ending of
the Auburn-Alabama game, Denver’s linemen sprinted downfield to cover a possible
return if the kick fell short.
If you watch the replay, you can see Aaron Brewer executing a perfect snap to
holder Britton Colquitt. Brewer then takes off running – all part of doing his job.
“I turned around, and everybody rushed the field,” he said. “For me, I was just
worried about getting the ball there.”
Broncos Q&A: Long snapper Aaron
Brewer
Tom Kensler
The Denver Post
December 30, 2012
How — and why — does one become a long snapper?
"Yeah, I get that question all the time," said Aaron Brewer, the Broncos' rookie long
snapper.
Brewer, 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, was expecting to concentrate solely on playing
linebacker at Troy High School in Fullerton, Calif., when, during his freshman year,
coaches said the team needed somebody to snap for placements (extra points and
field goals) and punts.
"We lined up and everybody tried it," Brewer recalled. "Everybody had a shot at
doing it, and I was the best one at it."
That led to a scholarship at San Diego State and a college free-agent (undrafted)
contract with the Broncos in May. Brewer made the Broncos' opening day roster,
supplanting veteran Lonie Paxton, who had been their long snapper for three
seasons.
Q: In addition to your snapping duties, you were an all-conference linebacker in
high school — in talent-rich Orange County, Calif. Did you get recruited by any
colleges to play defense?
A: No, I didn't get any looks for linebackers. There are a lot of high schools in
Orange County, and Troy was one of the smaller ones. I didn't expect to play
linebacker in college. I really focused my future into being a snapper.
Q: Being a long snapper isn't a position that a kid grows up dreaming about, right?
A: It's a long story. I had heard that a long snapper in our county got a scholarship
at UCLA. There was a newspaper article on him. I saw that. There was a name of a
personal coach in the article. I went to see him my sophomore year of high school,
and he said if I worked with him, I'd get a scholarship somewhere. By the end of
my junior year, I had a scholarship offer from San Diego State.
Q: How does snapping for a field goal differ from snapping for a punt?
A: They're two different motions. For a punt, you obviously have to snap it longer
so you have to snap with more force. And you have to get back and block. With a
field goal, it's more with your hands. You don't really have time to block for a field
goal. The defense is coming, so you just get run over. You know it's going to
happen, so you just take it.
Q: What in the world goes through your mind when you line up for a snap and a
310-pound nose tackle with a bad attitude lines up inches away from you before a
snap?
A: It doesn't really matter who is there because if I have a perfect snap, we'll get
the kick off. It's all about timing. If we get the kick off on time, theoretically they
shouldn't be able to block it. So you can't worry about getting run over or anything
like that. You just have to focus on the snap and let whatever happens, happens.
Q: You made 15 special-teams tackles during your college career, which is a big
number for a long snapper. And you have a pair with the Broncos. Is tackling
something you take pride in?
A: Yeah. That goes back to having played linebacker in high school. I wanted to
also play some linebacker at San Diego State, but they wouldn't let me. They said
they couldn't afford to have me get hurt.
Q: If you're out at a restaurant and somebody overhears that you are a Bronco and
asks which position you play, what's their reaction?
A: I'll probably have to explain what deep snapper is. Usually people don't know
who I am unless I go out with (place-kicker) Matt Prater or (punter) Britton
Colquitt. But that's OK. That's how I like it. I'd rather just be part of the team
instead of standing out.
Aaron Brewer file
Position: Long snapper
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 225 pounds
Hometown: Fullerton, Calif.
College: San Diego State
How acquired: 2012 college free agent (undrafted)
Rookie season stats: 15 games, two special-teams tackles