Cleveland Browns rookie minicamp, May 13, 2016

Browns quarterback Cody Kessler (5) throws a pass in a drill during mini camp. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns rookie quarterback Cody Kessler had two Carrs in high school that helped him get where he needed to be.

One was Derek, the Pro Bowl quarterback of the Raiders, and one was David, the former No. 1 overall pick of the Texans and current NFL Network analyst.

When Kessler, the Browns' third-round pick out of USC, was a sophomore in high school, the Carrs moved back from Houston to their hometown of Bakersfield, Ca., and connected with the young quarterback through mutual friend and quarterback guru Steve Calhoun.

Before long, David began tutoring not only his younger brother Derek, then a senior at Bakersfield Christian, but Kessler, who played for Bakersfield's Centennial High.



"My buddy (Calhoun) who had trained Cody forever said 'come over and check out this kid, I think he's going to be pretty good,''' David Carr told cleveland.com. "He said, 'he's a basketball player but I think he's going to be a pretty good quarterback.'''

David took Calhoun up on his offer and headed over to the training facility in Bakersfield, a town about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

"There were all these industrial buildings and there was this one building where there was grass in the back and it was not even level,'' Carr recalled. "It was bumpy and it was really sketchy. The first time I went back there, I was like, 'you guys actually practice back here?' I remember Cody was out there throwing balls and he was dropping back downhill and I was like 'how do you do this?' and we were just kind of laughing about it.''

Cody Kessler and Derek Carr trained together under David Carr as high schoolers in Bakersfield, Ca. (Courtesy Kessler family)

But after that first practice, Carr knew that Kessler had potential.

"I watched him from a distance and I don't know if he missed a pass the whole workout,'' said Carr. "Then I came over and gave him a couple of tips, just basic stuff and he was super coachable. He picked it up, and I started working with him ever since then. He and Derek would always go out and throw and compete, and it was fun watching them develop.''

Kessler (6-1, 215) brought his receivers to the training facility to work with Calhoun, and David and Derek would work there with them during the offseasons of Carr's 11-year NFL career.

"He always had a good release, really good mechanics, really sound, but playing all of these different sports, you don't have a lot of time to focus on the quarterback position,'' said Carr. "But he started working with me and his quarterback coach at Southern Cal (Clay Helton) and we really tightened up his footwork and he can pick things up quick. He's a great athlete.''

Kessler also excelled in basketball at Bakersfield, averaging 30 points and 11 rebounds a game.

"I thought he might try to play basketball but then he had a great (football) season and ended up going to SC and we were all pumped,'' said Carr.

Carr remembers countless hours of working with his Derek and Kessler, preparing them not only for their high school seasons, but for their stellar college careers, Derek at David's alma mater Fresno State and Kessler at USC.

"They don't look anything now like they did back then -- they were young kids, and I was like, 'man you guys can be pretty good,''' he said.

But Kessler and Carr -- a second-round pick of the Raiders in 2014 who thought he might be drafted by the Browns -- didn't dare to dream back then that they might one day face each other in the NFL.

"No, we were just listening to whatever Dave was telling us to do pretty much at that time,'' Kessler said at rookie camp Friday.



Hue Jackson has a high expectation for Cody Kessler but too soon to say if he'll start

As fate would have it, Kessler and Carr faced each other in the 2013 Las Vegas Bowl in the final game of Carr's career. The Trojans blew out Fresno State 45-20, and Kessler threw for 344 yards and a bowl-record four TDs. But Carr, who was held to just 217 yards and two touchdowns, received the consolation prize of becoming just the fourth player in NCAA history to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns.



"It was really cool,'' said Kessler. "He ended his career playing against each other which was cool for me. I told him 'good luck with everything' and his response was 'hopefully you'll be there in a couple of years and we'll get to play each other,' -- so we'll see.''



David remembers "a lot of trash talk that game but we were pulling for both guys. That was a fun game, a good deal.''

After Derek left college, his father, Rodger, continued to follow Kessler at USC.

"That whole family has just been great to me,'' said Kessler. "Rodger has always been supportive of me and was cheering for me these last couple of years after Derek left, so I've been fortunate enough to know the Carrs really well and have their support.''

David Carr tutored Cody Kessler and his brother Derek Carr when the latter two were in high school. (Courtesy Kessler family)

In Derek's rookie season in Oakland, during which he threw for 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, he heard often from his good buddy Kessler.

"I was rooting for him and he's a guy who works so hard and comes from a great family and has a great support system,'' said Kessler. "It's motivation for me too. Someone I used to work with and train with and someone that inspires me.''

For a time, David thought Kessler would follow in his and Derek's footsteps and land at Fresno State.

"But he went to SC and we were so proud and happy,'' said David. "He had to go through a lot at SC. He did such a great job of taking ownership of that team. Every time scouts or anyone would ask me about him, I would say 'this guy had tremendous ability to put a group of guys together and get them going toward a common goal.'

"He had so much coaching changeover and so much drama when he was at SC, and he was always the first guy to stand up there in front of the media and answer questions and put it all on his shoulders.''

The reason Kessler didn't rank as highly as Jared Goff or Carson Wentz, in addition to the all the chaos at USC during his tenure, was concern over his arm strength, David said.

"It's not off the charts,'' he said. "It's not something that's going to blow you away when he's out there in shorts and a t-shirt, but you get this guy in a system, and he will succeed. He definitely belongs in the conversation with those guys.''

David likened Kessler's arm strength to that of nine-time Pro Bowler Drew Brees, who he first witnessed when Carr was a college counselor at an Elite 11 quarterback camp near San Diego.

"Carson Palmer and I took a trip down and saw Drew practicing in San Diego and we were like 'who's the little guy?''' Carr said. "And they were like 'that's the starting quarterback.' And then he ended up being a pretty good quarterback, so Cody's kind of the same way arm strength-wise. It's not going to jump off the page. You're not going to say 'Oh wow,' but you're going to get to the end of practice and he's going to hit 15 out of 16 passes and you're going to say 'he's a pretty efficient guy.'''

David sees other similarities between the two.

Cody Kessler was mentored by David Carr and trained alongside Derek Carr as a high schooler in California. (Associated Press)

"They have very similar mechanics, both are very accurate,'' he said. "Coming out of school they weren't super-high draft picks, but these guys are winners, they're able to lead football teams, they have similar personalities and it's a win-win for the Browns for sure.''

David pounded the same thing into Kessler's head that he did to his little brother: get in your playbook and be prepared.

"All we've ever told Cody -- and he's gotten great coaching all over the place --is just be ready mentally,'' said David. "That's the biggest thing. Be someone that your coaches trust and that's how you stand out from the pack, not necessarily going out there and making the wild throw. Just be a guy that's an extension of the coaching staff and he's always been that.''

Despite Kessler's competition this summer with Robert Griffin III, Josh McCown and the Browns other quarterbacks, Davis is confident that Kessler can eventually rise to the top -- especially with Hue Jackson coaching him.

"Hue's track record speaks for itself,'' said Davis. "The hard part is there's five guys in that room right now and just getting the reps and making sure you stand out. But he can absolutely be the starting quarterback of the Browns. There'd be no surprise from anyone in Bakersfield or Los Angeles for that matter. He's got a lot of work to do and he knows that, but he can do it.''

And when Kessler and Derek meet up on the field again someday, will they say they owe it all to David?

"They'll say 'we did it despite Dave's help,''' he said with a laugh.