| No. 5, 7, 11 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | (1976-04-15)April 15, 1976 (age 48) Seattle, Washington, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 232 lb (105 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Puyallup(Puyallup, Washington) | ||||||||
| College: | Washington (1995–1998) | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1999: 3rd round, 77th pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Brock Anthony Huard (born April 15, 1976) is an American former professionalfootball player who was aquarterback in theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theWashington Huskies. Huard's older brotherDamon also played quarterback at theUniversity of Washington and had a career in the NFL, while his younger brother Luke played atNorth Carolina then pursued a coachingcareer.[1][2]
Huard graduated fromPuyallup High School inPuyallup, Washington, where his father Mike was head coach. A left-hander, he enjoyed a prodigious prep career and was theGatorade National Player of the Year, All-State and Class AAA State Player-of-the-Year in his senior season of 1994. Huard was named a High School All-American byParade Magazine,Super Prep, Blue Chip Illustrated,ESPN, andSchutt.
Huard's career numbers with the Puyallup HS Vikings were very impressive completing 237 of 408 passes and passing for 45touchdowns against only 10interceptions. Huard also lettered in basketball, averaging 18.1 points and 7.5 rebounds as senior. In addition to his athletic exploits, Huard graduated from Puyallup High School in 1995 with a 4.0grade point average.
Following his senior season, Huard was one of the most highly recruited players in the country. Huard had narrowed his selections toUCLA andUniversity of Washington, and made aNew Year's Day decision to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Damon and attend the University of Washington in Seattle. This decision was eagerly anticipated by more than just the UW coaching staff and fans; it set off a chain reaction in which quarterbackCade McNown (West Linn, Oregon) chose UCLA andWestlake Village, California wide receiverBilly Miller decided onUSC (he had said if Huard chose to attend UCLA he would follow).
Afterredshirting as a true freshman in1995, Huard was placed into a competition withMukilteo's Shane Fortney for the starting quarterback position in the spring. Fortney won the starting job. Huard saw his first career action in the opener of the1996 season atArizona State, led by senior quarterbackJake Plummer. Huard entered the sweltering night game with Washington down by 21 points and rallied his team to a42–42 tie (though ASU won with a late field goal).[3] The next week Huard saw action again after Fortney was injured in what seemed like garbage time againstBYU. From there, Huard remained as the starting quarterback and led the Huskies (along with a strong offensive line and Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year running backCorey Dillon) to an8–1 record the rest of the regular season. While not spectacular in his first year as a starter, Huard showed glimpses of the talent that had made him one of the most highly recruited QBs in the nation two years prior. As a result of internal conflict related to Huard's elevation to the starting position, Fortney transferred toNorthern Iowa following the 1996 season.
Washington entered the1997 seasonranked fourth in theAP poll and won the first two games handily (overBYU andSan Diego State). In the third game, eventual national championNebraska beat Washington27–14 inHusky Stadium; Huard suffered an ankle injury early in the game, the first downtime in a career that was henceforth injury-riddled. In addition, it forced true freshmanMarques Tuiasosopo into action and he had to forego his redshirt season.[4] Huard missed more time in 1997 due to injury and the potential national championship year ended with a disappointing 7–4 regular season, concluding with a 41–35 loss in Husky Stadium in theApple Cup to Pac-10 championWashington State. Though Huard was seen as a highly rated prospect for the1998 NFL draft, he elected to return for his junior year.
Huard's junior season in1998 began with an improbable win atArizona State,[5] but it quickly deteriorated with an embarrassing55–7 loss atNebraska. Huard went on to set many UW records, but because the Huskies experienced their first non-winning season since1975, Huard's legacy remains mixed. (Washington finished 6–6 after a43–25 loss toAir Force in theOahu Bowl, and head coachJim Lambright was fired.) Many fans openly called for Huard to be benched in favor of sophomore Tuiasosopo.
Still, Huard held school career marks for most passing yards (5,742), touchdown passes (51), 300+ yard games (4), attempts without an interception (151) and ranks second in 200+ games (14) and total yards per game (191.4). He was also namedAcademic All-American his final two seasons. Huard also earned honorable mention All-Pac-10 honors as sophomore and was finalist forDavey O'Brien Award while setting school record with 23 scoring tosses.
Huard maintained a 3.6GPA as apsychology major. During his time at Washington, Huard met and became engaged to the former Molly Hills, a player on thewomen's basketball team.
| Height | Weight | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Wonderlic | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft4+7⁄8 in (1.95 m) | 227 lb (103 kg) | 5.16 s | 1.77 s | 2.97 s | 4.44 s | 7.44 s | 30.5 in (0.77 m) | 8 ft 11 in (2.72 m) | 25 | |||
| All values from NFL Combine[6][7] | ||||||||||||
Huard was selected by theSeattle Seahawks in the third round of the1999 NFL draft, the 77th overall pick and the seventh quarterback.[8] It was the first draft in Seattle for newly hired general manager and head coachMike Holmgren. Huard's first pass attempt in the NFL (pre-season game) resulted in a touchdown. After a season as third-string in1999, he saw his first game time in2000 as the backup toJon Kitna, starting four games and going 49 of 87 with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Huard played in the first game that season against theDolphins after Kitna threw four interceptions. He first started in game six, but suffered a concussion two games later against theOakland Raiders.[9][10] On his first game back after the injury, he suffered a season-ending kidney injury against the Broncos.[11] In 2000, the Huards became the first set of brothers in NFL history to start at quarterback on the same weekend. On November 26, Damon opened against theIndianapolis Colts as a member of theMiami Dolphins, while Brock started for the Seahawks against theDenver Broncos.[12] The following year, the Seahawks acquiredMatt Hasselbeck and Huard only appeared in one game.
Huard was traded to theIndianapolis Colts in 2002,[13] where he was backup toPeyton Manning for two seasons.
In 2004, Huard signed with theSeattle Seahawks, but spent the entire 2004 season on injured reserve, his last year in professional football. He ended with career NFL stats of 60 of 109 for 689 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
In 2019, Huard was named as acolor commentator on the No. 2 team forFox Sports'college football telecasts, joiningJoe Davis and later,Jason Benetti for games in thePac-12,Big Ten andBig 12.[14] He has gotten jobs announcing forESPNPop Warner football specials live fromDisney's Wide World of Sports. In August 2008, Huard joined ESPN.
He currently is a co-host on a sports radio talk showKIRO-AM (710 ESPN Seattle), theBrock and Salk show, with co-host Mike Salk. TheBrock and Salk radio show on ESPN 710 Seattle moved to podcast only in late September 2019 but returned to weekday morning broadcasts in September 2022.
Huard has done color commentary forFox Sports Networks on theirXFL football games and was also the color analyst with play-by-play announcerBob Wischusen for ESPN college football broadcasts, primarily in the SEC and Big Ten. From 2013 to 2022, Huard was the color commentator for Seahawks preseason games withCurt Menefee ofFox Sports doing play-by-play on KCPQ and KZJO (replay).[15]
In 2020, Huard calledNFL games for Fox, partnering up withChris Myers andGreg Jennings from weeks 1–13, andKevin Kugler from weeks 14–17. He now sideline reporter for Fox telecasts ofUnited Football League games, beginning with the new league's Arlington vs. Birmingham season opener on March 30, 2024, after the off-season merger of the XFL and USFL.