25 years later, Troy’s Mr. Football — Ryan Brewer — looks back

“When you say 25 years it kind of hurts my feelings at first,” Brewer said. “A part of me feels like it was five years ago. There’s a part of me that feels like it was 50 years ago – that’s usually my ankles and my head.”

Brewer moved to Troy as a fourth grader and was quickly introduced to the program led by head coach Steve Nolan. His brother, Scot, who years later was the Trojans’ head coach, was a freshman. On one of Scot’s first days in the program, Brewer’s mother sent him into the school to fetch his brother who was finishing a weight-lifting session. That’s when he met strength coach Mick Roberts, and Brewer’s football ascension began.

Roberts told Brewer to do chin-ups and hang from the bar as long as he could until his brother finished. Then Brewer met his fourth-grade youth league teammates. Their team was good. They ran the same Wing-T offense the high school did. They learned to love football together. And they learned to work hard as a group throughout the offseason.

“We were getting together to be great,” Brewer said. “We were getting together to make sure we pushed ourselves to the limits and beyond the limits. That was fun.”

By the time Brewer, future NFL offensive lineman Kris Dielman and the rest of their teammates reached high school, their mindset was ready to compete at a high level. Brewer started as a freshman and most of them started at least three years. They went to the playoffs for three years and missed out as seniors with an 8-2 record.

“We were tough and dangerous,” Brewer said. “We weren’t there just to play football. We were out there to wreak havoc on people. And that was the fun part of it. If you want to tackle me, it was going to hurt, and you were going to pay the price for it.”

Brewer’s career numbers are a reminder of how good those team were from 1995 to 1998. His single-season rushing record has since been bettered, but he still ranks No. 4 in career rushing yards in Ohio with 7,656. He rushed for 100 yards or more in 21 straight games, a streak that ended in his final game. He has the fifth-most 200-yard games in state history with 14. He scored 117 touchdowns, punted and kicked field goals.

But Ohio State didn’t recruit him. He was hearing from MAC schools and Louisville until Lou Holtz became the head coach at South Carolina and offered Brewer a chance to play in the SEC. Brewer, who was a Notre Dame fan, jumped at the chance to play for Holtz, who had coached the Irish to a national title in 1988.

“Probably the biggest compliment ever given was when Coach Holtz came up to me my freshman year, early in fall ball, and said, ‘Hey, you can tell you’re a well-coached kid. Not many kids come in here with all the fundamentals down, with the attitude you have, and just knowledge of the game. Hats off to the program you came from.’ That’s hats off to Troy for the coaches that I was with. And my teammates too because we pushed each other. It made us all better and made me a heck of a lot better football player.”

Brewer’s career highlight at South Carolina came in the Gamecocks’ 24-7 victory over Ohio State in the 2001 Outback Bowl in what turned out to be John Cooper’s last game with the Buckeyes. Brewer was the game’s Most Outstanding Player with over 100 rushing yards, over 200 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Recently, on the Gamecocks’ Twitter countdown to the season opener they showed the replay of Brewer’s 28-yard screen pass touchdown on Day 28 of the countdown.

“It’s hard to swallow sometimes being that long ago, but, at the same time, it’s great seeing the fans still embrace it and show the love for myself, but really that team and that era,” Brewer said.

Brewer got a free-agent tryout with Baltimore Ravens but was the last man cut. He played in NFL Europe for a season and won the World Bowl. He was asked to play in the Canadian Football League that summer, but a severe ankle injury that caused him to miss most of his senior season at South Carolina had taken its toll.

Brewer returned to Columbia, S.C., and started selling fencing, railing and columns out of his house. The business has grown into three associated companies, more than 60 employees and 10 installation crews. A big current job for Ryan Brewer Fence is at a new condo community next to Williams-Brice Stadium where he played.

“It’s unbelievable how much the fan base and the athletic department and your teammates rally around each other here,” Brewer said. “Those have been big instruments of how I’ve been able to build my company What I did for the for the Gamecocks on that football field has translated into good business.”