TERRY COLUMN: Osweiler's moment a long time coming

Hard work pays off.

After setting records in high school and college and a 3 1/2-year apprenticeship behind arguably the greatest quarterback of all time, Kalispell’s Brock Osweiler is finally getting a chance to start in the NFL.

The Denver Broncos announced Monday that the former Flathead Brave would be taking over at starting quarterback this week against the Chicago Bears, filling in for an injured Peyton Manning, holder of nearly every passing record in NFL history.

He follows in the footsteps of a handful of other Flathead grads to reach the pinnacle of the sport and is the first make a start at the game’s most important position.

And while many in the area will watch excitedly to see a hometown hero take snaps in the big leagues, for the coaches that have watched him grow up, it’s a fulfillment of something they’ve seen coming for a long time.

“It was apparent quickly that he was destined to play quarterback at a high level,” said Russell McCarvel, Osweiler’s head coach at Flathead for his junior and senior seasons.

“He was incredibly mature, very goal oriented. He knew that he wanted to play at the highest level. It was great to coach him because he knew so much about the passing game and was a sponge to learn even more.”

Osweiler, who stands as the tallest quarterback in the league at 6-foot-7, started to show his physical skills at an early age, sprouting heads above the rest of his class in middle school.

It was then that former Flathead coaches Bob Applegate and Grady Bennett first got a glimpse of the future star, when he began to attend football camps and high school workouts.

“This kid rolls in, he was about 6-3, I looked up to him and said, ‘Sophomores and juniors come this afternoon.’,” Applegate said. “He said, ‘Coach, I’m in the seventh grade.’

“Grady asked if he could play varsity.”

Applegate coached three other professionals in his time at Flathead: offensive lineman Dylan McFarland, who played parts of three seasons for the Buffalo Bills and NFL Europe’s Hamburg Sea Devils; running back Lex Hilliard, who played five NFL seasons with Miami, Minnesota, New England and the New York Jets; and quarterback Mike Reilly, who made a splash at a few NFL training camps before beginning a long career in the Canadian Football League, where he will lead the Edmonton Eskimos this weekend in the Western Final, the team’s second straight trip under Reilly.

Even seeing all that success, Osweiler stood out.

“In my 30 years of coaching, I’ve never seen a kid work that hard. He was invested,” said Applegate.

“He was very dedicated, even as a young kid,” said Bennett, who coached Osweiler in his first two years of high school before leaving to head the program at Glacier after the schools split in 2007.

“That’s what separates the great ones. Especially in a state like Montana that’s so small. A lot of kids that are really talented in Montana, they’re so much more talented than the other kids they think they’re good enough. They don’t get how talented people are in other states and around the country.

“When you get a kid with Brock’s talent, but he’s also the hardest worker and he’s willing to put in the time because he has those big goals, oh man, it’s just off the charts.

“Brock had incredible gifts and incredible talent, but he always worked too.”

McCarvel, who is now an assistant coach at Helena Capital, helping the Bruins to a semifinal appearance this season, said he points to that work ethic an example for current high school players.

“Those are things that if a player aspires to be great, that they can emulate from him,” McCarvel said.

“Not everybody does it to the extent that he does it. Yeah, he was incredibly gifted. You don’t see guys like that playing quarterback in Montana, and not many anywhere, but his work ethic and his goal setting were two things that set him apart.”

That dedication stretches beyond his current team. Even as the heir apparent and current starting quarterback of an NFL franchise, the former Brave makes sure to stay in touch with his former team. He texted current Flathead coach Kyle Samson after multiple games this season, even sending a letter of support before the Braves playoff game two weeks ago.

“... Some of the best memories he had in his life were playing Friday night football for Flathead. He talked about being a family. It was kind of a nice surprise for them,” Samson said.

“He’s done a really nice job of giving back to Flathead and has helped us with a couple of different things. He’s really tried to be a presence with our team these last two years. Our kids really look up to him and it’s kind of a big deal.”

That ability to stay grounded is nothing new, and is one of the things that surely helped him during his long build up to this week’s starting role.

“He’s just a good kid, you can’t say enough about the kid,” Applegate said.

“He treated everybody well at the high school. He was not one of those prima donna kids. He treated the office people well. He still comes home and buys them coffee every time he goes in there. He’s just a good kid.”

Whether or not this is the start of a long-term job or just a peek at what’s to come, everyone said they’d be tuning in this weekend.

“I think things are going to get even better for him,” Applegate said. “I think he’s destined to be a pretty good player.”