BUCKIN’ BRONCO
Young Denver QB showing his game has some kick
IT’S TREVOR SIEMIAN’S world, and we’re just living in it.
“I remember a kid coming in my class telling me a story,” a man named Kevin McElveen was saying. “So right across the street from our school, there’s a nice big lake. In the middle of the lake, there’s an island. It’s called Bird Island. And one of the kids referred to Trevor as King of Bird Island.
“And he’s like, ‘I go down there, and this boat comes by with five of the hottest girls you’ve ever seen,’ and they see Trevor and they’re all just like: ‘Tre-vor!’ They’re just yelling at him. He’s like, ‘I’m standing next to him ... we’re invisible, ’cause everyone’s just looking at Trevor.’
“That’s the kind of personality he had, that’s the kind of person he was, I mean, just great all-around kid. None of us that know him are surprised that he iis what he is right nnow.”
What Trevor Siemian is is the starting quarterbackb of the 3- 0 defending champion Broncos — a seventh-round 2015 pick out of Northwestern who has seamlessly replaced Peyton Manning, and basically yawned.
McElveen was his freshmansophomore quarterbacks coach and government and economics teacher at Olympia High in Orlando, Fla. Siemian has taken his high school and his former teammates, living vicariously through him, on an exhilarating, once-in-a-lifetime magic carpet ride, the same ride Carson Wentz is taking the state of North Dakota and the City of Brotherly Love, in no small part because he has the perfect temperament for this job.
“He is so poised and just so levelheaded,” Timmy Vernon said. “He’s for sure not gonna get a big head about all this. He’s got an older brother like I do, and I think just growing up as the little brother, he naturally kind of can be put in his place. So I think he’s not the type of guy that’s gonna get a big head about this. He is a focused, focused guy when it comes to executing on the field and studying up, and obviously what the coaches saw in how much he can lock down the playbook. .. I don’t think that’s gonna change.
“Just because he’s a seventhround pick and he’s a young kid and he’s experiencing all this success, I’m pretty confident he’s not gonna be the type of guy that lets this go to his head and change from the way he’s been since I have known him.”
Vernon was a linebacker at Northwestern, a friend of six years.
“I think somewhere deep down, he realizes how cool this is, but right now, he’s just kind of riding the wave of how awesome this is and he’s obviously staying pretty focused on what the game plan is, and what the next defense they’re playing is. So I don’t think he’s really sitting back like basking in the limelight or anything like that,” Vernon said. “I think his nose is in the playbook for the most part, and he can let us kind of talk about how cool it is, and how great a story it is.”
Those who know Siemian best are not surprised by his success. His tight end at Northwestern, now a tight end for the Buccaneers, cites their stunning upset of Notre Dame in South Bend, but it was a dramatic victory at Syracuse that he believes sums up his old quarterback.
“I just remember we needed a two-minute drive to win the game,” Danny Vitale told The Post from Tampa, “and we’re trying to put Trevor in the game, Coach [Patrick Fitzgerald] is looking for him, you know, ‘Where’s Trev at?’ And we all see Trevor run out there, like a total goofball, just making jokes, ‘Oh yeah, I’m coming.’
“The one thing about him that I think never ceases to amaze me is just the composure that he has, still be able to be himself and kind of be a goofball even in times of like incredible pressure. That’s the thing I’ll never forget about him.”
Siemian (who has five touchdowns and three interceptions this season) sounds as if he is cool in a Joe Montana way and goofy in a refined Adam Sandler way.
Asked what Siemian is like in the huddle, Vitale said, “Well, he just takes complete control. I think you can see from the moment that he steps in the huddle that he trusts everybody else that’s in there. And he’s gonna make the right decisions. I think his composure is just unparalleled.”
It is no different inside the Broncos’ huddle than it was inside the Northwestern huddle.
“He smiles in the huddle, he winks, if it’s a turnover, he comes back and smiles about it,” C.J. Anderson told The Post from Denver. “He’ll let you know he’s still confident in himself and his game.” Siemian has a big arm. “He’s always thrown that great back shoulder ball, and I’ve seen that a couple of times in these Denver games,” Vitale said.
And a big appetite for film study.
“He just absolutely loves playing the game of football, and that’s something that I think is special about Trev,” Vitale said. “I think he enjoys the team camaraderie, and the brotherhood that football kind of has.”
His Broncos brothers have rallied around him.
“I just love my quarterback, man,” Anderson said. “I love the way he plays. Every throw he makes still amazes me. I enjoy watching his preparation.”
Siemian mostly defers to the veterans in the huddle.
“He’s just laid back, man,” Anderson said. “He lets us know, ‘ Hey man, when it’s time to focus, it’s time to focus.’”
He is 24, the unassuming Everyman quarterback living a dream, and he is too good to be true. Summer school prior to his senior year in high school:
“He was the kind of kid, first day of class, he’d sit in the front row,” McElveen said. “Always had his hand up, always had his work done. Just a great kid from the beginning of class to the end of class. It was almost hard to not favor him as a teacher.”
And right now, it is almost impossible not to favor him as a quarterback.