LEXINGTON, Ky. - He has passing records, a state's adulation and millions of dollars waiting in the NFL if he decides to turn pro. Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch left no doubt Monday he would trade all those things to bring back childhood friend Scott Brock.
"At times like this, you really realize that football is not as important as you think. Sometimes you think of it as life and death whether you get the first down here on fourth down," Couch said. "When it comes down to it, when football's all said and done, it really doesn't matter. ... It's just going to be tough to go on without him."
Brock, 21, died Sunday morning in a truck crash that also killed transfer defensive lineman Arthur "Artie" Steinmetz and severely injured Kentucky's starting center, Jason Watts. The three were on their way to go deer hunting near Somerset when Watts, who was driving, lost control of his pickup truck and it went off a rural highway and flipped.
Couch had been invited along on the ill-fated trip, but declined to spend time with his family.
Couch's voice caught and broke Monday as he talked about losing Brock, who grew up with Couch in the eastern Kentucky mountain town of Hyden. Later, Couch broke down in tears.
"We started being friends in preschool, before preschool really," he said. "In day care, they tied our walkers to each end of the couch to keep us from fighting."
At Leslie County High School, where Couch set national passing records, Brock, a running back and receiver, was his favorite target. Brock encouraged Couch to go to Kentucky and take the challenge of reviving his state university's also-ran football program. In doing so, Couch turned down a chance to succeed Peyton Manning as Tennessee's quarterback.
Brock, who did not play college football, went to Kentucky and later transferred to Eastern Kentucky, in nearby Richmond. Couch would drive down to Brock's apartment to watch Monday Night Football games, and Brock would come to Lexington on the weekends for Couch's games.
"I never met a guy that didn't like him," Couch said. "He just kind of grows on you. He's just one of those people, that's just real down to earth, a good guy that everybody wants to be around."
"He was the kind of friend who would see that I threw for 498 yards and he'd ask me, 'What, you couldn't get two more yards?' He was just always there to bring me back down to earth when the rest of the country was looking at me like I was some kind of football superstar," Couch said.
Steinmetz's death shocks friends
