Patriots UDFA QB May Have Been Victimized By College Coaching Staff

New England Patriots undrafted free agent Brian Lewerke had his ups and downs on the field at Michigan State. No one ever doubted his skills, but he had a hard time finding consistency in East Lansing.

Some faulty mechanics and decision-making were part of the problem, but according to Mark Schofield of USA Today, the Spartans coaching staff didn’t do Lewerke any favors when it came to giving pro scouts ideal opportunities to evaluate the young quarterback.

What Schofield Said About Lewerke’s College Coaches

Schofield likes Lewerke, but he believes there are some good reasons he went undrafted. He talked about Lewerke’s struggles with injuries, accuracy and in detail about some of the poor communication exhibited by his Spartans coaches on an episode of the Locked on Patriots podcast:

“I believe there are a couple of reasons he [Lewerke] went undrafted,” Schofield said. “A couple of summers ago people looked at Brian Lewerke and people thought there is something here. That was the summer before his junior season. Then he got hurt that season, I remember I went to a Michigan State-Maryland game and sat in the press box to watch Lewerke. It was his first game back from a shoulder injury. He threw an interception, got hurt again, and had a really bad junior year. I think that really hurt him”

“We’ll also see interestingly enough, not to get into the sort of soap opera aspect of the football world we live in. But with a new sort of coaching staff at Michigan State, it was announced just Thursday afternoon on Twitter, Jim Nagy the executive director at the Senior Bowl made a point of saying ‘now we’re going to be allowed back” to meet with the coaches and to meet with the players. You get the sense that the prior coaching staff at Michigan State wasn’t doing their guys any favors. ESPN’s Adam Schefter followed up on that saying we heard from a lot of NFL staff who said they were given the cold shoulder when they tried to meet with people from Michigan State.”

Why in the world the previous Spartans coaching staff wouldn’t want to help their players get drafted is a mystery, but it’s clear several people in the know have gotten that impression.

Who Was the Spartans Head Coach?

During Lewerke’s career, his head coach was Mark Dantonio. In February, Dantonio decided to step down after a career as the school’s head coach that began in 2020. Dantonio stepped down as the school’s all-time winningest coach with a 114-57 record.

He guided the Spartans to a bowl game in all but one of his seasons in East Lansing. However, during his tenure, Kirk Cousins is the only QB to have gone on to have a successful NFL career.

Former Colorado Buffaloes coach Mel Tucker will take over for Dantonio as the Spartans head coach whenever college football returns.

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