Hoyer Determined and Undeterred

Hoyer untested, but undeterred
Rookie prepared for his backup role
By Christopher L. Gasper
Globe Staff / September 10, 2009

FOXBOROUGH - Last season, the Patriots had a backup quarterback, Matt Cassel, who hadn’t started a game since high school. Now they have one that has never played in a regular-season NFL game.

If franchise quarterback Tom Brady, who is coming back from torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee, goes down again, then 23-year-old Brian Hoyer is currently all that stands behind him with the Patriots’ season opener against the Bills four days away.

The Patriots elected to keep only two quarterbacks on the 53-man active roster. Few would have believed that the 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound Hoyer, passed on by all 32 teams in the draft coming out of Michigan State, would be one of them. Hoyer was fourth on the depth chart when training camp started behind Brady, Kevin O’Connell, and Matt Gutierrez, who was cut Aug. 3 to make room for veteran Andrew Walter. Hoyer outlasted all the backup contenders.

“I don’t want to say I’m surprised,’’ said Hoyer, who was 29 of 44 for 354 yards and a touchdown during the preseason. “I expected to be on a team somewhere back in April. Even though circumstances were a little bit different than I thought they would have played out after the draft, I couldn’t be happier to be here.

It’s a great opportunity, and I got to keep learning and there is a long way to go. I’m just going to try to learn as much as I can from Tom and [quarterbacks] Coach [Bill] O’Brien and Coach [Bill] Belichick, and what three great guys to learn football from.’’

The Patriots appear comfortable with having just Hoyer as the backup.

“He has worked hard, he’s smart, he understands the system, he makes quick decisions,’’ said director of player personnel Nick Caserio. “I think it was good to see him in live situations in the preseason just to see how he handled some of those situations. I think he handled them fairly well, and we feel comfortable with where we are with him.’’

But how comfortable does Hoyer feel?
“I’m going to go out and prepare this week like I have to be ready to play,’’ said Hoyer. “I’ve been in a backup situation before, whether it was in high school or in college - don’t get me wrong, this is a whole other level - but you always have to approach it as you have to be ready to play at a moment’s notice. I think if you can prepare as much as you can with a starter’s mentality, you’re prepared for anything . . . I think that’s been one of the big things for me is just watching Tom practice. You can learn so much through that.’’

Pressure is nothing new for Hoyer, the son of a financial planner and a nurse.

He was the starting quarterback for two years at Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland, a prep powerhouse that has won 10 Division 1 state titles since 1988. The school produced former Boston College star and current NFL lineman Chris Hovan. Among Hoyer’s high school teammates was Colts wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez.

Hoyer, who pitched Saint Ignatius to a state championship in baseball in 2002, returned to the school in April and May to keep in shape and prepare for his NFL career.

“He was down here last spring throwing to anybody who would catch a ball,’’ said Saint Ignatius coach Chuck Kyle.

Kyle said Hoyer was slightly embarrassed when he wasn’t selected in the draft, especially since ESPN had cameras at his home, but said Hoyer landed in an ideal situation. The Patriots called Hoyer during the seventh round to tell him they wanted him to sign as a free agent.

The Patriots have a history of developing overlooked and undervalued quarterbacks. Brady was a sixth-round pick out of Michigan in 2000. A seventh-round pick in 2005, Cassel was a backup at Southern California.

“I think that kind of played into it because you’ve seen what they’ve done with guys that they’ve taken later,’’ said Hoyer. “That’s on a person-by-person basis. Tom is Tom. He has done what he has done. Matt was a guy who was stuck behind some good players in college and was given an opportunity here and stepped up. That’s what you got to do - when you’re given an opportunity you have to take advantage of it, so I felt like I tried to do that whenever my name was called.’’

Hoyer has already shown some intangibles. He rallied the Patriots from a 21-0 first-half deficit to defeat the Giants, 38-27, in the exhibition finale. The levelheaded Hoyer is keeping his exhibition success in perspective and readying for the real thing.

“If my name gets called you got to be ready,’’ said Hoyer. “That’s how this game is. You never know, and you just got to be prepared.’’