For a guy who says baseball is his first love and should be his ticket to playing college sports, Northrop’s Colin Brockhouse could be mentioned as one of the most prolific passers in SAC football history.
The junior quarterback already has 2,700 yards in a dozen career games as a starting quarterback and is on pace to challenge former Bishop Luers standout James Knapke’s SAC passing record of 6,000 yards set last year.
Brockhouse threw for 2,059 yards last year and didn’t even start for the first two games. In four games this year, he has tossed passes for 713 yards for the Bruins (1-3).
“I didn’t expect to get as many yards as I did last year, especially in the sectional game when I got (a school-record) 409 yards, and I thought I had around 300,” he said. “It surprised me, but I just expect to keep getting better.”
The 6-foot-2, 178-pound Brockhouse sees himself standing on a pitcher’s mound in college one day. He has gained interest from Michigan State and Western Michigan among the dozen of letters he has received.
He was at a Michigan State camp last weekend and is attending the Notre Dame-Michigan State football game Saturday as a baseball recruit.
The right-hander claims to concentrate on whatever sport is in season, but that doesn’t mean the two don’t cross over.
“In baseball, I am three-quarter arm slot, and in football, you have to go over the top and snap down,” he said. “Last week, I was at a Michigan State camp, and I was throwing baseballs then I came here to practice and my spiral was kind of messed up.
“I try to get away from baseball stuff during football because the arm (position) is so much different.”
Brockhouse, who also plays shortstop and third base, began playing baseball at age 4 and got into flag football a year or two later.
So football is where colleges are still discovering his throwing ability, with none expressing interest yet. That could change if he keeps racking up the passing yards for the Bruins over the next 1 1/2 seasons.
“I play the game at different seasons, so I just focus on that sport,” he said. “I hope people see me for football for sure. But I don’t want to do both (in college). It will be too hard, and I would rather just focus on one sport and go from there.”
It all started to click for Brockhouse on the gridiron a year ago this week when the Bruins beat South Side, who they play tonight, 21-14. Northrop went on to win its next four games before back-to-back losses to North Side to end the season.
A similar winning streak could be on the horizon for Northrop, especially after getting a big 16-10 win last week over Bishop Dwenger. The Bruins were pounded in losses to East Noble and Snider in Weeks 1 and 3, but also were seven seconds away from beating three-time defending Class 2A state champion Bishop Luers in Week 2.
“Everyone got confident, and it went from there,” Brockhouse said of beating the Archers last year. “Once we got down to the teams we could beat, it started to slow down and I could read the defenses really easy. Since we won last week, we can get rolling. With our confidence level high, it’s right there in front of us. We just have to take it.”
