Brock Huard

Brock Xavier Huard (born April 15, 1976 in Seattle, Washington) is a former American football quarterback in the NFL. Brock's brother, Damon, also played quarterback at the University of Washington and later played in the National Football League. His younger brother, Luke Huard, is currently quarterbacks coach for Illinois State University.

High School Years

Huard graduated from Puyallup High School in Puyallup, Washington in 1995. Huard enjoyed a prodigious football career in high school. He was the Gatorade National Player of the Year, All-State and Class AAA State Player-of-the-Year playing under father, Puyallup Head Football Coach Mike Huard. Huard was named an High School All-American by Parade Magazine, Super Prep, Blue Chip Illustrated, ESPN and Schutt.

Huard's career numbers with the Puyallup Vikings were very impressive completing 237 of 408 passes and passing for 45 touchdowns against only 10 interceptions. Huard also lettered in basketball, averaging 18.1 points and 7.5 rebounds as senior. In addition to his athletic exploits, Huard graduated from Puyallup with a 4.0 grade point average.

College career

Following his senior season, Huard was one of the most highly recruited players in the country. Huard had narrowed his selections to UCLA and Washington, and made a New Year's Day decision to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Damon and attend the University of Washington. This decision was eagerly anticipated by more than just the University of Washington coaching staff and fans. His decision to attend the UW set off a chain reaction in which West Linn, OR quarterback Cade McNown chose to attend UCLA and Westlake Village, CA wide receiver Billy Miller decided to attend USC (he had said if Huard chose to attend UCLA he would follow).

After redshirting in 1995, Brock was placed into a battle with Mukilteo, WA product Shane Fortney for the starting quarterback position the next spring. Though Fortney won the starting job, Huard was considered by many to be the more talented quarterback. Huard saw his first career action in the first game of the Huskies' 1996 season against Arizona State. Huard entered the game with Washington down by 21 points but rallied his team to a 42-42 tie (though ASU would go on to win 45-42 on a last-minute field goal). The next week Huard saw action again after Fortney was injured in what seemed like garbage time against BYU. From there, Huard took over as the Huskies' starting quarterback and led the Huskies (along with a strong offensive line and Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year running back Corey Dillon) to an 8-1 record the rest of season. Huard, while not spectacular in his first year as a starter, showed glimpses of the talent that had made him one of the most highly recruited QBs in the nation two years prior. As a result of internal conflict related to Huard's elevation to the starting position, Shane Fortney transferred to Northern Iowa following the 1996 season.

Washington entered the 1997 season ranked 4th in the AP poll and won the first two games of the 1997 season handily (over BYU and San Diego State). However, in the third game of the season Nebraska beat Washington convincingly in Husky Stadium and Huard suffered an ankle injury early in the game and was not available to play the rest of the game. This play was significant in that it would mark the first time Huard was injured in a career that was henceforth injury riddled. In addition, the injury led to the UW coaching staff 'burning' Woodinville, WA native Marques Tuiasosopo's redshirt. Huard would miss more time in 1997 due to injury and what had been a season that started with the potential of a National Championship ended in a disappointing 7-4 record and a 41-35 loss to Washington State in the Apple Cup. Though Huard was seen as a highly rated prospect for the 1998 draft, he elected to come back to Washington for his junior year.

Though Huard's junior season started out with an improbable win at Arizona State [1], the year quickly deteriorated with an embarrassing loss at Nebraska. Huard went on to set many University of Washington records during his senior season, but because the team experienced their first non-winning season since 1975 (after a loss to Air Force in the Oahu Bowl) Huard's legacy at the University of Washington remains mixed. During his senior season, many fans openly called for Huard to be benched in favor of Tuiasosopo.

Still, Huard holds school career marks for most passing yards (5,742), touchdown passes (51), 300+ yard games (4), attempts without an interception (151) and ranks second in 200+ games (14) and total yards per game (191.4). He was also named Academic All-American his final two seasons. Huard also earned honorable mention All-Pac-10 honors as sophomore and was finalist for Davey O'Brien Award while setting school record with 23 scoring tosses.

Perhaps just as impressive as his on-field accomplishments, Huard maintained a 3.6 GPA as psychology major at Washington. During his time at Washington, Huard met and became engaged to the former Molly Hills, a basketball player on the University of Washington's women's team.

Professional career

Huard was a member of the Seattle Seahawks from 2000–2001 and of the Indianapolis Colts in 2002-2003. His first pass attempt in the NFL (in a pre-season game) resulted in a touchdown. In 2004 he signed to become the 3rd string quarterback for the Seahawks, but spent the entire 2004 season on Injured Reserve, the last year he played professional football. He ended with career NFL stats of 60 of 109 for 689 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Brock and Damon became the NFL's first set of brothers to start at QB on the same weekend in league history on November 26, 2000. Damon opened against the Indianapolis Colts as a member of the Miami Dolphins, while Brock started against the Denver Broncos for the Seahawks.

Post Football Years

Huard does numerous radio and television gigs, and has done color commentary for FSN on their Pac-10 games. He has had jobs announcing for ESPN Pop Warner football specials live from Disney's Wide World of Sports. In August 2008, Huard joined ESPN. He currently is a Co-host on a sports radio talk show with Mike Salk on KIRO-AM (710 ESPN Seattle), the Brock and Salk Show. He is also the color analyst with play-by-play announcer Carter Blackburn for ESPN college football broadcasts on the West Coast.

External links

• Brock Huard High School Stats
• Brock Huard Radio Show and Blog