CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh’s nameplate marks the office, but quarterback Max Brosmer could have had one, as well, on his position coach’s comfortable space within the Larson Football Performance Center during the 2024 season.
If the sixth-year senior wasn’t there, he was on the other side of the fourth floor next to Harbaugh and analyst Keegan O’Hara in the larger, windowless offensive meeting room. A pile of fast-food condiment packets evidence of many working meals.
After Brosmer joined the U from New Hampshire last winter, Harbaugh said it would not be a typical player-coach relationship but more of a partnership. Carving out office space as if it were a WeWork location is one example.
Besides obligations for only two college classes, the majority of the graduate transfer’s time was spent at the football complex, analyzing, preparing, collaborating and tinkering with game plans on a week-by-week basis.
When Brosmer talked to the Pioneer Press two weeks before Friday’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl, he naturally took a seat in Harbaugh’s black chair behind a wooden desk. While telling one story, he pointed toward the floor-to-ceiling white board on the north wall.
“That … was filled up with protection (calls),” Brosmer said about the game plan for Penn State in late November. “My dad was in here that week.”
Colin Brosmer looked at the board and told his son, “ ‘Dude, holy (smoke)! How are you supposed to memorize that?’ ” the quarterback recalled.
As the season went on, Harbaugh, the rest of the offensive staff and Brosmer built up to a level of intricacy that head coach P.J. Fleck said made up the most complex offense he has unfurled in his 12 years as a head coach.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever watched a student-athlete love the game more in the preparation process “… Enjoying the actual process and dedicating hours, hours and hours a day to the grind of it and loving it,” Fleck said in late December. “… I think he is the best processor I’ve ever been around.”
Minnesota Gophers head coach P. J. Fleck gives quarterback Max Brosmer (16) a hug as part of senior day ceremonies before the start of a NCAA football game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Going into Friday’s bowl game against Virginia Tech, Brosmer has completed 250 of 374 passes (67%) for 2,617 yards, 17 touchdowns and five interceptions in 12 games. He chipped in five more rushing TDs and is eight completions away from passing Adam Weber’s school record of 258 set in 2007.
The Georgia native, who had a 3.8 grade-point average and a degree in biomedical sciences at UNH, is headed to the East-West Shrine Bowl on Jan. 30. Harbaugh believes the more NFL evaluators are around Brosmer, the more they will fall in love with his football knowledge, decision-making and skills.
‘Not there yet’
Brosmer’s max amount of prep work began almost immediately after the final whistle in the previous game. After decompressing and spending a bit of time with his family on Saturday nights, Brosmer watched that day’s game. Road games made this more conducive during flights back to Minneapolis. He often buzzed through offensive plays in about an hour.
Then Brosmer would rewatch it with a fresh set of eyes on Sunday morning, so when the detailed film study took place with Harbaugh and Co., he had already seen it back twice and could better articulate what he saw. The positives and the negatives from the game are filtered and compartmentalized. And it was on to the next opponent.
Brosmer spent the rest of Sunday and Monday — technically the players’ day off — watching full-game cut-ups of the opposition’s defense.
“I dissect what the defense is doing based off of how their (defensive coordinator) calls plays,” Brosmer explained. “You know what down and distances he likes, certain coverages, and are they matching personnel? I’ll just kind of watch the flow of the game through the quarters. I get a feel for who we are playing.”
The deepest dives came on Mondays.
“He would spend all day in here,” Harbaugh said from the team meeting room. “And he would just watch games over and over. If it was six games, he’d watch all six. He spent all that time.”
Brosmer would even get a head start on his coaches.
“I can’t tell you how many times he would ask me or Keegan, (things such as) ‘Hey, what are they doing on second and long?’ ” Harbaugh said. “And it’s like, Monday afternoon, I’m like, ‘Bro, I’m trying to figure out what play we’re gonna run out of this formation. I’m not there yet.’ ”
Given the shared workspace, if a break was needed, the trio would put on headphones and dive into their individual work. At first, Fleck would enter the space and be thrown off by the scene.
