LIFE OF THE PARTY

Favre caught on quickly in college

By GARY D'AMATO

gdamato@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Sept. 17, 2005

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of weekly stories on "Brett Favre: The Making of a Legend." Read previous installments here.

Hattiesburg, Miss. - Exactly 18 years ago today, on the evening of Sept. 18, 1987, Brett Favre and Chris Ryals holed up in their room in the football dormitory at the University of Southern Mississippi for a long night of introspection.


Neither freshman had played in the Golden Eagles' season-opener two weeks earlier, a 38-6 thumping at Alabama. Both expected to be redshirted.

It was time for some serious goal-setting.

"We sat there and just got drunk, drunk, drunk," Ryals said. "We figured if we drank eight beers, then seven, then six. . . we figured 36 would make the perfect pyramid. We drank a case and a half.

"That was in the good old days of Johnny Carson and David Lettermen. We sat there like two old men, watching TV and drinking beer. Oh, it was beautiful. We completed the pyramid about 2:15 in the morning."

The next afternoon, Southern Miss played host to Tulane at M.M. Roberts Stadium. Early in the game, the Golden Eagles were struggling on offense again and Favre was struggling to stay upright.

"When we ran on the field, he went over to the wall and bent over and ralphed," Ryals said. "Just vomits his guts up right there. He looks like he's about to drop warming up. He's sweating bullets, white as a sheet."

In the third quarter, coach Jim Carmody, frustrated by his offense's ineptitude, did the heretofore unthinkable:

He called the press box and told offensive coordinator Jack White he was putting Favre - a 17-year-old freshman - into the game at quarterback.

"Jack said, 'What? I thought we were redshirting him,' " Carmody said with a chuckle.

It was an auspicious debut for the man who would one day lead the Green Bay Packers to victory in Super Bowl XXXI and become one of the National Football League's biggest stars.

That steamy afternoon at "The Rock," Favre trotted unsteadily into a huddle comprised mostly of upperclassmen.

"All five offensive linemen were fifth-year seniors and now you've got this young idiot quarterback," Ryals said. "He was hung over. Sick. They all knew he got drunk the night before."

Chris McGee, then a senior wide receiver and team co-captain, at first was puzzled by the crowd's reaction to Favre, who had played high school football some 50 miles south at Hancock North Central.

"Brett came on the field and the stands went wild," McGee said. "I hear the crowd yelling and screaming and I'm trying to figure out what in the hell is going on. I thought somebody in the stands got to fighting or something.

"The next thing we know, uncharacteristic of our head coach, we start throwing the football all over the field."

Favre coolly led the Golden Eagles to a come-from-behind, 31-24 victory, throwing two touchdown passes, including the game-winner to McGee.

It was the beginning of the Brett Favre Era at Southern Miss, a memorable four-year run that produced a 29-17 record, and upset victories over Auburn, Alabama and Florida State and two bowl bids.

Favre still holds several school passing records, including career touchdown passes (52), completions (613), attempts (1,169) and total offense (7,606 yards).

And it was in Hattiesburg where Favre's legendary toughness would first become evident.

On July 14, 1990, before the start of training camp for his senior season, Favre suffered serious internal injuries in a car wreck; doctors eventually had to remove 30 inches of his small intestine.

Three weeks after the operation - and 35 pounds lighter - he led Southern Miss to a 27-24 upset over Alabama in Birmingham.

"As far as toughness and leadership and grit and passion for the game, Brett was as good as they come," Carmody said. "The guy loved to play."

That he even got the chance is a story in itself.

Favre was the last recruit Southern Miss signed in 1987 - and then only because another quarterback reneged on his oral commitment. Carmody agreed to take him partly as a favor to Irvin Favre, Brett's father and the coach at North Hancock Central who had himself played baseball at Southern Miss.

Mark McHale, the Golden Eagles' offensive line coach, had scouted Favre, but Hancock North Central ran an option offense and Favre had never thrown more than a handful of passes in any game.

"I said, 'How does he throw?' " Carmody said. "Mark said, 'Coach, they hardly throw the ball.' I said, 'Is he a college quarterback?' He said, 'If he's not, he's a big kid and he can maybe play safety.' "

So Favre showed up on campus as a safety / quarterback. In two-a-days, he worked with the offense in the morning and the defense in the afternoon.

It wasn't long, however, before Favre got everyone's attention with his arm strength and the incredible velocity on his passes.

"The first morning, I was standing with my back to his group," Carmody said. "I heard this noise, a whooshing sound. I turned around and said, 'What in the world is that?' I coached a long time and I never heard a ball sound like that." McGee had no idea who Favre was those first few days of training camp, but he was about to find out.

