Nighthawks pare roster to 52

Andrew Brewer's ability to catch passes earned him a spot on the Omaha Nighthawks' roster.

His ability to throw them also didn't hurt his chances of sticking with the United Football League expansion team.

UFL rules required teams to pare their rosters to 52 on Thursday. Brewer was one of six wide receivers to make the squad. He's also the team's No. 3 quarterback, to be used in an emergency if something would happen to Jeff Garcia and D.J. Shockley.

“It's awesome to be out here doing multiple roles,'' Brewer said after Thursday's practice. “It's a good thing I had some quarterback experience for two years at Northwestern.

“If they need me to do it, I'm happy to do it.''

The 23-year-old Brewer is one of several players who bring multiple skills to the table for the Nighthawks. Brewer started his career at Northwestern as a quarterback before switching to receiver at the end of his second season in 2006.

“Our punter has to know how to kick and our kicker how to punt,'' Omaha General Manager Rick Mueller said. “We have some corners that can play safeties and safeties that can play corner. I think all of our offensive linemen have played every position but center. Our tight ends can all line up at fullback.

“They also make it because of their primary position, but it always helps if they can do something else.''

Brewer, who caught 57 passes for 925 yards as a senior last season and set a school record for yards per reception (16.2), had spent most of training camp working with the wide receivers. It wasn't until the last two practices that he started taking some snaps with the quarterbacks.

“He was slinging it around yesterday in practice ­— 6 for 6 in drills,'' Mueller said. “He's pretty proud of his quarterback skills. He can obviously throw the ball, and since we only have two quarterbacks on the roster, we have to be prepared if something happens.

“In an emergency situation, I'm confident that ‘Brew' could come in and finish the game for us. He's not beating anyone out or threatening the first two, but he could help us there.''

The Nighthawks decided to go with Brewer instead of keeping three quarterbacks. That made Chad Friehauf, who had spent time with the Denver Broncos, expendable.

Waiving Friehauf was among the difficult decisions that the Nighthawks' front office and coaching staffs had to make in order to trim the training camp roster. Mueller, a former NFL executive with the New Orleans Saints, called some of the final decisions as difficult as any as he's been involved with in professional football.

Some of that is because of the personal involvement Mueller and Ted Sundquist had in assembling Omaha's player pool.

“I feel like I'm tied to these players as much or if not more than any player we've ever acquired in the NFL because of the recruiting process to get them here,'' Mueller said. “In the NFL, unless a guy is a free agent, you basically draft them and they're coming.

“You're not involved in same way there as you are here. We have really good kids and they're really good people, and when you have relationships with them, it's never easy.''

Mueller said former UNO linebacker Jeff Souder fell into that category.

“I've only known him for a little while,'' Mueller said, “but he's a kid I talked to at least once a week for the last four or five months. That makes it difficult.''

Another UNO player, wide receiver Keith Eloi, also did not make the final cut. Running back Tierre Green, a former Husker bidding to join cousin Ahman Green on the roster, also was waived Thursday.

That left only Ahman Green and Jay Moore as ex-Huskers on the roster. When it was announced in mid-April that the UFL was coming to Omaha, it was generally assumed that the Nighthawks would bring in a number of players with strong local ties, perhaps to help the team from a box-office standpoint.

Mueller said getting Ahman Green, who left Nebraska in 1997 after helping the Huskers to a share of the national championship, helped “satisfy a lot of that by default.''

“We obviously wanted to get Nebraska guys that were available that we felt could play at this level,” Mueller said.

Mueller indicated there could still be some tweaking done before the team opens its season Sept. 24 at home against Hartford.

“We're bringing a couple more players this weekend,'' he said. “But for the most part, this is it. The focus of the coaching staff now switches to getting these guys ready to play Hartford.''

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