When Brian Duboski took over the quarterback position for Brian Burrell in Bakersfield College’s Sept. 17 game at Antelope Valley College, he wasn’t only living a dream, but was following in the footsteps of his father.

Brian’s father, John Duboski, played quarterback at Porterville College before the football team was disbanded and earned a scholarship to play at UC Santa Barbara.

“He’s been a great father, mentor and coach,” Brian said. “I definitely look at him as my best friend and my hero.”

Brian is a quarterback because his father was a quarterback, but wasn’t told which journey to take.

“He never really forced me to play,” Brian said. “He allowed me to decide what I wanted to do.”

Once Brian had decided he was going to play football, his father was there to teach him everything he knew.

“He was a great person to learn from as far as the quarterback position,” Brian said. “So, a lot of my younger years, my coaching was all from him.”

The tutelage that Brian received from his father was passed down through more than one generation.

Brian’s grandfather, Phillip Duboski, played fullback for the USC where he was the lead-blocker for BC hall of fame coach Homer Beatty.

“When I was growing up, one of my dad’s best friends was the quarterback coach on the freshman team at SC,” John Duboski said. “That’s where I got a lot of my instruction, and so, it was kind of funny because when Brian first picked up a football, he started throwing spirals, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this kid is different.’

“So I started using some of the same strategies with him that I was instructed when I was a kid.”

The Duboski family has used the game of football as an avenue to protect and build their bonds and relationships.

“It has just been a wonderful time for us to always be together,” John said of his son’s football career. “It has always been positive. It has never been a stressful thing … [and] it has just been wonderful being his dad.”

Brian started just one game in his senior year of high school and is now BC’s starter for the foreseeable future.

“I’ve been waiting for my time for about three years,” Brian said. “So, finally getting the opportunity, it’s a great feeling.”

Brian was gray-shirted his freshman year at College of the Sequoias in Visalia and decided to transfer to BC in 2010 after two semesters at COS.

“[BC] was my first choice after graduation,” Brian said. “I always knew that BC had a rich tradition, a great history of football and a great football program. That’s a great attention-getter, for sure, just to know that if you go to BC, you’re big time.”

In Brian’s four games he has played in, he’s passed for six touchdowns and scored four on the ground.

Brian, having already earned his associate degree, plans on moving on to a four-year school in the spring. From there he plans on becoming a high school teacher so that he, too, may pass on the knowledge he has learned throughout his life to those who need it.

“For Brian, it’s never really been about football,” John said. “It’s his passion, his desire, it’s all about learning how to become a better person, a better human being, a better man, how to serve and as long as he wants to play football we’ll support him.

“My wife and I love to see how he’s growing as a person through the game of football. Just watching him be his own person and growing to be his own man and to be responsible and take charge in his own life. That’s our greatest aspiration for him.”

Brian said that he would like to continue playing football at the next level if the opportunity is provided to him but isn’t worried if life throws him another blind-side hit.

“Sometimes things won’t go your way, but it’s all about how you deal with it,” Brian said. “The way I did, was I kept on working hard and never gave up.”