TAMPA — With a 24-7 loss to Orlando Dr. Phillips, Plant was eliminated from the playoffs on Nov. 23, 2012, its earliest exit in seven years. But the sun still rose the next day, and so did quarterback Colby Brown, bright and early.
Brown, a transfer from Orlando’s Olympia and then backup quarterback to Aaron Banks, was on the sideline watching as the Panthers struggled to put points on the board against a team he himself had lost to twice while playing for the Titans.
But now, the Plant team was his. So he decided to get to work.
At 9 a.m. the next day, Brown met some of his teammates at Dads Stadium. They spent time throwing at the net and perfecting their footwork. The Panthers (9-1-1) would have to wait 286 days to take the field for another game. Brown wanted to be ready when that time came.
“I feel like if we lose it’s on me, if we win, it’s on me,” Brown said. “I’ve always got to be the best that I can be for us to be successful.”
Success is something that has come naturally to Brown in his first season as Plant’s starter. Through 11 games, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound quarterback has thrown for 2,688 yards and 25 touchdowns, all while completing more than 62 percent of his passes.
Success against Dr. Phillips — the undefeated team Plant hosts tonight — is a little more foreign to him.
During his freshman and sophomore years, Brown was the starting quarterback for Olympia. The Titans suffered big losses — 52-3 in 2010 and 35-7 in 2011 — at the hands of Dr. Phillips with Brown at the helm.
Brown, who set the Plant record for the most passing yards (519) in a single game this season, isn’t the same quarterback he was on the other side of the state.
Coach Robert Weiner, who says he has the utmost confidence in Brown’s ability to lead, knows a good quarterback when he sees one. Since 2006, four quarterbacks who have played under Weiner have gone on to the next level.
It’s a club Brown said he’d like to join. But for now, he’s not worried about leaving behind a legacy.
“He’s got no desire to put up numbers or stats or anything like that,” Weiner said. “The only thing he cares about is does our team win.”
Brown played offensive line in Pop Warner as a middle-schooler before coaches discovered he had an arm. More than anything, though, it’s his coolness under pressure, Brown said, that makes him excel.
It’s a calm, positive attitude that rubs off on everyone else in the huddle, wide receiver Cameron Winter said, even in the tensest of moments.
“He’s uplifting,” said Winter, who has 18 receptions for 212 yards. “He knows we’re going to go get them. He trusts his guys. We trust he’s going to get the ball in our hands and do something good.”
Every year, Weiner’s quarterback group has a new phrase they say before they break at the end of practice or before a game, and Weiner always lets the starter choose it. In the past, he said, there have been some creative and elaborate ones.
True to form, eyes on the prize, Brown kept his simple.
“Colby’s is, ‘All I want to do is win,’ ” Weiner said. “ ‘Let’s say win on three.’ ”