Brahms talks new dual role as OL coach, flight instructor

[aubiefifty 18,248]

Nick Brahms talks retirement, new dual role as OL coach, flight instructor

Published: Sep. 08, 2022, 7:03 a.m.

7-9 minutes

---

Nick Brahms experienced many sleepless nights last month as he wrestled with his future.

The now-former Auburn center wanted to follow through on his decision to return for a sixth season, but his body was telling him otherwise.

“It took me, probably, a few weeks to come to that conclusion that I wasn’t going to be able to go,” Brahms said.

The veteran offensive lineman called it a career last week, retiring from football due to lingering knee issues. He underwent a pair of surgeries in the offseason — one in December and another this summer — to try to address the injury to his knee, and he tried to give it a go at the start of fall camp.

Read more Auburn football: Auburn needs, expects young receivers to be “much better” in Week 2

Bryan Harsin wants more from Auburn’s secondary

Harsin: Don’t necessarily expect 50/50 split at quarterback

Brahms quickly realized something was off; he wasn’t moving out of his stance like he was accustomed to. The movements weren’t as fluid or efficient. As an older, experienced player, he knew what it was supposed to look like on film, and he couldn’t replicate that on the field anymore.

He decided to see if his knee would improve with some rest, so in accordance with Auburn’s coaches and staff, Brahms opted to miss some time during fall camp. The days went by, and Brahms didn’t notice any real improvement. Auburn continued to play the waiting game with its veteran center, who had 33 career starts to his name, to no avail.

As the season approached, Brahms knew what he had to do.

He sat down with Auburn offensive analyst Kendall Simmons to talk it over. Simmons, a former All-SEC and All-America offensive lineman at Auburn, could relate to what Brahms was going through. Simmons’ own career was cut short due to injury; he tore his Achilles in 2008 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was released by the team the following February, then signed a three-year deal with the New England Patriots but was released two months later. Simmons signed with the Buffalo Bills late in 2009 but after three games, he was placed on injured reserve due to a shoulder injury.

He didn’t play another game in the NFL, and he officially retired from football in 2011.

“He really helped me out and put it in perspective for me,” Brahms said.

The next day, Brahms spoke with Bryan Harsin and the rest of Auburn’s coaching staff to tell them his decision. His football career was over, but he still wanted to be around the team and help out however he could.

“I came back for my sixth year; I didn’t come back for no reason,” Brahms said.

In the time since his decision to hang up his cleats, Brahms has transitioned into somewhat of a coaching role for Auburn. He has taken new starting center Tate Johnson under his wings, joking that the two have “like a father-son” relationship, and has done whatever he can to help the rest of the offensive line unit in practices and on gameday. He’s there to answer any questions they have and help them digest the gameplan during the week.

Johnson this week even referred to the sixth-year senior as “Coach Brahms” during an interview.

“He cares about his teammates,” Harsin said. “These are his friends. These are guys he cares about. Nick would play if he could, so instead of just not being around there and trying to help, I mean, he’s still going to help this football team. He made a commitment to this football team to play. He can’t play, but that doesn’t mean he’s not committed, and I think that’s the one thing that I respect the most out of anything from people is when they make a commitment, they’re going to do what they can to try to uphold that commitment, and I think he’s showing that... But that’s Nick to me.”

When Auburn took the field for its season opener against Mercer last weekend, Brahms was there on the field pregame keenly watching the Tigers’ offensive line during warmups. He looked the part of a graduate assistant and stood on the sideline, assisting the linemen with in-game adjustments. He carried around a binder of information and notes, “all official,” he joked.

Brahms also kept an eye on the videoboard in the north end zone so he could relay anything else he saw during plays to the offensive linemen after the fact. At one point, he noticed Mercer’s defensive front utilizing cross-pop moves to try to free up the linebacker at the line of scrimmage, and he talked through it with Johnson to help him “just slow it down.”

Still, watching from the sideline instead of being on the field was admittedly difficult for Brahms.

“Gamedays are tough,” Brahms said. “Everyone wants to play on gameday, right? As someone who did play and knowing that I could’ve been out there if it weren’t for that injury and stuff, it was tough to swallow, but then, you know, you kind of feel like that for a second or two, and then you really just think about how hard the guys in the room have worked, how hard this team’s worked, and really that perspective changes. Like, I’m here to help these guys.”

One of the more unsettling moments came after the game, when a Mercer player approached him on the field to shake his hand and said, “good game, coach.”

“That was a little upsetting,” Brahms said with a laugh.

Adjusting to his new role as a pseudo-assistant coach hasn’t been too difficult for Brahms; it has mirrored how he spends a lot of his time away from the football field of late. Brahms spends three days a week as a flight instructor at the Auburn University Regional Airport as part of his path toward a full-fledged career in aviation.

Brahms currently teaches two students in the morning every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He kept the number low because he wanted to balance that with football, since he originally expected to be playing this season. In the spring, he’ll have even more students.

He’s gradually working up to 1,250 hours of flight time, at which point he’ll have an opportunity with a regional airline as a pilot for three and a half years before graduating to Delta Airlines. It’s all part of the qualified employment offer he received from Delta in 2020 through its Propel program.

As for which is more difficult to teach — playing offensive line or flying — Brahms has his own informed opinion on the matter.

“(It’s) probably easier to teach flying,” Brahms said. “Because I’ve seen coach (Will) Friend repeat himself about 100 times and guys still do the same thing. Crap’s flying everywhere, you kind of revert back to what you always do, so it’s hard to break those habits. In flying it’s kind of a controlled environment.”

Of course, Brahms will still miss the chaos of grappling in the trenches, but he knows his experience on the field has prepared him well for his long-term future away from it.

“He’s going to be very successful in his future outside of football, and he’s just continued to prove exactly why he’s a great teammate, because he’s out there still helping guys out,” Harsin said. “That’s something I respect and admire, and I know his teammates to. That’s Nick Brahms for you, in my opinion.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[WarTim 3,525]

Great article. Having had three knee surgeries, I can relate. 

[WFE12 9,350]

 

[ToomersRevenge 284]

So can Auburn save money on team charters and just have him pilot?

[au302 2,669]

Hopeful that we'll look back in December and think that this worked out best for both parties with Tate looking like a promising prospect. Nick is a warrior and I appreciate him trying like hell to play this year. Great dude and will be a huge success in life. 

[Tiger 8,854]

17 hours ago, ToomersRevenge said:

So can Auburn save money on team charters and just have him pilot?

Pretty sure Allen Greene suggested this in his budget cut proposal