DURHAM, N.C. - David Shumate, the play-by-play voice for Duke football, recently sat down with Hall Family Offensive Coordinator/quarterback coach Jonathan Brewer for an interview in the latest edition of GoDuke the Magazine.
David Shumate:Â I want to spend some time talking about the current team as you're getting started with the season, but for Duke fans that may not be as familiar with your background, could you start by telling us where you fell in love with football and how you got started in coaching? Jonathan Brewer:Â Yeah, I'm from a small town in Arkansas, northwest Arkansas. I started coaching when I was 18 years old, right out of high school. I felt that there was a void in my heart after I got done playing. I didn't have a chance to play college football because of an injury, so I was kind of searching around what to do, and it was either be a marine biologist or some kind of engineer. And then I decided to go into coaching and started volunteering at my high school and got connected with some great people. After college, I got a full-time job as a teacher and taught outdoor education and was a full-time high school football coach as well as a junior high defensive coordinator.Â
But I developed a really good relationship with Gus Malzahn and Rhett Lashlee coaching high school football against them. Then when they got the job at Auburn, they got me into being a GA. So it's been pretty awesome.Â
 DS: We've talked a lot over the years about what you learned from those two guys in particular. I feel like from my perspective, sometimes those lessons you learn in any walk of life, maybe you don't appreciate as much until you look back and kind of see what you learned after having a little bit of space from it over time and the perspective that comes with that. Is that true for you when you look back and think about all the different things you learned from those guys? JB: Yeah, I actually talked to Coach Malzahn a couple of weeks ago and he was fired up for us. He loves watching Duke play. I talked to him after the season and I was like, "Coach, man, I should've been a better assistant coach for you." (laughing) After being in this seat and being in the coordinator's chair and you're making decisions, you feel like, man, to have really good people underneath you to work with you is a big deal. You just learn so much.Â
I learned so much from those guys, from him and being with Rhett for almost 10 years and just seeing the decisions that are made and to just sit back and listen. And then obviously getting to be around Coach Diaz at Miami the first time. I got to see leadership, real leadership, and I'm just blessed to have had those opportunities.Â
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Jonathan Brewer
 DS: Let's talk about that relationship with Coach Diaz, and I want to take you back a couple years. Obviously, things were going well for you in your career, but then you had a chance to come and do your own thing at Duke and be a part of what he was building here. What made this the right place and that the right time for you to step into this role? JB: Well, when I was at SMU, we were top five in the country in offense both years, and I was ready to kind of break away and try to do something different. But it's about people. So really, the only reason I left SMU is because of Coach Diaz. I trust him, I trust him with my family. I choose people more than I choose opportunities. So, I just believe in his vision and what he has for this place, and obviously it's been successful.Â
 DS: Let's talk about that vision for this place, and about the offense in particular, because obviously it's year three now, and it feels like each year has had an entirely different look offensively, even though the scheme is similar. What about the scheme allows guys with obviously varying skill sets at the quarterback position to shine no matter who it is? JB: It's very simplistic, so it can evolve to what our quarterback can do, and it also can evolve to what our personnel is. The first year we had a guy that could spin the ball, wasn't great with pressure in the pocket, but we made it work for him. The second year, we had a quarterback that was mobile and could make things happen, and it worked for him. This year we've got three tight ends, four tight ends that are really, really good. We snap the ball a lot in 13 and 12 personnel, and obviously, our running back is the real deal — really all three of them, which allows us to feature a back and what the play-action game looks like after that.Â
But I think it goes back to we have a core philosophy on offense, and that never changes. We just mold it to what our players are. Coach Malzahn taught me that a long time ago — it's players over plays. Can you master what you do, and can you build it for what your guys can be successful doing?Â
 DS: Obviously you oversee the entire offense, but the quarterback position is the group you work with closely. I'm curious — Walker Eget has been here for a little while now as your guys' starting quarterback. You know the guys in that QB room as players, how they understand the scheme and all that sort of stuff. And I imagine you get to know them as people too, and what a fascinating story for him. The injuries he's been through, playing without a functioning ACL for a little bit, surgery, a quick decision to come here, getting his feet wet, not a lot of time in the spring, then he jumps in the deep end in camp and through it all he seems to have a calmness about him. Tell us a little bit about Walker from your viewpoint. JB: Yeah, calmness is a good word. He has such a good spirit. He's a good person, and so the little bit of rough patch maybe that started out the season in the opener, he was able to stay positive through that. He's a veteran, he's been around, he's had ups and downs in his career. He's had injuries. He's overcome obstacles, adversity, and that's really what kind of drew us to him. Obviously, he's really talented, but him overcoming adversity was just a perfect fit for us.
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Jonathan Brewer
 DS: Let's talk about what it's like to coach at Duke, and the players you get to work with. You talked about people and, obviously, you've been here for a few years now. They're the type of kids that you guys attract, the type of kids that want to come here. You look at a year ago, you guys won an ACC title. It wasn't always perfect throughout the course of the season and there were some losses I'm sure you would like to have back. But it's a team that never gave up, and it's a team that kept fighting and a team that has always played with a chip on their shoulder. I wanted to get your perspective of the "Duke guys," so to speak, that you get to be around day in and day out. JB: Highly intelligent and highly motivated. I was talking to Coach Malzahn on the phone two weeks ago, and he asked me how everything's going, and I said, "Coach, I love this place — our kids come to practice every day, they practice really hard and they love football. There's no begging guys to come out and do this. They just love football." When you have that, you can make everything else work. That's the awesome thing about what we've built here and what Nina King and Heather Ryan have done here. It's a special place, very different. I don't think a lot of people have what we have.Â
 DS: I want to close on a thought, and I know coaches never want to do this because you're still early in the season and the sample size is small. But if you could kind of peel back and look ahead to the rest of the season, you can kind of see sparks, I think, of where you guys are headed offensively. What excites you most about this offense as you grow and build throughout the season? JB: I think the development of the receivers. I think we see that the offensive line and the tight ends and the run game have been established. I'm excited to see some of these younger receivers come along, which you started to see in the game against Illinois. I think seeing them progress through, because I think there's going to be really advantageous pictures for them and for the quarterback to be able to throw into because we've been running the football at such an elite level.
