Cards: Topps XFL 2001, Topps XFL 2001 Promo
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Purdue
Sent: 8/6/19 Received: 6/11/20 (311 days)
Jeff Brohm played quarterback for his hometown Louisville Cardinals from 1989-1993. Early on he honed his game behind future NFL quarterback Browning Nagle. Brohm took over the starting gig in 1991. After an injury ended his season early on, Jeff returned with a vengeance in 1992 throwing for 2008 yards on 297 attempts (9 TD). He’d eclipse virtually all his personal season best passing statistics in his senior campaign, going 184/304 (60.9), for 2626 yards, and 20 TDs to just 9 picks and lead the Cardinals to a victory in the Liberty Bowl over Michigan State.
He’d not be selected in the 1994 NFL Draft, but signed a free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers, winning the 3rd string job. Jeff then saw free agent stops with the Washington Redskins (1995), and 49ers (1996-1997). With the ‘9ers, Jeff saw his only significant playing time in the NFL throwing for 353 yards and a TD over his stop with SF. Jeff then was on the rosters of the Bucs (1998), Broncos (1999) and Browns (2000).
Jeff’s football career took an unexpected turn in 2001, when he was selected to play in the upstart XFL by the Orlando Rage with the 4th overall pick. Although Jeff had a particularly successful season, going on to be the XFL’s best rated quarterback, and being named to the league’s first team squad, the offensive lines in the XFL were particularly bad, and Jeff like many other quarterbacks suffered from unnecessary sacks and quarterback hits.
During one of those games against the Maniax, he was brutally taken down, and knocked out. The hit was so brutal, his helmet was turned and he had to be taken to the hospital. Amazingly though he returned near the end of the game with a neck brace on and watched from the sidelines. He amazingly started 6 days later and was asked by a sideline reporter his reaction to playing that day. Brohm had an epic and fiery response.
Let me answer that question by asking you two questions – One, is this or is this not the XFL? Yes, it is. Two, do I or do I not currently have a pulse? Yes, I do. Let’s play football.
-Jeff Brohm
A shoulder injury however near the end of the season, ended his career and potentially a return to the NFL. After that lone season in the XFL concluded, Jeff moved into the coaching ranks, starting with his hometown Louisville Fire of the Arena Football League. He then quickly joined his Alma Mater the following season, staying with them through 2008 as a quarterbacks coach, and then later as a passing game coordinator, offensive coordinator, and assistant head coach. Jeff then honed his skills at various stops at Florida Atlantic (2009), Illinois (2010-2011), UAB (2012), and Western Kentucky (2013) – where he earned his first head coaching job from 2014 to 2016.
With his bang up job with the Hilltoppers in the books, Jeff left for greener pastures, and was hired as head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers in 2017. Jeff has been linked many times since then to more prestigious jobs with Tennessee and Nebraska, but going into 2021 remains the head coach at Purdue.
I had sorta given up on these cards after seeing some quick and recent returns, but in reality I was just probably at the bottom of Jeff’s mailbag.
| G/GS NFL | ATT | CPD | YDS | PCT | TD | INT | RAT |
| 8/0 | 58 | 37 | 353 | 63.8 | 1 | 1 | 79.2 |
| G/GS XFL | ATT | CPD | YDS | PCT | TD | INT | RAT |
| 7/7 | 119 | 68 | 993 | 58.0 | 9 | 3 | 99.9 |
| Arena | W | L | PCT |
| 2 | 14 | 0.125 |
