Husker TE commit Ben Brahmer does it all for Pierce, on and off the field
Ben Brahmer has his sights set high as he enters his senior season at Pierce (Neb.) High School. The Nebraska football tight end commit said he hopes to break all the records he broke as a junior.
The 6-foot-6, 215-pound tight end led Pierce to three consecutive class C-1 Nebraska championship games. The Bluejays were crowned the champions in 2020 and got runner up in 2019 and 2021.
Brahmer told HuskerOnline at the Lincoln In-State tour that he also aims to “gain weight and get bigger and faster.”
As a senior and one of the top players at Pierce and in C-1 football, Brahmer has been one of the leaders on his team for the last three years along with quarterback Abram Scholting.
“I think guys look up to us as leaders because we've got more experience than everybody else,” Brahmer said. “Vocally, I've been a leader on our team. This summer in weights, I'll be leading everybody to get strong to finish the season right this year, unlike last year where we got beat in the state finals.”
Pierce principal and football head coach Mark Brahmer said Ben is a quiet, reserved person off the field but has taken on a leadership role.
“I challenged him a number of times as a junior to be that guy and sometimes it's kind of tough until you step into that senior year,” Mark said. “We're expecting big things out of him to be not only a guy we can count on to lead by example, both in our facility and in our school, but also outside our school, but then also the guy now who can be a verbal leader.”
As a junior, not only did Ben play tight end and outside linebacker, he also played in the secondary, is a backup quarterback, handled Pierce’s punt returns and kicked off for the Bluejays. His coach said that while Ben can’t make a lot of people miss during punt returns, he can “field the punt under tough circumstances.”
Ben has grown as an all-around football player and leader during his time at Pierce. Mark, who doubles as Ben’s father, has seen him grow in other ways too.
“We’re very proud of his development and that's not just physical development, probably the most important thing is his spiritual development and his development to be a good guy,” Mark said. “Everyone wants all their kids to be successful academically, successful athletically or in whatever their extracurricular is … and they want the best for them. But really, for me, I'm always hopeful that my children are just good people.”
Ben’s older sisters, Maggie and Jaci Brahmer, are both successful athletically as they play volleyball at Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb.
Since Mark is the football coach and the principal, he said he wasn’t home very much and that his kids were raised by his wife, Carmen, for 90 percent of the time.
“To be honest with you, my wife is maybe the best person that I've ever been around, probably the kindest person, fun-loving,” Mark said. “I see a lot of the same qualities in him that I see in her: very kind person, outgoing to the point where he will talk to the kid, who's a little bit disadvantaged and he will befriend those kids.”
Ben said he has learned a lot from his dad also.
“He teaches me just to be a good guy overall, to treat everybody kindly and not be cocky and be humble,” the tight end said. “He's a great coach and I've been playing football since I could stand so I've been able to catch it well because of him.”
Mark said wherever Ben chose to attend college, it was important to him that his son was surrounded by good people he could trust.
“If he's in a pinch or a tough spot in Lincoln, Neb., I just can't pick up and go two and a half hours like that, but can you call on somebody like coach (Barrett) Ruud or coach (Scott) Frost or coach (Sean) Beckton or coach (Bill) Busch? I'm really comfortable that he could if he was at a tough spot needing help that those guys would come to his aid.”
Ben said his future position coach Sean Beckton is a “good guy on and off the field.” Nebraska fired and hired four new offensive coaches during the off-season and Ben said he was relieved that Beckton stayed.
He said during the summer, he plans to go to Nebraska's Friday Night Lights camp to get coached by Beckton before he becomes a Husker.
While Ben hasn’t met any of the new coaches, his father is very familiar with Bill Busch, the Huskers’ new full-time special teams coordinator.
Mark said he has known Busch for over 20 years since he coached against his dad, Ron Busch, in the late ‘90s before Ron retired as Plainview High School’s head coach. He said he and Bill have kept in touch all these years and saw each other occasionally when Bill came back to Nebraska to visit his parents.
In February, Mark and Bill met about special teams as Mark was searching for some advice to enhance Pierce’s special teams unit.
While Pierce and Mark have relied on Ben for the last three seasons to help them all over the field as well as off it, Mark feels comfortable about where his son is headed after graduation and the people he will be surrounded by.
“It sounds like they're developing a family atmosphere down there,” Mark said. “The guys have got to want to be there because of the people that are down there. You can have all the nice facilities in the world but if you don't like the people that you're being coached by or you're working with, it's hard to go to work, it's hard to go to school, it's hard to go to practice, it's hard to go to weights, whatever it is and so we feel very comfortable with the coaching staff and the quality of men that they are.”