Road to 1991 Perfection: Hobert Had Just One Disagreement with Brunell

The University of Washington quarterbacks, so different in style yet similar in results, had just one flap that they needed to sort out.

Mark Brunell and Billy Joe Hobert were total opposites as University of Washington quarterbacks. 

One was a lefty, the other right-handed.

One was an option guy with incredible speed, the other a pocket passer with a powerful arm.

Brunell acted business-like at all times, Hobert showed himself, putting it lightly, to be a bit of a maverick.

They backed up each other in 1990 and 1991, flip-flopping on the Husky depth chart once Brunell suffered a spring-practice knee injury. 

Each was named most valuable player of the Rose Bowl and either challenged for a national championship or won it. 

Did these two, so different in so many ways, always get along?

They had just one serious disagreement, according to Hobert.

After the NFL combine in 1992, someone in the media asked Hobert, who didn't miss a throw at the event, if he knew how well Brunell performed? Billy Joe was typically glib in his response to this reporter. There was fallout.

"I said, 'I don't know, but I know I beat him,' meaning in regards to the numbers," Hobert said. "Somehow it got back to Mark that I said he had a crappy combine. He called me out on it."

They talked it out and that was it.

Both ended up in the NFL. Brunell played 17 seasons for five teams, throwing 4,640 passes and completing 2,761. Hobert spent five seasons with three teams, attempting 527 passes and hitting on 275.

Since the combine flap, Hobert said his relationship with his fellow Husky quarterback has been professional if not cordial. He credits with Brunell with giving him a pro football career. 

"Without Mark Brunell, I don't think I would have made it to the NFL," Hobert said. "I certainly wouldn't have focused so hard on being as good as I possibly could. I had a limited roof as far as quarterbacking talent. We all know he was a better runner, a better athlete. I don't know if he could throw the ball farther, but he certainly was more gifted from a quarterback standpoint."

This is another in a series of articles and videos that will replay the UW's 1991 national championship season, which is the apex of Husky football. We're a month out from the California road opener to start the 2020 season. Meantime, we'll use '91 as a conversation piece.

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