Cedar Rapids Titans’ Dylan Favre a hit in Green Bay

CEDAR RAPIDS – Had his coach not called him into the locker room last Friday, Dylan Favre might still be shaking hands and signing footballs.

The Cedar Rapids Titans quarterback received a warmer-than-normal reception from a road game crowd after last week's 36-12 victory at Green Bay – the city where his uncle, Brett Favre, forged an NFL Hall of Fame career.

'It was definitely different,” said Favre, who will quarterback the Titans (8-4) Saturday at 7:05 p.m. against the Iowa Barnstormers at the U.S. Cellular Center. 'It was a lot more support than you're used to, compared to most road games. But it was cool, just to see the impact that he had on people in his time there, more than anything. It had a lot less to do with me than it did for him, which I'm aware of. But it was definitely cool.”

Favre continues to make his own significant impact as an Indoor Football League rookie. No quarterback in the league has more thrown for more yards (1,824) or has more total touchdowns (41 passing, 16 rushing).

Favre is quick to deflect the credit for his success to coaches and teammates.

'At the skill positions, I feel we're as talented as anybody if not more,” Favre said. 'It definitely helps having playmakers around you.”

Favre has also limited the mistakes. After throwing eight interceptions in his first four games, only six passes have been picked off in the last eight contests combined.

'We don't have to make a first down or a touchdown every play,” Favre said. 'I'm starting to find check-downs. I've been throwing the ball away. It's just part of the process.”

Cedar Rapids leads Wichita Falls (6-4) by a game for second place in the United Conference.

WATKINS JOINS COE FOOTBALL STAFF

Football coaches will often tell their team how they did things when they played. This fall, Charles Watkins can tell his players how he does things now.

The second-year Cedar Rapids Titans wide receiver/safety signed a contract on Wednesday to join first-year Coe head football coach Tyler Staker's staff as defensive backs coach.

'I see a lot of myself in them,” Watkins said. 'Young, energized, trying to turn that program back into its winning tradition.”

After the Titans ended the 2015 season, the Duke University graduate was the head coach of the Northwest Junior High eighth-grade football team in Coralville, which furthered his will to continue in the coaching profession. He was introduced to seventh-year Coe defensive line coach Joe Peters and after a couple of meetings, Watkins was hired.

'They're doing great things there,” Watkins said. 'I'm blessed to have the opportunity.”

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com