"I ran a little crossing route about 5 yards over the center and sat down and he threw a 100 mph fastball," McGee said. "I caught the ball and threw it back at him and hit him in the helmet with it. I said, 'Look, calm down. I'm only 5 yards from you. You don't have to throw it so hard.'

"We had a little bond from that moment on."

Even before the Tulane game, Carmody had a hunch Favre would be playing and added some drop-back passes to his veer option offense. Favre went 6-4 as a starter, completing 79 of 194 passes for 1,264 yards, with 15 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Not that there weren't some growing pains along the way.

On Oct. 10, Favre's 18th birthday, No. 4 Florida State pummeled Southern Miss, 61-10, in Hattiesburg.

"They just beat us - and him - like a drum," Ryals said. "They were singing 'Happy Birthday' to him every time they sacked him. Yeah, he got thrown to the wolves a couple times." But even the older players on the team admired the way Favre handled himself. He was cool and calm under pressure, a fun-loving cut-up off the field and a cut-throat competitor on it. He had a commanding presence in the huddle and the others instinctively looked up to him.

"Most of the guys on that offense had been around," said John Fox, the radio voice of the Golden Eagles for 24 years. "Brett was 17 years old and looked like he was 13. He'd tell them, 'Shut up. I'm in charge now.' "

Curley Hallman replaced Carmody as head coach before Favre's sophomore season and brought in Jeff Bower to be the offensive coordinator. Under Hallman and Bower, a former QB at Southern Miss, Favre flourished in a pro-style offense.

"He was a really smart player," said Bower, who replaced Hallman for Favre's final game in 1990 and has been the head coach ever since. "I've always felt there was something about players who are the sons of coaches, you know? They grow up in the gym. They're around a ball all the time."

Bower used timing drills to help Favre develop touch. The quarterback worked on anticipating wide receivers' breaks and throwing to spots, instead of relying on his arm strength to deliver the ball after the receiver got open.

"At the same time, when you've got an arm that big, you think you can get it in a crack at 40 yards and a lot of times he did," Bower said. "His sophomore year, against East Carolina, he made a throw to Alfred Williams and Alfred said he could hear the ball whistling as he was coming out of his break.

"I've never coached anybody who could make the particular throw he made. It was a deep seam and he just drilled it in there. Alfred said, 'Coach, I swear to god, it was whistling.' "

Southern Miss opened the 1989 season, Favre's junior year, at Florida State. The Seminoles had beaten the Golden Eagles the previous two years by the combined score of 90-23.

In the closing minutes, the Golden Eagles trailed, 26-24, but Favre drove the team the length of the field. Hallman called for a couple running plays to make Florida State use timeouts. On third and goal at the 4, Bower persuaded Hallman to run a play-action pass.

"It was wide open for a score because they had everybody in the box," Bower said. "I had to convince Curley to call it. I said, 'Curley, do you want a touchdown or a field goal?'

"He finally let me call it, so I got Brett on the phone and said, 'Here's the play. He's going to be wide open. It's a score. But the worst thing that can ever happen is if you throw (an interception) or take a sack.' Well, we had two guys wide open and he threw a little balloon out there for a touchdown.

"But I wouldn't have done it with any other quarterback but him." Before Favre's senior season, Southern Mississippi sports information director Regal Napier organized a "Favre 4 Heisman" campaign. Realistically, a quarterback from Southern Miss probably wasn't going to win the Heisman Trophy, but Favre at least was a candidate.

"Then he goes out and gets hurt," Napier said. "It was no fun at the time."

Favre was returning home from a day on Ship Island off Biloxi. He was driving his 1989 Nissan Maxima; his brother Scott and friend Keith Loescher were behind him in Scott's pickup.

About a quarter-mile from home, Favre rounded a curve and encountered an oncoming car with its bright lights on. He steered slightly to the right and the tires on the Maxima dipped into loose gravel. He overcorrected with the steering wheel and his car shot across the road, slammed into an embankment and then flew end-over-end, thumping into a pine tree.

"Brett was out cold," Scott Favre said. "I busted the window out with a golf club. We drug him out and left him until the ambulance got there."

Favre suffered significant internal injuries caused by the seat belt restraint and doctors had to remove a portion of his intestines. He sat out the season-opener, a 12-0 victory over Delta State, but was back in the lineup for the upset victory over Alabama the next week.

"There was talk about redshirting him," Fox said. "You know Brett. He said, 'B.S. That ain't happening. I'm playing.' "

Favre started every game the rest of the season. He clearly wasn't the same player physically, however, and threw only seven touchdown passes after throwing 14 as a junior and 16 as a sophomore.

"Just having him out there was big," said Ryals.