Please, save the Brett Favre jokes. Bryan Smith has heard them
all before.
”
I get a lot of Brett Favre jokes,
”
Smith said.
”
I’m not coming back next year.
”
That should put everything to rest. Of course, the 33-year-old
quarterback of the Central Coast Barnstormers held a similar
sentiment two years ago, when he retired after eight seasons behind
center from the local semi-pro football team, only to return this
season as the team’s quarterback.
GILROY – Please, save the Brett Favre jokes. Bryan Smith has heard them all before.
“I get a lot of Brett Favre jokes,” Smith said. “I’m not coming back next year.”
That should put everything to rest. Of course, the 33-year-old quarterback of the Central Coast Barnstormers held a similar sentiment two years ago, when he retired after eight seasons behind center from the local semi-pro football team, only to return this season as the team’s quarterback.
“I couldn’t do anything else,” said Smith, who also teaches at San Benito High School and seconds as the Haybalers’ offensive coordinator.
But Smith says this is a one-time gig. It’s the 10th year of the Barnstormers’ franchise, and with many Central Coast veterans ready to hang everything up following this season, Smith felt he had one more year left in him to be with the team, if only to stand behind center and go through the motions of the team’s physical, grind-it-out style running game.
“It was just the guys getting back together again,” Barnstormers head coach Greg Garcia said.
But little of what the Barnstormers have accomplished this season would suggest this was some sort of 10-year reunion celebration – one last hurrah for many of the team’s veterans before they ride off into the sunset. And nothing would suggest quarterback Bryan Smith is 33 years old, had taken a year off from the game to be little more than a spectator, or was initially weary of throwing 40 passes a game in the Northern California Football League – a far cry from Central Coast’s previous smashmouth style.
“I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do that,” Smith said.
Responded Garcia, “Well, you’re gonna learn.”
And Smith certainly has. At 9-1, the Barnstormers are averaging 31.9 points per game, third in the NCFL, while the team’s offense is tops with 372.7 yards per game.
Before it could get to that point, though, before they could rifle off eight straight wins to close out the regular season, Smith and the Barnstormers had to deal with the Central Valley Rams in Week 1.
“I was a little worried [about Smith],” said offensive lineman and Smith’s good friend Jose Rodriguez, who’s been with the team all 10 seasons and plans on retiring following this year. “I mean, I was shocked at first. You expect a little rust.
“When you take a year off, you get rusty. We’re old, football-wise.”
Smith certainly hasn’t showed his age, though. In Week 1, the Central Coast quarterback was 18 of 29 for 286 yards and five touchdowns, and the Barnstormers routed the Rams 43-29.
“I was thinking, we’re gonna be all right this year,” said Rodriguez, who was Smith’s best man at his wedding.
“He’s had a phenomenal year.”
Smith has stats that are impressive at any age, and perhaps the best of his career. After retiring to focus more on work at SBHS and with the Haybaler football program, not to mention his wife, Marla, Smith returned at 33 to quarterback the Barnstormers, and no one is doubting the “old-timer.”
With a passer rating of 107.0, Smith has racked up 2,018 yards in the air through 10 games, 1,139 more yards than the nearest quarterback. He’s 137 of 239 for a 57.3 completion percentage, while his touchdown-to-interception ratio is a staggering 27-to-9.
No one else in the league comes even close to those numbers, not by a long shot.
“A lot of [the comeback] had to do with the fact that I’d have a really good offensive line,” Smith said. “I’ve been fortunate to not take too many hits, so it’s helped me.
“I knew we were going to be successful. I wasn’t quite sure we’d be this successful.”
Running the spread offense, similar to that of Gilroy High’s air attack – Garcia was recently named the new head coach of the Mustangs – Smith simply grasped the system quicker than any other quarterback Central Coast had. And following a disappointing season that forced the Barnstormers to heavily recruit players up and down the South Valley area, Smith is also blessed with a talented receiving corps, including Greg Walton, Will Lawrence and Johnny Walker, each of whom figure into the top nine in the NCFL’s receiving statistics.
Walton is Smith’s favorite target, though. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound wideout out of San Jose has caught 46 balls for 821 yards and 11 touchdowns, all firsts in the NCFL.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Smith said. “I went to camp last year and saw all these athletes, this receiving corp. That’s benefited me.”
But while a big O-line, strong receivers and a spread attack have all assisted Smith on the field, there is little denying his presence, being nicknamed the “Commander” and the “General,” Garcia said.
“When the general speaks, you listen … He’ll be upset when something doesn’t go right. He’ll call people out and he’ll get mad at himself. That’s his mentality. He’s just a natural leader.
“I’ve been around ‘Smitty’ for a huge amount of years and he’s always been that way … He sticks to his guns.”
With so many Barnstormers eyeing the exit after this season, there is certainly a sense of urgency to go out on top. As the No. 2 seed in the upcoming NCFL playoffs, Central Coast will open the postseason with the No. 3 Bay Area Buccaneers on Saturday, May 30, at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex in Gilroy.
Kick-off is at 6 p.m.
And with the gaudy numbers Smith is posting, it’d be tough to keep him out of any year-end MVP discussions.
“If that happens, that’s great,” Smith said. “But winning something as a team would mean that much more.
“I came out here one last time for the guys, and the best way to cap it all off is with a championship.”