“Instead of me being in my office and (Brosmer) is in here, and I have to waste time to walk, I literally just go, ‘Yo.’ And then we talk about it,” Harbaugh said. “Then we go back and do our own thing.”
By the end of each week, Brosmer would watch a compilation of each pressure the opponent had put on film.
“If there was 121 first- and second-down pressures, he watched all 121 and he’d make a protection call,” Harbaugh said. “He’d ID it and he’d just be doing it all in his head. … And then if he had a question, he just flip his (tablet) around and asked me. I mean, it was very unique.”
‘You’re not serious’
The day before the game, Brosmer draws up every single play in the Gophers’ finalized game plan. Travel to road games, such as the four-hour bus ride to Madison, Wis., in late November, was productive.
“I’ll take the whole call sheet, and draw every single play from top to bottom, no matter what the play is,” he said.
The night before the game, backup quarterback Drake Lindsey would quiz Brosmer on things he might see in the game.
“He’s just as keyed in as I am,” Brosmer said of the talented redshirt freshman who will likely take the reins in 2025. “He does a really good job throughout the week of staying on pace of where I’m at, so that when we get to Friday night in the hotel, we’re able to spit back and forth together.”
Then the roommates will put their heads on pillows.
But sometimes Brosmer pops out of bed to better visualize a play that he’s hung up on. He will stand up, close his eyes and go through what he might see pre-snap and through his dropback.
“The first time I did it, Drake was like, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ ” Brosmer said. “… He’s like, ‘Bro, you’re not serious.’ ”
Minnesota Gophers quarterback Max Brosmer (16) under center against the Maryland Terrapins in the second quarter of an NCAA football game at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
‘Amazed’
With a bye week before the Penn State game, Harbaugh and Brosmer were able to put together what became their magnum opus game plan.
With the added week to prepare, the U had 63 kills or alerts — ways to change the play at the line of scrimmage — tacked onto play calls. An average Minnesota game plan this season usually has 20 to 30 kills or alerts, Harbaugh said.
Brosmer is then able to go to the line of scrimmage and identify, for instance, if the safety is deep or up in the box like a linebacker and change the play accordingly. Harbaugh outlined these cues for the Pioneer Press in the team meeting room with a red laser pointer.
Last year, Harbaugh was making those checks for the QB. Now, Harbaugh will give Brosmer the play call and a reminder via the in-helmet communication. When the one-way communication ceases with 15 seconds left on the play clock, it’s on Brosmer to decipher what is needed.
“If people knew how much he did for our offense, they’d be amazed,” Harbaugh said.
Before the bowl, Brosmer said he prided himself on “not taking any days for granted.” During the regular season, he typically entered the football complex at 5:20 a.m., left it around 6:30 p.m. — coffee helping him through the grueling hours — and was in bed by 8:30.
During the Penn State week, Harbaugh gave Brosmer a video call at around 8:15 one night, requesting he return to the football facility.
“It’s kind of fun, though, to do that,” Brosmer said. “You only get to do it for so long. Being a part of something bigger than yourself is really cool, ultimately preparing for yourself, but you prepare for your team, too.”
With Brosmer, the Gophers were able to install layered play calls with more than 30 syllables. The instructions were so long, they needed a smaller font on the call sheet. Harbaugh projected the call sheet up on the meeting room’s huge screen and squinting was needed to read the long ones.
Brosmer rattled off the U’s longest play call this season with ease but acknowledged that something grew too complex, he would speak up. Given Harbaugh’s trust in his QB, he would simplify it. For instance, they would remove a pre-snap motion to make it smoother.
The Gophers have a 27-syllable play call included in the game plan for Virginia Tech on Friday. During bowl practices, Brosmer petitioned to get a new concept added to the game plan, using the tight ends to lobby his cause after one practice.
Fleck said Tuesday Brosmer’s pet project was added to the call sheet for the Hokies.
“He’s playing in his last college football game, so we gave him multiple opportunities to be successful,” Fleck said. “He got that one in. I’ll let you know after the game what that was.”
Originally Published: January 1, 2025 at 11:22 AM CST
