New Manatee QB coach Brion Carnes: ‘I just wanted to come back and get into the community’
Brion Carnes scrolled through his phone, searching for old photos from his days with Manatee High and Northern Iowa. Inside the equipment room at Manatee High School, where the Hurricanes were wrapping up their photo day, Carnes was getting a ribbing from Ryan O’Neill, one of the quarterbacks Carnes will be responsible for coaching this year. The accusation: Carnes has no swag.
The coach pulled up one photo and the quarterback shook his head. He found another, and another head shake followed. Carnes looked over at wide receivers coach Michael Barrett.
“We invented swag,” Carnes said.
His on-field resume with the Canes is unimpeachable. He was a four-year starter in Bradenton and his career culminated with a trip to the Class 5A championship game in 2009. It’s ancient history even to a senior like O’Neill, who was only in elementary school when Carnes’ storied high school career wrapped up with a commitment to Nebraska.
But most of the Hurricanes’ community still knew it was notable when first-year head coach Yusuf Shakir announced earlier this week that Carnes would be taking over as the Canes’ quarterbacks coach.
“This is where it began for me,” Carnes said Saturday, “so I just wanted to come back and get into the community, especially coming back to Manatee and help bring this tradition back.”
This fall will mark Carnes’ second season as a high school assistant coach. He held the same role at Saint Stephen’s in 2015 and helped the Falcons reach the Sunshine State Athletic Conference championship for the first time. Saint Stephen’s quarterback Fred Billy, a two-time first-team All-Area selection by the Herald, has repeatedly credited Carnes for some of his growth into an athlete drawing Division I attention as a quarterback.
The challenge at Carnes’ alma mater will be different. The Hurricanes were poised to rebuild at quarterback even before John Booth surprisingly stepped down as head coach during the spring. Quarterback A.J. Colagiovanni graduated. Offensive coordinator James Booth took the head coaching job at Plant City. Tarique Milton, the Canes’ first 1,000-yard receiver since Quenton Bundrage, is now at Iowa State.
The upheaval didn’t end there. Booth vacated his role following spring practice, leaving Manatee scrambling to find a new head coach and fill out the staff. The Hurricanes still haven’t named an offensive coordinator and on the eve of fall practice projected starting quarterback Ryan Overstreet’s family moved to Plant City. Carnes will have less than three weeks to prepare his quarterbacks for a preseason test against Seffner Armwood on Aug. 18.
“I think as the season progresses,” Carnes said, “you’ll probably see more progression from us.”
His job with the Canes will be a taller task than his season with the Falcons. Saint Stephen’s head coach Tod Creneti was a quarterback in college and has occasionally served as his own quarterbacks coach in Bradenton. Creneti was often just as instructive as Carnes.
“I kind of used to just sit back,” Carnes said, “and watch him work.”
The early impression Carnes has gotten from O’Neill, who now projects as Manatee’s starter, has the coach encouraged about molding a quarterback in his image. O’Neill spent the last two seasons as an on-and-off starting quarterback for Bayshore before transferring during the offseason.
Carnes could see O’Neill’s potential early. The senior has a solid 6-foot-3 frame and surprising mobility to accompany it. Carnes is most concerned with turning O’Neill into a leader of the offense, building up his mental toughness.
Year 1 of a new head coach can always be rocky, especially given the circumstances surrounding the Hurricanes’ offense. Carnes, though, is excited for the challenge.
“What better opportunity,” Carnes said, “than to come back to your alma mater?”
This story was originally published August 5, 2017 at 6:45 PM with the headline "New Manatee QB coach Brion Carnes: ‘I just wanted to come back and get into the community’."